Can Salvation be lost?

[BobRyan]

The question as I understand it is not "can you ever make a mistake after having repented and accepted salvation".

1 John 2:1 says we are not lost each time we fail, each time we sin.

But there is such a thing as salvation revoked, forgiveness revoked as we see at the end of Matt 18 and as we see in Gal 5:4 being "severed from Christ - fallen from Grace".

You can also see it in Rom 11 where branch - a person who stands in Christ "only by your faith" fails to remain and is "cut off" just as the unbelieving Jews were cut off - according to Paul in Rom 11.

See also Heb 6:1-9

 

[Rescued One]

Were you born with faith in Christ? If not, Who gave it to you? Did you deserve it? Was it a gift because of God's mercy? Who is going to take it away?

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Did God give faith to everyone who attends church?

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

 

[Trivalee]

I guess the question resolves to what repentance is. Can you actually do it, that is, cease from all sin? Repentance may be a turning from sin, but it is not totally beating sin. In the NT, the scriptures are pretty clear that believers are still subject to temptation and must confess sin to be forgiven. So they must be sinning. I have often taught that repentance is a task you were meant to fail. But the trying is important. It humbles you and puts you at the foot of the throne, dependent on our Lord, Saviour, and Advocate. The trouble comes when we see people who claim they have successfully repented from all sin and have become "perfect as your Father in heaven." They are not humble; they sound like they are boasting about their success! And worst of all, their claim of a successful repentance discourages those who have tried to repent and are honest about their failure. They may turn away thinking it is hopeless. Telling people they have to believe the gospel AND successfully repent to be saved is much like telling them they must believe and then do a million push-ups. It destroys their faith, and they walk away hopeless in defeat. My question is, who are these people who claim to have done those million push-ups???

I concur with your view. Our constant awareness of the folly of self-righteousness is the key to depending on Christ's righteousness to make it to the end. Remarkably, Jesus warned believers in Matt 24:13, Rev 2:26, Rev 3:5, and several other places that he who endures/overcomes to the end shall be saved.

This is even more poignant since he (the Lord) addressed "saved believers" in these texts! So, coming to faith is merely the beginning of the journey. IOW, one may be born-again and saved, but they fail to abide in Christ throughout their Christian journey, they may not receive the promised immortality and eternal life.

 

[Trivalee]

The question as I understand it is not "can you ever make a mistake after having repented and accepted salvation".

1 John 2:1 says we are not lost each time we fail, each time we sin.

But there is such a thing as salvation revoked, forgiveness revoked as we see at the end of Matt 18 and as we see in Gal 5:4 being "severed from Christ - fallen from Grace".

You can also see it in Rom 11 where branch - a person who stands in Christ "only by your faith" fails to remain and is "cut off" just as the unbelieving Jews were cut off - according to Paul in Rom 11.

See also Heb 6:1-9

Thank you for the passages you provided that highlight an irrefutable shade to the concept.

 

[Carl Emerson]

In these considerations we need to see the difference between salvation revoked and loosing the blessings of the kingdom.

Take the young man Paul excommunicated - he lost the blessings of the kingdom so that he might not loose his salvation.

The outcome was he returned in repentance.

 

[FredVB]

I guess the question resolves to what repentance is. Can you actually do it, that is, cease from all sin? Repentance may be a turning from sin, but it is not totally beating sin. In the NT, the scriptures are pretty clear that believers are still subject to temptation and must confess sin to be forgiven. So they must be sinning. I have often taught that repentance is a task you were meant to fail. But the trying is important. It humbles you and puts you at the foot of the throne, dependent on our Lord, Saviour, and Advocate. The trouble comes when we see people who claim they have successfully repented from all sin and have become "perfect as your Father in heaven." They are not humble; they sound like they are boasting about their success! And worst of all, their claim of a successful repentance discourages those who have tried to repent and are honest about their failure. They may turn away thinking it is hopeless. Telling people they have to believe the gospel AND successfully repent to be saved is much like telling them they must believe and then do a million push-ups. It destroys their faith, and they walk away hopeless in defeat. My question is, who are these people who claim to have done those million push-ups???

"Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" is totally misunderstood by so many who read it, it must be an inherent flaw to the translation. Jesus meant because your Father in heaven is perfect, be perfect as you can be. Of course no one can be perfect just as God who has no sin is perfect. That's impossible. Repentance is still willingly turning from sin, and there is God's provision for help in that, this is essential in faith with which we are saved. Whether we still fail in things or not will not matter to that for us personally, but it matters as Christ bore consequential justice for all those things, while we who are repentant repent for those failings too and will yet willingly turn from those. Maturity comes with that.