The question surrounding the possibility of the loss of salvation has been one of great debate over the centuries and has come up recently on a number of occasions in our church. You may have also heard it referred to by phrases such as the “perseverance of the saints,” “eternal security,” or “once saved-always saved.”
Many denominations that fall within both Protestant and Catholic camps teach that based on differing standards of actions and attitudes a person who was once truly converted, or saved, can by their own evil merit lose that same salvation. For any thinking Christian who understands their Bible this should be a source of great angst because it means that the individual who has “lost” their salvation now falls again under the eternal wrath of God. This was the specific fear that plagued Martin Luther while serving as a monk before his salvation. He lived in constant terror of God’s wrath for some unrepentant sin until he understood that salvation is by grace alone.
While we know there are a select few verses (Heb 6:4-6, Heb 10:26-27, Col 1:21-23 and a few others) which if interpreted a certain way can be made to look like they support a loss of salvation based on evil merit. However, they are completely overshadowed by the 213 times that the New Testament writers argue for a salvation based on grace and mercy and not merit. We should not be surprised then that there is not one example in all of scripture of a person being truly converted and then being unconverted later in life.
If my initial salvation or the continuance of my salvation is based on any merit I bring, it is by definition not grace or mercy. The scriptures are clear in that I bring nothing to the table by way of righteousness and therefore cannot earn my salvation. To put it succinctly upfront as it relates to the loss of salvation, I cannot lose based on evil merit what I did not earn in the first place based on righteous merit. However, over the course of my Christian walk the scriptural evidence I found most compelling with respect to the question of the loss of salvation has to do with what actually happens to the believer at conversion and what would have to happen if that were at some point reversed.
When we use the term conversion, what do we mean? The world uses that term in a way that is more akin to something like changing teams (Muslim to Christian, Buddhist to Hindu, Yankees to Red Sox, etc.). Conversion, as the Bible defines it, does not refer to what religion we subscribe to. It refers to the changing of the nature of an individual. We need to first understand what the nature of man is to discern what conversion actually means in the biblical sense. From what am I being converted and to what?
Scripture in numerous places describes the nature of an individual before coming to Christ by using words such as dead, blind, in darkness, enemies of God, slaves to sin, children of wrath, and others. Upon coming to Christ we are described as having been made alive, seeing/hearing, walking in the light, friends/children of God, no longer slaves to sin, abiding in Him.
Dead in Sins/Alive to God (Eph 2:1-10, Col 2:13), Blind/Seeing (Eph 4:17-24, John 12:40, 2 Cor 4:4), Darkness/Light (Eph 5:8, Col 1:13, 1 Pet 2:9, John 3:19), Enemies (Rom 5:10), Slaves to Sin (Rom 6:17), Children of Wrath/Children of God (Eph 2:3, 1 Thes 1:10,5:9, John 1:12-13)
How did this happen? Did I become a new person simply by my own new beliefs, or did God change my nature is some way? Jesus first taught us about this in His conversation with Nicodemus in John 3.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
He goes on to explain to Nicodemus that one must be born again by spirit. But what does that mean? Paul speaks of this in Titus 3:5 when he uses the phrase “…by the washing of regeneration.” The original Greek word for regeneration literally means to “again create.” Paul further elaborates on this change of nature for the believer in 2 Cor 5:17 when he says:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; The old things passed away; Behold, new things have come.”
When we are converted or come to salvation we are changed from what the bible refers to as the old self who did not know God, did not love God, could not even comprehend the things of God to the new self who now has the capacity to know, love, and follow the One we once hated. My new nature is vastly different from my old nature and is a gift and work of God alone.
Passages of scripture such as Rom 3:23-24, Rom 4:25, and Rom 5:9 describe our justification upon conversion. To be justified before God means we are legally declared not guilty (though we are very guilty) and at the same time declared righteous based on the Christ’s righteousness having been applied to us. This new legal standing before God allows for us to stand before him having escaped the wrath for our sin that we rightly deserve. If that gracious gift wasn’t enough Eph 1:4-5, Gal 4:4-5, John 1:12 and others teach us that the believer is then adopted into the family of God and is now a fully accepted child of the King. While our justification refers to our legal standing before God, our adoption refers to our relational standing before him. We were once not family, now we are.
As part of that new family the Lord Jesus promised in John 14 to send the Holy Spirit to reside in the believer as the One who converts us from the old self to the new, instructs, convicts of sin and righteousness, and accomplishes sanctification throughout the rest of our lives. Specifically regarding the nature of our salvation Eph 1:13-14 and 2 Cor 1:21-22 speak to the Holy Spirit as the “seal” and the “guarantee” of our inheritance. In these verses and others Scripture speaks to the ongoing and unbroken indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer until we are glorified.
To tie all of this together we go to the passage of scripture, which is likely the most exhaustive on this topic, Romans 8. I recommend reading the entire chapter. Paul begins this chapter with a statement which should be on lips of every believer in praise and worship.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Rom 8:1
That is the ultimate promise for the believer. The condemnation which is rightly mine for sin and rebellion before or after conversion has been paid for. But that raises a question, if there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus how then is it possible for me to reach some undefined level of sin and so receive the ultimate condemnation in the form of loss of salvation? In Phil 1:6 Paul answers that question by focusing our understanding on who it is who sustains us in salvation.
“Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
“Will perfect it,” not maybe and not if the believer performs admirably. God provides an absolute statement of fact that what He starts He finishes and He never loses.
Jesus Himself provides the clearest promise from the One with the power and authority to deliver on His promise.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29
If he is saying (as some argue) that no one can take them out of the Father’s hand, however, they can remove themselves, what encouragement or assurance could Jesus possibly be referring to here. No one means no one including ourselves.
Turning our attention back to Romans 8 we see at the end of the chapter Paul addresses a statement most Christians have relied on but many times don’t understand the full weight of.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Rom 8:28-30
Now while the topic of predestination is one for another time, suffice it to say that your salvation has been decreed and your name written in the Book of Life from before the world began (Rev 3:5, 13:8, 20:12-15, 21:27). Romans 8:30 is referred to as the Golden Chain of Salvation or Redemption. That phrase refers to the unbroken chain that binds predestination as the beginning (God’s decree of salvation for a person) to His eventual call, to justification, to that person’s glorification in the end. Notice there is no room for backward movement here. It only goes in one direction empowered by the One doing the decreeing and the saving, God alone.
So how should we think about our own sin as a believer? Can we sin enough to lose what even God has brought about? In Romans 7, Paul laments his own failures by describing himself as doing what he knows he should not do and not doing what he knows he should do. Sound familiar? This is the struggle of every believer. We strive to live as Jesus commands yet fall short in virtually every way imaginable in comparison to the perfect standard of God. However, struggling against sin is one of the great hallmarks of a true believer. This is specifically what Paul was referring to, his own great struggle. Scripture provides no indication that Paul was in danger of losing his salvation. Quite the contrary, he speaks repeatedly about living in the grace and mercy of the salvation granted to him by the Lord Jesus. What it does speak to is what Paul refers to elsewhere as the flesh, that as yet unredeemed part of ourselves often referred to as the sin nature. If Paul and the other writers of the New Testament taught loss of salvation based on a particular volume of sin then we would all be in grave danger on a daily basis and would have no assurance that the Bible clearly speaks of. To quote John MacArthur on this topic he rightly assesses, “If I could lose my salvation, I would.”
In conclusion, for a person to “lose” their salvation God would have to assess the Christian as worthy of condemnation (which He doesn’t do), un-adopt them, un-justify them by un-declaring them as not guilty and righteous, and un-create in them the new nature He had previously created causing that person to yet again be dead, blind, walking in darkness, as an enemy of God. If this sounds convoluted and far-fetched that’s because it is. Scripture nowhere teaches this. Take heart follower of Christ, what He began He will take to completion even as you struggle.
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:38-40