LoveGodsWord said:
↑ Where is the scripture that says a born again christian cannot fall away from the faith and no longer believe and follow Gods Word?
Your response...
Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
What God began in saving a person He has promised He will bring to successful completion. Salvation is God's work, not ours. He draws a person to Christ (John 6:44), He gives faith to believe (Romans 12:3), He imparts repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), and He saves us (Romans 5:10). And what God has accomplished in us He does not leave to us to sustain but will Himself "complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." A genuinely born-again believer, then, cannot be unborn-again, a believer cannot lose salvation, because his salvation is not believer-dependent but God-dependent.
AS shown in JOHN 8:31-36 already. This promise as well as all of God's promises are CONDITIONAL on CONTINUING in God's WORD, BELIEVING and FOLLOWING GOD in the "PRESENT TENSE". The scripture you have provided here does not say that God's people or BORN again christians cannot FALL AWAY from God's WORD and no longer BELIEVE and FOLLOW it does it? You have provied no scripture here brother that says God's people cannot fall away from from BELIEVING and FOLLOWING God's WORD. This promise is only CONDITIONAL on those who BELIEVE and FOLLOW God's WORD as shown in JOHN 8:31-36.
Your interpretation of the scriptures above contradicts other scriptures throughout Gods Word..
HEBREWS 6:4-8 [4],
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, [5],
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, [6], If they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. [7], For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes oft on it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God:
[8], But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is near to cursing;
whose end is to be burned.
HEBREWS 3:7-19 [7], Why (as the Holy Ghost said, To day if you will hear his voice, [8], Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
[9], When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.[10], Why I was grieved with that generation, and said,
They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. [11], So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
[12],
TAKE HEED BRETHEREN LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD.
[13], But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
[14], For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end;
[15], While it is said, To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
[16], For some, when they had heard, did provoke: however, not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
[17], But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
[18], And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, BUT
TO THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT?
[19], So we see that they could not enter in
BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF.
To many more scriptures to list...
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
God is perfectly faithful, not vacillating in His fidelity toward us, moving closer and withdrawing in tandem with our success or failure in obeying Him. No, God knows we aren't like Him, we aren't faithful as He is, and so He takes it upon Himself to sanctify us, and to preserve us blameless in Christ until the Last Day. In this He will remain constant, perfectly faithful, even when we are not. And so, we may be always confident in our salvation, knowing it rests upon a faithful God, not upon our own weak, ignorant, sin-prone powers.
Indeed once again here, AS shown in JOHN 8:31-36 already. This promise as well as all of God's promises are CONDITIONAL on CONTINUING in God's WORD, BELIEVING and FOLLOWING GOD in the "PRESENT TENSE". The scripture you have provided here does not say that God's people or BORN again christians cannot FALL AWAY from God's WORD and no longer BELIEVE and FOLLOW it does it? You have provied no scripture here brother that says God's people cannot fall away from from BELIEVING and FOLLOWING God's WORD. This promise is only CONDITIONAL on those who BELIEVE and FOLLOW God's WORD as shown in JOHN 8:31-36
John 10:27-29 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 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.
This passage deflates entirely, I think, the notion that a person can hand back their salvation to God. "No one" encompasses everyone - including the believer who thinks he can return his own salvation to God. Salvation is a work of God. He initiates the process of salvation for every person who is saved. God doesn't wait on those "dead in trespasses and sins" and "alienated and enemies in their minds" toward Him to seek Him out for salvation. If He did, no one would ever be saved. No, in saving us, God acts quite contrary to our natural sinful inclination, initially acting entirely independently of what we want. And He continues to act toward us on this basis, regardless of what we might desire, refusing to let go of any He has adopted into His family. Thus, a genuinely born-again believer may be fully confident in the permanency of their salvation.
JOHN 10:27-29 is using a parable to describe God's people as sheep. The very first verse 26 defines Gods' SHEEP and agrees with what has been shared here in this OP while the preceeding verse you left out defines who are not God's Sheep. Let's look at them...
JOHN 10:26-27 [26], But YOY BELIEVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT OF MY SHEEP, as I said to you. [27], MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE AND I KNOW THEM AND THE FOLLOW ME.
The CONTEXT here defines who GOD's Sheep are and who are NOT God's sheep. God's Sheep are all those who HEAR GOD'S WORD and FOLLOW it v27. Those who DO NOT hear God's WORD and follow it are not His Sheep. These scriptures are only supporting what has been shared with you in the OP here.
Hebrews 13:5 5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Here is another promise of God's enduring fidelity toward us. He will never - not ever - leave us nor forsake us. God does not break His promises.
The scripture says God will never leave us. The "US" here being BELIEVERS and FOLLOWERS of God's WORD. Note the the scriptures here
do not say that we cannot stop believing and FORSAKE God. We can indeed FORSAKE GOD even if he does not forsake us *
ISAIAH 59:2; EZEKIEL 18:20-24; DEUTERONOMY 28:20; JUDGES 10-13; 1 SAMUEL 8:8; 1 KINGS 11:33; 2 KINGS 22:17; 2 CHRONICLES 12:5; 32:25; JEREMIAH 1:16; JEREMIAH 2:13; JEREMIAH 5:7; JEREMIAH 15:16; 16:11 etc etc.. not to mention all the FALLING AWAY scriptures.. Your scripture does not support your interpretation of it and contradicts both the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT.
Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Here Paul explicitly indicates that salvation is not a product of our good works. We are saved entirely independently of a righteous life. And this remains the truth even after we are saved. And so, a believer never has to fear that their sin will dissolve their salvation.
No one said that salvation is by work. Not sure what this scripture has to do with falling away from God's WORD and no longer BELIEVING and FOLLOWING God's WORD, becoming an "UNBELIEVER" and losing salvation??? It doesn't does it. The scripture here does not say anywhere that sin will not dissolve salvation now does it? This statement contradicts the scriptures in
*HEBREWS 10:26-31; HEBREWS 6:4-8; 1 JOHN 2:1-4; 1 JOHN 3:3-10
2 Timothy 1:9
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
Again, Paul indicates that our salvation is in Christ, not in our works. And since Christ is eternally accepted by God, and we are in him by faith, we, too, are eternally "accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:6-7)
Once again no one has ever stated anywhere that our salvation is by works. This has nothing to do with falling away or what we are talking about or does it support any claims that you have made about BELIEVERS not falling away as shown in the scriptures provided in the OP.
Titus 3:5-7 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Here, too, Paul repeats that our works have nothing to do with whether or not we are saved. And since they have nothing to do with being saved, they have nothing to do with remaining saved. Salvation is, as I said, God-dependent, not us-dependent.
Once again no one has ever stated anywhere that our salvation is by works. This has nothing to do with falling away or what we are talking about or does it support any claims that you have made about BELIEVERS not falling away as shown in the scriptures provided in the OP.
As shown above brother, ALL the scriptures you have provided here are applicable ONLY to all those who BELIEVE and FOLLOW God's WORD in the "PRESENT TENSE" These scriptures are not applicable to someone that has FALLEN AWAY from BELIEVING and FOLLOWING God's WORD.
Hope this helps..
