Can a Christian lose his or her Salvation?

Can a Christian lose his or her Salvation?

One major debate within Christian circles is the question of whether or not a Christian can lose his or her salvation. Arminians argue that true believers can sin so much that they lose their faith and perish. Some Christians respond by arguing that once a person professes faith in Jesus, he is eternally secure in his salvation and—even if he commits complete apostasy (“falls away”) and vocally rejects Jesus Christ—will still go to heaven, for “once saved, always saved.” In light of the biblical doctrine of predestination, how should we understand the security we have under God’s care? There have been three main approaches to the question:

1. Classic Arminianism

• One must persevere in faith to be saved.

• True believers can lose their faith.

• Those dying without faith in Christ are condemned.

“The believer who loses his faith is damned.”

2. Antinomianism

• One need not persevere in faith to be saved.

• True believers can lose their faith.

• Those who lose their faith are saved, since they once believed.

“The believer who loses his faith is saved.”

3. Classic Calvinism

• One must persevere in faith to be saved.

• True believers cannot lose their faith, since it’s God’s gift.

• Those dying without faith in Christ are condemned.

• Those who “lose” their faith never had it to begin with.

• God will preserve true believers and they will be saved.

“The ‘believer’ who loses his faith never really had it—or at least it wasn’t in Jesus.”

Proponents of the first two approaches quote biblical references, but each must strain to explain away the other group's biblical data. How can an Arminian read Romans 8, then tell true believers that they may screw up and go to hell??? Then again, how can Charles Stanley read Hebrews 6 and 10 and tell unbelievers who once professed faith not to worry, that they will be saved??? Any true biblical teaching must “fit” with ALL the biblical data, without pitting one text against another and without having to explain away a single “jot or tittle” of God's inerrant Word. I believe that only the classical Calvinist model takes into account all of the biblical data.

Arminians are right when they say the Bible teaches that only those who persevere will be saved, and they’re right in accusing Antinomians of easy-believism and cheap grace. Antinomians (they wouldn’t use the term) are right in telling committed believers that they are secure in Christ and “once saved, always saved.” But both of these views are wrong is assuming that a true believer can lose his faith and fall away from Christ. Faith is “a gift of God—not by works, lest any man boast.” Paul was confident that, since Christ had begun a good work in believers, He would continue that work until completion (Phil. 1). John said that those who fell away were never really true Christians, since true believers don't leave the faith (1 John 2:19).

Scripture teaches that believers must persevere until the end, but also that believers will persevere until the end by God's grace. As the Westminster Assembly concluded, Christians might temporarily yield to Satan's temptations, even to excess, but like Peter when he denied Christ three times, God will still restore and preserve the faith of the Christian, a faith which God gave in the first place! Peter went on to be chief among the apostles! Two biblical principles must be held side-by-side:

1. You Must Persevere until the End: God's Requirement of His People

God does not merely command us to begin to believe for a time, and then fall away. He requires us to continue to believe until the end, living lives of repentance and covenant faithfulness. Granted, He does not ask for a perfect faith, but He does ask for a real faith, one that produces real, lasting change.

• Colossians 1:21-23

• 1 John 1:5-10; 3:3-6

• Hebrews 10:26-31

• Hebrews 12:1

2. You Will Persevere Until the End: God's Preservation of His People

We will persevere because God preserves us. God will keep us from falling—not one will be lost of all those who belong to the Son. True believers are not able to leave Christ, for Christ is at work within them.

• John 6:38-40

• John 10:28-29

• Romans 8:28-39

• Philippians 1:4-6

• Philippians 2:12-13

• 1 John 2:19

This first set of texts cannot be used to refute the second (Arminianism); nor can the second set of texts be used to refute the first (cheap grace). The point that makes the two compatible is the biblical teaching that faith (while commanded of everyone) is a gift from God to His elect. If faith is simply a human action of a free will, then it can be lost. But if saving faith is God's gift, then it cannot be lost. Can professing Christians fall away? Yes, and they will perish. Can true Christians fall away? No, for they are kept by the invincible power of God in Christ. The Bible teaches us that professing Christians who leave the faith were never truly believers (1 John 2:19; and notice the qualification even in Hebrews 10:39).

hey hmmhmm,

Great post. Really learned a lot from it and gave me a new perspective.

I still struggle with calvinism though. It seems to nullify the urgency of Jesus' command to "go into all the world and make disciples of all men" since if it has already been predestined for the 'elect' to be saved, it seems like there is no real need to preach the Gospel, since the 'elect' will somehow get saved anyways!
Now i know thats foolishness, but can you kind of see what I'm saying?

Salvation [i]is[/i] most absolutely a free gift given from God alone...but don't men have the freedom to choose to reject that gift? Even after they've received it? Isn't that very freedom to choose...at the very foundation of being able to have a loving, intimate, relationship with our Father...since we are also able to choose not to? If there was no choice, then there can be no love.

You are so right though...it is a tough one to explain because neither side of the coin seems to be able to truely take into account the Scriptures (that you gave) that support the other.

I wrote this in another post, but will post it below...do you think it could be a matter of perspective?

The Arminian views things from a human standpoint. We do not know if one of those who profess Jesus (who we believe is saved) will depart from our Lord and "receive the grace of God in vain" (Heb 12:15). And if that person denies their Lord and walks away from Him, and then is hit by a truck: he is going to hell. And although He was once "saved"...he now is not. He walked away from God. He did not endure to the end. (Matthew 10:22,24:13)

Yet, the Calvinist views things from an eternal standpoint. He is looking from the outside of 'time', in. Since that man who was hit by the truck never actually [b]received[/b] his salvation and was not ultimately 'saved'...in eternity's eyes, he technically never was saved because when the actual time of 'saving' came...he wasn't.

Again, I don't claim to have all the answers and I'm totally searching here...but it seems like the Bible indicates so many times that someone [b]was[/b] truely saved and walked away.
"Those who endure to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22,24:13 Mark 13:13) The word [b]endure[/b] alone indicates some sort of effort on our part, a clinging and a holding "unwaveringly to the hope we profess"

Jude 12 talks about men who are twice dead. The only way that I know someone can be twice dead is that they were dead in their sin, made alive through Jesus Christ, and are now dead again. But at one point, they were alive!

Jude, in v.5 it says "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."
The NLT paraphrases it like this, "...he later destroyed every one of those who did not [i]remain faithful[/i]." (emphasis mine) Jesus continually said "Those who endure to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:13, Mark 13:13) That means that someone can decide to give up halfway through the race, thus not finishing the race or claiming the prize of salvation. We must endure to the end to receive our salvation!

Also the context of Jude...he is speaking about men who have crept into the church unnoticed who"change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord."(Jude 4) Now if these men have crept in unnoticed, and yet are denying our Lord Jesus Christ, then obviously they're not denying Him so much with spoken word (something very noticable), but their actions and lifestyle!! And then they claim "grace" as their covering and thus "change the grace of our God into a license for immorality."

Peter goes on about these men, and please read this carefully:
If they have [b]escaped[/b] 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 at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. (2 Peter 2:20-21 NIV).

This shows that they did indeed [b]escape[/b] the corruption of this world. It also says that they had once [b]known the way of righteousness[/b] and then turned their backs on it.

I really am interested to know what you think.
God bless you so much brother!

Adam

first id just let you know im not the author of the post :) i found that id was a very good one in many ways and just shared it,

well im not there myself, im still searching myself, I "struggled" whit this myself, it is a gift from GOD, scripture says so clearly, But it also says that he chose us from even before the earth was made, and if GOD chose you and me to be saved, did we have that choise then? it is true we can chose to reject him, but id have to go whit the one that if someone falls away then the person was not saved to begin whit,

1Jo 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

i belive and as i understand scripture, if you get "saved", you recive the Gospel, you start on that small road, but for some reason you give it up, whatever reason and whit the full knowledge of what you are doing will cost you your salvation you know the truth and deny it then i belive it would have been better of if you never known the way of righteousness ,

and this verse scares me even knowing it was writen to jews,

Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,