Can I lose my salvation?
My, the conversations this has stirred up among us through the years. It’s obviously not as clear as one would like it to be. Again we hang on God’s every word, and lean not to our own understanding or interpretation or favorite theologian or author.
There are a few lines of thought we can use from the “no” side. No, you cannot lose your salvation, says the “Calvinist” (sorry to keep mentioning his name, but that’s how it is viewed today).
Why? Paul: Romans 8 again. Verses 29-31. (I paraphrase)
“There’s this group of people. God knew them a long time ago. He decided that this group of people would be born again, made in the very image of His Son Jesus. Jesus would then be the firstborn in that New Family, and all the ones the Father knew ahead of time would be considered brothers and sisters of Jesus. So, this same group, the ones He saw and planned, He called out from the world. (He called many others too, but this group was also chosen… “many are called but few are chosen).
This same group that He knew, and made into the image of His Son, and called out from the world, He justified through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus. And this same group is the group that shall share the very glory of God forever. Now, who can come against such a group as this? They are God’s chosen, that is, they are God’s justified or saved or ransomed. Who could possibly separate this group from God if God has decreed that they are His own?”
A fair translation, I think? A reasonable position, taken from Holy Scripture. Who can deny it? Who would want to? Such security! If I am known, I am always known. If I am conformed to Jesus, I am always conformed. If I am called, I’m always called. If I am justified, I’m always justified.
If God has put His stamp of approval on me, will He take it away?
This is not just from Paul. John gives us a parallel passage from the lips of Jesus Himself in chapter 10, verses 27-30. Again allow me to modernize the text, while you are reading originals:
“As a Shepherd of My people, I know how to speak in such a way that they (my sheep) will hear My Voice. I have a personal knowledge of each one. I speak and they listen. If I say ‘Follow’, they follow, wherever I want them to go. Each one of them receives eternal life from Me. I mean eternal. Never, never will they be lost, or perish. Absolutely no one has the power to take them back from Me once they are Mine! No one. Not the Devil, not even themselves.
“They are secure. And that is not their only security. You see, before the Heavens were, My Father gave Me those very sheep. He said, ‘This one, and that one, and that one over there, they are all Yours, Son. Take care of them. I give them to You. But though I give them totally to You, they are still totally Mine. They are in My hand as well as Yours.’ So you see, the true sheep of God have the double protection of My hand, and the hand of My Father around them. Of course, I and My Father are also One…”
Even our favorite John 3:16 states that whoever believes in Jesus will never perish! And the great apostle adds to this security statement in his first epistle:
2:25. This is the promise Which He Himself made to us: eternal life.
So there you have it. Jesus gives us life. He doesn’t take it back somehow. Promise made, promise kept. Case closed.
But I see in the back of the room a hand waving violently to catch my attention, and I now hear a voice crying out “Hebrews, Hebrews!”
What about the Jewish people? What has that got to do with it? “No, no, not that Hebrews! The book of Hebrews, filled with warnings about losing your salvation!”
Oh. That Hebrews. Case not closed. Not yet.
One thing for sure. If Paul really was the writer of Hebrews, it is certain he is not going to contradict in this book what he said in Romans! Even if he did not write it, if our teaching about the inspiration of Scriptures is correct, there is not going to be contradiction from any other Spirit-filled first century author. But maybe a different emphasis, a different point of view.
Let’s deal with Hebrews, then with a couple things Paul says elsewhere that may trouble us too. And remember, verses that trouble us may be game changers for honest people, or they may merely be challenges to and tests of and fuller meanings of the teaching that is found clearly in other places.
All right. Let’s look at Hebrews, prayerfully. (And let’s not forget John while we are here. Let the words whisper in your ears, “…and they shall never perish…”)
Hebrews 6:4-6 seems to be in opposition to Hebrews 6:9-12. Seems like two different groups of people within just a few verses of each other. There is a fallen away group in the former verses, and a persevering group in the latter. Do you see them?
The question is, fallen away from what? From salvation, or from some personal, but not saving, experience with Christ. Perhaps like some of you, I had encounters with God that were not saving, only leading me to salvation. I had a very dramatic answer to prayer as a boy, but I did not experience forgiveness of sin until I was an adult.
There were many Jews - and the letter, after all, is clearly addressed to Jews - who had experienced great miracles at Jesus’ hands when He was here. The powers of the coming Kingdom were manifested all around them. They followed this Jesus. Then, as it is recorded in the Gospels, for one reason or another, many just stopped walking with Him. They had never dealt with the sin problem and so were still unsaved sinners, regardless of the power of God on them for healing or other miracles.
Here is a severe warning to those in our own day who trust in the encounter, the answered prayer, the financial blessing, the healing, some claim even the resurrection from the dead. None of these will avail when the Lord calls His own to Himself one day. They shall claim only the blood of Jesus as their cover, their entry fee into Emmanuel’s Land. We hear with clarion call the words of Jesus in Matthew 7, “Depart from me [prophets, exorcists, miracle workers] you who work iniquity. I never knew you.”
Hebrews 6:4-6 seems to describe persons who came oh! so close to Heaven, but who ultimately fell away. And in full light of revelation they said no to the Son of God. They shall never now say yes to Him. For them it is “once lost, in this brilliant Light, always lost.”
For those who cannot see these verses this way, I suggest that the warning itself becomes the means by which the truly saved will stay saved. A saved person looks at this passage and trembles, even if it does not apply to him. The fear of the Lord in him makes it impossible for him to fall away.
But the writer is also addressing saved Jews, and tells them he is convinced that salvation is theirs and will be. That is that other group starting in verse 9. Notice how quickly he goes from negative to positive talk. Yes there are those surface believers who will turn away. But not you. It is obvious you are different.
Hebrews 10:23-39 is another passage in the book that causes concern to a serious student of these matters. The theme of the verses is “holding fast.” We can hold fast because a promise was given to us by one who is faithful, says the writer. We will hold fast because of His promise, His character, and the means by which He has made all this possible: the church’s commitment to “stimulate one another to love and good works”, a stimulation that includes this very passage!
Verse 26 says there is no other sacrifice available for one who rejects the sacrifice of Christ. If, like the group described above, one is surrounded by a knowledge of the truth, but not sealed by the Spirit of God unto a salvation that acknowledges the blood shed for him, he is without hope. If he decides to continue in his sins and reject the call of God, there is no hope. If Christ is among us and one does not reach out to Him for salvation, there is no hope.
But once more the writer describes a second group. He is talking also to those who were “enlightened”, then persecuted, then friends of the persecuted. To them He issues a warning, which they will obey. Yes, if they shrink back – if that were possible – God would have no more pleasure in them.
But they won’t shrink back (vs 38-39), says the writer of Hebrews. They are of a special class of people who will have grace to endure to the very end, the preserving of the soul. Read it for yourself. Far from being a passage against the perseverance of the saints, Hebrews 10:39 is a clear description of God’s faithful hand on His own, the ones He gave to Jesus. The ones who will prevail. The ones who will not shrink back. The ones safely in the Son’s and in the Father’s hand.
What think ye of this? Satisfied yet? Secure yet? “No,” you say. “Paul talked about branches being taken off the ‘Israel tree.’ Romans 11 must be dealt with!”
Yes, this is a difficult one. But since it is Paul speaking most certainly this time, it must be read in the light of everything else Paul says. Paul is not divided against himself when he writes these messages to Rome.
One of the guiding principles of the apostle in this chapter is in verse 29: The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable! Backing up then to the “difficulty” that begins in verse 17, where Paul calls Gentile believers, “branches of a wild olive tree,” grafted into the original olive tree called “Israel.” The punch comes in verse 22, where Paul says that we must continue in His kindness, or we will be cut off from that tree.
The only conclusion possible from such a statement is that if we were indeed given to the Son by the Father (for John cannot be left out of this equation) we will “continue in His kindness.” By the very nature of the new birth, this perseverance will happen! Why? “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”
One other possibility is that Paul is saying, in a different way here, what Scripture says elsewhere, to make our calling and election sure. Take nothing for granted. Keep calling out to God, looking for fruit and other signals that we have been born again. It is possible, is it not, that one could become a “partaker” with the church, and be as those ones we described above who did things that church people do, but had not the saving grace on the inside? Be very sure… Because if you aren’t really saved, you will be cut off.
Forgive me if I seem to be defending a theological system at any expense. My desire is to find the truth, and build upon it. Once I have found a clear statement of truth, then something that seems to come against that truth cannot be taken at face value, but must be examined more fully. Here, in one chapter, Paul seems to say two different things. But the one thing he said is said clearly elsewhere, so we build upon that truth, and explain the rest.
That’s not satisfying to some, and they should not go with it if their conscience is offended. They should allow the Holy Spirit slowly to teach them one precept at a time.
As I stated earlier, this discussion has been going on for a long time. We won’t settle it all now, for we are dealing, as Paul says even further on into Romans 11, with the very mind of God. Let us be persistent in searching but not frustrated in not finding it all. And once you think you finally understand His mind, read Romans 11:34 again: “Who has known the mind of the Lord?”
Indeed.
