Question:  Dear Greg,

        One question that has bothered me lately is whether or not you can lose your salvation.  This is a question close to my heart as it relates to where my older brother is at right now.  I believe if we reject God, we pull the plug on our own salvation.  He doesn’t take it away—  we do.  It’s always there for us, as he waits for us to return, but at what point do we forsake our eternal future with him?  At what point do we “pull the plug”?  So many people have opposing views and I just don’t know where I stand any longer.  What’s your view?

        Lizzie

Answer:  Dear Lizzie,

        Many people do have opposing views— perhaps the best way to start is to go back to our foundation.  How are we saved?

        The gospel of Jesus Christ insists that nothing we do can earn any part of salvation.  Salvation is by God’s grace— in every way.  What is salvation?  Salvation is eternal life— and that eternal life, according to the gospel, is given to us the moment we trust in, commit to, and accept Jesus’ work and deeds on our behalf as being sufficient and complete enough for our salvation.  To do what we can never do.  When we make that step, we are saved— given eternal life.

        Some believe that the initial gift of salvation is by grace, but we must maintain it by what we do.  If we must maintain salvation, then salvation does not confer eternal life because the life we are given then would have to be more appropriately defined as “conditional eternal life”.

        If God wanted us to be aware of, concerned about and vigilant about what we need to do to maintain our salvation/eternal life, then surely he would not mislead us.  He would not lure us into a false sense of security.  The Bible tells us that God is not a liar.  When he tells us that he gives us eternal life, he gives us eternal life.

        But (says the person who is worried that the message of grace will allow and encourage some people to try to get away with sin), “what about those people I know who used to go to church, but now they have fallen away”?  Does grace still apply to them?  Has God given up on them?  If he hasn’t, how many bad things must they do before God will eventually give up on them?  We would do well to re-read the story of the Prodigal Son, and the time when the disciples asked Jesus how often they had to forgive someone.

        God’s love, given to us by his grace, is absolutely without limits--without conditions.  It is not subject to human comprehension, measurement or judgment.  That is one of the reasons that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news— it is bigger and more profound and more powerful than our abilities to understand it.

        Back to the question about some who once appeared to be Christian (because of outward behaviors), but now seem to be anything but (once again, because of outward behaviors we can observe or we have heard of).  Here are a couple of issues: 1) simply attending church, doing things that Christians should do and avoiding things Christians avoid doing does not make someone a Christian; 2) the Bible says that some went out from the early church but they never were a part of or “in” the church (1 John 2:19).  So, it is not easy to conclude that someone who seemed to once be doing and saying all the right things but now is doing and saying many, if not almost all of the wrong things, has lost his or her salvation.  Even if those people once thought they were Christian— once again, thinking and doing doesn’t make us Christian.  The only one who truly knows is God the Holy Spirit (Romans 8 tells us that we are none of his if the Holy Spirit does not reside within us).  We cannot humanly discern, with 100% accuracy, whether the Holy Spirit is within another person.

        “Well”, someone might say, “Galatians 5 lists the fruit of the Holy Spirit, so we CAN know”.  But if you read that list you will see that those products might also appear to be present in a good Muslim, atheist, Buddhist, etc.— and in some cases much more evident than the one who professes faith in Christ.

        The Bible tells us that God has saved us, if we have accepted Jesus Christ, and that no one can snatch us out of his hand.  The Bible says that he who has begun a good work in us will finish it.  PTM believes that those who have accepted Jesus Christ are eternally secure— whether they seem to us to be secure or not.

        Thus, the Bible does not say that we can “lose” our salvation.  “Lose” implies that we have some part in keeping, maintaining, and safeguarding a gift that was initially given to us.  We are neither saved initially by what we do, nor do we continue to maintain our saved status by what we do.  The only proviso that the Bible appears to offer has nothing to do with whether we can “lose” our salvation.  It speaks of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which would involve a willful rejection on our part, a refusal to repent.  God will always forgive us, but he will not force us to repent.  It may be that there is a way and time when some who have tasted of the Holy Spirit may decide, of their own volition, that they no longer want God.  They reject him— knowingly, willfully, and completely— not in one act, but dogmatically and categorically over a period of time.  However, that would not be equated to “losing” our salvation.  That would be more like rejecting God and blaspheming him and his grace.

        In Christ,

        Greg Albrecht