- John 3:16: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
- John 10:28-29: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
- Romans 8:14-17: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
- Romans 8:30: 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.
- Romans 8:38-39: And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 1:8: He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
- Ephesians 1:4: Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
- Ephesians 1:13-14: And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
- Ephesians 2:8-10: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
- Ephesians 4:30: And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
- Philippians 1:6: And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
- 2 Timothy 1:12: That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
- 2 Timothy 2:13: If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.
- Hebrews 6:17-20: God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
- 1 John 5:11-13: And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may KNOW you have eternal life.
Verses used by some to imply that you can lose your salvation:
- Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
- John 15:6: 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.
- Galatians 5:4: For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
- The warning is not that salvation will be lost. Rather, by reverting back to a false system outwardly (Law), the believer is “apostate.” He becomes hardened and will not return to a life of committed obedience. In that sense a person keeping the old rituals as a believer is said to be “fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4), “fallen away” and “impossible to renew again to repentance” (Hebrews 6:6) and “sinning willfully…there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Hebrew 10:26).
- Hebrews 6:4-6: For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.
- Does this means a Christian can lose their salvation (many take that view)? But what can they not be renewed to, salvation? NO! The word used here is repentance. We equate repentance with salvation, but that’s not necessarily so. To fully understand this, we look to another passage in Hebrews and a few other of Paul’s writings:
- Hebrews 12:1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Paul was always concerned with his running a race. He did not fear losing his salvation, but being unfruitful. He exhorts us to lay aside any weight hindering us, and run with endurance the race before us. As Christians, it’s important to remember the kind of race it is. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. That’s the reason we need endurance. But Paul brings out similar ideas in his other writings.:
1 Corinthians 3:11-15: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
- It’s clear Paul talks of rewards, not salvation. Even if a person loses all their rewards by living a carnal and unfruitful life, they are still saved.
- Hebrews 12:1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
- This scripture is written to Jews by a Jew who was trying to keep them from going back into legalism after they had once heard the gospel of Christ. Paul was trying to keep these Jews from abandoning the faith and falling in apostasy.
Those who were being addressed in Hebrews were Jews that had not fully given themselves to Christ, therefore when they had heard the Word and then gone back into the Law of Moses, they became apostates. Not willing to pay the price for completely following Jesus as that would mean they would have to abandon their Jewish laws, customs and practices.
Once the covenant of Grace replaced the covenant of Law, the old law was no longer in effect. In fact, it was no longer in existence at all. That's what the book of Hebrews is all about. Warning Jews not to hold onto the old ways but to embrace the Gospel of Christ fully and to realize that the covenant of law had been forever replaced by the new covenant of Grace. This scripture is simply stating that "it is impossible" in this particular situation.
- Does this means a Christian can lose their salvation (many take that view)? But what can they not be renewed to, salvation? NO! The word used here is repentance. We equate repentance with salvation, but that’s not necessarily so. To fully understand this, we look to another passage in Hebrews and a few other of Paul’s writings:
- 2 Peter 2:20-21: And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.
- To take just these verses is a critical mistake. Chapter two starts out with a warning about false teachers, with the thought continuing throughout the chapter. They are “wells without water” (17) “for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (17). And when we arrive at verse 20, the subject is still false prophets. It is not about Christians, it is a warning for Christians. But notice the wording of Peter, he uses the phrase “knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. Does this imply they were saved? Hardly. James gives us a commentary on what knowledge is good for in terms of salvation:
James 2:19: You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
- To take just these verses is a critical mistake. Chapter two starts out with a warning about false teachers, with the thought continuing throughout the chapter. They are “wells without water” (17) “for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (17). And when we arrive at verse 20, the subject is still false prophets. It is not about Christians, it is a warning for Christians. But notice the wording of Peter, he uses the phrase “knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. Does this imply they were saved? Hardly. James gives us a commentary on what knowledge is good for in terms of salvation:
- James 2:26: Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.
