Born-again Christians: can lose their Salvation: by living a life of sin

By John Chopores

 

Part 1.

 

Conditional or unconditional Salvation?

 

Some points:

1.       God has given mankind “free will”, the ability to choose. The Holy Spirit influences men, but they must do the choosing!

2.       The Lord Jesus Himself said, "Salvation is of the Jews." We see that all of the Jewish covenants were dependent upon obedience to the covenant laws. . Cf. John 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews

3.   Salvation has been dependent upon obedience, from the beginning, Adam and Eve, lost it because of disobedience to God. Cf. Gen.3: 3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Gen.3: 19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Gen.3: 24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

4.     We see the same thing, in the Prophets! Cf. Isaiah 1:19  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

 Isaiah 1:20  But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Malachi 2:2  If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

5. Jesus Christ Himself had conditions for keeping salvation! Cf. Cf. John 8:51 ¶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

 

6. St Paul continued writing about “conditions”, in Romans. Talking about the fact that the Jews were “broken off”, because of their unbelief, and would only come back in, if  "if they abide not still in unbelief. Cf. Romans 11:23  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

 

7.         In fact St. Paul makes if clear that keeping salvation the condition, of obedience. And that is for both Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles only come into the covenant tree, by living faith!  Cf. John 15: 6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Romans 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

 

8. Faith, must be living! Cf. James 2: 17  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

 18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

 19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

 20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

                       

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Commits by others:

““Then I never can be saved; for I can perform no conditions; for I can do nothing.” No, nor I, nor any man under heaven, — without the grace of God. “But I can do all things through Christ strengthening me.” So can you; so can every believer. And he has strengthened, and will strengthen, you more and more, if you do not willfully resist till you quench his Spirit.” [JOHN WESLEY].

“From hence arise justification and sanctification through the blood of Christ and his Spirit, and from them the existence of all good works.” [ARMINIUS].

“1. But do I hear you say, "Once a son, always a son. He may be disobedient, yet he is a son"? This sounds nice, but is a false analogy and untrue to fact. Let us see! When he was first born, he had no choice as to time or place; he became a son without his knowledge or volition. Net so when he was born again. Then he voluntarily chose to enter the family of God; and since he did not lose the right of choice, he could, like Demas, leave as he entered (2 Tim. 4:10). He was inducted into the kingdom by an act of faith, of his own free will. Strange, then, that if he once had the power to decide he should suddenly forfeit it and become a spiritual idiot, incapable of decision. Hence he is now a mere machine, a nonentity, and consequently irresponsible regardless of what he does. "If he sins," say they, "he may lose fellowship, but not his standing with God; for he is still God's child though sinning every day in word, thought, and deed." What an insult to his intelligence and to a good God who gave him the highest of all gifts -- Free Moral Agency!

 

2. "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28). Here is a blessed passage, and multitudes have proven that no man can cause another to be lost. But, on the other hand, let Adam Clarke speak: "They who continue to hear Christ's voice, and to follow Him, shall never perish. Now it is evident that only those who have Christ living in and governing their souls, so that they possess the mind that was in Him, are His sheep; these shall never perish. Therefore to talk of a man's being one of the elect, one that shall never perish or be plucked out of the hand of God while he lives in sin, is as contrary to common sense as it is to the nature ... and testimonies of the Most High. Final perseverance implies final faithfulness -- 'He that endureth to the end shall be saved'; 'He that is faithful unto death shall have a crown of life.' And will any man attempt to say that he who does not endure to the end, and is unfaithful, shall ever enter into life?" How absurd!

 

3. "Abide in me, and I in you. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned" (John 15:4, 6). Mark! This branch was not tied on, but had living connection and for a while was fruitful. Then, for some reason Christ declared it "withered" and it ceased to bear; hence it was cut off and burned, rather than let the blight spread to other branches. If language means anything, this lesson teaches the sad possibility of final apostasy.

 

4. The author of Hebrews must have believed in falling away, for the epistle abounds with such terms as, "Let us fear"; "Take heed"; "Consider!" We read, "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance: seeing [while] they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" (Heb. 6:4-6).

Peter fell, but Jesus caught him, as He does many today. Judas fell, not only on deck, but overboard, and plunged so far that his recovery became impossible (1 John 5:16). Dear reader, take warning!

 

Commits by others:

"But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die" (Ezek. 18:24). No juggling or wresting of the Scriptures here, by saying this is from the Old Testament; or by asserting that King Saul, Judas and others lost their lives, but not their souls.” [ETERNAL SECURITY TRUE AND FALSE (A Tract)  By Rev. E. E. Shelhamer ].

“XXIII. As the grace that produces any of these states may be lost through sin, or carelessness; hence the necessity that the true penitent should continue to watch and pray till he is justified that, when justified, he should continue to watch and pray, and deny himself, and take up his

cross, till he is sanctified; and, when sanctified, he should continue the same course, believing, loving, and obeying, till he is glorified. As he will be in danger as long as he lives of falling from grace, so he should continue to watch and pray, believe, and maintain good works, as long as he breathes; for while thus employed, humbly trusting in the Lord Jesus, he cannot fall.

1 Corinthians 9:27; 2 Peter 2:18; Mark 14:38; 13:37; 2 Peter 2:10.” [CLAVIS BIBLICA by Adam Clarke].

 

“V. THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

My sentiments respecting the perseverance of the saints are, that those persons who have been grafted into Christ by true faith, and have thus been made partakers of his life-giving Spirit, possess sufficient powers [or strength] to fight against Satan, sin, the world and their own flesh, and to gain the victory over these enemies — yet not without the assistance of the grace of the same Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ also by his Spirit assists them in all their temptations, and affords them the ready aid of his hand; and, provided they stand prepared for the battle, implore his help, and be not wanting to themselves, Christ preserves them from falling. So that it is

not possible for them, by any of the cunning craftiness or power of Satan, to be either seduced or dragged out of the hands of Christ. But I think it is useful and will be quite necessary in our first convention, [or Synod] to institute a diligent inquiry from the Scriptures, whether it is not possible for some individuals through negligence to desert the commencement of

their existence in Christ, to cleave again to the present evil world, to decline from the sound doctrine which was once delivered to them, to lose a good conscience, and to cause Divine grace to be ineffectual.” [A Declaration of the Sentiments of Arminius, The Perseverance of the Saints].