Eternal Security: Can You Lose Your Salvation?

There are various names for the doctrine of eternal security. There is:

OSAS (Once Saved, Always Saved)
Unconditional Eternal Security
Perseverance of the Saints / Preservation of the Saints
Conditional Eternal Security
Then there’s the belief that one can lose their salvation easily
After this is the belief that there can be no assurance that one is truly saved

Even within these categories there are variations of belief but generally, OSAS believes that once you’ve said the sinner’s prayer and made a confession of faith, you’re on your way to heaven and you can’t lose your spot even if you fall away from the faith and reject Christ and live in sin. Either that, or you were never saved to begin with. This view is common in Baptist circles, and is propagated by Charles Stanely and the Free Grace Theology movement from Zane Hodges. Many who hold this view emphasize apologetic arguments for salvation being a free-will choice saying, “God is a gentlemen and will not force you against your will,” but then when it comes to the issue of if one can leave the faith, this same argument does not carry through because you’re able to get in with your own free-will but you are not able to leave by your own free-will (even though you have apparently left by action and belief).

Within the Calvinistic camp, there is the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints and the Preservation of the Saints. To those who believe more strictly to John MacArthur’s Lordship Salvation theology, they believe that if someone is truly saved, they will persevere to the end. For most people in this camp, this means that they believe that a genuine Christian cannot backslide or become a “carnal Christian.” The Calvinists who don’t ascribe to all the Lordship Salvation teachings and terminology like TheoCast (confessionally reformed), believe that genuine Christians can slip into seasons of carnality but will not ultimately stay in that condition or God will take them home early so that they do not lose their salvation. Both of these camps believe that God will both preserve His people and also that they will persevere to the end and there is no possibility of apostacy. If they do apostatize, that means they were never saved to begin with. Their deterministic doctrines of salvation are logically consistent with their belief in Unconditional Eternal Security. Free-will is not a significant player here since the believer’s future all rests on God’s sovereignty, power, love, and grace.

Within charismatic circles, it’s a mix between Conditional Eternal Security and then the belief of very conditional eternal security that one can lose their faith easily if they sin. This last one is a difficult one that places a heavy emphasis on good works so much that many Christians live in constant fear and doubt under that system. The Lordship salvation group (mentioned previously) would also have similar problems here for assurance. Any system that places a heavy emphasis on good works rather than faith in Christ, will have difficulty with assurance. Within a conditional salvation framework, any sin could cause you to lose your salvation and then you would have to become born again and then born again and then born again after every time you mess up or rebel against God. In these circles, people are often getting re-saved and are often rededicating their lives to Christ. And if you are in a backslidden state or if you didn’t confess your sin to God before you died, then you could go to hell. People who live in this kind of circle who struggle with their assurance and are psychologically tormented by the thought of going to hell, they will not find the mental freedom or the freedom from sin that they seek because fear, shame, and guilt does not bring life, healing, and freedom, only the message of the love of Jesus and the love of the Father through the cross of Christ can offer them freedom and healing.

Conditional Eternal Security holds that as long as you have genuine faith, you will persevere to the end. God also preserves your faith to the end by His power but your free-will choice to sin can weaken your faith and eventually lead you to completely reject the faith that you once believed. It is at this point where you consciously decide to walk away from Christianity that you are no longer saved. However, within this camp, there is uncertainty in how far or how long you can choose to keep sinning (without confession and repentance) and still be saved. It is therefore a motivator to continue walking with God so that you will not lose your reward (salvation). But this loss of reward is not something accidental like losing your car keys or slipping up in sin. God’s not going to send you to hell for that. Your relationship with God is a covenant—not a contract. It’s a family—not a membership. Some version of Conditional Eternal Security is what the early church fathers believed and it is also the most balanced view which causes people to have enough reverence of God that they do not just live however they please but also since it is family and covenant, they don’t have to fear God kicking them out because they made a mistake or because they’re struggling in their fight with sin. They can rightly place their faith in God’s love for them and that can be the primary emphasis. It is also logically consistent with the belief in free-will that you can choose to enter the family and you can also choose to leave the family and disown them and live in another house.

The problem in the Calvinistic view of eternal security is that often because of their deterministic beliefs about salvation and God’s sovereignty, their faith can be misplaced. That is, they can tend to focus on whether or not God chose them to be saved, if they are one of the elect or not. It can become this mental game of: He loves me… He loves me not… He loves me… He loves me not… He chose me… He chose me not… How can you really know? How can you know if Jesus really died for you? (limited atonement). How can you know God’s secret knowledge of which people are elect and which are not and if you are among them? After all, if a true believer cannot apostatize and yet someone can live among the church people and produce “good fruit” and show all evidences of being saved and then walk away from it all, what does that say about the realness of salvation? Does good fruit even mean anything at this point? If so, how can you honestly evaluate your own salvation? And what if you were one of those people who walked away or backslid and then came back? People will tell you that you were never saved to begin with when you know deep down that at the very beginning your salvation was indeed real. But then when people start to question that, you’ll begin to question yourself and your own present salvation and then this will take you on a road of deep introspection and cognitive dissonance to the degree that you will find assurance a very difficult thing to obtain. However, true assurance can only be found in having faith in Jesus Christ. Stop navel gazing and start focusing on His love for you and what He did for you on that cross. Read the book of Hebrews again and notice how most every time the focus is on faith. It’s a faith that perseveres to the end in which you will be saved. It’s not about perfect obedience. It’s about faith. Faith in Jesus.

When I left Calvinism and began to believe in contra-causal free will to both enter salvation through faith and by the grace of God and to leave salvation of my own choice, it was mentally and psychologically freeing. At this time, I also believed in Conditional Immortality rather than Eternal Conscious Torment. Because of this, I didn’t feel like if I were to leave, there would be a gun to my head. For the first time in my life, I felt like I actually had an option here to choose to continue walking with God or to leave if I so choose. I wasn’t forced to love God—I could choose to love Him. And so I made the decision to continue choosing God. And God is glorified and pleased by my free-will offering. There was a gratitude and love I felt for God at this time where I realized that my obedience to Him was not deterministically controlled by God but I had an actual and real choice to serve Him. I could now focus on how my choices would affect my future rather than focusing on the present difficult circumstances that I would just have to bear through as a victim since God had “deterministically made my life this way.” Slowly, I began to realize my true identity as a Son of Adam to rightfully take my authority back from Satan and exercise my dominion over the earth. The Calvinistic mindset is more often about being a victim of circumstances, enduring, waiting, persevering, and trusting God for the future, and going with the flow. But once I got out of Calvinism, I realized that I had more purpose than I thought. I can change and effect circumstances in a real sense. This gave me a renewed sense of motivation to serve God.

To believe that one can forfeit their salvation by walking away actually boosted my assurance of salvation. This is because if you believe the only other alternative is that you were never saved to begin with and you have just been self-deceived this whole time, then what does that mean for your choice to stay in the faith? That is, you’re either a self-deceived unsaved person having faith in God or you actually have genuine faith. But how can one really know if they are self-deceived when the very definition of this condition (deception) means that you are completely unaware that you are in this condition? Therefore, the intellect cannot be used or trusted by any means to come to a sure and certain belief. That is, there is no way to really know. Deceived people don’t know that they’re deceived. However, if one believes that they can freely choose to walk away from the faith then by their very choosing to not walk away despite all the assaults on their faith, proves that their faith is genuine. Otherwise, they would have walked away a long time ago. Assurance, therefore, is continually aided by trials and persecutions. These trials test the genuineness of our faith as we continue to overcome challenges when any other sane or rational person would have abandoned the faith by now if their faith was not real. Therefore, I know my faith is real because I continue to choose God and have not chosen to walk away. So, although it may sound counter-intuitive, you can actually have more assurance of your salvation if you believe it’s possible to forfeit your salvation rather than believing that you can never lose your salvation. Therefore, Conditional Eternal Security is more helpful to believe in than Unconditional Eternal Security. And I would know, since I experienced life under both of these doctrinal frameworks. Now, I do not expect you to be convinced of my position by this philosophical argument alone. However, at the very least, you can understand where I am coming from and hopefully not attack my position with too much fervor and outrage.

I think it would also be helpful to understand where other people are coming from when it comes to this debate. For those who believe in Eternal Conscious Torment, it would seem outrageous for a loving God to allow His own child to fall into the flames of hell since that child is part of the family. Now, I totally agree and get that sentiment and I once had it but now I don’t believe in ECT and for that reason, the idea of a believer losing their salvation is not such a far-off idea anymore. However, I also strongly believe in the love of our Father God. He absolutely would not just let you slip into hell because you made a mistake or are struggling to do the right thing. He will be with you and help you and will be gracious to you. However, as adult children, He will respect our free-will choice even as the father did with the prodigal son and didn’t keep him confined to the house.

While some may debate this subject to defend God’s loving character, others may debate it to defend their systematic theology. In Calvinism, specifically, the doctrine of Conditional Security would be contradictory to quite a few things within their systematic. They believe that since God was powerful and sovereign to save you that He will complete that work unto the end. It wouldn’t make much sense for God to start something but never finish it. It also wouldn’t make much sense for someone who is made into a new creature and born-again, for them to then become unborn again and to become uncreated again. That obviously makes no sense. But here we must decide whether these words relating to salvation are simply meant to describe the degree and effect to which our lives in Christ are new or if these words are meant to be taken more literally to describe an ontological reality of our very physical or spiritual being having been changed. I believe all these words are metaphors and simply point to our new life in Christ which is Christ in us. He is the Vine and we are the branches and apart from Him we can do nothing and it is possible for us to be cut off and severed from Christ. I believe that the change that takes place within us is an infused change from the indwelling presence of Christ transforming us rather than an ontological change. Therefore, all the new creature, new heart, and born-again language simply points to our union with Christ. However, all the spiritual progress we made through our union with Christ is possible to be reversed when we refuse to yield to Him and/or turn away from Him. Because, apart from Him we can do nothing. That seems to indicate that once/if Christ leaves, our new life of living in a transformed way does not remain either because it was never an ontological reality. This is why we are told to abide in Christ and remain in Him.

Conditional security is also not compatible with the Calvinistic doctrine of Limited Atonement under Penal Substitutionary Atonement because if Christ died for you but then you turn away from the faith, then either Christ didn’t die for you substitutionally or you were never saved to begin with. What would be the purpose for Christ to spill His blood for you and deterministically cause your salvation to then only by His own glory and good pleasure to withdraw His grace from you so that you will turn away from the faith and Christ’s blood was poured out for nothing? It would all seem like a quite ridiculous charade. It is also a quandary why God would deterministically cause unbelievers to live among the true church of believers, causing these unsaved people to believe that they are truly saved when they really are not. According to their framework, He must allow it to happen I guess for His glory and good pleasure. Having said all that, Calvinists really have their work cut out for them to defend God’s honor, power, sovereignty, and love. For those of us who are not Calvinists, it is much simpler to defend God’s honor because of our belief in free-will regarding salvation.

Others may hotly debate this topic of eternal security because they themselves are seeking assurance of their salvation and someone disagreeing with them activates their defensive mechanism to protect themselves from doubt. They may also feel condemned when they read certain passages in the Bible that seem to speak against them or trouble them. Speaking from personal experience, let me say this: There are many passages in the Bible that I proved didn’t mean anyone could lose their salvation. But as the years passed by, I never felt a peace about my interpretation of those passages. The plain meaning of the text seemed to be clear if taken at face value to indicate that it was certainly possible to lose one’s salvation. I eventually decided to humble myself and see this subject in a different way. Once I did and interpreted them as it being actually possible to lose one’s salvation, I finally felt a peace about those passages and I have accepted the reality. Having also accepted this reality; I feel peace since the devil can no longer use those passages to attack my mind. I’m no longer fighting against the Bible. However, if you are looking for assurance but still want to hold onto unconditional security, it would still be most wise to understand what place faith and works have in the conditional security position. Even if you may not want to believe in it, research it anyway so that when the devil accuses you and makes you doubt your salvation, you can have a backup position that has solid footing.

Another reason for contention is the concern over all those Christians or so-called Christians who aren’t living for God or who are living however they want in sin. The OSAS (Once Saved, Always Saved) doctrine is very dangerous for this and leaves room for not only complacency, but if it is truly possible for someone to lose their salvation and OSAS is wrong, then OSAS makes people quite comfortable before they go to hell and prevents people from entering into heaven because of the complacency and acceptance that such a doctrine permits. Also, by its very existence, it encourages spiritual lethargy so that Christians don’t rise up to really live for God and be who God has called them to be. In this way, it is a very counter-productive doctrine to the advancement of God’s kingdom. Some may even call it antinomianism or heresy.

On the other hand of the spectrum, people who believe in OSAS and Unconditional Eternal Security will accuse the other side of a sort of works salvation. They cannot see how this kind of doctrine is consistent with salvation being by grace alone through faith. For this reason, they may use strong language like “heresy” as well and debates could get quite heated from their position. This contention can only be resolved by communicating with one another about the nature of salvation itself and how true faith results in works. Sometimes, various theological groups disagree with one another because their language is different but deep down they believe the same or similar thing. So, it could just be a disagreement in semantics. However, there may be some underlying beliefs that need to be answered, like: What did Jesus mean when He said “it is finished?” Did Jesus die for our future sins and if so, what does that mean? How much good works are enough? Do we strive to keep our salvation by good works and if so, how?

It must be understood that we can’t sin our way out of God’s grace and because of this reason, salvation is by grace alone. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother, Jesus said seventy times seven, meaning, an infinite number because seven is the number of completion (Mt. 18:22). If Jesus commanded us to forgive without reservation, then wouldn’t Jesus Himself abide by the same or higher standard? Indeed, He would. It may also be comforting to learn about God’s forbearance with us in how much He is patient towards our repentance. During the time leading up to the Babylonian captivity, God was very patient with Israel and gave them plenty of warnings through the prophet Jeremiah and others about the coming destruction if they did not repent. Yet even though they continually spurned the grace of God, it was only many years later that their destruction came. On the other hand, we must not forget about the Israelites who perished in the wilderness by all their complaining and unbelief. We are told in Hebrews 3:12-18 to take care that there would be none of us who have an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. These are real warnings with teeth. It's not a hypothetical scenario. One cannot fall away from God if they were never a part of Him. The very reason we’re exhorted to encouraged one another day after day is so that no one will be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. What happens then? Well, when the heart is hardened by sin, it weakens the faith and then in verse 19 we see that the culmination of that disobedience results in unbelief which resulted in the Israelites not being able to enter into the promised land. This is why we must be diligent to guard our hearts and help our brothers and sisters to guard their hearts as well. Imagine how much more we might encourage and help one another in the faith if we actually believed these warnings were real. Hebrews 4:1 then says, “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it” (NASB). We are literally told to fear yet the OSAS group and others see absolutely no reason to fear. Romans 11:19-21 also tells us, “Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.”

Now, this doesn’t mean that we work ourselves up in some kind of psychological dread of terror. Rather, if we have faith, we can have confidence, yet we should at the same time not be arrogant but cautious and reverentially fear God and not presume upon His grace by acting however we want (Heb. 4:14-16; Ro. 11:17-24). We are in a covenant, not a contract and God will work on our behalf. Our relationship with God can also be likened to marriage (which is a covenant). Remember the love God showed us through the prophet Hosea for his harlot wife as a representation of God’s love for Israel? God continues to pursue us and doesn’t give up on us even if we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). However, on the other hand we are given the condition that if we deny Christ by apostatizing, then He will deny us and if we fail to endure unto the end, then we will not reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2-3).

The Apostle Paul himself fought the good fight of faith, saying, “in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:11). Speaking of this salvation, he said he had not obtained it yet, he had not laid hold of it yet, but kept pressing on so that he would. Not that he was striving for salvation by works but by faith and the works that were wrought by the Spirit of God were means of grace to sustain the liveliness of that faith. He had already obtained right standing before God on the basis of faith yet that standing needed to continue firm until the end if he were to reach the salvation of the resurrection from the dead and be with Christ. Paul spoke of these things regarding perseverance unto final salvation and provided himself as an example to imitate. But do you suppose he was merely speaking of some kind of other spiritual rewards? How could that be if he then goes on to speak about weeping over those who don’t walk according to the pattern he has just established? Those people he says are enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction because they live for this world rather than for Christ. The deeds that we do, they matter and they certainly reflect the position of our hearts. Paul also says “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). He says, “so that I may gain Christ” because even though He has Christ in his heart, the salvation isn’t complete until he reaches the finish line. It’s not a done deal. He can’t just take this for granted. But someone in the free grace movement might say, “Come on, Paul! Why are you working so hard for Christ? Just chill. Just relax. Take it easy, man. You’re already saved, bro.” Paul certainly would not see eye-to-eye with them and remember, this is the same guy who wrote the book of Romans and Galatians, from which we get all our faith and grace doctrines from. He is also the one who opposed Peter to his face because Peter wasn’t living consistently with the teachings of grace. But Paul was by no means legalistic. For anyone who has read the early church fathers at length, they will begin to notice how similar this passage in Philippians is to how the early church fathers spoke about persevering unto the end for eternal life. It is really a consistent theme among the early church fathers that cannot be ignored. They believed that Christians could forfeit the faith.

Let’s take a quick look back in the Old Testament and see what it was like to stand right before God. In Ezekiel 18:22 it says that for the one who repents and turns from his sin, all the previous transgressions he has committed will not be remembered but he will live. Similarly, our sins can be cast into the depths of the sea (Mic. 7:19), and cast as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12), and will not be remembered against us (Isa. 43:24; Ezek. 33:16). On the other hand, Ezekiel 33:13 says that if someone trusts in their righteousness so that they commit iniquity, then none of his righteous deeds will be remembered before God but for the iniquity in which he has committed, he will surely die. What is important to God is how we live for Him in the present. You can’t bank on your past righteous deeds to save you if in the present you’re living however you want. Your past deeds do not build up a bank account of merits before God. It’s how you’re continually living in the present that matters. Jesus Christ is not just Savior, He is King. But He is not just King, He is Savior. But being Savior came first and that is where our faith rests but our faithfulness lies devoted to His Kingship. If you only trust Him as Savior but don’t act consistent with the reality that He is King, then you will not be allowed into His kingdom when He returns. It’s not faith plus works but a faith that works. To truly believe in Jesus is to see Him for who He truly is—Savior and King—and this leads to action since one’s beliefs and attitude have changed.

We can take encouragement from the life of David. When he sinned against God by committing adultery and premeditated murder, God forgave him. Yet in that time, his salvation was not taken away. Remember? He prayed that the joy of his salivation be returned to him not his salvation. And he prayed for the Holy Spirit to not be taken away from him, indicating the Spirit was still abiding with him. Speaking of David’s descendant, God promised a covenant saying, “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you” (2 Sam. 7:14-15). We can also take encouragement in this because our heavenly Father will also discipline us (Heb. 12:4-11) and His love will never leave us (Ro. 8:31-39).

In Romans 8:31-39 it says that God is for us and nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Some might use this as a proof text to say that we can’t leave our salvation but it is only speaking about the love of God here and we must know that God loves all of His creation so that even if you decide to walk away from the faith, He will still love you. Because He always loves us and nothing will ever change that, we can be confident and draw near to Him in full assurance of faith and in so doing, we will abide in His love. In Calvinistic soteriology, this passage is quite grim for those struggling with assurance because they’re told that Jesus only died for the elect and if you’re not one of the elect, then Jesus didn’t die for you and God hates all sinners. So, what happens is, your doubt teeters between both worlds. Either God loves you or he hates you. Or, at least, He doesn’t love you as much as the ones He has elected. So if someone is see-sawing between these opposing thoughts, it’s quite difficult to have faith in God’s love because God’s abundant overflowing love is dependent on if you’re one of the elect but you doubt whether you are one of the elect. The end result is, your faith cannot take a firm grasp on anything. But apart from Calvinism, you can have full faith in God’s love for you. He died for you. He is the loving Father with open arms to run after you, welcome you home, put a ring on your finger and kill the fattened calf. You have lost your way. We all have like straying sheep turned to our own way. But Jesus carried the cross as He carried the burden of sin, shame, and guilt so that we could be freed from that burden. Place your faith firmly on His love so that you can be set free from all your doubts. His love is overwhelmingly strong enough to save you.

It is because of our knowledge and faith in God’s love for us that we can have assurance of our salvation: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6:19-20). Jesus is working for us on our behalf. He’s interceding for us. He’s rooting for us. You may not believe in yourself but Jesus believes in you. He believes you can do this. He knows you can make it. Persevere in the faith and you will obtain the promise. Imitate Jesus, Abraham, and all those who have walked this path of faith beforehand and obtained the promise “through faith and patience” (Heb. 6:12). Strengthen your good works and be diligent in them so that you can have “full assurance of hope until the end” (Heb. 6:11).

Now that we have established that one can have assurance of salvation with conditional security and that this is not about works salvation but about a living and loving relationship, let’s turn to the subject of some of the proof texts that others use to prove unconditional eternal security.

Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It says this for those who are “in” Christ Jesus. This is why we must abide in the Vine so that we will be in Him. But if we do not abide, then we are no longer in Him.

Philippians 1:6 says, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” We must realize that the Bible was written for us, not to us. Paul is speaking to the Philippians and based upon what he knows of them and how far they have worked and endured for the sake of Christ, he is personally confident and optimistic about their future that they will make it continually and unto the end. Paul is merely expressing his opinion here. This isn’t a blanket promise for every believer who has ever lived. Hebrews 6:9; 10:39 must also be understood in a similar way.

John 10:27-29 says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 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.” This is certainly a verse any Christian can use to be confident of God’s loving care and protection over them as the Good Shepherd. By hearing God’s voice through the Spirit directing us, we avoid the false teachers and can be certain of eternal life. If we stay under His protection, then we will be protected like sheep in a fold guarded by a shepherd. However, if we ourselves decide to run off and stray, we cannot be guaranteed protection. If we follow the Shepherd, there are no external forces that can overcome us. This, however, does not negate our own free-will. Some might also argue that “eternal life” wouldn’t be called eternal if you could lose it. Well, consider this, 1 John 1:2 defines eternal life for us. It says that Jesus is eternal life. In John 15 it says that Jesus is the Vine. If we do not abide in Him, we will be as a branch that dries up and withers away and is good for nothing but being burned.

Luke 22:31-32 Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” This verse is both an encouragement and a warning. If it were not possible for Peter’s faith to fail, then there would be no need for Jesus to intercede for him but since there remained the future possibility since he would deny the Lord three times, Jesus prayed that he would not give up his faith. Be encouraged by Peter that though he denied knowing Jesus three times out of his fear and anxiety, this did not cause his faith to leave him. Also be encouraged that Jesus prays for us to help us persevere. Peter was at a crossroads. After denying the Lord three times, he could have decided to give up and never face Jesus again out of all his shame and guilt. But he decided to not let that get in the way and he came back. His great failure was not cause for giving up. Because he persevered, he became the rock of the church that Jesus had called him to be and was used by God to save thousands of people. Also be encouraged: God sometimes allows us to be placed in certain situations that are for the purpose of testing and refining our faith and character. Peter was the overconfident one and needed some humility if he was going to be a great leader of Christ’s church. Sometimes God will allow a testing to take place in your life but do not be discouraged by the failure and hardship because the One who placed you in it will not leave you or abandon you. He can snatch you out of the trial before you fail. Sometimes though the trial might be God’s discipline upon you to bring you back and this is possible to resist unto death.

1 Peter 1:3-5 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” One of the purposes to which Christ made us alive in Him was so that we could obtain immortality and fellowship with God in heaven. To this end, we can have a hope that is sure because our inheritance isn’t going anywhere and we are protected by God’s power through our faith. God does not deterministically control our faith. Our faith is our own. God’s power is like an airplane and our faith is the seat on that airplane. All we have to do is stay on the airplane and we will reach our destination. But if for some reason we decide to open the emergency doors and jump out, we will not reach our destination. To say that we can forfeit our salvation, does not at all diminish God’s power. Our future is secure in Him but only in Him. For what insane reason would anyone jump out of the plane?

What about Hebrews 6? How do we interpret this passage? What are the options? We must ask, who is the target audience for the author? What does “fall away” mean? What does it mean to have “tasted of the heavenly gift”? etc. And is our interpretation consistent with the strong warnings and rhetoric that is used in this passage?

Here are some things to consider:

(1) This passage could be referring to new believers or believers that should be mature by now since the author says “press on to maturity.” This understanding is solidified by Hebrews 5:11-14.

(2) Some say that these aren’t believers but had only appeared to be believers because of living among God’s church. They only “tasted” of the heavenly gift, they didn’t take a whole bite and swallow.

(3) Others would refute the previous position by saying that using the word “taste” was not to emphasize the small quantity but to emphasize the experience related to the senses. That is, their experience with Christianity was more than just intellectual. It was a very real experience. This interpretation would also emphasize the many other descriptions that are used here indicating that they were genuine believers like the fact that they partook of the Holy Spirit. How can one really partake of the Holy Spirit if they were not saved? The plain reading and added descriptors support the strength of this argument because why add all these extra descriptors if it was not for the purpose of making oneself very clear and specific that these were in fact genuine believers? Additionally, Hebrews 3:1 says brethren are “partakers of a heavenly calling.” A partaker cannot be clearer than this. It is a true believer.

(4) Another argument supporting this is that the passage speaks of renewing them again to repentance. How is something re-newed if it wasn’t new to begin with? And how does it happen again if it never happened the first time?

(5) Additionally, the phrase “fall away” is also used in Hebrews 3:12 and says, “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” They are addressed as “brethren,” true believers, and they are told that there is a possibility to fall away. And then in verse 14 we have both an encouragement and a warning, “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” There’s the word “partake” again. It clearly speaks of those who are genuinely in Christ. However, they will only remain genuinely in Christ if they “hold fast” until the end. This is a real warning with teeth to encourage us to continuingly endure. According to the next few verses, disobedience will prevent us from entering the rest and inheriting the promise because disobedience leads to unbelief and this unbelief was the cause of the Israelites who died in the wilderness.

(6) The passage speaks about “dead works,” giving us insight into what these people would be falling away into if they rejected Christ. The dead works were Judaism. If these Hebrews decided to go back to the religion of Judaism, then this would prove that they didn’t believe or didn’t care that Jesus was the true Messiah. This would mean that from both their mouth and from their actions they would be denying Christ which is apostasy.

(7) Is the passage speaking about salvation? In verses 1-2 it speaks of “faith toward God,” “the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement.” Verse 6 speaks about repentance and crucifying the Son of God. Verse 9 contrasts itself with the previous verses by saying “things that accompany salvation.” Then in verse 12 it speaks of inheriting the promise through faith and patience which is related to “the end” in verse 11. This hope in verse 9 is also related to the hope in verses 19-20 which speaks about Jesus being our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Then in the next chapter which explains the necessity and effect of this high priestly service, it says, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25). And then verses 26-28 speak of Jesus as being the sacrifice for our sins. Then chapter 8 speaks of the “better promises” (v. 6), which is the New Covenant. Hebrews 5:9 also says, “He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” Hebrews 1:14 speaks of “those who will inherit salvation.” And Hebrews 2:1-3 speaks with words of exhortation saying that we should not drift away from the truth about God because if we do, we will neglect a very great “salvation.” But if we drift away from it, we will not escape but will be punished even as the Israelites who rebelled against God were punished.

It is for all these very clear reasons according to the context that I believe the falling away is falling away from salvation. Of course, salvation isn’t monolithic. There’s the initial point in which we believe and then sanctification and then glorification. And within sanctification there is transformation and ascension from one level of glory to another. I’m not sure if all that information is relevant to this particular passage but I thought it should be stated just in case.

So far, we have established the fact that the audience in which the author is speaking to are believers who are stuck in an immature state. They should be teachers by now but they are stuck in the basics of Christianity. The author then gives them a warning of falling away, though not necessarily applicable to this specific crowd (v. 9), it is nonetheless a warning with teeth and remains a possibility for those who are sluggish and do not persevere with faith and patience to inherit the promises. The previous time in Hebrews where “fall away” is mentioned is in 3:12 which describes a heart hardened by sin’s deceitfulness to the point where the heart becomes evil and unbelieving so that this person falls away from God. “Unbelief” was the cause of not being able to inherit the promises. The Israelites are provided as an example of this disobedience leading to unbelief. This unbelief prevented Israel from inheriting the promise of the physical promised land that they were supposed to enter. But for us, there is a spiritual promised land. In the book of Hebrews, this is referred to as God’s rest and things which accompany salvation and the end. The author isn’t crystal clear as to what these promises refer to. It could be our eternal destiny in heaven or some rewards of heaven and reigning with Christ in the millennium or the new earth. Or it could be rewards in the present life of reigning with Christ or enjoying rest now through the transforming work of Christ in us who provides us with abundant life and freedom from sin and greater joys. Whichever it may be, these are the rewards that we can forfeit if we fall away from God. And if do fall away, it is impossible to renew our repentance. If we take the immediate context of our passage to interpret this difficult text then we will find that it is speaking of “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God” (6:1). This seems to be referring to the Hebrews leaving Judaism and embracing a lifestyle of faith in Jesus. This is the very reason it is impossible to renew them again to repentance because if they saw all the signs and miracles of the Apostolic church and had witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit themselves in their own lives, and have come to understand the true faith both intellectually and experientially, and had all the correct doctrines of the first century apostles, then how could they not believe and continue? What more evidence does one need? If they had become partakers of the one true faith and then turned back to Judaism, now a false religion, they would be rejecting Christ as their Messiah both by their actions and by their words. This would be a true apostacy. For what reason would they come back to Christianity? They had every reason to stay but decided to leave anyway. Do you think that someone in such a position would ever come back? Probably not, right? We must understand though that our current situation is much different from the early church. Most churches don’t see miracles happening and aren’t Apostolic or have all the correct doctrines. Because of this, there is a higher probability for someone to come back to the faith after leaving one of our modern-day shallow churches with shallow Christians. This word “impossible” could be hyperbolic. That is, the author sees absolutely no reason why they would ever come back. Remember though how Jesus said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God” (Lk. 18:27). So, I don’t believe that apostasy is final. Prodigals can come back.

If we read Hebrews 10:26-31 we will see that the blood of Jesus only applies to those who are walking by faith which is a faith producing faithfulness. Now, this doesn’t refer to people who are struggling. Notice how it says “go on” which indicates a continuous present condition and “willfully” indicating a conscious choice of rebellion. It’s a choice to walk away and choose a lifestyle of sin and if you live in that condition, the blood of Jesus will not cover you but God’s wrath will abide on you. This hypothetical person certainly was a believer at one point because they were at one time “sanctified.” The rhetoric used here would not make sense unless this person had actually been cleansed by the blood of Jesus because otherwise, how could they really insult the Spirit of grace or trample under foot the Son of God or regard the blood of the covenant as unclean? Surely such harsh rhetoric would not be used and God would not be angry about it to this degree if we are speaking only of a hypothetical scenario (someone who was never truly saved walking away from Christianity). The warning is for believers because in verse 19, this passage is addressed to the “brethren” and verse 26 uses the pronoun “we,” to indicate both the author and his audience of believers in which this word is applicable to. When it says, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,” it does not mean that it’s impossible to be saved again. It is only impossible to be saved so long as that person lives in rebellion to God. If their specific “sinning willfully” was in reference to sinning against Christ by going back to Judaism, then this interpretation would fit well because that system of sacrifices will not do anything for their soul or reconcile their relationship to God because all that is now dead works. There is only one sacrifice acceptable unto salvation and that was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Even after these harsh warnings though, the author makes it clear to his audience that he doesn’t think they are these people who are sinning willfully. For this reason, he encourages them and reminds them of the good things they have done for God and tells them to remain confident in God (v. 32-39). The “shrink back” in verse 38 is connected to the “go on sinning willfully” in verse 26 and the “fallen away” in 6:6. Those who fall away, go on sinning willfully, and shrink back will not inherit the promises and will not enter heaven if they remain in that state.

Just to reiterate here: Good works do not earn or merit any of our salvation. Obedience to God is about loyalty to Him and being in that relationship. If we truly know Him and love Him, we will be about doing what He says. Good works are a means of grace to keep our faith alive and thriving. It is the breastplate of righteousness to protect us. But if we take that armor off, our faith will be susceptible to weakness and fading away. Good works feed faith.

Even if OSAS or unconditional eternal security were true, the Bible still speaks in a way that presents the possibility of losing one’s salvation. So, even if it were true that we can’t lose our salvation and this could be argued philosophically regarding God’s sovereignty, the Bible speaks nonetheless pragmatically and says salvation can be forfeited. Therefore, we should also speak the same way regardless of our philosophical views in how God’s sovereignty works.

Instead of debating this subject to prove OSAS or unconditional security in order to find your assurance, try doing more good deeds from a loving heart to bolster your assurance of salvation. That is a much surer way to have assurance than to fight the Bible against what it actually says.

Here is a YouTube Playlist on the subject of Eternal Security.