Eternal Life is Just That ETERNAL!

One of the most basic controversies in the church concerns whether a Christian can lose his salvation. Some claim the Bible teaches that salvation can be lost, either from sinning or because a person stops believing. There are several reasons for this. They are misinterpreting Scripture (I’ll take a look at some of the passages in a moment). Many people think Christians can lose their salvation because they have known someone who professed faith in Christ, participated in church activities, perhaps even seemed to be used of God--then dropped it all and walked away. To them, that person lost their salvation. But this is an argument from experience, and experience is not a dependable teacher (we’ll examine this argument as well). And some use the logical argument that if salvation is secure then we can live anyway we want (you guessed it, I’ll take a look at that. too). Let’s begin by examining some of the biblical evidence that salvation is a decree of God that cannot be lost--that Christians are eternally secure.
Several strong statements by Christ Himself should completely settle the issue. In John 6:37 Jesus says, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” And in John 6:39, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of ALL He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” If you look at the context, you’ll see he is talking about us. Then, look at what He says in chapter 10, starting at v. 27: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.” These verses are irrefutable evidence that salvation cannot be lost.
Think about the phrase, “eternal life” or “everlasting life.” For instance, in John 5:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” It says the one who trusts in Christ has everlasting life. Not “will have” or “may have if he endures.” He has salvation in the present tense. And how long is everlasting life? Forever, not temporary, according to Heb. 10:14 “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
Also, notice that John 5:24 says “has passed from death into life.” The perfect tense for the verb indicates that John sees this as a completed action. It is, in other words, an accomplished fact. Paul says in Col. 1:13: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” This transfer from one state to the other is a major theme in the New Testament. Those who believe salvation can be lost seem to think of salvation only in the sense of the privilege of going to heaven instead of hell. It is a simple thing to them to think of losing that privilege.
Those who hold this position forget what a complete and radical transformation we undergo at the time of conversion. John 5:24 is just a preliminary indicator of this remarkable and supernatural change of state. Much of the New Testament is concerned with this transformation and its impact on our lives. Consider just five things that are involved in this transformation.
First, John 3 says we are born again spiritually. It is impossible to reverse our human birth and become unborn. You may become estranged from your mother and father, but you can never genetically cease to be their child. So it would also be impossible to reverse our spiritual birth and become unborn. Another word for this new birth is ‘regeneration’ in Titus 3:5. When that word is used in a wider sense in Matt. 19:28 it is for the millennium. The millennium will involve the total transformation of the earth to the Eden-like state it had originally. Can our spiritual transformation in the new birth be reversed any more than this millennial transformation?

0 members like this