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Date Posted: 12:54:38 08/11/04 Wed
Author: Mark H. Carr
Subject: IS SALVATION ETERNAL?


IS SALVATION ETERNAL?


Before we purchase an expensive, new product we want to know what kind of warranty it has. We want it to last; and we want to be sure the manufacturer or the retail outlet will stand behind it, to fix it or give us another one, in case it breaks or malfunctions. Though it is not for sale. God offers salvation to all. But does it come with a warranty? Is it certain? Or is salvation like a Wall Street deal where no investment is a sure thing? Can you know for a fact that heaven is your home? Does God guarantee that for anyone? Is salvation in Christ only temporary, or is it eternal?
A Gift or a Loan?
Some see salvation as no more than a loan, where Christ made the down payment on the cross, but it is up to the recipients to make the monthly installments. If they get behind on their good works God may repossess their salvation.

If you wanted a house but were short on capital and someone offered to pay the down payment for you, would you say that the house was a gift? No. In that case the down payment-which is usually a small percentage of the purchase price-is the gift, not the house. If Christ paid only the down payment on our salvation then only the down payment part of salvation would be a gift, not salvation itself. The testimony of Scripture is that salvation itself is a gift. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, -not of works lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). "But when the generosity and benevolence of God our Savior appeared. He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we did, but according to His mercy—through the washing of rebirth and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Tit. 3:4-5). One cannot properly understand the doctrine of God's grace and still believe that salvation can be lost.

A preacher was contending that people living under the Mosaic Law had to work for their salvation. He said, "Any plan that God offers for salvation is by grace." The fact that Israelites had a plan of salvation was grace, he argued, but their salvation required ritual observances and consistent good works. This is a complete misunderstanding of the link between salvation and grace. It is not the plan or offer of salvation that is called a gift. It is salvation itself that is the gift. 'The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23b).'

He also missed the fact that grace and works cannot be mixed. If it is grace plus anything, then it is not grace at all. This is the apostle Paul's point when he says; "Now if by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace" (Rom. 11:6) The whole point of Romans 4 is that salvation cannot possibly be by grace plus works. It has to be one or the other. Something is either a gift or it is not a gift. It is either earned or it is free. It is either worked for, or it is simply received. If just part of something is a gift, then you cannot call the whole thing a gift. You would always have to say it was a gift in part. Salvation is never called "a gift in part." The Bible says, "Now to the one who is working, pay is not according to grace, but according to what is owed. But to the one not working, but believing or the One who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:4-5). The employee does not receive his weekly paycheck by grace. It is not a gift; he earns it with his labor. Salvation, on the other hand, is a gift.
Sins of the Sinner and the Saint
After hearing the gospel, an unbeliever with a sordid past may despondently reply, "But I'm too bad for God to save. You don't know all I have done. I have been such a wicked person." Do we respond by saying, "I guess you are right Sorry, you are too bad to save.” Of course not. We assure such people that no matter what they have done, Christ's shed blood on the cross has paid for all their sins. Can we then turn around and tell believers that some sins they commit will result in the forfeit of salvation? Did not Christ die for all sins? Yes, Christ died, not only for all sins that a person has committed until they believe the gospel and are saved, but for all sins a person will ever commit. He died for all our sins before we ever committed any.

On what basis can God save the lost? On the basis that Christ paid the price for their sins. On what basis can He keep the believer saved? On the same basis. Christ died for the sins of the saint as well as the sinner.

Sin is not altered by its perpetrator. It doesn't matter who commits it, sin is sin. When an unbeliever lies it is sin When a Christian lies it is still sin. What good news can we offer an unregenerate person who lies? How can they have eternal life? Christ's death was an atonement for lies. He paid the price for lies. What happens after a person believes the gospel and is saved and later lies? Do they lose their salvation? Absolutely not! Remember, Christ died for all lies—not just for those committed by the lost, but for those committed by the saved as well. "And He Himself is the propitiation for our [i.e. the saved] sins, and not only for ours but for the whole world [i.e. the lost) (1 John 2:2).
Misused or Misunderstood verses
A good principle of Bible study is to reason from the plain to the complex. Allow the simple to inform the difficult, the obvious to enlighten the more obscure. We do this in other areas of academics. None of my elementary school teachers ever gave me a calculus problem to solve. They were into the basics of mathematics and felt that we should be too. Calculus would come later. Bible students must allow the simple to serve as a foundation for theological understanding. After the foundation is laid, then they can attempt to understand the more complex.

Let's look at a basic and simple fact to understand. Christ said of believers, "And I give to them eternal life and they will by no means perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand" (John 10:28-29). That is security and it is eternal. This is plain and easy to comprehend, though immeasurably profound. These people had eternal life and no one could take it from them. So when Bible students come to a verse of Scripture that is more difficult to understand, they must realize that it cannot contradict the plain truth of this Scripture.

It may not be accurate to say that Galatians 5:4 is a misused or misunderstood verse, since only three words from the verse are commonly used in a sense that is entirely alien to the verse itself. The three words are “fallen from grace." Some ask, "Do you believe in falling from grace?" Yes, I do. Those words are a part of the inspired Word of God. But I don't believe what people mean by the misuse of those words. People use that short phrase to suggest that Christians can lose their salvation. It is also commonly used by the media when a preacher is caught in some scandal. He is said to have "fallen from grace." But neither of these usages have anything to do with the Biblical meaning of those words.

Paul writes to the Galatians because they have been infiltrated by Judaizers who sought to bring these Gentile congregations under the Mosaic law. These Judaizers taught a justification by law. So Paul says, 'Those of you who are seeking to be justified by law have become estranged from Christ; you have fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:4) Who had fallen from or away from grace? Someone with a deep moral failure? No. Someone failing to keep current with a list of good works? No. Those who had fallen away from grace were those who were trying to be justified by law. This is exactly the opposite of the way the phrase is commonly used. It is suggested that bad works can cause Christians to fall from grace; but those who have fallen from grace are those who try to be justified before God by doing good works. They have fallen away from grace and have sought to make themselves right with God by good works. They need to learn the liberating truth that Paul referred to in Romans when he said, "David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works" (Rom. 4:6).

Some verses that have been misused to teach that salvation can be lost are those that refers to apostates (i.e. those who have been in the fellowship of Christians and later denounce them by their words or actions). It is important to understand that the Bible teaches that these people were never saved in the first place. The Lord Jesus said:
On that day, many will say to Me, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? And cast out demons in Your name? And performed many miracles in Your name? And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you. Get away from Me, evildoers" (Matt. 7:22-23).

He did not say, "I knew you once, but I do not know you now." No, they never had a relationship with the Lord. Peter speaks of those whose insincere profession eventually came to light:
For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. To them the true proverb has come about: "A dog has returned to his own vomit," and "A sow, having washed herself, to wallowing in the mud" (2 Pet. 2:21-22).

The picture is not of a sheep turning back into a dog or a pig. They are washed sows. Their nature was never changed.

The Lord referred to the Twelve and other disciples as sheep that had all experienced an internal washing except for Judas, who had never received the washing of regeneration (John 13:10; cf. 6:70). The apostle John writes of those, who like Judas, had made a profession of faith, which turned out to be hollow.
They left us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they left] in order that it might be made apparent that none of them is of us (1 John 2:19).
Is Our Salvation Safe?
Does God guarantee the salvation that He offers? Is it secure? The Bible responds with a resounding yes. Peter tells how believers are kept secure when he speaks of an inheritance "reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are being kept by the power of God for salvation prepared to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:4-5). What is keeping Peter's readers secure? Their works? Absolutely not. They are being kept by the power of God. Christians do not keep by works what they did not obtain by works.

Paul said, 'The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will bring me safely unto His heavenly kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18). How could he have made such a definite statement as this, if he thought he could lose his salvation? If he believed that salvation could be lost, Paul would have to have said, "I hope the Lord will deliver me safely to His heavenly kingdom, but I don't know for sure."
Is Eternal Life Eternal?
Eternal life is a gift. "And I give to them eternal life and they will never, by any means, perish..." (John 10:28). If someone were to be given eternal life and then lose it, then the life given was not eternal. It would have been only temporary life, not everlasting. But eternal life is not something of uncertainty, as the religion of ancient Egypt taught. To them, eternal happiness was determined at the end of their earthly life. If their good works outweighed the bad then they would be granted life in the Field of Reeds. But Scriptures teach that eternal life is the present possession of the Christian. "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes on Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).

If a person could be saved and then lost again and end up in hell, what was he saved from? Certainly, he wasn't saved from hell. Was he saved from the penalty of sin? No, for he died in his sins. So what was he saved from? Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. What kind of salvation is that? It is a salvation from nothing, because he perished and died in his sins. He was not saved from the penalty of sin. He was not saved from hell. So the fact is he was never saved in the first place. Salvation from the guilt and penalty of sin is either eternal or it is not salvation at all.

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