Eternal Security

Jude 24 (ESV)  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,

Years ago I was sitting in the steam room at a gym when two men started a conversation about eternal security, whether once saved we were always saved.  I jumped into the conversation and asked if the eternal life Jesus promises in John 3:16 began when we accepted Him or when we die.  Both men said it began when we accepted Him.  John the apostle agrees in 1 John 5:13:

(ESV)  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

So, my next question to the men was “If we have eternal life and God can take it away or we lose because of sin, was it really eternal or life just until our next sin?”  The steam room went silent.

There are a number of passages used by those who would deny eternal security for the believer, but because of space, I will only address the most common one here:

Heb. 6:4-5 (NASB)  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,  ^bsince they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame.

This passage in Hebrews could describe even Judas who betrayed our Lord.  He was enlightened of the Gospel, tasted (but did not consume) the heavenly gift, and was a partaker of the Holy Spirit.  The word “partaker” here doesn’t mean this person received the Holy Spirit.  Here’s what Kenneth S. Wuest says in his Wuest’s Word Studies In the Greek New Testament:

“Thus the word signifies one who participates with another in a common  activity or possession. It is so used here. These Hebrews became participators in the Holy Spirit insofar as an unsaved person can do so, namely, in the sense that they willingly co-operated with Him in receiving His pre-salvation ministry, that of leading them on step by step toward the act of faith. He had led them into the act of repentance. The next step would be that of faith.”

So, Hebrews 6:4-5 in context does not mean you can lose your salvation.  It simply speaks of those who have come close but rejected the idea of receiving Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord.

As Jude says in the verse at the beginning of this post, it is God who is able to retain our eternal life for us.  It is He Who is able to keep us from stumbling, not us and not our actions.

Jesus Himself emphasizes this:  John 10:27-29 (NASB)  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall 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 the Father’s hand.

The term “no one” is absolute in Greek and means not one single thing or person can snatch us from the Father’s hand.  We are secure.

Why is this important?

First, of course, God makes promises and keeps them all.  He has promised eternal life and has sealed us in that eternal life by His 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.

We need not worry about losing our salvation.  It is permanent, eternal, and sealed by God Himself.