Beware - Not Only The Love of God is Infinite, But Also His Sovereignty And Wrath

If salvation is entirely by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-9), what if unfaithfulness emerges later? God does not assure that if the born again person continues to sin nothing would happen. On the other hand God clearly warns such people. Ps 51:11 show that God may at times take back His spirit from the believer within the scope of His law. The Spirit of the Lord can depart from man (1Sam 16:14; 18:12).

Because of the sovereign purpose of God, He predestinated only those who would ultimately be saved. If God’s love is infinite, let us not ignore the infinite wrath of God against sin, which necessitated the death His only Son for the redemption of man.

It is the wish of God that all should repent and be saved. But that will not happen. That does not mean that God has failed. Similarly if Christ prayed for the believers and if according to the possibilities given by God to the believers, if some believers become apostates, that does not mean that Christ’s prayer was not answered. To say that because God loves all men all will be saved and that because Christ has prayed for all believers, no believers will become apostates and thus none of them will be lost is false theory.

A Critique of “Once Saved Always Saved” Theory

The theory that God will not destroy the person who once believed, but then persistently sin and reject God, has no basis on any verse in the Bible nor on the character of God. God by no means will clear the iniquity of the unrepentant (Ex 34:6-7). God is not a respecter of persons including believers. On the other hand there are innumerable warnings in the Bible against backsliding and apostasy. These warnings must be understood as facts, instead of approaching them from the perspective of certain ideologies and definitions. One should approach and understand the warnings only with the help of Holy Spirit, not other definitions and presuppositions.

‘Holy Spirit shall indwell in you forever’, if you are faithful to Christ. Because this verse cannot be properly understood in isolation from other verses which strongly indicate that salvation can be lost. ‘The soul that sinneth shall die’. If man did not have sinned, he would have had eternal life without dying. But by sin or disobeying the will of God, he was subjected to eternal death. Christ came to reconcile man with God and give him eternal life. Neither it is impossible for God to depart from the one time believer, nor does any word of God constrains Him from doing that if the situation arises. Holy Spirit and sin cannot coexist. Getting eternal life or keeping it is possible only if certain conditions are met (Jn 6:27). The believer can keep eternal life forever only if he fulfills the Biblical conditions (see Dake NT p.100). Up until physical death, eternal death can be cancelled by repentance and life can be cancelled by sin. When there is persistent sin and unrepentance, Christ (eternal life) can neither come to the person nor remain the person. Sin requires immediate confession. Confession is feeling sorry for one’s sin or sinful condition and acknowledging the Lordship of Christ. By believing or reaffirming his faith in Christ, life comes back to the spirit of the person, because Christ who is life comes to him and abides in him again. But this is not new birth, but just revival. Just sinning is not apostasy. On the other hand it is ceasing to believe and losing the capacity to believe.

The theory that salvation cannot be lost in any case, may lead to complacency and sinful life. We are asked to work out our salvation with fear and trembling not with complacency.  Consider the possible behavioral patterns of one who believes in the possibility of losing salvation and another not losing salvation = a comparison. (But they deny this also).

All will be saved is liberalism; and once saved always saved is quasi liberalism. The position that salvation cannot be lost is quasi liberalism or quasi universalism. (But based on this argument they are trying to blackmail and corner God, that even if they do anything against God, God has no right to punish the sinning believer with eternal damnation. On what basis do you presuppose that the perfect love and perfect work of Christ should constrain God to allow you to commit whatever sin you want, even in spite of the clear warnings in the Bible).

If God would never allow a person who has any possibility of rejecting Christ to accept, will that same God create some men who has possibility to go to hell? Believing that unconfessed sins cause only chastisement; that confessing is only for joy, gratitude and spiritual growth, and not for receiving forgiveness could be fatal.

If we deny Jesus, He will deny you (Mt 10:32-33). All those who want to go to heaven will not be able to Of the ten virgins, only 5 virgins could enter (Mt 7:22-23; Mt 25). “And If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”(1Pet 4:18).

Bible never says that the born-again person (child of God) cannot be later rejected by God, in response to the disobedience to God. The analogy that believer becomes member of the family of God, and that it is like the relationship in human family, and father can never cease to be a father, is committing the fallacy of misuse of analogy. They say even if the believer disobeys in no way his membership can be cancelled, simply because it is so in the human family. Differences are stronger than similarities. It is impossible for a human father to make his son, a non-son. But that is not impossible for God.

They say there is no logic in saying that believer will go to hell. But then according to this argument, what is the logic in saying that any man will ever go to hell? They are just using personal philosophy to counter the word of God. (What about Satan who is still addressed as son of God, who is destined to eternal hell?). Hence it seems that the doctrine of eternal security is just a philosophy of man. Those sinned after coming out of Egypt were killed by God. It is a symbol of losing salvation through disobedience.

Salvation is nothing but being in Christ who is salvation. Faith is not on the forgiveness of sins but on the person of Jesus Christ.

God is not anybody’s debtor to give salvation even to the disobedient and ungodly whosoever they may be. But some argue that they were not believers. They should prove from the Bible that these passages are about unbelievers. One should not categorize as believers and true believers, or believing and truly believing. Or else they should define properly.

Exhortation to Constant Obedience Is Biblical - Debate on Losing Or Not Losing Salvation Is Unbiblical

Those who argue against losing salvation rely on their assumptions based on definitions of “eternal life”, ‘never perish’, forever, etc. But there is no clear evidence or statement in the Bible regarding the impossibility of the believer to disbelieve or that even if the believer disbelieves salvation is assured. On the other hand there are innumerable warnings and passages in the Bible that warn against unbelief and the possibility of losing salvation and that if lost once it is lost forever. That is if the believer transforms himself (only he himself can do that) to be an unbeliever, he cannot again become a believer. What comes out clearly is that as long as one believes eternal life is assured and that external factors cannot take it away.

After one is born again he is not slave to sin any more. If he wants he can avoid sinning. If one wants eternal security one has to meet the conditions for it by obeying the commandments of God. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Cor 5:17). Any teaching of security which in any way allows or encourages sinning is unbiblical and is not from God. The true security of salvation comes through faith in God and obedience to him.

Does not man have the freedom to exercise his freewill in order to withdraw from the salvation, if he wants? If man cannot lose his salvation, is that not a constraint on his freedom? Does man really lose his freedom to decide on his salvation, after believing on Christ? Does not the person even after believing on Christ, have the freedom to determine whether he wants to go to hell or heaven? It seems that man cannot be really free, and his salvation cannot be really the result of the continuous exercise of his freewill, unless there is a possibility of losing salvation. If a person wants to lose his salvation, he must have the freedom to lose it. God is not a person who would curtail the freedom of His creatures. That is how he allowed Lucifer to fall from Grace and remain lost forever. (But if we say that this so-called “loser” never had salvation or never was properly born-again, that is purely an assumption which cannot be proved with biblical evidence). The omniscient God in all His omniscience knows all about the person. Still He allows him to be born again and lose his salvation if he wants. Similarly He allows some to be unbelievers. The only difference is that the apostates will have greater punishment in the hell. Hence the possibility for losing salvation is an expression and evidence of the variegated possibilities or options God has provided the spiritual world of man. Denying this fact is denying the character of God.

Confused or Not - Take the Safer Position

One important issue is that if the doctrine of apostasy is true and that by it a person can really lose his salvation by abandoning his faith in Christ, which he once had, is it not a self deception to think that salvation cannot be lost in any way and consequently keep backsliding with a kind of pseudo-confidence, and pseudo-security to the point of losing one’s salvation?

Hence beware of the doctrine of not losing salvation. By believing in losing of salvation, you don’t lose anything. But the ultimate result of believing in not losing salvation could be even losing your own salvation. Not losing salvation is a very dangerous doctrine. It actually stagnates the spiritual growth and effectiveness in ministry, in the name of assurance, joy of salvation, security etc...

Remember, some of those who teach unlimited grace and not losing salvation may not sin because of the teachihng, but it can cause someone to sin and lose out. It is this possibility of endangering others which put the false teachers at risk and accountability before God.

Those passages which say that salvation cannot be lost say that the external factors cannot destroy our salvation. Those passages which say that salvation can be lost say that the wrong exercise of one’s freewill can lead to the loss of salvation. Too much confidence in not losing salvation (neglecting clear Biblical passages which support that view also) is spiritual arrogance and rationalism. Believing in not losing salvation is not a condition for salvation.

Man can either profit by believing in the testimony of the word of God which warns man of losing faith and salvation, or ignore the warnings, live in sin and unbelief rather than faith and get lost. For salvation one has to repent and believe. To have that salvation, the individual responsibility is to continuously repent and believe.

There is no Biblical support for the argument that those who believe that salvation cannot be lost can be freer and hence can serve God better. The joy of salvation is not in believing that salvation cannot be lost, but in believing that Jesus Christ is my God and Savior. Any other joy is a false joy. Only a person living a true Christian life can have full illumination and thus have correct doctrines and teachings.

There is a God-ordained spiritual tension between the possibilities of losing salvation and not losing salvation, in the life of the believer. It is the ever-present possibility for losing salvation through unbelief which makes every moment of one’s life meaningful and critical at the same time. What is important is to keep faith in Jesus Christ and obey Him, not taking sides on losing salvation or not losing salvation.

Only by acknowledging what Christ has done for me and committing myself to Christ I can know God personally. It is essential that every man understand what God has done to him in Jesus Christ. The most important thing in the life of a person is the relationship with Christ. Since God is our security we need not depend on persons, places or things for our security. Believer must trust in the Lord and have confidence in Christ. Calvary marked the climax of the conflict between God and Satan. Satan was defeated. The purpose of our Christian life is not debating on whether salvation can be lost or not. If the Bible says that salvation can be lost, let us not question God. Those who have eternal life will live forever. Those who do not have eternal life will remain dead forever.

Faith is a soul to soul continuous abiding love relationship with Christ, not a once occurred never again kind of thing. Faith is a spiritual marriage. Here love, faithfulness and obedience are essential for the successful completion of the contract. This is clear from the normal marriage life of the couples. It is not once married, always married. The successful completion of the marriage is conditional upon mutual love, faithfulness and obedience.

Faith is a soul to soul continuous abiding love relationship with Christ, not a once occurred never again kind of thing. Faith is a spiritual marriage. Here love, faithfulness and obedience are essential for the successful completion of the contract. This is clear from the normal marriage life of the couples. It is not once married, always married. The successful completion of the marriage is conditional upon mutual love, faithfulness and obedience. The debate will end when the obedience begins.

We should be careful not to make our own theories to defend what we want and demand God to move in tune with that. Too much confidence in our own theories is spiritual arrogance and rationalism. After all, Believing in not losing salvation is not a condition for salvation. It is essential that every man understand what God has done to him in Jesus Christ. The most important thing in the life of a person is the relationship with Christ. Since God is our security we need not depend on persons, places or things for our security. Believer must trust in the Lord and have confidence in Christ. Calvary marked the climax of the conflict between God and Satan. Satan was defeated. The purpose of our Christian life is not debating on whether salvation can be lost or not. Let us not question God. Those who have eternal life will live forever. Those who do not have eternal life will remain dead forever. Not only the love of God, but also the holiness, sovereignty and wrath of God are also infinite.