How does one lose a free gift?

EmSw said:

This doesn't answer my request for you to find where we are to keep the commandments 'perfectly'. Do you play in left field much?

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JohnB445 said:

I believed in OSAS before, and then got into the teaching that you can lose it, but now I am starting to lean back to OSAS and the ones who lost it never believed or had faith to begin with. So how is this possible? If one was in the maybe they believe category then they didn't believe. There is no maybe, its either they believe fully or they don't.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

So what did one do to lose it? Fall away from the faith, but they never had faith to begin with did they?

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EmSw said:

Now, since Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom early on, show us what Jesus preached about the kingdom. Show us it wasn't about works. Show us where Jesus said 'grace only'.

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BNR32FAN said:

You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.

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BNR32FAN said:

For apart from me you can do nothing.

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bcbsr said:

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.
For if they had belonged to us, (ONCE SAVED)
they would have remained with us; (ALWAYS SAVED)
but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
1John 2:19

Even so, if receiving the gift was free and not contingent upon some level of performance, then it could not be spoken of as being free if one can lose it based on a failure to live up to some level of performance.

I've been debating with a lot of people on these forums who believe in performance based salvation. Some of them say that upon believing you are then saved. But you have to maintain a certain level of performance to maintain your salvation.

Actually when you think about it, that performance based salvation scenario is logically inconsistent because what are you saved from? Salvation is from God's wrath, which is to occur in the future. One cannot logically say they have been saved from a future event if they can become "unsaved" along the way. One can only say they in that scenario that coming to faith in Christ gives one the opportunity to be saved from God's wrath if you live up to it, being qualified in the end by you level of performance. To many of us that's simply salvation by works. One puts their faith in their own performance to save them.

Discarding that idea what is left is that salvation is not loseable, as it's not conditioned upon one's performance. But there is the caveat of faith. What if one stops trusting in Jesus to save them. Salvation by works Christians don't even exercise that trust to begin with. So they're disqualified from the start.

I would infer that one's trust in the Lord becomes finalize at its inception, which is why Jesus speaks of salvation being finalized upon coming to faith. "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." John 5:24 I think it's due to the nature of regeneration that faith becomes unchangeable in a person. But there are many who are transitioning to saving faith, who have not yet come to saving faith in Christ. These are they who have the potential to fall away like Paul speaks of the Galatians. They fell away from the concept of justification by faith alone into the sort of legalistic righteousness many advocate on these forums. For them I apply 1John 2:19

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redleghunter said:

The two statements few point out when using this passage to preach losing salvation.

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redleghunter said:

Yes.

Matthew 26: NASB

27And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

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redleghunter said:

It’s a legitimate question. What is your canon?

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redleghunter said:

Now address the “how” this is cleaned.

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Bobber said:

So how would the verse below be explained. Isn't it clear that one must remain in Christ and must choose to continue in the Son?

Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
1 John 2:24-26

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EmSw said:

Really?

John 15:3
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Now we have the spiritual word which is able to spiritually clean all.

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BNR32FAN said:

That is referring to a specific group of people the antichrists not to every believer.

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EmSw said:

So you are saying the wine in the cup was His blood. How sad!

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BNR32FAN said:

What about verses 4-6? How do you interpret these?

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:4-6‬

Keep in mind these people who do not abide are removed (detached or cut off from the vine) from Christ. How does that result in salvation?

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EmSw said:

Not for this thread.

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redleghunter said:

How does the passage indicate they were “believers.” John is saying the opposite. That there are only wheat and tares, children of God and sons of wrath.

Is there any language in the NT which shows the beloved in Christ become a child of wrath again?

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BNR32FAN said:

That is referring to a specific group of people the antichrists not to every believer.

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redleghunter said:

What promise did Jesus give them to remain in Him?

John 16: NASB

5“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6“But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;11and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

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EmSw said:

Now, since Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom early on, show us what Jesus preached about the kingdom. Show us it wasn't about works. Show us where Jesus said 'grace only'.

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BNR32FAN said:

There is the warning of Jesus to His 11 faithful apostles John 15:1-8

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