Let’s talk about the security of believers, and let’s start with: “…and they shall never perish….” (John 10:28) (What follows is not Baptist doctrine. This has nothing to do with denominationalism. This is about the Bible. It’s about the clear teaching of Jesus. Thank you.)
Can you unfry an egg? Can you uncook a casserole? Return a house to the trees it once was? Can you be unborn and stop being your father’s child?
After being saved, coming to know Christ and being genuinely forgiven and accepted and transformed by the Holy Spirit of God into something far different from what you were, you cannot undo that.
Once saved, always.
Once saved, always that. Once saved, always safe.
To say otherwise, and to preach it as gospel, might be something akin to insulting the Holy Spirit.
It might be. Certainly, it’s worth giving this some serious thought.
My friend and her husband have been trying to find the church where the Lord wants them. She sent me a message.
“We found a great church that we really like in a lot of ways. But we found out they believe a person can lose his salvation. That troubles us.”
She asked me to remind her what Scripture says on this subject. I was glad to do so.
Question 1. What are some primary scriptures teaching the security of believers?
John 10:28-29 is as solid as one could ever ask for. For that matter, so is John 3:16. In fact, every scripture calling our salvation “eternal” or “everlasting” is making this claim, that salvation is forever and cannot be undone. (To say, “Well, it’s eternal so long as I keep up my end of the bargain” is insulting to the Lord. To do that is to treat Him like a flashy used-car salesman who hides the fine print in the contract.)
But there are plenty of others which speak of the eternal and lasting nature of the salvation we have in Christ.
—Luke 10:20 — Disciples should not focus their thanksgiving on variable blessings (like results, numbers, baptisms, etc) since they are inconsistent, present sometimes and absent at other times, but should rejoice in this, “that your names are written in heaven.” Jesus clearly thought salvation was secure and unvarying, not dependent on anything external, and thus was everlasting. (I suspect it upsets Him to see how little people value what He achieved on Calvary, to think it’s a temporary situation won or lost by our doings.)
—Ephesians 1:13 Believers were “sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” If that’s not eternal security, it’s nothing. He has literally made believers “tamper-proof.” How good is that!
–Ephesians 2:8-9. Everyone agrees that this teaches salvation is not of works, but of faith. The funny thing, however, is that some will turn around and teach that, while good works cannot get us saved, bad ones can undo the Lord’s salvation. Interesting logic. I suspect they’ve just not thought this matter through. If that’s the case, then we are indeed saved by our works.
—Hebrews. The entire Epistle to the Hebrews addresses the security of believers in numerous places. For instance, Jesus is a better priest and a superior sacrifice than under the former system because while those priests were forever slaughtering sacrificial animals, “through His own blood, He entered the holy place one for all, having obtained eternal salvation” (9:12). One for all. One time for all time.
RELATED: Three Assessment Questions About Making Disciples
The priests of the temple had no chairs because their work was never done. “But He, having offered one sacrifice for all time, sat down at the right hand of God….”(10:12). “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (10:14). And then, after saying in 10:17 that our sins would be remembered no more, Scripture says, “Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.” Get it? No more offering because there’s no need. Once saved, forever safe.
We could stop right here, couldn’t we? Scripture is clear.
Question 2. What about Hebrews 6:4-6? Doesn’t that teach one can lose his salvation?
On a television broadcast where teachers in a certain denomination were spouting their flawed doctrine in answer to rigged questions (purported to have been called in by listeners), they gave their spin on this text. The teacher said, “Hebrews 6:4-6 teaches it’s possible to lose your salvation.” And he quickly moved on to other subjects. Not so fast, friend. That scripture states that something is impossible. It says, “In the case of (a number of things), then if they have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.” See that?
(Please look it up in your Bible. I’ll wait…)
I grant you this is not an easy text for any of us, regardless of the position you take on this subject. If you believe, as I do, that the Bible presents salvation as an irrevocable gift from God which cannot be taken back or undone, then you have to admit this passage seems to teach the possibility of “falling away.” I answer that a) it does not say someone has done that, only that “if” they did, so the writer is posing a theoretical situation; and b) “if” they did fall away, getting them saved the second time is impossible. For that to happen, it would be necessary for Christ to return to the cross and die all over again.
On the other hand, if you believe one can lose his/her salvation, this passage says it’s impossible for them to be saved again.
Interesting that the television teacher’s denomination, which teaches one can lose his salvation and get it back, lose it again and regain it, does not baptize the person each time he/she “gets saved” again, even though they teach baptism is an essential part of salvation. Anyone looking for consistency in many denominations’ doctrines will be endlessly frustrated.
Question 3. Is there any place in Scripture that flat-out teaches about some saved person losing his salvation and getting it back?
I know of none. In fact, when the Apostle John spoke of people who had departed from the faith, he said, “they went out from us because they were not of us” (I John 2:19). He adds, “If they had been of us, they would have remained with us.”
They were never truly saved in the first place. That’s what he’s saying.
