Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There is an erroneous teaching in some parts of the church that has caused many believers to stumble. The false teaching that I am referring to, is that once someone is saved they can never lose their salvation. In other words the error that is taught is that once someone has made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, that decision can never be reversed. Most that teach this error also teach that God does not allow mankind to have a free will, and that we are all essentially sophisticated robots programmed by God to do as He pleases. The truth however, is that God does create mankind with a free will, and it is with our free will that we choose to either accept or reject God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. Obviously all believers, of their own free will, choose to receive salvation through the shed blood of Christ. Those same believers still have their free will intact after they are saved however, and so to say that they cannot reverse their decision cannot be true, for that would imply that God has removed the free will of believers. In support of their argument, those who teach that it is impossible for one to lose their salvation will use scriptures like the one quoted above. In this passage the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul lists various entities which cannot separate us from the love of God. And so the argument is made that this passage plainly declares that there is nothing and no one that can separate us from the love of God. Nevertheless, while the list that Paul mentions seems to be fully inclusive, there is one person that is excluded, which is the believer themselves. And so while it is true that no external entity can separate believers from the love of God, nevertheless because of free will, it is still possible for believers to separate themselves from the love of God.
John 10:28-29 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) 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.”
Another passage of scripture that is used to support the argument that it is impossible for one to lose their salvation, is the one quoted above. In this passage our Lord Jesus taught us that no one is able to snatch us out of our Father’s hand. And so the argument is made that because this passage plainly declares that no one that can snatch us from our Father’s hand, that it is therefore impossible for anyone to lose their salvation. Nevertheless while it is true to say that no one is able to snatch us out of our Father’s hand, it is not true to say that we cannot therefore leave of our own free will. For unlike the devil, God does not hold individuals captive in His kingdom against their free will. And so any believer that chooses, of their own free will, to leave the kingdom of God is free to do so.
1 Corinthians 8:9-11 “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. (10) For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? (11) And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?”
The above quoted passage of scripture describes weak brothers in Christ as perishing, because of stumbling blocks placed in their way by more “knowledgeable” believers. And so as I have already mentioned, when some try teaching the church that it is impossible for believers to lose their salvation no matter what they do, they put a stumbling block in the way of weak believers. So why do I say that? I say that because the weak believers become deceived into thinking that there is no sin and no amount of sin, which can cause them to lose their salvation. And so while the weak believers continue in sin and are slowly hardened and enslaved by sin, they continue to believe the lie that no matter how much sin they commit they can never lose their salvation. Sadly because of the deceitfulness of sin the weak believers are eventually overcome by sin, resulting in their turning their backs on Jesus to go back into the world. When that happens, then the believers, who taught the weak believers that it is impossible to lose their salvation, claim that they were never saved to begin with. And so while these particular believers are always convinced that they are saved, they tend to view others with suspicion, because in their minds you can never really know who is and who isn’t saved. These particular believers tend to become very judgmental of other believers, and when they see them committing sin, rather than pray for them as John instructs us to do (1 John 5:16), or restore them in spirit of gentleness as Paul instructs us to do (Galatians 6:1), they judge them by claiming that they confessed Jesus as Lord and Saviour in pretence only, and were therefore never saved.
Michael E.B. Maher
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