Can I Lose My Salvation?
Conflicting evidence
This is one of those age-old, much debated questions of Christianity. The reason why it’s been so debated is because there seems to be evidence that supports both possible answers. There are some verses that imply that salvation CAN be lost while there are other verses that imply that salvation CANNOT be lost.
Salvation CANNOT be lost
Phil 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Rom 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Rom 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Salvation CAN be lost
Heb 6:4–5 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have ... shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance....
2 Peter 2:20–22 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
Heb 10:26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins
Romans 11:20&22 “They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
The concept of God “Blotting out” names from the book of life
Parable of the sower where multiple soils accept God’s Word and even start to grow, but get choked out and die.
“Can you lose your salvation?” is actually a trick question
The way I view it, the question “Can you lose your salvation?” is actually a trick question. It’s kind of like asking “which color is the sky: purple or green?” From the beginning, the question assumes something that is incorrect, which makes it broken from the start. Because the question is built on the foundation of an incorrect assumption, it sets people up for failure no matter how they answer it.
In the same way, the question about losing salvation is a broken question that offers two wrong answers. The question sets people up for failure from the start, because it operates under an assumption that is incorrect.
Salvation must first be possessed in order for losing it to be possible
The only way I could “lose” something is if I already possessed it in the first place. For example, I cannot “lose” my keys if I never had keys within my possession to begin with. In the same way, the only way man could “lose” his salvation is if it was already in his possession to begin with.
In order for the question “Can I lose your salvation” to be valid, it must first be determined if man can even possess salvation.
Man is incapable of fully possessing salvation while on earth
There’s an aspect of salvation that isn’t possessed yet
People often talk about salvation as if it were something they currently possess while here on earth. We say things like, “I’m saved” and, “she’s saved” and, “is he saved?” when in all actuality the Bible seems to describe salvation in three ways:
as something that took place in the past
as a process that the believer is presently undergoing while on earth,
as a future state that won’t be completed in the believer until after his death
While there is an aspect of salvation that man “possesses,” there’s another aspect of it that man doesn’t possess yet.
Man still struggles with sin… which means he hasn’t been fully “saved” from it yet
The term “salvation” implies that there is something people need to be saved FROM. That thing from which we need to be saved is sin. Sin is the agent that separates man from God and causes eternal suffering and destruction. Sin is the agent that God plans to abolish forever, and as long as we are affiliated with it, we will be abolished along with it. As long as we exist in our earthly bodies, our souls are attached to sinful flesh, and thus we are not yet “saved” from it.
Man can’t fully escape sin until after death.
Why man can’t possess salvation until after death
Because salvation is an ongoing process, it isn’t fully “possessed” yet
1 Cor 1:18 “... the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
1 Cor 15:2 “... you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain”
2 Cor 2: 15 “... we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,”
1 Peter 1:9 “for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (NIV)
These verses refer to believers as those who are “BEING saved” rather than those who are “ALREADY saved”. This language implies that salvation is an ongoing process that continually takes place within the heart of the believer. For a believer, the process of salvation has started, but has not been completed because it is still currently in progress.
Because salvation is an ongoing process, I think it’s incomplete to assume that man can “possess” salvation
Because the process of salvation is completed ONLY in those who endure to the end, it isn’t fully “possessed” yet
Matt 10:22 “... But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Matt 24:13 “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Matt 24:22 “And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
Luke 21:19 “By your endurance you will gain your lives.”
2 Tim 2:12 “if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us”
Heb 10:36 “... you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”
Lam 3:26 “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”
Heb 3:6 “but Christ is faithful over God’s house as his son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”
These verses make it seem like salvation is only imparted to those who “endure to the end”. Salvation is described like an inheritance that is only obtained after physical death. This way of thinking is in line with the teachings that the Holy Spirit is a seal. This makes sense because no matter what we do, we will never fully escape the influence of sin in our earthly bodies. The earthly body must die for our souls to be saved from the clutches of sin.
Because the Holy Spirit is described as a “down payment,” salvation isn’t fully possessed yet
In 2 Cor 1:22, Paul explains that God has “put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” In the footnotes of the ESV, that word “guarantee” is described as a “down payment”. This metaphor of a down payment is really helpful in explaining how the timing of salvation works. When someone makes a downpayment on a house, that does not mean they FULLY own the house yet. The purchaser might even consider the house to be under his ownership, but the house is not fully owned until it has been paid off completely. In the same way, even though the down payment of the Holy Spirit has been made, the soul of the believer has not been fully saved (yet).
Similarly, in Eph 1:13–14, Paul teaches that the believer is “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it”. In agreeance with the previous verse, this passage describes the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of an inheritance that is coming in the future. Salvation is compared to an inheritance that isn’t acquired until after death.
Paul uses similar language in Eph 4:30 when he writes “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”. Again, this passage describes the Holy Spirit as a seal that correlates with a salvation / redemption that is to come in the future. Sticking with the money analogy, this verse speaks of a “day of redemption” in the future where God will gain complete possession of our souls in exchange for the fullness of Christ’s payment. The soul of the believer is not saved from sin until this day of redemption has arrived.
Salvation is dependent on the presence of faith
In Eph 2:8, Paul writes the famous passage that reads: “for by grace you have been saved through faith...”. Not only does this tell us that salvation is an undeserved gift that cannot be earned, but it also tells us that this gift of salvation makes its way to us through the vehicle of FAITH. If salvation is the end destination, then faith is the road that leads to it.
Gal 2:16 also describes the role of faith when it states “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through FAITH in Jesus Christ…” Not only does this teach us that salvation doesn’t come to us based on our performance, but it also teaches us that salvation can only come to us through faith in Christ. Faith is the vehicle that propels us toward salvation.
From verses like these, we can conclude that it is only through faith that the believer can be saved, or in other words, one’s salvation is dependent on their FAITH.
To discard faith is to discard salvation
Rom 11:23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
As long as someone has faith, they are being saved. As long as someone does not have faith, they are not being saved. If someone has faith when they are young, but comes to reject it or discard it when they are older, then they have then been disconnected from the promise of salvation. To embrace faith is to embrace the way of salvation, and to reject faith is to reject the way of salvation.
Summary
Heb 3:6 summarizes my views on “losing salvation” when it says:
“Christ is faithful over God’s house as his son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”
This verse shows two things:
Christ’s faithfulness over God’s house,
and the need for believers to “hold fast”.
When this verse says that “Christ is faithful over God’s house,” I interpret that “house” to be the body of people who when they die physically, their souls will continue to exist in the full, unlimited presence of God. This group of people is the one I interpret Jesus to be talking about when he says “no one will snatch them from my hand” in John 10:28. This is the same group of people that I think scripture references when it says “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” These are the people who WILL be with God for eternity. These are the people who make up “God’s house” as referenced in this verse.
The second half of Heb 3:6 says that “we are his house, if indeed we hold fast...” The faithfulness of Christ mentioned in the first half of the verse only applies to us if we are a part of God’s house, and the only way we can be a part of God’s house is if we HOLD FAST to our faith in Christ as taught in the second half of the verse.