Eternal Security

Two guys were arguing whether a Christian can lose his salvation.  The one arguing pro-eternal security said “When do we receive our eternal life, when we’re saved, or when we die?  If we gain eternal life at the time of salvation when we are justified and are capable of losing it, we never had eternal life to begin with.  We had eternal life temporarily. Does temporary eternal life make logical sense?” This fellow seemed to have a point.

If we can lose our salvation by sinning, which is the argument, then salvation is a works sort of thing.  If we can lose our salvation by works we have done, then we can be saved by the works we do.  That’s not what the Bible teaches:

Titus 3:5 (ESV)  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

God is all loving. Our salvation rests on His love for us and His love for endures forever: Psalm 136:1  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

In Old Testament times, one could lose God’s spirit.  We only need to look at Samson and how the Spirit of God came and left him (Judges 16:20).  This is no longer true.  Christians are sealed by the Holy Spirit

Eph 1:13,14 (ESV)  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

So, according to Ephesians, when we heard the truth and believed, we were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit and guaranteed our inheritance of which we will take possession either at our death or at the Lord’s coming.

1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV)   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

We are being guarded through faith for a salvation and that salvation is sealed by the Holy Spirit in us. 

Why is this important?

Sometimes Christians doubt whether they’re saved or if they have lost their salvation.  God has promised our salvation is sealed for us along with our heavenly inheritance.  We have no need to doubt, no need to wonder.  We are God’s children the moment we receive Him:

John 1:12 (ESV)  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

God’s love for us cannot be broken nor can His adoption of us as His sons and daughters.  Paul uses the Roman adoption ceremony as an example of our adoption as children in Rom. 8:15.  In the ceremony, all preparations and fees were paid for by the Father.   All the prospective adoptee , most often a servant, needed to do was at the end of the ceremony cry out “Abba Father,” and the adoption was complete.  Interestingly, that adopted child could never be disowned though the natural children could be.  We as adopted children of God are His forever.

Rom. 8:15 (ESV)  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

So, when we wonder if we’re really saved or if we have done something we think might cause God to break His promise to us, remember God never breaks a promise or an adoption.  We are His forever.