PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- APRIL 21, 2008

What happens when a Christian stops behaving as a Christian ought to?

Q.  I've been saved most of my life. Nevertheless, I have lived a rough life and did many bad things. Before I came to believe in eternal security, I was one of those who "got saved every other week." One of the big problems I had believing in eternal security is that it's proponents always said if one returned to a life of sin they were never really saved. You seem to echo this sentiment. I divorced my wife, left my family, (no intention of ever repenting) to actively pursue the gay lifestyle. Through the prayer of an amazing wife, and the grace of God, our marriage was restored, and my relationship with God is better than ever. I do not excuse sin, or make light of it, but I KNOW I was saved before, and am still saved now. During that two year period, most had written me off. I know new life in Christ will produce good fruit, but different trees mature at different times. Watching someone go into "worse" sin after salvation doesn't mean they were never saved. Some of us just take more work than others.

A. No, I don't dogmatically echo the idea that Christians who return to a life of sin were never really saved in the first place. I would put it in a different way -- if a Christian is indeed a Christian, they may behave outside of Christ -- John tell us that (1 John 1:8) but there will be a time when they return to the Lord. If a person never was a Christian, but seemed to be (they went to church, did the right things, tried to avoid the wrong things -- i.e., they were in moral compliance with most Christian expectations), and then stopped behaving as a Christian, then they have nothing to return to. They never were a Christian so they can't return to something they never were.

This is one of the many questions that spring from the religious fascination with the things that others are doing or not doing, and the judgments we reach as a result. Religion is always trying to provide concrete, dogmatic answers about others -- to allow us to judge them and put them into a convenient little niche (so we can feel better about doing all of the right things, and trying not to do wrong things, so that we can earn our salvation!). The basis of this presupposition is based on moral behavior. The idea is that moral behavior is the goal -- but that is a flawed assumption. Muslims and atheists are moral, some of them much more moral than the normal, "church-going Christians" (whatever that means or doesn't mean!) -- but as far as we know a moral Muslim or moral atheist is no more of a Christian than a cow in the field.

Jesus -- his new life -- his risen life -- is the goal. Our relationship with God, the new life that Christ lives in us - identifies us as a Christian. Jesus will cause us to be moral -- he will produce moral behavior in us. He doesn't force it, for we are still human, and even with him living in us we will make wrong choices. Jesus produces good morals, but good morals don't produce Jesus.

If a person "appears" to be saved (and therein lies a huge issue/assumption -- the relationship that others have with God is really not capable of being perfectly judged by other humans) and then, after some time, completely reneges on his or her relationship with God (or at least, from our perspective, "appears" to) it is possible, according to the Bible, that such a person was never saved to begin with (1 John 2:19). But that determination is a risky one, for again, it is based on externals -- not the internal life of the Spirit that one may, or may not have.

When we speak of someone departing from God, we must also factor in passages such as the prodigal son. He did everything he could to disown his father, to renounce his father's household and his place in it, and went away -- far away -- not close -- but FAR away. Yet his father welcomed him back -- and of course we know about the older brother who had stayed at home, always doing what he thought his father wanted him to do.

As you say, religion and all of its legalisms causes us to eternally doubt our standing -- our relationship with God. For that reason many legalistic churches have altar calls every week -- and for that reason many people go to the altar every week (I am not necessarily saying that it is legalistic to have an altar call -- only that it can be a convenient religious tool to keep people in line).

You make an interesting comment about trees -- and as you know, so did Jesus. Eventually, in time, the human tree in whom he is working will bring forth fruit. The fact that any tree, human or otherwise, doesn't bring forth the kind of fruit we think it should, as quickly as we think it should -- has no relevance whatsoever as to whether it is alive. Whether someone is alive in Christ is not always easy to humanly gauge -- put another way, such a determination is fraught with religious potholes and pitfalls, and usually leaves us in the seat of the scornful, condemning and judging others. When we are in such a spiritual place, we are outside of the activity of Christ, for there is no condemnation in him (Romans 8:1).

While your experience was filled with pain and heartache, it is not the responsibility of any other human being to determine your spiritual state when you were behaving outside of Christ. Our delight is in where you are now, in praising God for his grace and mercy. That's our focus as Christians.

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