This past week I started a four part series with my youth group entitled “Can I Lose My Salvation?”  So I thought that I might write a four part blog and share some of my thoughts with the world (or at least the 10 or 12 people who stumble across this blog).   For many people, this question is a no-brainer.  I mean, I am, and have been for most of my life, a Southern Baptist.  And we have that cute little saying, right? “Once saved, always saved.”  So some may read this and say, “Tim, I’ve had this question answered for years!”  And if that’s the case, kudos to you!  Feel free to move right along!  But the church in which I serve is one of the few churches in the community that hold to the doctrine of “eternal security” (or “perseverance of the saints” for my Calvinist friends 😉 ).  So this topic has been a major issue for several of my youth, as well as for other members of the church; and thus I feel that it is something that must be addressed.  So here we go!

What does it mean to be saved?

Before we can give an answer to the question, we must first define our terms (my college and seminary professors would be so proud of me!).  What does salvation mean?  Or what does it entail for someone to be saved?  And I would first like to answer this question by telling you what salvation does NOT mean (I know…most of you are like “get on with it Tim!”  But just hold your horses for a minute, this stuff is important!).  Salvation definitely does not mean that you are a “Merican.”  It does not mean that you walked down an aisle when you were 7 years old.  And It does not mean that you repeated a “sinner’s prayer” after someone at a VBS camp.  Now before you get really upset with me, and say that “Tim is against invitations and the sinner’s prayer” please hear me out!  Invitations and the act of saying the sinner’s prayer can be very good things.  But often times, we look at those moments (walking down an aisle and saying a prayer) as something magical; that my act of doing those things is what saved me!  This is what I (and I believe the Bible) do not agree with!  You see we must understand this simple yet profound biblical truth: you contribute nothing to your salvation!

I know that’s a bit of a shot at your ego, but the Bible is not that good at building up your ego.  In fact, it’s pretty good at doing the opposite.  So some of you are now asking, “what are you talking about, there’s a lot of things I do to contribute to my salvation.  I read my Bible every day (or at least on some days), I pray, I go to church every week (or at least when it doesn’t conflict with my favorite football team), and I even go to Sunday School once in a while.  So how can you say that I don’t do anything for my own salvation?”  Well thank you for asking, let’s look at a few passages in the Bible to see what it has to say.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Romans 5:9 “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

All of theses verses explicitly state that we have nothing to do with our salvation.  Ephesians says that it is not of our own works that we are saved, but only by the grace of God through believing in Christ.  Hebrews speaks to the fact that Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith.  That means we do not do anything to establish our faith, and we do nothing to perfect it.  Jesus has done it all!  And finally, Romans says that we are justified by the blood of Christ.  Justified means that we are made right before God, and this comes by the blood of Christ on the cross, not our own works, period!

Now with this understanding of salvation, let’s move towards actually answering the question at hand.  And I am going to answer this question by walking through Romans 8:28-39.

It is impossible for a Christian to be separated from the love of Christ

Romans 8:28-30 says this:

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ 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 among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

There is a lot of stuff that is crammed into these three verses (that’s usually how Paul rolls: he doesn’t waste words like I often do), and there are a lot of terms that Paul uses that have caused lots of discussion amongst theologians.  But my goal is not to write out a systematic theology of what each term means.  So simply put (in a way that I think few people would disagree with), your salvation was on the mind of God from all eternity.  And whats crazy is how Paul uses these terms.  Predestined, called, justified, and glorified are all used in the past tense.  Which is kind of crazy when you think about someone being glorified.  No one is physically glorified until they are standing in the presence of God in heaven.  So glorification is something that happens in the future for the believer.  But Paul, here in Romans 8, speaks of glorification in the past tense (to all you Greek nerds: the aorist tense).  How can this be?

I believe that Paul understands God’s viewpoint.  In the mind of God, when somebody is justified by the blood of Christ, they are already glorified, because God knows the future!  Those that have been made right by believing in what Christ did on the cross, are secure in their salvation because they are already glorified in God’s sight, and thus they are given eternal life.  Have you thought about the words “eternal life”?  If someone is granted eternal life when they are saved, then how could somebody walk away from something that is eternal.  So by definition, eternal life cannot be lost or it would not be eternal!  What an awesome thought!  And I want you to think about this for a minute.  If someone is to say that they could lose their salvation, or perhaps better stated, they could walk away from their salvation, then there is really no saving power in the cross!  This way of thinking leads to the understanding that your salvation is dependent upon the things you do rather than on what Christ did.  And if Christ secured salvation for you, then no one can take it way, as we will see in the following verses…

Romans 8:31-39:

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These verses are some of my favorite verses in all of Scripture.  Some have called this section the “Hymn of Security.”  And Paul begins by asking a series of rhetorical questions, but it all is based on the fact that Christians are already justified and glorified before God.  If this is true, then who can be against us? NO ONE!  Who will bring a charge against us? NO ONE!  Who is to condemn? NO ONE!  Who is going to separate us from the love of Christ? NO ONE!  And why is this so?  Because through Christ we are more than conquerors!  And nothing in all creation (and that includes yourself!) can separate us from God’s love in Christ!

So here’s the logic of what we have discussed thus far:  God through Christ did everything for our salvation.  Thus no one can undo what God has done, or they would be greater than God.  And since it is impossible for anyone to be greater than God, it is impossible for anyone to lose the salvation that God established, that God authored, that God perfected in their life.

So this means I can now do whatever I want to do, right?  WRONG!

This is the biggest accusation that is used in opposition to the doctrine of eternal security.  I mean after all, if you’re saved and it’s impossible for you to lose that salvation, that you can just do what you want, right?  Not so fast.  If this is how you have viewed salvation and the doctrine of eternal security, then you need to stop it, repent, and read your Bible.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

This means that those things that you liked to do before you were saved, are no longer something that you desire to do, because you are a new creation.  Those old things are gone!  You may still fall into temptation at times, but your affections have been changed, and you now desire to follow after Christ and obey His commands.  This is what James chapter two is referring to when James writes in verse 14:

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?”

James is not saying that someone is saved by their works.  He is saying that if you claim to have faith in Christ, but your life does not reflect the life of Christ through your works, then you should seriously doubt whether or not you are truly saved.

I have much more to say, but I will save it for part 2 which should come later this week!  Until then…

Sola Deo Gloria