StudyGrowKnow

Paul’s Thoughts on Eternal Security…

August 18, 2010 at 9:47 PM Leave a comment

“…having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister…” (Colossians 1:20-23 KJV).

The above verses are interesting for a number of reasons.  Paul is glorifying God through praise of Jesus for WHO Jesus is and the work He accomplished perfectly while here on Earth.  There is something tremendously moving about Paul’s words.  Guided by the Holy Spirit, Paul seemed unable to contain himself as he listed what Jesus did, from creating all things, to reconciling all things.

Of course, when Paul says that Jesus reconciles all things, he is referring to the fact that all things – whether those in hell or in heaven, or on the earth, will be reconciled.  In essence, Jesus has already accomplished it, though to many, things seem to continue as they did from the beginning, with no “interruption” by God in the affairs of humanity.

Please notice the verbiage Paul uses within these verses that I have bolded for you.  “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel…“

That phrase is enlightening and it means different things to different people.  For many, this is one of those phrases where they come up with the idea that Paul is teaching that people can actually fall away from the faith.  Of course, the problem is that what Paul says here not only must be compared with everything he says, but also with everything the entire Word of God says.

People point to this phrase (or others like it), and with finality, announce that people CAN fall away from Christ.  They CAN lose their salvation and this phrase (and others like it) apparently prove that, at least to them.

But Paul is not saying that people can fall away from the faith at all.  What Paul is saying is something markedly different.  He is saying that it is possible for people to fall away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but he is NOT saying that a Christian can become a NON-Christian.  These are two different issues.

“Oh, come on Fred, you’re making it more difficult than it is because you are trying so desperately to prove ‘once saved, always saved’.”  Not at all.

Don’t you think it’s important to ask WHY Paul said what he said about falling away?  Of course, you do.  You believe there is only ONE reason why Paul would say that people CAN fall away from the gospel and to you (if you do not believe in eternal security), that reason is due to the fact that the only guarantee of our salvation comes after we die.  It’s kind of like the old Egyptian way of seeing life.  Upon death, the individual’s good deeds and bad deeds are weighed. Whichever is weightier determines the person’s abode after death.

When it boils down to it, in some way, shape, or form, to believe that people can lose salvation is really no different than many of the cults who also believe that salvation can be lost and the only way to maintain salvation is through good works.  That is the same thing as earning salvation, irrespective of how people like to twist things around.

No, I believe Paul stated phrases like the one above found in Colossians for one reason and one reason only, and that reason has nothing to do with the alleged fact that a Christian can actually lose salvation.

In a nutshell, I believe the reason Paul said what he said on more than one occasion has everything to do with the fact that he – even though an apostle – did not have the ability to KNOW whether someone was actually an authentic Christian or not.  It was not part of his job description and that type of discernment was not given to him by God.  Paul tried his best to discern authenticity of an individual, and he would do that a number of ways, just like you and I do that today.

We look at people, we listen to what they say, we sense a spirit within them, and we notice their demeanor.  All of these things provide us with clues or evidence, if you will, of their spiritual state.  We can make an educated guess as to whether they are actual Christians or not, but we cannot know.  Even when Jesus said “you will know them by their fruit,” (cf. Matthew 7:16), He also noted that at certain times, deception is such that if possible it would overcome the elect (Matthew 24).

Seeing how a person lives, hearing how they talk, watching what they do are all excellent indicators of what is actually inside them.  They point to the possibility and even probability that they have experienced a new birth, or a birth from above.  However, these are not guarantees, because people can be extremely deceptive.  This is what makes con artists successful, their ability to deceive.

How many times in the past few decades have we read about some evangelist or pastor being caught in compromising positions?  I’m not talking about a serious mistake they may have made.  I am talking about a lifestyle they lived.  Yet, we never knew of it, so we had only what we saw to go by regarding the veracity of their Christianity.

It was no different during Paul’s day.  He worked with people for God’s glory and there were a number who deserted him in the end.  Now, did they just enter a period of being a prodigal son, or did they walk away from Christianity because they were never really part of it at the start?  Paul offers this caveat “if you continue in the faith…” not because he believed that people could actually fall away from Jesus, but because he himself could not know whether a person was truly saved or not!

Paul’s point was simple:  IF a person is truly saved, they will NOT walk away.  They WILL continue in the faith.  IF a person is NOT saved, they WILL walk away from the faith and not continue in it.  This is why Paul repeatedly insists that people should check themselves thoroughly to determine whether they are saved or not, because he was unable to do it for them.

You know, we have all kinds of claims today surrounding the “once saved, always saved” position.  Many claim that it came in with the deceptive nature of Dispensationalism.  They say that it was through Darby and then Scofield – two charlatans who were not interested in true faith, but only in profit from what they knew.  These kinds of charges are disgusting in point of fact, but the people who make them will answer for them.

Here is another scenario that I think provides more of a substantial and true reason why “once saved, always saved” became an issue for many.  Beginning in the 3rd century A.D., the Roman Catholic Church had begun in earnest to make inroads, taking over the church.  It was not that long before the church – RCC – became married to the state and became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Consider what happened when that took hold.  Because of the Roman Catholic Church, works became a huge part of the salvation picture, and it remains today.  Roman Catholicism began to teach that salvation was by faith in Christ, through the tradition of the church, and the works of the penitent.  I don’t read that in my Bible at all, but for the next 1100 years, Roman Catholicism held sway over all.  Bibles were taken away from the average person.  You want to know what it says?  Fine, a Priest will READ it to you, and then TELL you what it MEANS.

This went on until the Reformation, when God raised up a number of individuals to fight against the heresy of Roman Catholicism’s salvation by grace plus works.  They managed to pull away from the Catholic church and its error, but the error still remains within Catholicism today.  It also penetrates every cult that exists.  Salvation – they say – is by grace AND works.  While salvation is free, MAINTAINING it requires work.  This is NOT what the Bible says.

So, it was not long after the Reformation that people once again started to read Scripture on the own.  Once they did, subjects that had been literally hidden from the public once again came to the fore.  Eschatology became prominent.  Salvation by grace alone also became prominent.  Other areas also came to the top and were discussed freely.  Old doctrines were rediscovered, having been kept well hidden by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries.

So today, we have a group of people who wrongly believe (in my opinion) that “once saved, always saved” is a new doctrine, born of deception, when in reality, according to Scripture it is not a new doctrine at all, but one that was distorted tremendously by Catholicism for 1100 years.  Once people were free to study on their own, they quickly learned that God’s salvation was FREE and that HE was the Author AND Perfecter of that SAME salvation!  It is ALL God!  We simply submit and if we have a hard time submitting, God will do what is necessary to make it happen.

Paul presented those “disclaimers” solely because he could not see into a person’s heart and he did not want people to think that HE knew they were saved and because of that, they were fine.  He wanted and did encourage people to prayerfully go to God.  He wanted them to discern for themselves whether they were saved or not.  If they were NOT saved, then they would fall away.  If they WERE saved, they would NOT fall away.  It is extremely simple parlance, but it is made difficult by too many today, who have no real clue about history, and their faulty logic falls apart at the seams in many places, yet they are unable to acknowledge it.

Eternal Security is GIVEN to us by God and MAINTAINED by God.  Those who continue in their faith do so because of the fact that they are truly saved and the Holy Spirit DWELLS within them.  Christ promised He would never leave or forsake one of His own.  Is He a liar?  Are you strong enough with your alleged free will to remove yourself from His care?  Don’t even think about giving yourself that kind of credit!

You need to look carefully at your life.  Are you a Christian?  Only you and God will know.  The rest of us cannot know for sure, we can only guess based on how you live your life.  The one thing Paul wanted was that people should not rest until they know for certain that they are authentic believers.  This is why he provided so many disclaimers, and cautions in his writings.  He would never go so far as to tell people they were saved because he “knew” it.  He would only go so far as to say that IF a person walked away, they are obviously NOT saved.  If they remain with Christ, it is because they ARE saved.

Funny how difficult we make things, isn’t it?  In doing so, while we think we have faithfully interpreted Scriptures, what we have actually done is denigrated God as being someone who is unable to keep us throughout this life and carry us faithfully to heaven.  That’s not only sad, but it is tragic because it makes God appear to be something He is most definitely not.

If you are not sure you are saved, then you need to BE sure.  Only you can know about your own salvation.  Besides you and God, no one else can tell you whether you are saved or not.  Do not make the mistake of waiting until you are ready to QUIT Christianity.  If you get there, then you will be like all those other people who firmly believed they WERE Christians and now they are EX-Christians.  The truth is that they were NEVER Christians in spirit, but only in word and deed.  They acted like Christians.  They talked like Christians.  They did things Christians do, but they never had that spiritual transaction that actually MAKES a person a Christian.  Please, do NOT be one of those people!  Ask God to help you KNOW that you are one of His and if you find that you are not, then do not let Him go until you BECOME one of His.

Ask Him to illuminate your heart so that you believe that Jesus – as God and as Man – came to the planet, born of a virgin, lived a completely holy life without sin, died on Calvary’s cross by the shedding of His blood, and rose again three days later.  Ask Him to help your unbelief.  Ask Him to open your eyes to that truth.  Once you see it, then EMBRACE it just as the thief on the cross did.  Once you EMBRACE it, the Holy Spirit will provide you with a new birth and you will be eternally His!  From that moment onward, He will work within you to change your character so that YOU become like HIM.  That process which begins the moment you receive Him, continues throughout the rest of this life, until the very moment you leave this earth in death and wake up in His glorious presence!

Do NOT fall victim to the lies of the devil.  Test yourself.  Judge yourself.  Ask God to help you know whether you are saved or not.  Do it NOW.♠

Entry filed under: alienology, Atheism and religion, Demonic, dispensationalism, Eastern Mysticism, emergent church, Islam, israel, Judaism, Life in America, new age movement, Posttribulational Rapture, Pretribulational Rapture, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation, Satanism, Sharia Law, temple mount, ufology. Tags: ex-Christians are not really EX at all, Ex-christians have never truly been saved, once saved always saved is taught by Paul, only a non-saved person can fall away from the faith, paul's thoughts on eternal security.