Pull up a chair and listen in as we discuss and wrestle with some verses that proponents of eternal security use to make their case.  Now there will be some overlap here with our last episode, but also some new content as well.  We’ll discuss texts that seem to imply that salvation has nothing to do with works, that we already have eternal life, that salvation is permanent, and lastly that the holy spirit guarantees salvation.

—— Notes ——

State the Doctrine Simply

Salvation is a gift given by God’s grace that we receive by faith and repentance, resulting in a lifestyle of obedience.  If someone turns away from following Christ, whether in a definitive moment of rejection or through a gradual turning away into sin, he or she becomes lost.

Texts that Support This Teaching

Mat 7.21-23; John 15.1-8; Rom 11.16-24; 1 Cor 6.9-10; 9.27; 15.1-2; Gal 5.19-21; 6.8-9; Eph 5.3-12; Phil 3.11-14; Col 1.22-23; 1 Tim 4.16; 5.8; 2 Tim 2.11-13; Heb 2.1-3; 3.12-14; 4.1, 11; 6.4-8; 10.26-29; Jam 2.18-20; 2 Pet 2.20-22; Rev 3.1-5

 

Difficult Texts

Below are a number of texts used to teach that salvation cannot be lost.  Also, here’s a website (jesus-is-savior.com/Believer’s Corner/eternal_security.htm) to present a strong argument for eternal security.

Salvation Is Based on Faith Alone Not Works

John 3.16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

“believe” in John is more than just mental assent; it implies obedience

John 3.36
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

 

Ephesians 2.8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The initial moment of salvation is truly by grace through faith.

However, once saved we need to perform works

Ephesians 2.10 (very next verse)
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

several other verses in Ephesians make it clear that sinful living results in destruction

Ephesians 5.5-8
5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  7 Therefore do not become partners with them;  8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

 

2 Timothy 1.9
[God] who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began

• yes, the calling is not because of our good works
• but, once we accept the call we must live that out
• I once got a call from Anastasia at BU, offering me a scholarship
  • I had to accept it, but then I also had to move away and enroll and go to the school
  • the calling was free, but it required action or else it would result in nothing

 

Titus 3.5-6
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,  6 which he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior

• yes, we are not saved by our works
• he had to achieve salvation through Christ
• but once saved, we are required to continue in that salvation
• just a few verses earlier, we see the point of salvation clearly laid out

Titus 2.11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,  12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,  13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,  14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

 

We Already Have Eternal Life

John 5.24
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

• even if we “have already” passed from death into life, that doesn’t mean that we can’t go back from life into death
• what about Judas? he “had” eternal life and then he lost it

 

1 John 5.11-13
11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

• what does it mean that we “have” eternal life
• eternal life = ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον = you have age-ish life or life in the age (to come)
• if I say to you that you have a vacation to the Caribbean, does that mean you are already there?
  • no, it means you have it in promise
  • you have the plane ticket
  • you have the hotel reservation
  • everything is set to go

 

Salvation Is Permanent

John 10.27-29
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  29 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.

• very similar to next one

Romans 8.38-39
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• in both texts (Jn 10, Rm 8) the focus is on external realities
• in Jn 10, Jesus is the good shepherd who partners w/ God to protect the sheep
• no wolf or thief is going to snatch the sheep away
• however, what’s absent in Jn 10 and Rm 8 is the person’s own will
• Jesus and God will protect your salvation from someone else so long as you are connected to them
• notice also Jn 10.27…the whole sequence begins “my sheep hear my voice…and they follow me.” If you don’t listen to him or follow him, then—by definition—you’re no longer one of his sheep.
• If you read Rm 8 as saying once you’re saved you can never become unsaved, then God will have to force some to remain his children who don’t want to be anymore

 

John 11.25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

• some may take this to mean that one’s soul is already immortalized from the moment of salvation forwards, such that death is merely separation from the body and immediate assent into heaven
• the first part (v25) is easy enough to grasp: when a believer dies, he will yet live when the resurrection occurs
• the second half (v26) could be taken in (at least) two ways
  • v26 “and everyone who lives (after the resurrection) and believes in me shall never die”
  • v26 “and everyone who lives (now) and believes in me shall never die (in the 2nd death)”
  • the Greek favors the second: v26 καὶ πᾶς ὁ ζῶν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. πιστεύεις τοῦτο;
  • a more literal translation: “And everyone who lives and believes in me will certainly not die in the age. Do you believe this?”

 

Romans 10.9-10
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved… Romans 10.13 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

• this is the initial entry into salvation
• salvation pertains to all three tenses
• past tense salvation: we believe and repent; he forgives and regenerates us
• present tense salvation: as we live, we are continually being saved—living out the salvation we’ve received
• future tense salvation: on the day of Christ’s return we will be saved from death through resurrection and immortalization
• Rm 10.9, 13 and texts like them refer to past tense salvation
  • this salvation has nothing to do with our works
  • however, future salvation depends on maintaining past tense salvation throughout our lives

 

Romans 11.29
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

• this doesn’t refer to individual salvation, but ancient Israel
• ironically, this text is within one of the strongest passages teaching conditional salvation in the whole bible
• in context v29 is saying that God has still chosen/elected Israel, consequently they are beloved, but when it comes to the gospel they are enemies. They are broken off branches of the olive tree of faith

 

Hebrews 13.5
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

• this refers to what God will do, not what we will do
• he won’t leave us, but we may leave him

 

Philippians 1.6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

• once again, this refers to what God will do
• he will complete what he has begun in us so long as we remain faithful to him
• look at Judas, he turned away and betrayed Christ
• was the good work begun in Judas completed? No!  But, this is because Judas jumped ship

 

1 Peter 1.23
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

• some take “born again” (cf. 1 Jn 3.9; 4.7; 5.1, 4, 18) to mean that we are now God’s seed, as if biological children
• by analogy if a mother despises a daughter and disowners her, does that men she is not her daughter anymore? She is and will always be her daughter.  This is biological and permanent.
• this strict overly literal reading of the “born again” language overstates the point
• here, Peter is simply saying we have a new life as a result of believing the “seed” of God’s gospel message (cf. Sower and Seed Parable)

 

The Holy Spirit Guarantees Salvation

Ephesians 1.13-14
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,  14 which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

 

Ephesians 4.30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by which you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

2 Corinthians 1.21-22
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,  22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

2 Corinthians 5.5
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

• each of these texts teaches that God’s spirit is a down payment, guarantee, or pledge of what he’s going to do
• this is similar to Judah and Tamar where the same Greek word ἀρραβών is used for a pledge of future payment

Genesis 38.15-18
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”  17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it–”  18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.

• he never actually paid her because later on he couldn’t find her
• thus, the pledge guaranteed what he would do, but she disappeared and so lost out on the young goat he promised her.

—— Links ——

• Check out more episodes and posts on Salvation
• For the textbooks, check out the New Bible Dictionary and Greg Deuble’s They Never Told Me This in Church.
• Also, listen to an interview with Deuble here.
• See other episodes in this Theology Class
• Find more Restitutio classes here
• More information about Converge 2019
• Intro music: Jazzy Frenchy by bensound.com. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License