Can a Christian lose their salvation? What do YOU believe?
No. The problem in understanding this has several reasons.
- There are those who think they are Christian but do not actually trust in the gospel of grace that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again in payment for our sins. They may trust in a baptism or other denominational criteria. They may fall short of trusting in simple belief or agreement.
- There are those who think they can lose their salvation because there are bible verses that seem to imply this. These verses are written to Jews under the kingdom gospel for the nation of Israel. These would not receive eternal life until their resurrection.
gentile salvation is immediate;
Col_1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Jewish salvation is after death
Mat_10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
1 Like
I look at salvation differently than most people, I think.
If you have nothing to be disciplined for, you won’t be disciplined. In other words, if you’ve repented of your sin, everything will be okay.
On the other hand, if we need discipline, the Lord will provide it, in this age and the age to come.
No, I can provide Scriptures Jenny.
J.
The discipline is your responsibility. The bible says humble yourself. you have active role in everything. God will support you but you are the the centre of everything: you need to decide, you need to act, but the power and guidance will come from God if you listen and look for God.
in certain cases God can humble you and discipline you but that is only because you are a spiritual baby and there are some important things at stake. This is rare and not the usual process and usually is not pleasant when it happens.
Your actions can translate you back to the kingdom of darkness and death. It is everywhere in the N.T.
I see some strange comments here. Yes, you can loose your salvation because it is not complete. First, nothing can stop you to go back to sin in the world, and the New Testament has plenty of warnings and even examples from the co-workers of Paul that left him and turned to the world. How that happens is described here:
Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Jas 1:13 Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not tempted by evils, and He tempts no one.
Jas 1:14 But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death.
Jas 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.
As you can see verse 12 shows that temptations are part of life in this world and you have to endure and be approved, but you may not endure also. See verse 16 - do not sin. It is everywhere in the N.T., all the warnings.
Here is the process in verse 14 and 15: your lust swallows the bait of the temptation and conceives sin (law braking), and once fully established and developed sin (spirit of death) can push the Holy Spirit out of your heart and kill you - verse 15.
Why is that possible? Because you are 3 parts: spirit, soul and body. Once repented, you accept Jesus, his sacrifice and authority and his blood in the spiritual realm covers you and expels sin (the spirit of death) from you heart and Holy Spirit comes inside your spirit. But that is only your spirit. Your personality (soul) and body are still the same.
You need 2 more salvations. The N.T. shows that you need to save your soul/personality through the renewal of your mind by the Word of God and the power of the Spirit.
And after that you need salvation of your fleshly body that is governed by feelings and desires. That is the final step which will happen at the Rupture which corresponds to the Atonement in the feasts of God. As the bible say then:
1Co 15:54 But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?”
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
After that you have full salvation and membership in the Kingdom of God.
Do not be deceived that you can be lazy and comfortable in this world governed by demons.
That is an interesting concept. That salvation is not complete until glorification. Nice to meet you @johnjames9. This has been a topic that we have talked about a lot here. Most feel it is impossible, with great Biblical backing. Some feel that you can, as I sadly still believe, with much Biblical backing. I understand you do not know me, but I assure you I want to believe OSAS. It is personal to me. It applies to my oldest daughter.
Please allow me to ask you if you see a Biblical difference between falling away and walking away?
Would you care to elaborate on this?
So are you in the camp that someone falling away was never saved to begin with? Obviously, once with the LORD, there is a guarantee of OSAS. No one will walk away from the heaven of God, and no one will enter heaven and drag you away. However, if I understand you, you are saying NO ONE is saved until the transformation?
Peter
If a person is truly born again, God will keep them to the end. Salvation is a work of God, not man. John 10:28-29(no one will snatch them out of my hand", Romans 8:38-39, Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 1:6(he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion) 1 John 5:13.
Passages that sound like losing salvation are seen as warnings to people who professed faith but were never truly saved . 1 John 2:19(They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us).
The main salvation that is discussed in the Bible is the salvation of the spirit/heart. It is the most important as it is granting access to the kingdom if you die. The salvation of the soul/personality is for maturity and growing into the image and statute of Jesus. The salvation of the body is to remove any temptation and to have eternal spiritual body as Jesus and to be like the angels.
God has plenty of promises to protect, guide and save his people but as with all covenants there is always 2 sides. It is always you do your part and I do my part. Check all covenants. And especially in the N.T. it is almost everywhere. Once saved always saved is a nice pleasant feeling, cozy comfort based on demonic activity in the churches. Paul warned about increasing false teachings and prophets in the end times, people that serve the devil and he says they came out from within the church. Look at Jude what harsh words about people in the churches. All epistles warn about this and one of the signs for the coming of Antichrist is the falling away of many Christians. Look at the churches in Revelation - some really heavy words for the churches.
It is madness to say once saved always saved. Nothing like this is in the Bible. The devil is like a lion circling around waiting for somebody to be negligent and not on his guard to snatch him. Haven’t you read christian history??? So many powerful and famous ministers that led thousands and even millions to knowing Jesus and at the end had falling away for different reasons. Just search internet. Read the books from the series: God’s Generals. My mind cannot comprehend what madness is this Christians to be so blind to think it is all waiting and having easy life and not following the Word. Why are all the warnings in the Bible and the examples for people falling away. I personally have seen people going back to the worldly pleasures and becoming like never being Christians before.
I cannot comment much on the falling vs walking away as it is not clear waking away from what?
it is all in the heart. And whatever is in the heart comes out at some moments.
Only detailed honest discussion can give some light on this or seeing in the spirit. Not all people can see in the spirit though based on their maturity and purity of heart.
God do protect and guide but only those that obey and are willing. If somebody wants to be in the pleasures, lust and other worldly lifestyle God can wait for some time but he will withdraw at some point. Remember the prayer of David: do not remove your spirit from me. God is not like the demons, he respect human will and do not invade. He waits for people to repent, he does not force them to be christians. Same is after salvation. You can still exercise your will and leave God. He will warn you and give grace but at the end he will respect your decision.
That is why everywhere in the bible is the principal: if you abide in me I will abide in you and the Father will abide in you. The only and most important new testament church operation is the Lords Supper. Many look at it as a religious and spiritual ritual. I have not seen churches teach the main and important message of the supper: eat my flesh and drink my blood and you will have my life. What is the bread - the symbol of the body of Jesus who is the Word of God that came from heaven. What is the wine - symbol of the blood of Jesus which the life and the Spirit. The greatest principal of the new testament is that you need to eat the Word and drink the Spirit so you can be strong spiritually and have the life and power of Jesus. It is the same shown in the tabernacle (symbol of the body of christ - the church): the unleavened bread is the Word and the oil in the candlestick is the anointing/ the Spirit. they are renewed in the tabernacle EVERY DAY. That is what is needed. To get the Word and the Spirit in you every day. Then you can have Jesus in you, and abide in Him and have personal connection and all the promises.
You see, here is my hang-up. Yes. I truly believe that once you believe, and once you are adopted into the family of God, you can in no way lose your salvation. However, as we see in the story of the Prodigal Son, He walked away. Thankfully, in the story, he came back, but he did walk away. This seems like if we are not forced to accept salvation, then we are not forced to keep it. Here is a brief description of what I am asking.
My Daughter, now 34, was in the church. She served. Read her Bible and even went on a mission trip to Guatemala. Then her mother died. Then I was in a head-on car crash. Now I was diagnosed with several serious health issues. Now? She HATES God. HATES anything to do with God, Jesus, or church. She is brilliant. She has two master’s degrees in Psychology. But without a doubt, have given up any faith in God at all.
She takes good care of me. She cleans my office, arranges my Bibles, but will not talk about God. Will not even discuss anything; “Holy” is just nonsense to her now. I’m sorry, but I have a hard time believing, watching her, that she was “never saved.” She did a lot for never being saved. At the same time, SHE walked away. So? Was she never saved? Did she lose her salvation through forfeit? Or is she still saved and will be forgiven, because she was already forgiven? This is my dilemma. I so want to believe she is saved. But scripturally, I just do not know.
Peter
1 Like
When I say “discipline,” I’m talking about the suffering the Lord will allow us to experience, resulting from our sin.