10 different NT warning-types against eternal security

[redleghunter]

There's just as much in fighting among those who don't believe in OSAS as those who do seems like.
Can we have assurance? Certainly! Does that mean that we cannot possibly reject so great a salvation? Absolutely not!

Rejection of the Gospel is unbelief.

Unbelievers are unregenerate.

 

[redleghunter]

A double negative. Okay, we can reject salvation, right?

Unbelievers reject the Gospel.

 

[redleghunter]

It's really NOT a very long list compared to all of the many warnings in the NT.

Do you think all of these NT warnings are for unbelievers sitting in the churches,
or for the BACs in the churches ... to help them stay on the narrow path?

Where do you get the power to obey?

 

[renniks]

Rejection of the Gospel is unbelief.

Unbelievers are unregenerate.

And many were once believers.

 

[BCsenior]

First you have to understand what is an unconditional covenant.
God has made unconditional covenant with mankind where
God will be the one responsible for fulfilling all the conditions.

Okay, great ... so all of His dire warnings in the NT
about falling away and losing salvation, etc.
were bluffs, exaggerations, lies even.

 

[BCsenior]

What a miserable life people must live to not believe in OSAS. You never could be absolutely sure that you would do something that would cause you to wind up in hell after all. I am glad the Scriptures are clear enough to tell us Christians we have (present tense) eternal (it doesn't change, cannot be lost) life. Romans 6:23; 1 John 5:13; Hebrews 13:5.

Great ... are you a child of the devil?
Sadly, I can ask this of almost anyone.

“Little children, let no one deceive you.
He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous … In this the children of God
and the children of the devil are manifest:
Whoever does NOT practice righteousness is NOT of God,
NOR is he who does NOT love his brothers/sisters.”
(1 John 3:7-10)

Is this passage overboard, or is God serious?
Is this for real? ... Is the Bible for real?
If you cannot believe this passage,
can you say you believe in the Bible?

 

[BCsenior]

These references have to do with those who refuse the gospel of Christ.
Are you aware that Paul wrote in Galatians that those who mix faith with works bring the curse of God upon themselves? How does your insistence on people being required to be obedient to Biblical commands in order to either be saved or maintain their salvation have consistency with Paul clearly writing that the true gospel involves faith in Christ alone, apart from anything we can do in the way of works, including good deeds, or obedience to the rules in the rulebook?

HUH? ... Been eatin' too many Kiwi birds again?
This is another instance of why I don't believe you're Pentecostal.

 

[redleghunter]

Not difficult to explain but I would say impossible to substantiate. The Bible says something very different on how to be saved:


Peter said this
''And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.''

Paul said this
''And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.''


And Jesus says we have eternal life:
''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.''


I don't see your list of duties anywhere. Were Jesus Paul and Peter wrong?

Good points. I’m amazed at how threads go on and on on the loss of salvation, when the straw man describes an unbeliever.

I think this has to do with dealing with folks who profess to be Christian but are not.
Now we still have human flesh and sin. But how God deals with regenerated believers and sin is quite different from someone who is an unbeliever. That’s why there are these so called warnings. We are not to be like the “Gentiles.” We are to be a Holy people.

So we sin and it goes against our new creation in Jesus Christ. We are convicted of our sin and repent. Daily we should be going to the Cross for our strength and forgiveness.

What the OP conflates is the “Caligula Christian.” Someone who blatantly sins, loves it and wants more. This is by definition an unregenerate example.

If there is truly someone sitting in our churches who keeps sinning like Caligula it incumbent upon the church to discipline such a person. If they repent we welcome them back. If they depart in defiance and never return perhaps they were not one of us today.

Now here’s the modern conundrum. If someone is put out of 1st Baptist of Rye New York, what prevents them from just going to 2nd Baptist of Rye NY? Good question and given the OP zeal for Born Again believers to trust and obey in some cases can’t blame him. What needs to be realized is Christ told us the wheat and tares (weeds) would be side by side.

So the important note is churches need to be aware of this and also be able to determine the difference between a brother or sister struggling with sin and wanting to break the cycle and those who are unbelievers who don’t care to repent and see no real reason to do so.

Are there easy-believism churches? Sure but most of the so called “Free Grace” movement would not even condone such.

When God calls us, regenerates us and gives us the heart of repentance and faith, we confess Him as Lord and Savior. I’m sure @BCsenior would agree “Lord” means just that. We submit our will to Him. We are commanded to be like Him and live holy lives. This is only made possible by Grace as we are given the Holy Spirit and are to walk and live in the Spirit.

I found the following sermon helpful

An Introduction to Lordship Salvation

 

[Guojing]

Okay, great ... so all of His dire warnings in the NT
about falling away and losing salvation, etc.
were bluffs, exaggerations, lies even.

Most of those you quoted was before he went to the Cross. Jesus was preaching the Law in the 4 Gospels, which required faith AND works. So yes, of course salvation then was conditional.

 

[BCsenior]

Where do you get the power to obey?

Jesus said 4 times in John 14, "If you LOVE Me, you will OBEY Me."
Jesus never asks BACs to do things they cannot do!

 

[BCsenior]

Most of those you quoted was before he went to the Cross.
Jesus was preaching the Law in the 4 Gospels, which required faith AND works.
So yes, of course salvation then was conditional.

I think only 3 out of the 10 were before Jesus went to the Cross.
James teaches us that faith + works are required.

 

[redleghunter]

Warnings about being shut out of the kingdom of God
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ● “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit
the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Where do we obtain the righteousness which admits us to the Kingdom?

 

[redleghunter]

Jesus said 4 times in John 14, "If you LOVE Me, you will OBEY Me."
Jesus never asks BACs to do things they cannot do!

So it’s all on your effort?

 

[redleghunter]

Warnings about being shut out of the New Jerusalem
Revelation 22:14-15 ● “Blessed are those who do His commandments,
that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through
the gates of the city. But outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually
immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

What did Paul say about what God will do for all His people, His elect?

 

[redleghunter]

Warnings in conditional “IF” verses
1 Corinthians 15:1-2 ● “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel
… by which you are saved, IF you hold fast that word which I preached to you -
unless you believed in vain.”

What does it mean to believe in vain?

 

[redleghunter]

Warnings about failing to remain in Jesus and produce fruit
John 15:1-10 ● “I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener.
He (Father God) cuts off every branch of Mine (Jesus) that doesn’t produce fruit,
… 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.”

What did Jesus tell His disciples in verses 15-16 in the very same discourse? A discourse given after Judas left the group to betray Christ.

 

[redleghunter]

Warnings about not loving and obeying Jesus
John 14:15-23 ● “If you love Me, keep My commandments …
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me
… If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
He who does not love Me does not keep My words”

Not a warning but a statement of fact. Jesus is telling them this is what it means to be a disciple.

 

[redleghunter]

Warnings about falling away from the faith
Hebrews 10:36-39 ● “ ‘Now the just shall live by faith;
but IF anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition”

Once again not a warning for those who have faith. Once again comparing the unbelievers from those who believe. “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition.” I believe the previous verses dealt with apostasy. The Jews in the church were going back to Old Covenant sacrifices and thus adding to the Perfect Atonement.

 

[devin553344]

Great ... are you a child of the devil?
Sadly, I can ask this of almost anyone.

Actually I don't believe you're supposed to be asking anyone that question. I don't believe that practice would be inline with the Holy Spirit. Yet the bible spells it out for us.

 

[Monk Brendan]

In the NT, there is a wide variety of warning-types against eternal security.
After all, variety is the spice of life!
Please forgive me for only posting one example for each warning-type.

Warnings about losing eternal life
Luke 9:23-25 ● “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it (eternal life), but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world,
and is himself destroyed or lost (eternally)?”

Warnings about gaining eternal death
Romans 6:16-23 ● “… you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether (slaves)
of sin leading to (eternal) death, or (slaves) of obedience leading to righteousness”

Warnings about being shut out of the kingdom of God
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ● “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit
the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Warnings about being shut out of the New Jerusalem
Revelation 22:14-15 ● “Blessed are those who do His commandments,
that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through
the gates of the city. But outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually
immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

Warnings about being blotted out of the Book of Life
Revelation 3:5 ● “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments,
and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life”
Please note: the “overcomer” of 1 John 5:4-5 only overcomes “the world”,
which is the world of unbelievers in John’s writings!

Warnings about NOT being an overcomer
Revelation 21:7-8 ● “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his
God and he will be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers,
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Please note: in Revelation 3:21, Jesus defines who an “overcomer” is!

Warnings in conditional “IF” verses
1 Corinthians 15:1-2 ● “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel
… by which you are saved, IF you hold fast that word which I preached to you -
unless you believed in vain.”

Warnings about failing to remain in Jesus and produce fruit
John 15:1-10 ● “I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener.
He (Father God) cuts off every branch of Mine (Jesus) that doesn’t produce fruit,
… 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.”

Warnings about not loving and obeying Jesus
John 14:15-23 ● “If you love Me, keep My commandments …
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me
… If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
He who does not love Me does not keep My words”

Warnings about falling away from the faith
Hebrews 10:36-39 ● “ ‘Now the just shall live by faith;
but IF anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition”
.

My security is in Christ Jesus, Who is eternal, not my own act of faith.