Some Christian denominations and individual Christians maintain that a person’s salvation can be lost. Is this possible? Human opinions are subject to change. Once a person is saved are they always saved? What does the Bible say?
God’s Word promises eternal life to those who trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Salvation is a work of God in behalf of human sinners. It’s a gift. And, it’s eternal.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7).
A Christian is indwelt and sealed with the Holy Spirit:
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Romans 8:9).
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13, 14).
No person or other entity can take away what God has bestowed:
27 “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, 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).
If someone claims a Christian can lose their salvation, they believe someone else is more powerful than God. As the Southern idiom maintains: “That ain’t going to happen!”
A Christian cannot become unsaved. Once a person is saved, he or she is always saved. One’s salvation is definitely eternally secure because God is a promise-keeper!
Bible verses are from The New American Standard Bible, 1995.
Pastor Cecil Price
July 21, 2024
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash