Why I Believe Eternal Security Is False
Andy Grossman
I am a little different from most Christians, I’ve found. I didn’t come to Christ in a Church meeting; I didn’t seek God after reading a Christian book or tract; I wasn’t led to the Lord by an individual. I came to the Lord after reading the Bible in hopes of discovering a purpose for my life. That spring and summer when I came to know the Lord I immersed myself in this life saving Book. I read the New Testament over and over (7 times)– pouring over the Scriptures every day. I didn’t know it at the time, because at first I wasn’t attending a Church, but I was forming a theology – a knowledge of God. Eventually the Spirit of the Lord led me very clearly to the Church of the Nazarene. In the years of being a Nazarene and 35 years of being one of her pastors, I often have said “I am not a Nazarene because I believe like they do. I am a Nazarene because they believe like I do.” I read the Bible, came to Christ and later was filled with the Holy Spirit before I ever knew what that meant. If I heard the word ‘sanctification’ or salvation I certainly didn’t understand it until after I experienced it.
I say all that to say I believe my theology was from God, Himself, as He revealed Himself through the Scripture and through the Holy Spirit. Later the studies and the theology classes came.
One point of great contention among Christians in general is the doctrine of the atonement. We Nazarenes believe that you are a free moral agent and are given the power to make choices. Part of life’s purpose is to teach us to make good choices. With the power of choice also comes responsibility. Consequently, we believe you can reject God and lose your salvation. The Nazarene Manual says it like this:
VII. Prevenient Grace
7. We believe that the human race’s creation in Godlikeness included ability to choose between right and wrong, and that thus human beings were made morally responsible; that through the fall of Adam they became depraved so that they cannot now turn and
prepare themselves by their own natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God. But we also believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow good works pleasing and acceptable in His sight. We believe that all persons, though in the possession of the experience of regeneration and entire sanctification, may fall from grace and apostatize and, unless they repent of their sins, be hopelessly and eternally lost.” (italics mine)
In other words, we don’t believe once you are saved you are always saved. I believe that because I believe what God desires with us is a loving relationship. The Bible uses the illustration of a bride and groom. We are His bride. In a marriage relationship or any love relationship – the love has to be mutual. One individual can not make a relationship no matter how much they desire it. I have heard people use the illustration of a father and son to support eternal security, but even in that illustration a son or daughter can reject a parent (or vice versa) and the relationship of love destroyed. Love can not be forced. A necessary element is free choice. Forced love is ugly(rape). That is why God must allow us freedom to choose.
But something so important must be clearly taught in the Bible. Let’s look first to the Old Testament. God is the same yesterday as He is today. He doesn’t change – so truth in the Old Testament is truth in the New Testament.
"Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.”
Ezekiel 3:20
"But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.”
Ezekiel 18:24
The Bible is very clear to me. You can reject God and suffer the consequences if you choose. When I have shared that with some who believed you can’t lose your salvation the response was “That’s the OLD testament. We are under the NEW covenant. Let’s look at the New Testament.
Peter talking about those who teach this says,
“They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” 2 Peter 2:19-22
The false doctrine of “Once Saved –Always Saved” has been a problem since the early church. Jude writes:
“For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Italics mine)
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” Jude 4-7
Jude was talking about false teachers who ‘change the grace of God into a license for immorality. God has provided power – power through Jesus and power through the Holy Spirit to enable us to resist temptation. We don’t have to willfully rebel against God. Jesus said,
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” Matthew 7:21-23
"If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21
“Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” John 14:23-24
Just before Jesus ascended to heaven He gave us this command,
“Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
We are to teach new disciples to be obedient – not that they can never lose their salvation. God is merciful and gives those who desire to love Him the power and ability to obey Him. He would not ask it of us if it were not possible.
If a person truly believed that once you were saved you were always saved no matter what you did – they would not worry about it. They would not try to convert those who didn’t believe it – because you aren’t saved by that knowledge. The anger and actions proves the falseness of their doctrine.
This is what the Holy Spirit has taught me. The choice is yours – but there is a consequence to your choice. I urge you to live a life of love expressed in obedience.
