One of the great teachings of the Bible, which was made clear to me long before I came to faith in Jesus Christ, is what we always called: "the eternal security of the believer."
Those in the Reformed tradition call this the "perseverance of the saints".
While others refer to it simply as, "once saved, always saved", or "once saved, always safe".
The 17th century Westminster Confession of Faith, describes it this way:[1]
They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
And this teaching wasn't the idea of 17th century Englishmen, for it was taught by Augustine, Aquinas, Abelard, Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. And this teaching is based soundly and firmly on the declaration of God in Scripture.
We first of all read the words of Jesus himself in John 10:27-29:
My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.
And notice clearly the statements of Jesus. He, himself, gives us eternal life. We shall never perish. No one, and that implies even ourselves, no one has the ability to take us from the hand of Christ. And, for that matter, no one has the ability to remove us from the hand of God the Father. We are safe. Secure. We have assurance, because of what Jesus has done for us.
Or what Paul says in Philippians 1:6:
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
In this verse Paul makes it clear that God, who began this great work of salvation and transformation within us, God will continue to do that work until it is brought to completion. Until it is finished, on the day Jesus Christ returns.
- The day when we are raised "incorruptible".[2]
- The day when our lowly bodies are transformed to be like his glorious body.[3]
- The day when he appears and "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is".[4]
The completion of God's work is assured.
Or, again, the statement of Paul in Romans 8:29-30:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
And whether we understand that word "foreknew" as God's choice in eternity past of an individual to be saved, or God's knowledge in eternity past of how an individual will respond to the Gospel, but whichever way we view it, Paul says that based upon God's "foreknowledge", God "predestines", he determines in advance of the event that that person will be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.
He indicates that conformity to Christ is not a "mere possibility", it is instead an "absolute certainty", as Philippians 1:6 had said, "what God has started, he will finish".
And to ensure that this event does happen, to ensure that we are totally conformed to the image of Christ, God calls us, justifies us, and glorifies us. In other words, to make sure that the job is finished, God does everything that is required to finish it.
And then, there is Romans 8:35:
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Can anything get between us and Jesus? As he goes on to say in Romans 8:37, "No!" Nothing can get between us and the love of Christ. Nothing can separate us from Christ. We are his, and his forever, it is settled!
There is also Ephesians 1:13-14:
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives isn't only to empower us for service through giving us spiritual gifts, it is also a pledge, a deposit, a down payment, which guarantees to us that the work begun, will be completed.
- A guarantee to us that the salvation that has been given, will be accomplished.
- A guarantee to us that the journey of faith which we have begun, will be completed in the presence of God when we kneel before him and confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord", and God the Father is glorified.
And, finally, there is Peter’s statement in 1 Peter 1:5:
[You] are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Protected by the power of God, so that the purposes of God are fulfilled, so that in the end we will receive the fullness of the salvation that Jesus died and rose again to give us.
The teaching of the Bible is clear: The saints will persevere. Once saved, always saved. Through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, we have "eternal security". As John said in 1 John 5:13:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Not suspect. Not "hope". Not "wish for". But "know" with an absolute, unshakeable, certainty, that you have eternal life. And so, on the basis of God's word I can say without any doubts whatsoever, that if you have come to know Jesus Christ as saviour, your salvation is secure, solid, and unshakeable.
However, if we read the Bible honestly, and if we seek to understand what it actually says and not simply read it for what we want it to say, in the face of all of these promises of assurance we also read some passages in the Bible which are, "disturbing", and, perhaps, more than a bit "challenging", for the Lord Jesus himself said in John 8:31:
If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.
Notice that Jesus said, "if you continue". "If!" One of my teachers in High School told us that that is one of the most powerful words in the English language, because it implies a "condition", and it suggests that what you want, might not happen.
If you continue in my word . . . then . . . you are disciples.
And the implication is, if you don't continue in his word, then you will cease being disciples.
And, again, in both Matthew 10:22 as well as Matthew 24:13, Jesus said that:
The one who endures to the end will be saved.
And the implication here is that if we do not endure, we will not be saved. If we fall away, turn away, or, as Hebrews 2:1 says, if we simply "drift away" so that we are no longer following Jesus, our "salvation" is brought into question.
Or the words of Paul in Colossians 1:22-23:
He has now reconciled [us] in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—
Now, normally, people will leave it there and talk about all of the "good things" that God has done: reconciled, blameless, free from accusation. But continuing on into verse 23, we read:
provided
that is, “if”
provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.
Continue, established, steadfast, not shifting. Paul says here that all of the good plans of God are true and certain, "provided", or “if”!
And then there is Galatians 5:4, which was written to several churches who were in a similar situation to those in Hebrews and Colossians, and who were thinking about turning to law and works. Paul says there:
You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
"Cut off", even though nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. They have "fallen away” and are no longer in "grace".
And the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 3:12-14:
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.
"If we hold firm to the end".
What we have seen in this very, very, brief overview on what the Bible says about the "eternal security of the believer", or the "perseverance of the saints", is that the Bible contains more than enough promises to give us all the assurance of salvation that we will ever need.
But! The Bible also gives us a warning. A warning about taking God's grace, his mercy, and his kindness, for granted. And we would be wrong, we would be unfaithful to the revelation of God in Scripture, if we emphasised the one, while ignoring the other. For emphasising one aspect, while at the same time overlooking or ignoring or explaining away the other, is not being faithful to the revelation of God in Scripture. For both teachings came from the mouth of Jesus. Both teachings came from the pen of Paul. Both teachings came from the pen of John. And both are to be found in the letter of Hebrews.
What the Bible shows us is that we have 100% assurance of salvation. An assurance that encourages us and enables us to live faithfully for the God who has saved us, knowing full well that "our labour in the Lord is not in vain".[5]
But the Bible also contains a severe warning. And that warning is this: "don't play games with God". "Don't presume upon God's grace". Don't be like Heinriche Heine the German poet who, on his deathbed, said:
Of course God will forgive me; that's his job.
And this is the context of the warning in Hebrews 2:1, which says:
Therefore, we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
The letter of Hebrews was written to a group of Christians who were "drifting away" from Jesus. They were about to turn their backs on Jesus and all he had done for them on the cross, and "drift away" back to Judaism, temple, sacrifices, and priests. And he warns them that the path that they were thinking of taking was the path of destruction. He says in Hebrews 2:2-3:
For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him?
How shall we escape the just judgement of God? How shall we escape the punishment of God? How shall we escape if, having known Jesus Christ as saviour, and having lived faithfully for him, how shall we escape, if we turn our backs on him now?
This salvation has been announced by the Lord Jesus himself. This Jesus who died and rose again for us. This salvation has been confirmed by the testimony of the Apostles. God has also testified about this salvation when he performed: signs, wonders, and miracles, as the Holy Spirit worked in and through God's people by various gifts.
How can we escape, if, having heard it, and known it, and believed it, and lived it; how can we escape if we now turn our backs on Jesus and all that he has done.
The worst thing we could ever tell a Christian is:
That's all right. You're saved. You're born again. You have a home in heaven. It doesn't matter how you live in the present, because God has saved you in the past. Once saved, always saved.
And this is dangerous for that person because although the Bible clearly teaches the assurance of salvation. Although the Bible clearly describes the perseverance of the saints. Although the Bible assures us that, having come to faith in Jesus Christ, God has begun a good work in us that he will bring to completion when Jesus returns, the Bible also gives us clear words of warning. Words of judgment. Words that tell us:
Don't play games with the almighty, holy, and righteous, God.
This is why the people were told in Hebrews 3:1-2:
Therefore, brothers and sisters, holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also “was faithful in all God’s house.”
And we notice first of all that he is writing to "brothers and sisters". To believers. To genuine followers of Christ who were thinking of turning away from Jesus. And he says to them to turn their thoughts to Jesus, for "He was "Faithful"! He persevered. He continued. He did not deviate from the path that God had set for him. And neither should they.
This is why the people were warned in Hebrews 3:8, quoting Psalm 95:8:
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness.
Do not be like ancient Israel in the desert who, having been delivered from slavery in Egypt, did not enter the promised land because of their disobedience and their unbelief.
This is why they were warned, in Hebrews 3:12:
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
This is why they were warned in Hebrews 3:14:
For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.
This is why they were encouraged in Hebrews 4:11 to:
[To] make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.
Warnings. Encouragements. Challenges to faith, and to faithful obedience.
Now, before anybody begins to think that I am talking about salvation by works, I am not. We do not work to gain salvation. We do not work to keep salvation. Salvation is all of grace through faith. It is God's grace, God's kindness, from beginning to end. I cannot add to it. I cannot take away from it.
But what Hebrews is doing, and what these other passages from the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and John are, are "warnings". Warnings to us to:
Not take the grace of God for granted.
Warnings to us to:
Not play games with God.
- It doesn't matter if I sin, God will forgive me.
- It doesn't matter how I live, I'm saved!
- God will forgive me, it's his job.
This attitude is akin to Paul's rhetorical question in Romans 6:1:
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?
Does it matter how we live, because, after all, God's grace will always be there? But what is Paul's answer in Romans 6?
- Through Christ, we died to sin.
- Through Christ, we have been raised to life.
- Through Christ, we are no longer slaves of sin.
- Through Christ, we are slaves to God.
- Through Christ, we are alive to God.
- Through Christ, we have been set free from sin so that we might live a holy life.
- Through Christ, we have eternal life.
And because we are "in Christ":
Do not longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.[6]
Because we are recipients of God's mercy we are to:
Present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[7]
And, because we have received the promised seal of the Spirit, then:
By the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body.[8]
We have received the infinite grace of God, and therefore we follow Christ faithfully. Through highs and lows. Through thick and thin. In good times and in bad. In sorrow and joy. Glory and pain. We have received the infinite grace of God, and therefore we follow Christ faithfully.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.[9]
And what does Paul go on to say in Ephesians 2:10?
For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
And the very good works that we do, the very transformed life that the Spirit of God works in us, this is also an assurance of salvation, as John said in 1 John 2:3:
Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments.
Assurance, "knowing", comes through a life of obedience to God. A life surrendered to the will, plan, and purposes of God.
1 John 3:14:
We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death.
Assurance, through transformed attitudes and behaviour.
1 John 2:5-6:
Whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.
Assurance, by walking faithfully with Jesus.
Assurance of salvation is ours. It is ours firstly, and foremostly, in the promises of God. And assurance is ours through the transformed life that the Spirit of God produces in us as we cooperate with him.
But there are warnings. Warnings are given, not to make us afraid, or doubtful, but warnings to encourage us to faithfulness. Warnings to encourage us to obedience. A warning to:
Look to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.[10]
In Matthew 10, Jesus informs his disciples that they will face persecution, and then he warns them:
The one who endures to the end, will be saved.
In Colossians 1, the church in Colossae was thinking of turning from Christ to special days, feasts, rules and regulations about what they could or could not eat, and so Paul warns them that they need to:
Continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.[11]
In Galatians 5, Paul was writing to a group of Christians who were thinking of turning from Christ to circumcision and the law, and so he warns them that seeking to be "justified by law" means that they will "alienate themselves from Christ", and they will "fall away from grace".
And in Hebrews, to this group of believers who were thinking of turning from the sacrifice of Christ on the cross to the sacrifice of animals in the temple. Turning from the high priesthood of Jesus at the right hand of God in heaven, to the priesthood of men in the temple, he writes to them and says in Hebrews 10:23:
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
That is the "assurance" that we have. God has promised. God is faithful. He will do it. But he follows this with an encouragement, saying in Hebrews 10:24-25:
And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
That was the encouragement to them to remain faithful to Jesus, because God will remain faithful to them.
But then, comes the warning in Hebrews 10:26-31:
For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?
For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Now I am not saying anything here today with the intention of hurting, or causing distress, or to make you have doubts, for our assurance of salvation comes not from my words, but from God who promised us in His Word.
But in this world of temptation, conflict, fear and uncertainty, I am encouraging, warning, and challenging us all to live every day for Jesus. To walk with him. To love him. To surrender our lives to him. To be faithful to him. And to experience through our faithful discipleship the assurance of salvation that God has promised to us.
Do I believe that a person can lose their salvation? Absolutely not, the Bible is very clear on that point.
But what I do believe is that as recipients of God's grace, we must never take that grace for granted and begin to live as we please:
And so today do not harden your hearts to the call of Jesus.
Instead:
Look to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.[12]
And let us each, daily, faithfully, follow His path and example of faithfulness, and perseverance, to the end.
[1] Article 17:1
[2] 1 Corinthians 15:42
[3] Philippians 3:21
[4] 1 John 3:2
[5] 1 Corinthians 15:58
[6] Romans 6:13
[7] Romans 12:1
[8] Romans 8:13b
[9] Ephesians 2:8-9
[10] Hebrews 12:2
[11] Colossians 1:23
[12] Hebrews 12:2