Eternal Security - Can You Lose Your Salvation?

Doctrine Article - D.0113_01

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1. The bible clearly teaches that those who are the Lord's sheep hear his voice and follow him. To them, he gives eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of his hand or out of his Father's hand (John 10:27-29).

2. The bible does not teach that a person loses his salvation every time he sins; and it does not teach that he repeatedly loses and gains his salvation throughout his lifetime.

"If salvation is by grace, then how does one 'keep', or assure, his salvation?"

3. The question aims to expose the erroneous belief that works can 'keep' salvation. In reply, we affirm that works cannot 'keep' a person saved (but that only grace through faith can 'keep' - or assure - salvation).

4. The grace of God is the only means by which we can be saved (Eph 2:8); it is available to us through the substance (Heb 11:1) of our faith (Eph 2:8), and it has nothing to do with works - or else the flesh could boast of attaining salvation by itself. By setting these terms (faith and works) in opposition to one another, these verses (Eph 2:8,9) concurrently teach that faith is not a work, and work is not faith, even though works will necessarily follow faith (James 2:18).

5. Therefore, one comes to God through faith and is saved by grace, and one 'keeps', or assures, his salvation exactly the same way - by grace and through faith. (i.e. works cannot save a person and works cannot keep a person saved.)

6. However, the antithetical question might be, "Can the grace of God be successfully resisted by a person who refuses to continue having faith?

In other words, is God's grace "resistible"?

7. Yes, the bible teaches that the grace of God is resistible (Acts 7:51; Rom 13:2). The character of God, as revealed in the authorized King James Bible, does not force salvation on unwilling persons. We are made in the image of God, as free men with free will and with moral accountability; not as slaves, nor as puppets, nor immune from the consequences of our decisions. Nothing can pluck us out of his hand. But just as we are free to repent, to accept him (and to come to him by our free-will) we are also likewise free to stop believing, to reject him (and to leave him by our free-will).

8. The bible teaches that a person can have his name written in the book of life and that he can have his name blotted from the book of life. (Phil 4:3; Rev 21:27 and Rev 3:5; 22:19, respectively)

9. The bible does not teach that this process occurs repeatedly throughout a person's life. In other words, a person does not repeatedly become saved and subsequently become lost in consequence to each sin or to an accumulation of sins.

How then does one actually 'keep' his salvation…?

10. The bible teaches that God requires his people to remain faithful. John 3:16 says, "He that believeth…" shall have everlasting life. The implication is that if a person ceases to believe, then he no longer "believeth" and he will not be saved. So a person 'keeps', or assures, his salvation by continuing to believe. Only God can judge the heart of man to know at what point a man has hardened his heart to the point of no longer believing.

11. As further proof of this, Jesus said that, "IF ye continue in my word, THEN are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32)

The converse of this Question would be – How then does one lose his salvation…?

12. For good reason, we are exhorted to endure, continue, abide - and like words – in him, in grace, in the faith, until a certain time. The reason is that, if we don't, we shall lose something – and it's not just rewards that we would lose. Here are some examples:

a. Hebrews 3:14-19

1) "For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;" (verse 14 - emphasis added).

2) The Israelites were 'saved' from Egypt, (which is a type of the world), but many were not faithful in continuing to believe, so they were denied entry to the promised land (which is a type of heaven). Therefore, "we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."(verse 19) i.e. they were 'saved', and then 'lost'.

b. Gen 19:26

1) "Remember Lot's wife", as Jesus commanded the Jews in Judea to remember during the Great Tribulation – be faithful, continue to believe, don't look back (Luke 17:32)

2) Lot's wife was 'saved' from Sodom (which is a type of the world), but was not faithful in continuing to believe the word of God (or else she would have kept it to the end). Consequently, she lost her salvation (which happened to her for an ensample, as a 'type', and was written for our admonition (I Cor 10:11).

c. Hebrews 6:4-6

1) If a person is "enlightened" and is a "partaker of the Holy Ghost" and has "tasted the good word of God" and "the powers of the world to come", then he is a saved person. (Rom 8:9)

2) But in verse 6, this person 'falls away' to the end that it is impossible to renew him/her again unto repentance. If a person is unrepentant, he can't be saved, let alone be renewed unto salvation. So he/she is again in a lost state. He 'lost' the salvation that he once had - or, more accurately, he walked away from it, just as Adam walked away from it. So in the common usage of the term "eternally secure" he couldn't have been "eternally secure" in the first place. He would only have been truly "eternally secure" if he had remained faithful, believing, and waiting for the redemption, the redemption that draweth nigh (but that has not yet come).

d. Rev 3:5

1) How can God blot out a person's name from the book of life, if "eternal security" means that one cannot lose his salvation?

2) How could the person's name be in the book of life in the first place, in order to be blotted out, if he didn't have eternal life to start with?

3) Isn't the promise in this verse offered ONLY to "He that overcometh," proving that we have a part to play in acquiring (and keeping) the benefits of the promise?

e. II Peter 2:20-23

1) Upon their escape from "the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" are people considered to be saved? Do they have eternal life and hence, "eternal security"? (I believe that they are saved, but that they only have eternal security if they continue to believe).

2) If they are 'eternally secure' (by the common definition of that term), how can they become "entangled again therein, and overcome", so that "the latter end is worse with them than the beginning"? The "latter end" must at least be the state of being lost; unsaved, or else it couldn't be worse for them than the beginning was.

3) If they are not 'eternally secure' (for the reason that they are not considered to be saved), then:

a) What value is there in Peter's writing to us? He would simply be saying that a lost person is more lost after cleaning up his life for a while with "Christian" living.

b) So what? Is this motivation for a lost person? No. Is this motivation for a Christian? No again. But, if he were warning Christians that they can lose salvation by ceasing to believe (and hence by becoming entangled again in the pollutions of this world) then Peter's writings make sense.

f. John 15:1,2

1) If Jesus is the vine, then does he mean that every branch "in me" is a saved person who has eternal life and has 'eternal security'? (In my understanding, Yes, they are saved, but No, they do not have 'eternal security' – by common definition - unless they continue to believe – i.e. remain in the vine.)

2) If the person does have 'eternal security', then how can the husbandman 'taketh away' (to be burned) that person who at one time was "eternally secure"?

3) The answer, of course, is that he can't. The conclusion is wrong because the initial premise was wrong – the person never had "eternal security" in the first place. i.e. Those who are "in Christ" only have life if they "ABIDE" in him. Otherwise, they will be cut off and burned.

4) In many places throughout the bible, our Salvation is CONDITIONAL upon our faith (- and I don't mean upon our works; because faith is not a work). We have eternal security if we satisfy the "if" conditions that precede or preface the promises. Until our redemption is attained, "eternal" life is conditionally available to us based on our continuing to believe. Even in John 3:16 salvation is conditional. (Conditional upon whosoever "believeth").

5) If someone stops believing, they can't be saved because they no longer "believeth". Revelation 21:8 says that the unbelievers will have their part in the lake of fire. (A picture of this is given to us in the story of Peter walking on the water. When he began to lose faith in Jesus, he began to sink into the 'lake' and had to cry out to Jesus, "Lord, save me".)

6) The Holy Spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance (Eph 1:14 - the 'down payment'). God has promised to keep his end of the agreement, but we can still break our end of the agreement before the closing date (the day of redemption) and we can tell the holy Spirit to leave (and thereby grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom we are sealed unto the day of redemption - Eph 4:30). In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:13-14)

13. Even the Apostle Paul, kept his body in subjection lest he be a castaway - despite having preached to many. (I Cor 9:27)

14. Of course these are only a few of the verses that teach that we can lose salvation by not continuing in his word, not abiding in him, not enduring to the end, not holding fast….etc. We are called to be faithful. Those of us who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet him. (remain what?) It cannot mean 'remain alive', because that would make a redundant statement. It must mean 'remain faithful' - continuing to believe in him.

15. The bible is clear that those who are "unbelieving" shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (Rev 21:8). It doesn't say that those who "used to believe" will still be saved. There is no distinction. Those who believe will be saved; those who do not believe - even if they believed previously - as "unbelievers" will NOT be saved.

16. Our security - or salvation - is only secure in Christ. We must continue to believe to the end.

17. THIS is the blessed hope – that we who "believeth on him" shall be saved.