“The seed that fell
among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the
message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so
no fruit is produced” (Matt. 13:22 NLT).
Last month, we
considered the Biblical teaching on the unpardonable sin. As you recall, this
is the sin of apostasy. Apostasy means to fall away from saving faith in Christ
and thereby lose one’s salvation. Many Christians will think that they have
committed such a sin. However, the very fact that they have had such a thought
proves that they have not; the Holy Spirit is still convicting their
conscience. Thus, it does not matter how far a person strays from Christ, His
grace is still available for them to receive. Yet this does not negate the
possibility of a genuine follower of Christ from choosing to no longer follow
Him and thereby forfeit their salvation as we saw last month.
This month, I’d like us
to consider some common objections that people have to the possibility of a
genuine Christian losing their salvation. The first false belief that many Christians
believe is that once a person has received God’s grace of salvation, they are
always under that grace. However, the Apostle Paul plainly states some of the
members of the church in Galatia had fallen from grace. “You who are trying to
be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace” (Gal. 5:4). A person can only fall from a chair, if they are on a chair
and a person can only fall from grace if they were in grace. Peter thinks of
the conditionality of covenants and caution of God’s people, “If you do these
things, you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10). If falling from grace is
impossible, then why would Peter give this warning?
A second false belief
many Christians believe is that once a person is a child of God, that they are
always a child of God. However, in the account of the prodigal son (Luke
15:11-32), we see a clear picture of our relationship as Christians with our
Heavenly Father. In this passage, the loving father considered his son “lost”
when he was away from home (Luke 15:24). The son had to return to the father
(Luke 15:17-20), and the father had to restore him into the family (Luke
15:20-24). Therefore, the son, while away from the family was no longer
considered to be a part of the family.
A third false belief
that many Christians believe is once a person has their name recorded in the
Book of Life that their name could never be erased. However, the LORD told
Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me I will blot out of My book” (Ex. 32:33).
Jesus also stated that the promise of having one’s name written in the book of
life is conditional. “He who overcomes…I will never blot out His name from the
book of life (Rev. 3:5).
And a fourth false
belief that many Christians believe is that once a person is in Christ they are
always in Christ. However, John 15 relates Christians to branches in the vine
(Jesus) and God is the gardener, who, “cuts off every branch in Me (Jesus) that
bears no fruit” (John 15:2). Jesus plainly states, “If anyone does not remain
in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are
picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (John 15:6).
After considering these
points, one can see that the teaching that once a person is saved, they are
always saved, is clearly false. On the other hand, there are several passages
which affirm that we, as faithful followers of Jesus Christ, do have assurance
of our salvation. Yet those such passages do not teach unconditional
perseverance. “They teach assurance, but an assurance that is consistent with
our continuing to meet the conditions upon which salvation was given to us in
the first place. In fact, the overwhelming testimony of the NT is that staying
saved is just as conditional as becoming saved. These are gracious conditions
of course, and not legalistic ones. As Christians, we remain justified by
faith, not by good works as Romans 3:28 teaches” (Jack Cottrell, The Faith
Once for All, p. 376).
There are several places throughout the Bible
that teach saving faith must have continuing implications.
First, in the original Greek of John 3:16, the word belief speaks of a faith
that begins at a certain moment but continues to make a difference in a
person’s life. It is a present active trust in Christ for one’s salvation.
Second, Jesus said, “IF you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples
of Mine” (John 8:31 NASB, emphasis mine). Third, in John 15 Jesus teaches that
those who do not remain in Him will be cast out and burned, a clear reference
to hell. Fourth, the Apostle Paul said, “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of
the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken
your stand. By this gospel you are saved, IF you hold firmly to the word I preached
to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain” (1 Cor. 15:1-2 emphasis mine).
Cottrell also points out how in Romans 11:22, Paul describes Jews who became
unbelievers as “those who fell,” and he says that any Christian who does not
continue to trust in the provisions of God’s grace “will be cut off.” In the
former case the lostness is actual, and in the latter case it is potential; but
in both cases it is real (The Faith Once For All, p. 378).
Our salvation is much
like the following illustration: picture a father crossing a busy highway with
a small child by his side holding his hand quite firmly. The father has good
judgment and he is capable of shielding the child from any calamity and
protecting him from any outside force harming him as they make their way across
the highway. The one which the father cannot prevent is the child being willful
and wrenching himself free from his grasp, running off and being struck by a
vehicle. This seems to me an adequate parable of what Paul means in Romans
8:31-39. God has a firm loving
grip on the believer, and no outside force can separate the believer
from God and God’s love.
A believer cannot lose
his or her salvation as one might lose one’s glasses. But by willful rebellion,
there is the possibility of falling away, of making shipwrecking of one’s
faith. The Good News, then, is that one cannot lose or misplace one’s salvation
or simply wander away by accident. Indeed, only by an enormous willful effort
could one throw it away. Such is the loving grasp God has on His children (Ben
Witherington III. Paul’s Letter
to the Romans a Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, p. 235).
In His service,
Matt
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