In Part 1 of this series on Assurance, we considered what Scripture has to say about whether someone can “lose their salvation”, and the clear message is that Christ’s disciples cannot be “snatched away” from Him. Moreover, since we know that Jesus’ work of atonement cannot be reversed or nullified, it is indeed true that for all those who are “in Christ” salvation cannot be taken from us.
Still, when you look closely at the passages which guarantee eternal life for those who are in Christ, their testimony is simply that nothing outside of ourselves has the power to either invalidate or deprive us of God’s gift. That is not the same thing, however, as saying that once a person comes to faith in Christ that they are perpetually in a state of saving grace.
Don’t forget that everyone lives by faith in something, so it’s not as if faith suddenly “appears” at our conversion; on the contrary, our faith is transferred from the things of this world to Jesus Christ. Therefore, since Biblical faith is belief in action (see James 2), the significance of putting our faith in Jesus is how that belief affects our thoughts, our words, and our deeds from that moment forward. In other words, whereas placing our trust in Christ is how we become “saved,” it is only by living out our faith daily that we remain in the Spirit. This is stressed by John…
Even as [Jesus] spoke, many put their faith in him. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” John 8:30-31
Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 1 John 2:24 (NKJV)
as well as Paul…
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Colossians 1:21-23
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:1-2
not to mention the author of Hebrews:
For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.
Hebrews 3:14 (NLT)
And doesn’t this make perfect sense? Think about salvation in terms of how marriage affects every aspect of your life. When you get married, everything changes: you don’t have the same priorities, you don’t continue to “do your own thing,” and you certainly don’t continue to date other people. Because if things don’t change, if you continue to live as you did prior to getting married, then your marriage is headed for some tough times…and possibly even divorce.
In fact, the covenant of marriage provides a beautiful illustration of our relationship to God. There is a “courtship” period prior to the “wedding,” whereby the Holy Spirit draws us to Himself and brings us to faith in Christ; then as we “abide” with our “spouse” and become one, God’s Spirit works within us to make us more like our Savior. Selflessness and sacrifice are essential ingredients from both parties in order for the marriage to survive and flourish, and whereas God has already demonstrated the depth of His love for us in the sacrifice of His Son, He asks us to present ourselves daily as a living sacrifice to Him.
Moreover, it is clear that without the continued investment of time and energy from both husband and wife, the relationship will start to wither and die. That’s not to say that divorce is inevitable, for we know that reconciliation is always a possibility, but it does underscore the fact that sacrifice is an ongoing part of any successful marriage—it’s not a one-time event that happens only when you exchange rings. In other words, “getting married” (i.e., “getting saved”) is actually the easy part; building a marriage, however, requires lasting faithfulness, dedication, and selflessness. So, if a marriage requires so much effort and self-sacrifice, why do people bother? Because if you stick to it, what you give up pales in comparison to what you gain:
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Philippians 3:8-9
Unfortunately, though, just as marriages sometimes end in divorce, it would seem that the potential for apostasy—repudiating your faith—is equally real:
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. Hebrews 6:4-6 (NKJV)
And don’t forget about the parable of the sower. Remember the seed that was received with joy but withered in the heat because it had no root? In Jesus’ own words, these are people who believe for a while and yet fall away in times of testing. Thus, it would seem that we can walk away from our relationship with God. What we can be assured of, though, is that God will never walk away from us—we’re the only ones who will end the “marriage” in divorce:
If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is. 2 Timothy 2:13 (NLT)
Obviously, this presents a dilemma for those who believe that salvation can never be lost: we can’t be both eternally secure and in danger of falling away at the same time! So how do they resolve this conundrum? The typical approach espoused by those who proclaim the truth of “eternal security” is to assert that the many passages in Scripture that warn about apostasy are written for those who will ultimately fall into this sin—not for the genuine believer. In other words, those who fall away are merely showing their true colors:
They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. 1 John 2:19
While this is indeed true, declaring that “the warnings against apostasy apply only to those who actually commit apostasy” tells us nothing of significance and manages to skirt the real issue: where is the line between being saved and becoming apostate? And how do you know if you are in danger of stepping over that line?
Throwing in the Towel
Since the Bible and our own experience both confirm that people do “fall away” from the faith, how then can we reconcile the notion of eternal security with reality? For those who embrace the veracity of eternal security, it all comes down to one simple assumption: those who become apostate never had faith in the first place. This condition attempts to solve the problem by neatly separating the apostate from the faithful, making it possible to both affirm the eternal security of the true believers—who have always had saving faith—as well as explain the apostasy of those who fall away—who never had faith at all.
While this is certainly a possible explanation for the phenomenon of apostasy, is it the only one that’s valid? More importantly, does it even square with the entirety of Scripture? Can we rightly conclude that everyone who falls into this sin never really had faith? Because if this assertion is indeed true, then how do you explain someone who commits apostasy—who supposedly never had genuine faith—ever becoming a “partaker of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 6:4) to begin with? How can that happen apart from faith?
Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.” Acts 15:7-9 (NLT)
Furthermore, look closely at the seed which fell among the rocks, sprang up quickly, yet withered and died in the heat because the roots had never developed. It would certainly seem that genuine faith existed, even if only for a short time:
Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. Luke 8:13
Note that the Gospel was initially received—with joy no less!—and began to grow. Wouldn’t this indicate that genuine faith was present? According to what we learn from the apostle John, it certainly seems like the right ingredients are there!
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Indeed, Jesus does not say that the faith of those with “stony” hearts is fundamentally incapable of bearing fruit. All He tells us is that their faith ultimately faltered when they were put to the test: their hardened hearts—the “rocks”—prevented the roots from fully developing. In other words, the real issue is that the rockiness of the soil never allowed the roots to take hold—the problem is not an utter lack of faith.
In short, trying to deny the faith of everyone who commits apostasy would be analogous to saying that everyone who gets divorced was never really in love to begin with. This is undoubtedly true in some cases, but is it true in all cases? Doesn’t it seem more reasonable to suggest that our relationship with God can suffer from the same neglect and presumption that ruins marriages over time? From my perspective, the premise that everyone who commits apostasy never had faith in the first place just doesn’t hold up; therefore, neither does the doctrine of eternal security. Because if faith in Christ is something that can be renounced, then so is our salvation.
Now I know that many of us have been taught that our salvation is never in jeopardy at any time, or for any reason. And as we have already seen, there are dozens of verses that would clearly indicate that salvation is permanent and that it cannot be “lost”; nevertheless, we cannot afford to ignore the equally clear teachings of those passages which indicate something very different. So how are we to resolve this issue of “losing” our salvation? Once we are saved, can we become un-saved? Well in my opinion, we’re asking the wrong question. Perhaps the real issue is not whether we can lose our salvation—because the answer to that question is an emphatic “no”—but whether or not we can forfeit it.
Adam and Eve sure did. They were presented with a single moral obligation and asked to trust that there was a good reason behind the restriction. Instead of trusting God, though, they chose to believe the serpent and then acted upon that belief…they effectively placed their faith in Satan. The key point, though, is that they willingly chose to do what God had forbidden—Satan didn’t force them to disobey God. For not only were they given the responsibility to obey, but they were also created with the ability to do the right thing.
Consider the implication if this is not the case: if Adam was inherently incapable of choosing to obey, then that would mean that God created him already fallen. In other words, God would be responsible for creating Adam & Eve with natures that were predisposed towards sin, which would likewise imply that sin exists in God! So Adam & Eve had to possess the ability to make the right choice, because any other explanation inescapably casts a shadow on God’s character.
Thus, Adam & Eve’s failure was ultimately due to a crisis of faith, and when they turned their backs on their Creator they also lost everything which God had freely given to them: their innocence, their justification…as well as their relationship with Him. They threw it all away—they forfeited the gifts that God had given them—and in the process brought sin and its consequences upon us all. So here’s the key question: if they were able to walk away from God before sin entered the picture, why should we suppose that it’s less likely now that sin’s consequences have brought this world under a curse?
Granted, it may seem like the concept of “forfeiting” versus “losing” salvation is a distinction without a difference, for the end result is the same; yet the difference is profound. For if you are deprived of salvation, if you are able to be “snatched” away from God, then this implies that your salvation is taken from you against your will. If, on the other hand, you forfeit the gift that God has given you, then you “lose” salvation in accordance with your choice, not in spite of it.
Just think about the difference between forfeiting a baseball game versus losing it. In the first instance, you end up with a loss because you concede the game and simply stop playing; in the latter, you lose because you are beaten by an opponent. So to draw the analogy to salvation, we can rest assured that as long as we are remaining faithful to Christ, as long as we are abiding in Him and walking daily in the Spirit, we are in absolutely no danger of being beaten by our Adversary. He’s simply not strong enough to overcome us:
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 (NKJV)
And that’s why it’s so dangerous to resist the Holy Spirit! For as we harden our hearts against God we simultaneously open ourselves up to Satan’s attack! Not that we instantly “lose our salvation” whenever we fall, because God doesn’t kick us off the team for making mistakes. But if we ultimately decide to become a “free agent,” God won’t try to keep us against our will. Like the father of the prodigal son, He will let us walk away if that is what we choose.
Therefore, it bears repeating that repentance and sacrifice has to be integral to the lifestyle of the believer. Putting our sinful natures to death and taking up our crosses is not a one-time event, but rather is part and parcel of what it means to be a Christian:
If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
Luke 9:23
So to wrap things up, is salvation something that can be “lost”? Scripture’s clear answer is an unequivocable “no”. Does that therefore mean that it is impossible for those who put their faith in Christ—i.e., those who become “saved”—to subsequently walk away from Christ and repudiate their initial profession of faith? The answer to this question would also appear to be “no”…
This tension should neither discourage us nor paralyze our faith; rather, it should motivate us to approach each day with the conscious remembrance of the love that our Savior has shown us through His willing sacrifice upon the Cross. It should drive us daily to His side— because our hearts overflow with gratitude and love for Him, not out of some selfish desire to “hold onto our salvation”—such that we choose to follow the light and leading of His Spirit in everything we do. And as we choose to follow and obey Him daily—intentionally, consistently, and willingly—we not only keep in step with Christ, but also become increasingly transformed into His likeness.
Indeed, it is our myopic fixation on escaping future judgment that causes us to ask the wrong questions about salvation in the first place. The essence of what it truly means to “be saved” is inextricably and progressively manifested though our personal transformation into the likeness of Christ—our sanctification—whereas our subsequent guarantee of exemption from eternal punishment is but the ultimate effect of what it means to be delivered from the very power and presence of sin in our lives. Eternal life starts here and now, for as the Holy Spirit works to sanctify us more and more every day, as we keep in step with Him by turning from our sin, we are being saved.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
Socratic Christianity 