Romans 11:19-22 “You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." (20) Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. (21) For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. (22) Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture is that the apostle Paul is doing a comparison between Christians and the Jews. And so in this passage the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul warns believers that if we choose not to continue in the goodness of God that He will cut us off from the kingdom of God, just as He cut natural Israel off from His kingdom. Clearly Christians can make the decision not to continue in God’s goodness, otherwise the Holy Spirit would never have written this warning to us. And so we see that as believers, we need to conduct our time here on earth in godly fear and reverence (1 Peter 1:17) and not be arrogant about our salvation, for Paul admonishes us in this passage not to be haughty but rather fearful about our salvation. Sadly the false teaching of eternal security can produce arrogance in some believers; because they are deceived into thinking that they can never lose their salvation. The Jews fell into that same trap however, arrogantly thinking that because they were Jews they would never be cut off, and yet they were.
1 Corinthians 9:27 “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul reveals to us that even though he was the Lord’s apostle, he knew that he was not immune to committing the sin to death. For in this passage Paul acknowledged that even though he was preaching to others, that he himself could still become disqualified if he allowed sin to take control in his life. The word translated “disqualified” in this passage of scripture means to be “rejected”. In other words Paul knew that if he allowed his heart to become hardened through sin that he was not immune from committing the sin to death, and thus he could also be cut off from the kingdom of God. The apostle Paul was arguably the most spiritual of the Lord’s apostles, and so if he acknowledged that he had to keep himself from sin to avoid being rejected, then we are certainly no less vulnerable and should follow Paul’s example to stay away from sin.
1 Corinthians 10:1-12 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, (2) all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, (3) all ate the same spiritual food, (4) and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. (5) But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. (6) Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. (7) And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." (8) Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; (9) nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; (10) nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. (11) Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (12) Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is a continuation of the Apostle Paul’s admonition to the saints to not take their salvation lightly, for in this passage he discusses what happened to the Israelites as a warning to us not to follow their example. In this passage Paul teaches us that even though God had delivered all the children of Israel out of Egypt and they had all been baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, nevertheless because of their decision to continue in sin, most of them were eventually destroyed by God. Some mistakenly think that even though God destroyed them in the wilderness that they still entered into heaven because they were Jews, but that is not the case at all, for God declares that none of them were allowed to enter into His rest and that all were condemned to eternal punishment (Hebrews 3:11). And so Paul tells us in this passage that God gave us this example in scripture to warn us, for he concludes the passage with the warning that we are to take heed lest we also fall just as the Jews did. And so we have seen in this section that scripture is very clear, that it is possible for believers to commit the sin to death, and we must not think that we are immune because we have believed in salvation through Christ Jesus.
Michael E.B. Maher
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