Can a Christian lose Salvation?
Salvation is a gift from god and not from our works, our
level of faith or religious acts that we partake in. It is only through Jesus
Christ and what He did at the cross that we can earn salvation. When God makes
a promise of a gift, He never turns back from that.
Let’s look at a few points for this argument.
·
In Corinthians 2 5:17 we are told that a
Christian is a new Creation in Christ. If we lose salvation then this would
fall away and have to be reversed. A Christian cannot be un-created. Once a new
creation had developed, the Christian inherits all the promises in God’s Word.
·
John 3:16 mentions that whoever believes in
Jesus shall not perish and have eternal life. Well if Salvation had any chance
of being removed from a believer that that means that Gods Word is a lie and
that God had taken Eternal life away from us.
·
Christians are also justified in Christ.
This means that God glorifies a Christian just as He glorified His Son, Jesus
Christ. The Word mentions that once a Christian is in heaven, they will receive
a newly created “heavenly” body. If salvation could be lost, then this would
all be a lie as well. Romans 8:30 (NLT) says this: “And having chosen them, he called them to
come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself.
And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
When Christ died on the cross for our sin and ascended to
heaven 3 days later, this was a type of blueprint as what would happen to the
Christian believer. Once we believe that Christ is our Saviour, we have
Salvation. The answer the above question, to me, is that a Christian CANNOT
lose salvation, because would mean that all the promises made by God in His
Word are a lie. But the kicker here is
the word ‘Christian’. This means believing in Christ and Living a Christian
should. We have to be very specific in what the question asks.
What happens if a Christian continues to live a life of
strife, lies, swearing, anger or immoral life? Can they lose salvation? Well,
to me, that isn’t a Christian then. Christians should not act in that way. Or
what happens if a Christian had faith or did believe but then rejects Christ?
Again, they have rejected Christ. 1 John 3:6 (NIV) says this: “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to
sin has either seen him or known him.”
Christians do not continue to live immoral lifestyles
and so I believe that True Christians cannot lose salvation but those that have
rejected Christ will not inherit the promises of God’s Word.
I like how you turned it around at the end.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear some of your thoughts on my post about viewing salvation in legal terms . . . For my blog it's actually best if you read all the posts in order to get the full picture of what I'm trying to say, but I think this post kind of stands alone–at least enough for me to ask your opinion on it . . .
Legal Terms
Hey Ben,
ReplyDeleteI would love to read your blog on this topic. I will take a look and let you know by commenting on your site.
Thanks for visiting and I really appreciate your comments. It's for this kind of interaction that I enjoy writing this stuff.
God Bless
There are people who are baptised and consider themselves Christian but do things contrary to the Low of God and also against the Law of Christ.
ReplyDeleteWe are convinced that no Christian is free of not sinning; Only Jesus has succeeded not to sin, but for other human beings it has been proven to be very difficult, nobody is infallible.
In case a Christian has done something atrocious, for example a murder, and he does not repent, he shall not be able to enter the Kingdom of God. Also those who commit adultery shall find out that the path is tricky and the gate small.
Christians like non believers all received the grace of salvation, but they like everybody else can loose it. Faith without works is death.
H Marcus,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts. I agree somewhat to your comments but also disagree.
Yes, all Christians sin. We are human and we sin. But as I have written above, 1John 3:6 says that if we continue to sin, wo don't know Jesus or have never known Him. I believe that if we continue to sin over and over, without repenting and changing our ways, then salvation can become questionable.
It's a very debate able subject because we can use all the promises of God in His Word, but the debate comes in with the word "Christian".
How is the christian defined and how should he act - this is all the Word.
To me, and what I read in Gods Word, sin is sin. I doesn't matter if we murder or lie, they are both sin. They are not categorized into big and small sin.
What are your thoughts?
Is it really possible for a Muslim to convert to evangelical Christianity and then de-convert back to Islam?
ReplyDeleteOne of the major tenets of (Baptist/Reformed) evangelicalism is that a true believer can never lose his salvation. This is referred to as the Doctrine of Eternal Security or "Once saved, always saved".
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American who came to the United States as a teenager. He was raised Muslim. At age 15, he converted to evangelical Christianity. He states that after his evangelical conversion, he had a "burning in his soul for Jesus" and actively shared the Gospel with others. However, during his post-graduate studies, his "burning" for Jesus as his Lord and Savior fizzled out. He returned to the faith of his childhood...Islam.
How do evangelical Christians explain this man's "de-conversion"; the unraveling of his "decision for Christ"?
At the moment of his conversion to Christianity, the moment of his salvation by the grace of God, received through faith in Jesus Christ, did Mr. Aslan just not "do it" right...or did this man once truly believe, but now has rejected Christ as his Lord and Savior, and has therefore lost his salvation through Jesus Christ?
Please explain how this happened, evangelical brothers and sisters. To we orthodox, it certainly appears that this man once believed and possessed the Holy Spirit; he once was saved, a Christian, a true believer...and now is not. What happened?
(Mr. Aslan has recently published a book entitled, "Zealot, the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth".)
http://www.lutherwasnotbornagain.com/2013/09/muslim-to-evangelical-christian-to.html
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeletethis is fantastic comment - thank you.
To tell you the truth, I actually don't know but you have certainly got my interest up on this one.
Watch this space. I want to go do some homework....for my own knowledge as well.
Cuan