Many Christian parents place a strong emphasis on
getting an education, finding a good job, starting a family, and making good
money. However, all of these things only have eternal value if they are
stewarded as part of a life lived in a growing relationship with God.
If you doubt
this, imagine a child who does well in school, gets a respectable, high-paying
job, gets married, has well-behaved children and grandchildren, and spends his
adult life happy and successful. Then he dies and goes to hell, unable to ever
escape. Would he not gladly switch places, including switching lifetimes on
earth, with a man who spent his life in poverty and loneliness but knew the
Lord? We don’t even have to speculate what the answer is. Jesus described a
similar situation in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16.
My point is not to belittle the value of a career or a family, but that
everything we do or have that doesn’t have Christ at the center ultimately has
no eternal value. That is the tragedy of idolatry. It takes wonderful,
beautiful things that God created to bless us, and turns them into worthless
things that disappear forever.
Making Converts Instead of Disciples
What would happen to a newborn baby if it was left in
the wilderness to fend for itself? Of course, it would quickly die. This is
exactly what happens to many newborn Christian converts. There are no spiritual
fathers or mothers in their lives, so they quickly fall away. Several years
ago, an international evangelistic crusade ministry estimated that about 80% of
the people who gave their lives to Christ at one of their crusades were no
longer walking with Him ten years later. A similar pattern probably applies to
new converts in many homes and churches.
When Jesus
departed, He did not command the apostles to make converts, but to “make
disciples… teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matthew
28:19-20). He also warned in Matthew 24:19, “But woe to those who… are
nursing babies in those days,” which some have interpreted to mean, woe to
those who allow their spiritual children to remain in immaturity. The
overemphasis on making converts and under-emphasis on making disciples in
families and churches is possibly the greatest tragedy in the church.
We can probably
all think of multiple people in our lives, from teenagers to retirees, who once
appeared to be devout believers, but have now either rejected the faith
outright or have gradually adopted a worldview that basically disregards
scripture. I believe this backslide is largely the result of false teaching
that promises eternal security without repentance or perseverance. I wonder how
many people falsely think they’re going to heaven because they responded to altar
call many years ago? Or how many parents falsely believe their wayward young
adult children are not in any real danger because they prayed the sinner’s prayer
as a child?
God the Father
When I was in
college, I interviewed for a summer job as a coach at a kids’ sports camp. One
of the questions the interviewer asked me was, “What do you think is
parents’ number one priority when they drop their children off at one of our
camps?” I took a few guesses. Make new friends? Get exercise? Learn
teamwork and character? Learn athletic skills? All wrong. Since I wasn’t
yet a parent, I managed to overlook the obvious correct answer that every
parent already knows. They wanted to know their children were safe. If that is
true of human parents, how much more is it true of God? There is nothing in the
universe more important to God than the safety of His children.
How would you
feel if your toddler wandered off in a crowded public area and suddenly was
nowhere to be found? Imagine the panic! Imagine the fear! I believe this is how
God feels when one of his newborn children is in jeopardy of falling away.
A moment ago, we
discussed how an international evangelistic crusade ministry estimated that
about 80% of the people who gave their lives to Christ at one of their crusades
were no longer walking with Him ten years later, and how a similar pattern
probably applies to many Christian homes and churches. Some would say those
converts were once genuinely saved, but fell away and are now lost. Others
would say they were never really saved to begin with. What is the truth? Is it
possible for a believer to fall away to the point of becoming lost or is a
believer once saved always saved? What does the Bible say?
Every systematic
theology book I’ve read at least acknowledges there are two perspectives on
this issue. There are many passages that have been used to support each side.
Let’s read a few of them. First, here are some passages commonly used to
support the view that it is possible for a person, once saved, to fall away
from the Lord to the point of becoming lost again:
·
Peter said in 2 Peter 2:20, “For if, after they
have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last
state has become worse for them than the first.” (The Greek word used for “knowledge”
is frequently used in scripture for a mature, saving knowledge of Christ.
Examples include 2 Peter 1:3, 8, Ephesians 4:13, and 1 Corinthians 13:12.)
·
The writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 6:4-6, “For in the case of those who have
once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to
repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God
and put Him to open shame.” (The Greek word used for “repentance”
is almost always linked with saving faith in scripture. Examples include
Matthew 3:2 and Acts 2:38.)
·
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you,
which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.”
·
James said in James 5:19-20, “My
brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way
will save his soul from death…”
·
Jesus said in Matthew 24:12-13, “Because
lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who
endures to the end, he will be saved.” (This passage is referring to love for
God, which unbelievers do not have to begin with.)
Additional
passages used to support this view include:
a) Salvation portrayed as depending on perseverance: Colossians
1:21-23, Romans 11:22, Hebrews 3:12-14, Hebrews 10:26-39, John
8:30–32, Revelation 3:5
b) Parables
depicting converts falling away unto eternal separation: Matthew 24:45-51,
Matt 13:47-50, Matthew 13:20-21, John 15:5-6
c) Statements made
to believers warning against falling away unto spiritual
death: 1 Timothy 4:16, Galatians 5:21, Philippians 2:12, Luke 12:4-12, Acts
20:28-30
By contrast, here
are some passages commonly used to support the view that a genuinely saved
believer can never be lost:
·
Jesus said in John 6:39, “This is the will of Him
who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up
on the last day.”
·
Jesus said in John 10:28, “I give eternal life to
them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
·
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, “Now He who
establishes us with you and in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed
us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”
·
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold,
new things have come.”
·
Paul said in Ephesians 1:13, “In Him, you also,
after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having
also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise…”
·
Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39, “For
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I encourage you
to prayerfully examine the wording of each of these passages for yourself,
perhaps using an online lexicon to check the original meaning of keywords. I
recommend using a word-for-word translation of the Bible such as NASB 1995, NKJ,
or YLT since phrase-for-phrase or thought-for-thought translations leave more
room for translators to insert their own beliefs. I further encourage you not
to assume your preferred pastor or author could not possibly be wrong on this
issue since there are many reputable theologians on both sides.
I’ll share my
opinion: These two sets of passages are easily reconciled. The first set speaks
of God’s keeping power, while the second set speaks of the believer’s capacity
for persevering or rejecting faith.
I believe this
one sentence is the key to properly interpreting the whole counsel of scripture
on this point:
Omission is not denial.
The first set of
passages omits God’s unfailing (so far as it depends on Him) keeping power, but
does not deny it. The second set of passages omits man’s capacity for rejecting
or falling away from genuine saving faith, but does not deny it.
To the extent it
depends on God’s power and ability, no one who belongs to Him can ever or will
ever become lost again. However, God’s power and ability are not the only
factors. A believer’s perseverance also depends on his or her own choices and
heart because God does not override our free will.
Analogous to Marriage
Once-Saved-Always-Saved advocates sometimes use a silly straw man
argument that, if salvation could be lost, then a believer’s salvation status would
waiver from one moment to the next depending on how recently they sinned and
how quickly they repented. However, salvation status is not based on how
recently one sinned/repented; it is based on faith and relationship.
Perhaps the most
useful analogy for understanding our relationship with the Lord is marriage. A
marriage can go through dry seasons. A marriage can even survive abuse,
adultery, or separation. Even a marriage that ends in divorce can be reconciled
if both partners are still alive. However, if a husband and wife divorce and
then one of them dies, the marriage can never be restored. In the same way, if
a believer falls away to the point of divorcing himself from the Lord and then
dies in that condition, he is lost forever.
Some people get
married very young with no one to mentor them. They don’t have the maturity to
persevere through trials. When things get hard, they give up. This is like
people who give their lives to the Lord because of the infatuation they
experience in their early years with Him. However, they are not prepared to lay
down their lives for Him so they leave when things become difficult.
Some marriages
begin on a strong foundation but are ruined because of addictions or adultery.
This is like people who begin strong in their spiritual journey but become
entangled in idolatry or immorality and refuse to repent.
Some couples
raise children together, but when the children leave they realize the marriage
has become loveless and unfulfilling, so they call it quits. This is like a
believer who labors productively for many years caring for other believers or
the lost, but loses his first love and ultimately turns away to live for
himself.
Throughout church
history, every imaginable combination has likely existed in terms of a
believer’s age and circumstances of his conversion, the longevity and zeal of
his Christian walk, and the age and circumstances of his falling away. Since
God judges the heart, I don’t believe there is a clear-cut formula for
determining at what point a believer crosses a line to become lost again.
However, this does not mean such a line does not exist – it just means only God
knows for sure when it has been crossed.
I think it is
certainly possible for a Christian to seriously backslide or have major
strongholds, yet still be saved. Likewise, I think it is possible for a person
to intellectually believe all the right doctrines and have overt vices, but not
really know God at all because he unconsciously trusts in his own righteousness
– like a modern Pharisee.
Some Once-Saved-Always-Saved
advocates are fond of the expression, “You can’t lose what you didn’t earn.”
This expression doesn’t even make sense as an illustration. Could you possibly
lose something someone gives you, say, as a birthday present or a Christmas
present? Of course. Whether something is earned, purchased, or given has no
effect whatsoever on whether it can be lost. Likewise, in my assessment of
scripture, while salvation can never be earned, it can be lost.