Is it possible for a believer to lose their salvation?
Even though Jesus tells us that it's not possible, there are plenty of professing Christians that believe they can.
This group usually doesn't deal with the things the Lord says about salvation and when they do, they never think about the implications of Jesus being wrong about salvation.
Instead, they give equal weight to the words of everybody else in the bible when compared to Jesus.
These people invariably believe that a person can be saved more than once, even though the bible never shows this to be the case.
However, there are some people in this group that don't believe that is the case.
They do believe we can lose our salvation, but because passages such as the ones found in Hebrews 6:4-6, they believe that one can't be saved again once they've lost their salvation.
Although this is a more biblical position, they have the same problems that the latter group has (mis-interpretation and twisting of scriptures, denying the claims that Jesus made), plus one more.
In order to try and reconcile not being able to regain salvation once someone loses it, they believe that you can be saved and spiritually dying.
This is supposed to get around the issue of being spiritually alive, then dead, then alive, then dead, then alive... continue until the person is physically dead. This is the cycle that the latter group has to accept.
But in trying to be biblical, while still holding to unbiblical doctrine about the same issue, this group believes that one can have eternal life and be dying at the same time.
So, the latter group would say that a "backslider" is no longer saved. This group would say that a "backslider" could still be saved, depending on whether the Holy Spirit has left them or not.
They attempt to defend their position by saying that we must maintain our salvation in order to stay saved.
We do this by continuing to abide in Christ (with all that entails).
If someone ceases to abide in Christ, their walk with God starts to become stagnant at first, and then they start to die spiritually. If they don't repent in time... before the Holy Spirit leaves... then the departure of the Holy Spirit means they are once again spiritually dead never to be spiritually alive again.
For this to be true, they have to redefine what eternal life is. It is not something that, once possessed causes you to live forever more, but only gives you spiritual life in the exact same way as conception gives you physical life.
So just like physical life, you can be spiritually alive but spiritually sick and dying.
Nevermind that Jesus doesn't describe eternal life in this way. That doesn't matter.
They, just like the latter group, are happy to declare that Jesus was wrong about the will of the Father and what salvation looks like from God's perspective.
They agree that if the Holy Spirit leaves us then we are unsaved, but disagree with what Paul plainly says...
Ephesians 4:30
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
This verse clearly says that the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption, but they say no, because we can lose our salvation.
And the proof text they use?
1 Samuel 16:14
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
They go to the old testament because there is no incident of the Holy Spirit leaving a believer in the new testament making them unsaved.
They go to this verse specifically, because they, like the latter group, are not able to distinguish the promises between the different covenants.
Paul's declaration in the new testament is brought back and applied to people in the old testament even though it's a promise under the new covenant.
Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
John 14:16-17
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Regarding saul, they say he lost his salvation due to his rebellion against God.
1 Samuel 28:15
And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
They say that this is the end for those that don't repent before the Holy Spirit leaves and they lose their salvation.
The problem though, is that the Holy Spirit also departed from Samson, and came back again.
They don't go to Samson because it contradicts their doctrine.
Ultimately, even though this group is more biblical than the latter, their biggest problem is that their view of salvation is strictly focused on what they can see.
When Jesus described salvation, He was giving us God's perspective first hand... since He's God.
When we put all of Jesus' declarations about salvation together, it's crystal clear that salvation can never be lost and that there are many who will believe they have salvation when they don't. There will also be many unsaved people who will be indistinguishable from those who are saved... from our perspective.
Instead, they focus more on the writings of the apostles, twisting and ripping verses out of their overall context, and over emphasising "if" statements, all in order to prove their point that contradicts what Jesus has said.
The words of Christ are the foundation of the faith. The doctrine of the Apostles are built on top of the words of Christ and are therefore not meant to contradict in any way to what He has already laid down as truth.
So, when we come to whether or not we can lose salvation, we must first see what Christ says. His words are more important. Afterwards, we look to the Apostles for examples and clarifications, but they won't contradict.
Just like the latter group, it's the will of man that ultimately saves. In their view, Jesus doesn't come to save and is successful. He either comes to save and fails, or just makes salvation available, and everything else is dependant on man.
But this view makes Jesus out to be a liar at worst, and deceived at best.
Again, it's clear that this sub-group recognises the problem with the "born again again again" doctrine and seeks to be biblical, but it's a shame that they still are happy to contradict the Lord that bought them.
Join us next time as we take a look at another parable given to us by Christ Jesus in order to bring us understanding of this issue.
Maranatha
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