Losing Your Salvation? 3 Views

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1. Lose Your Salvation

Yes, it is possible to lose your salvation, because of our free will and God’s grace being merely prevenient (a near helper).

• Hebrews 10:26–27: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

This is the teaching of Arminian Protestants and Roman Catholics. However, while goads to the believers (and often highly nuanced in their context and meaning), verses such as these need to be understood in light of other verses and a 2nd view, eternal security.

1. Eternal Security (Once Saved, Always Saved)

This view rightly notes verses that say the opposite of the above—you cannot lose your salvation!

• John 6:39: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

However, like the first view it is man-centred in that it bases God’s obligation to keep me—regardless of how I live or don’t follow Jesus–on my decision. No, there must be a more biblically faithful and complete alternative than these two views, and there is.

1. The Perseverance of the Saints

This view holds together the goads and the assurance of salvation with yet another promise in God’s salvation, that He will save us completely because of His power and comprehensively mighty plan to save:

• Jude 24: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.”

Why would you want to trust in a God who couldn’t keep He whom He saved? Why would you want to trust in a God who could save you from the penalty of sin (justification) but not from its power (sanctification). No, I want to trust in a God whose plan of salvation and ability to save is so much greater. And guess what, by believing the Gospel the good news is that we can be assured we’re not only secure but will persevere in the faith. Praise the Lord for the glorious teaching of the perseverance of the saints.