|
This is one teaching of
Christian denominations with which I disagree. I've heard most of the
teachings of what is called eternal security and many of them don't make
sense. Yes, I believe that once we're saved, then the Holy Spirit will guide
us in everything we do - if we let him. However, I also believe man is
always free to choose what he does even if this means going against the
teachings of the Bible or the guidance of the Holy Spirit. [See the study on
free will]
Mark 13:13 All men will
hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Although someone has accepted God's offered salvation, we're warned some people will turn away from God to save themselves from persecution.
Luke 8:13
Those on the rock are the ones
who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They
believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
If someone believes the word, they're led to the acceptance of the fact of
salvation and will be saved. As in Mark 13:13, they later turn away from
that truth and salvation to save themselves.
John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in me,
he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned. When
we're saved it's said we're in Christ and he is in us [paraphrase]. Here,
Jesus says it's possible for us to leave him. The second part of the quote
is an illustration of Hell.
Galatians 5:4
You who are trying to be
justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace. Part 1 says that people who have
come to Christ are separated from him because they come to believe it's by
actions (works) that they can be saved. They lose faith in the truth of
God's word. Part 2 says these people are no longer under grace. Since God's
grace is the only way to salvation, they've lost their salvation.
Philippians 2:12 ...
continue to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling. This
relates to free will. If we're at first free to choose the way to salvation,
then we can also freely choose to later reject that salvation. Although some
will say the Holy Spirit will keep us there, we can always, by free will,
not follow that lead.
1 Timothy 1:19 ...
holding on to faith and a good
conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
A person can only reject their faith if they had faith to begin with. This
is shown in 1 Timothy 1:16 where it says that those described in 1:19 have
believed in Jesus and received salvation. Once the faith is rejected,
salvation goes with it. A ship that sinks loses all people and possessions
on board.
Hebrews 6:4-6
As it is impossible for those
who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have
shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God
and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to
repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all
over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Some have argued that those who fall away weren't really saved in the first
place. When someone is saved, the Holy Spirit is sent to them as a guide.
Verse 4 clearly states the people referred to have received the Holy Spirit.
Verse 6 just as clearly states they've fallen away and rejected
Jesus, God, and the truth of God's word and thus the accompanying salvation.
This is the clearest statement that makes it obvious that "once saved,
always saved" is a great heresy of the modern church.
2 Peter 2:20
If they have escaped the
corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are
again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they
were in the beginning. Knowing our Lord
is knowing the truth of his saving us and accepting the offered salvation.
Being again overcome by the world is to renounce Christ and reject
salvation.
Jude 4 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 God into
a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our Sovereign and Lord.
This letter from Jude was written because of his concerns for other people's
salvation. He's warning others not to follow false teachers. This warning
would only be necessary if those he wrote to were saved and that salvation
could be lost. |
