Answers in August Part Two
Eternal Security
By Pastor Josh Wamble
This past Sunday, we continued our annual Answers in August series. This year we are studying the doctrine of Eternal Security or the perseverance of the saints. We started this series off last week by talking about the view that it is possible for people to fall away from salvation. You can watch week one here or listen to week one audio here. You can watch week two here or listen to week two audio here. Below, I want to provide a short summary of what we talked about on 8/13.
There are several Christian denominations and traditions who believe that those who have been genuinely saved and truly born again will persevere to the end and remain children of God throughout eternity. Some of these include
Congregational Churches Presbyterian Churches
Baptist Churches Anglican Churches (Especially Reformed Branches)
We examined four reasons or arguments that are often given in favor of understanding the Bible this way.
1. Clarification of the Position
Those who believe in eternal security do not believe that no one can or will ever fall away. That is a distortion of this position. Those who maintain that “eternal security” is biblical acknowledge the biblical passages that talk about people who have fallen away as well as their own experiences. This position does not say that no one ever falls away; it says that true genuine believers who have been born again in Christ Jesus will never fall away.
The Bible makes it clear that there are people who do not remain faithful to the very end, but the bible also says that these individuals only appear to be believers. When we hear of people who have fallen away from the gospel or encounter such people in our own lives, our conclusion should not be that they have lost their salvation but that they were never truly converted to begin with.
Several biblical passages say as much, and two are especially clear. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus warns of the final day of judgement. He says that when that day comes, there will be those who claim to be His disciples. Many of them will even claim to have prophesied and done many great works in His name. On that day, Jesus will declare, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” While it may appear as though these were followers of Jesus who fell away at the end, the truth is they were never genuinely converted to begin with. Jesus never knew them.
A second passage that makes this point explicit is found in 1 John 2:19. There we read of false teachers who have gone out into the world spreading their deceitful message. The significant point for our purposes here is that these false teachers have gone out from the church. These are people who at one time had all the markings of true believers, yet John writes, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” Two things in this passage are worth noting. First, John points out that the reason they left the church and abandoned the truth of the gospel is that they were not really a part of the believing community to begin with. Secondly, he says that if they had really been part of the community, then they would not have fallen away and left.
2. The Author of Salvation Guarantees Its Success
Other passages of scripture ground the assurance that those who trust in the Lord will remain faithful to the end in the author of salvation. If God is the one who saves people, then their perseverance in the faith is rooted in the faithfulness of God and His determination to complete the work of salvation in the lives of His people.
In John 3:16, we are assured that anyone who believes in Jesus “will not perish but have eternal life.” This is the reason that God sent His Son, Jesus, showing His love for the world. Later, in John 6:35-40, Jesus says that His work of salvation is guaranteed to be effective because it is the working out of God’s eternal purposes and plans. All that the Father gives will come, and none who comes will ever be cast out! God’s will is that He “would lose nothing of all that he has given” to Jesus. There is a further promise that all of those who rust in Christ will be raised up on the last day. No exceptions are given.
God makes the same point throughout Paul’s writings as well. In Ephesians 1:13-14, Paul writes that those who heard the gospel and believed on Jesus were sealed with the Holy Spirit who is a guarantee of a future inheritance. In Romans 8:31-39, Paul assures his reader that nothing at all in all of creation could possibly separate genuine believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus. A third example of these types of assurances in Paul’s writings is found in Philippians 1:6. There Paul guarantees his reader that “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Finally, in 1 Peter 1:3-5, Peter tells His readers that God, Himself, has caused them to be born again to a living hope. This loving hope is based on the future when the inheritance that is being kept for them in heaven will be revealed and finally realized.
The assurance that salvation cannot fail and that those who believe in Jesus will remain faithful to the very end is rooted in the truth that God is the one who saves people, and He will not fail in his purposes!
3. The Nature of Salvation Guarantees Its Success
The guarantee of salvation’s success is also rooted in the very nature of salvation itself. Salvation is not a temporary change. It is permanent and complete. Salvation entails a total transformation of those who are saved. Their very natures are changed. The dead have become alive. The old has gone and those who are saved have been completely made new. There is no going back from this sort of transformation.
In Ephesians 2:5, Paul says that those who believe in Jesus have been made alive together with Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul we read that all those in Christ are new creations. The old has passed away, and all things have been made new. In John 10:27-29, we see that salvation has an inward effect on those who believe. Jesus says that those who are really His hear and recognize His voice. Like sheep with a loving and trusted shepherd, they listen to Him and follow Him.
We also see throughout the New Testament that the final judgment of God’s people has been brought into the present. Eternal life is not only something that believers wait for and expect in the future. They experience and possess this eternal life already—in the present. In John 3:36, Jesus says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” He has it now in the present. Again, in John 5:24, Jesus says, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. … he … has passed from death to life.” In John 6:47 where Jesus says, “whoever believes has eternal life.” A final example is found in Romans 8:1 where Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The very nature of salvation itself means that it cannot be lost. That is not how salvation works. Salvation is a wholistic work that affects people down to their very core. A person who has been saved is so different that there is no going back—it cannot be undone.
4. The Preservation of the Saints
We have been calling this doctrine Eternal Security or Perseverance of the Saints. In the Bible, God emphasizes the need and expectation for believers to persevere in the faith—to continue believing and trusting throughout their lives into eternity. But, the Bible also addresses this same truth from the opposite perspective. It is true that believers must (and will) persevere, but it is also true that God preserves His own. Not only are believers to hold fast to Jesus, Jesus is holding fast to them.
At the end of Jude, we read that God is “able to keep [believers] from stumbling and to present [them] blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.” Not only is He able to do so, He actually does keep them. In John 10:27-29, Jesus says that he is holding on to His sheep. They are in His hands and also in the Father’s hands, and no one is able to snatch them out. Their position is secure not only as long as they are holding fast to Jesus but also as long as Jesus and the Father are holding fast to them!
Two other places in the NT make this point plain as well. In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul says that He is fully trusting in Jesus and is “convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.” Finally, in 1 Peter 1:3-5, we read, God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Not only is the inheritance of final full salvation being kept in heaven for the believer by God, the believer himself is also being guarded by God’s power so that he will not fall away and lose the inheritance!
We should keep both of these perspectives in balance. It is absolutely necessary for believers to persevere in their faith, fight against sin, and watch out that they not be deceived by temptation and fall away from the faith. This truth should motivate believers to work hard using the graces God has given to remain faithful. At the same time, the truth that God is actively working on behalf of his children to protect them from temptation and so that they will not fall away should bring great assurance in the future promises God has given.
The Bible does give warnings against falling away and urge people to continue in the faith. How we live does matter. However, the Bible also says that God is faithful to save His people and that nothing and no one can prevent Him from accomplishing His purposes in His church. If you are trusting in Christ, if you are hoping in the promises that God has made, you can have assurance that God, Himself, is holding on to you and will not allow you to fall away.
