I made this thread with respect to username 1Pe5:7 who is afraid that he'll lose his salvation becaue he feels he perhaps may not living well enough to be saved. Feel free to post argue my post with scriptures of your own. I know of many passages that look like they are saying we can loose salvation, when really that is not what they mean.
Eternal Security
The bible teaches that once a person is saved they are always saved. It teaches that we cannot lose our salvation. We have been adopted into the family and therefore eternally a part of it. The basic rule of thumb is that if it looks like it is saying that we can lose salvation, it usually is referring to losing reward or fellowship. But let’s first look at the verses that show that we can never lose salvation.
If you are reading the King James, it does not pay close attention to verb tenses, but all the other modern Christian translations do so please cross reference if you are using a King James.
Look at Ephesians 1:13, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” So he is talking to Christians. It continues, “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
This verse says that you were sealed with the Holy Spirit when you believed in Christ. Matt. 19:6 says that what God has joined together, man cannot separate. Only God can break his own seals that he seals. And he sealed you with the Holy Spirit for how long?—until the redemption of those who are God’s possession. He sealed you until the day of redemption, that is, until the day he returns via the Rapture. He calls it a deposit until that time, and he says that this deposit he has made is a guarantee that you are a part of the inheritance. The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that you cannot lose what he gave you. Look at Romans 8:9 carefully and you’ll see that it gives a parenthetical statement that goes something like this: “…and everyone who is saved has the Holy Spirit.” In other words, you cannot be a Christian and lack the Holy Spirit, which is God’s deposit, showing you He saved you until the Day of Redemption.
Paul says the same thing again in Ephesians 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed until the day of redemption.”
So what if we are saved today, but do something wrong and lose our salvation tomorrow? Then Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30 would be inaccurate because that means that we were not sealed until the day of Redemption. My doing something wrong would have broken the seal of deposit that was a guarantee from God and both of those verses would be false.
Here is anther passage that shows we cannot lose salvation: Romans 8:35-39. Verse 34 shows that he is talking to Christians. So look at vs. 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” “Or sword” means not even death can separate us from the love of Christ. Skip to verse 38, “For I am convinced that neither death [that includes spiritual death] nor life [that includes anything we do while alive] neither angels nor demons [that means the Devil cannot separate you from the love of Christ] neither the present [no sin I do today can separate me from the love of Christ] nor the future [no sin I might possibly do tomorrow will separate me from the love of Christ] nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, [and in case this verse might have missed something, he says…] nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing in the future can separate you from the love of Christ because you were sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Other verses (and I give short commentary for most of them):
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Salvation is through faith alone by grace. The definition of grace is God giving you what you do not deserve as opposed to mercy, which means God not giving you what you do deserve. God gave us salvation, what we do not deserve, through faith, and not from our own efforts or merits. It is a gift. Not by works. God does not want anyone to boast of the salvation he gave us for free because he paid too high of a price for our salvation to for us to say that we did anything within ourselves to merit it. He does not want anyone to say, “I am saved because I _________. Because I go to church; because I am a good person; because I love my neighbor; because I _________.” That is what it is to boast of something that you didn’t even do to obtain. God did the work through the finished work on the cross by Jesus Christ. We were saved to do good works, but good works is not what saved us.
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” It’s saying the same as above.
Titus 3:5, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Here is a great verse that shows that it is not by anything at all we did. Salvation does not come because we prayed enough times, or repented enough times. It is not even tied to any sins we commit. It is only because of His mercy that we are saved. Again, mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve, that is hell. God had mercy on us and sent his Son to take our place, the place that was due us. This, not by any righteous deeds of our own.
2 Timothy 1:9, “who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time”
Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” Works actually cancels out grace because grace is free, but if you work for what was free, you are cancelling out the freeness that was inherently free. We still do good works to please God, but not for the purpose of our salvation.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” This probably needs no commentary because it is just like the Galatians verses above that I already gave commentary to. But again, this is his seal that shows his ownership of us, and no person can break our seal, not even ourselves because it is God’s seal. Our best efforts cannot break God’s seal that he has placed on us. And this verse again says that salvation is a guarantee, just as the Galatians verses state.
2 Corinthians 5:5, “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” See above, and that makes 4 passages saying the same thing.
1 Peter 1:5, “who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” This too is similar to the above one and the ones in Galatians. If I lose my salvation tomorrow then this verse would be false because it promises that I will be shielded by my faith until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last day.
John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” This verse says that by faith we have crossed over from death to life. There is no verse in the bible showing that a person crosses over from eternal life to death. Also, the definition of “eternal life” is “ETERNAL.” If I become saved today and get eternal life today, but do something tomorrow that makes me unsaved, then that means that I never had eternal life because if you lose it, then it is no longer eternal. Eternal life starts the moment you get it, not in the next life. Once you have eternal life, then you have it for an eternity.
John 6:28-29, “Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Notice the work Jesus mentioned here is singular. There are no works required but this: to believe in Him. They asked what must we do to get saved, and Jesus responds saying, do nothing but believe.
John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” Note the superlatives “ALL” and “whoever.” Jesus will not drive away anyone who comes. Come as you are and he will not drive you away. He will work to change your life to become more righteous, but that is His work in you. We cannot make ourselves righteous. Only Jesus makes us righteous. We are to just come as we are and we grow unto righteousness.
John 6:39-40, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” So if I were to become saved today and do something tomorrow that makes me lose salvation, and then die right after that, this verse would not be true if that is true. This says Jesus will not lose any of all who gets saved.
John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Living forever starts the day you eat. If you eat today, you won’t die tomorrow because of something you do tomorrow. Eternal life starts the moment you obtain it.
John 6:56, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” Remains in him?
John 10:28-29, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” They shall never perish. Never means….never. And Eternal means…eternal: the day you obtain eternal life, it is for eternity. And no one can snatch us out of his hands, not the devil and best of all, not even you yourself. Aren’t you included in “no one”?
John 11:26, “…and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” If you really believe this then you will have no fears of losing your salvation. You will know that you are always saved. Jesus says you will NEVER die. So if you believe today, there is nothing you can do tomorrow to lose your salvation, because then the word “never” would be a lie.
Hebrews 6:19-20, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” To try to make a long story short: In the Old Testament only the most high priest can enter the most holy place on behalf of the sins of the people, but now Jesus is our new High Priest and He enters the sanctuary behind the curtain where no person can go, and he continually stands as high priest for our sins forever. Whenever we do sin, Jesus is there behind the curtain of the most holy place making atonement for our sins, continually.
Romans 4:5, “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Wow, this verse says we don’t even have to work, but rather we can just trust God, and he credits our works? NO, he credits our faith as righteousness. It is only faith that gets credited as righteousness when it comes to salvation. But when it comes to fellowship with him, then he looks at our works for that; but we are always saved and in the family. He will discipline us if we are not living right, and his discipline can be harsh sometimes, but as far as our eternal salvation is concerned, we are secure.
Romans 4:8, “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” That’s us who are saved! God will never count our sins against us because that is the whole purpose of the cross. If we could save ourselves by living a righteous life, then Christ would not have had to die on the cross. But since we cannot live up to the standards of a Holy God, God Himself came down to pay the sacrifice for us so that we can have an opportunity to become saved. This is by His righteousness that we are saved, not by our own.
Romans 4:16, “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law (Old Testament Israelites) but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham (us Christians). He is the father of us all.”
Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” We have peace with God, not by anything we did, but by the grace God provides to us through faith in Christ. And this is a continual peace.
Romans 6:9-11, “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he (and we—note the coming verse that says, in the same way credit yourselves) cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” If I trust Jesus for my salvation, but lose it, technically, Jesus would need to die again because I forfeited the first one. But since I can never lose it, Jesus only had to die once for our sins. Can you give any other meaning to this verse than that? This verse would be saying nothing at all special if that’s not what it is saying. It continues, “The death he died, he died to sin. Once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” I admit, I put that period after the word “sin” in that verse to make it clearer, but understand that the Greek manuscripts that were originally written for our New Testament were written as uncial which has no punctuation at all, and all the sentences run together. It was the choice of the translator to insert punctuation marks.” It continues, “In the same way (in the same way as above how Jesus only died once then raised to life once) credit yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. “ There is no dying again for us. We are to credit ourselves righteous “in the same way” that Jesus was credited with righteousness and will never die again. By the way, the Christian will never die. We will never get to attend our funeral because we will be alive with Christ in heaven. The bible says, “Absent from the body (dead) is to be present with the Lord (alive).” Our bodies die, but we are not our bodies. And our spirits never die. Our perspective comes from our souls that lie within our bodies.
Galatians 3:11, “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” Live is the opposite of death. Spiritual death in the bible means to be separated from God. We live unto eternal life through faith alone.
2 Peter 1:8-9 (carnal Christian), “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” You would have to read the qualities of verses 5-7, but they are works, and this verse says that if you don’t do them, you are blind, but you are still saved because it says that they have forgotten that they have been cleansed from their past sins. They are still cleansed of their sins. They are all works, because verse 5 says, “add to your faith (the following things).” That means whatever follows couldn’t be our faith because we are adding these things to our faith. Note that Love is a work, not required by God for salvation. Love is in the list of works. I know you would throw the verse in 1 John at me, but that is about fellowship with God and has nothing to do with salvation with God. Note this passage says that even if you do not have love, you are still cleansed from your past sins. Even godliness is in this list. So if we do not have godliness, we have still been cleansed from our past sins according to verse 9.
Jude 1, “…To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ.” Note this verse says we are “kept” by Jesus Christ.
Luke 18:26-27, “Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”” Here, Jesus agrees that salvation is impossible for us to attain, but he says that while salvation may be impossible for man, it is not impossible for God to save us. We need to stop trying to attain what is impossible for man to attain when it is God that does the work of salvation for us; He just asks that we believe in the payment of Jesus at the cross that He paid for our sins.
Matthew 19:25-26 (Salvation is by God, not man) This is a repeat of above, except Jesus responds, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” This time Jesus says “this.” Obtaining salvation is the “this.” So replacing the word “this” with what he is referring to, it reads, “Obtaining salvation is impossible for man, but with God all things are possible.” It is impossible for us to live a righteous life for us to become saved. God gives us salvation for free because it is impossible to obtain otherwise. Trying to live a righteous life for salvation is a futile effort. We live righteously for our love for God and because he first loved us. We live it to avoid his wrath, anger and punishment here on Earth. We live it to please our Father in Heaven. But we don’t live it to become saved.
Mark 10:26-27 This is a repeat of the two passages above.
Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” Free means, well, free. It is something that we do not have to work for in order to obtain. It is given. You wouldn’t give a birthday present to someone and then charge them to work it off. It is a gift. A gift is something that has no stipulations on it. Salvation is a free gift from God.
Isaiah 55:1-2, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” See the verse above this one. Isaiah is one of the most prophetic prophets in the bible and he foresaw the free gift of God through Christ Jesus. I like how it says come buy without money. It is so free that you don’t need money to buy it or obtain it. Only have to believe.
Psalm 32:2, “Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” This is a repeat. It was quoted above by Paul in Romans when he was proving that through Christ, your sins are not counted against you.
Psalm 89:30-34, The verses just before these are Messianic verses. But these verses read, “If his (Jesus') sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.” This passage says that God will discipline you when you disobey him, but he will never take his love for you away. Even when you are unfaithful, this verse says, God is faithful and will never leave or forsake you. Sin for the Christian leads to flogging by God, but not to a loss of salvation. This passage reminds me of 2 Timothy 2:11-13. There it says that if we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, meaning he will always love and keep us. The verses also say that if we deny him, he will deny us, but that means that he will deny us reward and our hearts desires if we deny him glory in public or something like that. He will deny us blessings and discipline us, but he will remain faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to him because he bought us at a high price—the price of his only Son, Jesus Christ. He bought us just like we would by an adopted child. If we were to adopt, we would have to spend money to purchase the child. God paid the price for our sins through the currency of Jesus Christ, and he purchased us permanently into his family.
Jeremiah 23:4, This is also a Messianic passage. This verse reads, “I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing, declares the LORD.” If you read the following 2 verses after this, it speaks of Jesus. So verse 4 promises that none will be missing. Of all who are saved, none will be lost.
The following verses are not as strong at proving eternal security, but I can make an argument through each of them and they give support to all the other verses I quoted above:
1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” John’s intentions of writing 1 John was to let his audience of Christians know that they are saved by grace. He was not writing so that they would question their salvation, but rather so that they would be reassured of that they are saved. The theme of 1 John is fellowship with God, and not salvation with God. Our fellowship should reassure our eternal relationship with Him as part of the family of Christ.
1 Peter 1:23, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed [natural birth (egg; sperm); it is perishable because we physically die], but of imperishable (never lose salvation), through the living and enduring word of God.”
1 Corinthians 15:50, "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." Flesh and blood is not only referring to our bodies, but also everything that we do in the body. We cannot inherit the kingdom through what our hands and feet do, and what our fleshly brains tell us what to do, but only the spirit us inherits the Kingdom, that is, Jesus purified our spirits (he did not purify our flesh) so our spirits inherit the kingdom through what Jesus did for us not through what we could possibly make our bodies do.
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