Promises. Some people are better at doing what they promise than others. Yet, every human has broken promises or had promises made to them unfulfilled. We are sinful and depraved. Thankfully, God is not like us. He is holy, perfect, and without sin. He keeps His promises.
In relation to salvation, eternal life is not eternal if it can be lost. If losing one’s salvation were possible, it would be called temporary life instead of eternal life.
When God promises something, it will be fulfilled. The first four verses of Titus 1 provide testimony of God’s faithfulness to His promises, and to eternal life in particular.
Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, 3 but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, 4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior (Titus 1:1-4).
Our faith is in God, not ourselves or other people. Our hope of eternal life comes from God. In the Bible, hope is anticipation and expectation that God, being truthful, without sin, and not having the ability to lie, will fulfill His promises. Our salvation is based, not upon what we have done or did not do, but on Jesus the Savior’s finished work on the cross defeating sin and death in our behalf.
The Bible contains many verses about salvation, but in relation to answering the question: Can salvation be lost?, the two main concepts are termed eternal security and assurance of salvation. Eternal security pertains to God’s promises, and assurance of salvation pertains to whether or not a person has personally embraced, and has become assured of what God has done, and has promised to do.
Eternal Security
Some of the best verses about eternal security are found in Jesus’ words in the Gospel According to John:
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 [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” (John 10:27-29).
No human is more powerful that God with the ability to take away the salvation God has provided.
Assurance of Salvation
Some of the best verses in relation to assurance of Salvation are found in 1 John:
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:11-13).
Eternal life comes from God through a person’s faith/trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. If an individual has placed their complete trust in Christ alone plus nothing else in relation to salvation, they possess eternal life. If a person has trusted in Christ alone, God doesn’t want them to hope, wonder or wish they have eternal life; He wants them to know they have eternal life.
Pastor Cecil Price
September 14, 2025
Bible verses are from The New American Standard Bible (1995).