It is such an important question. Can we lose our salvation? Or said another way: Can God’s grace be rejected? Can someone actually squander, neglect, or even return, as it were, their free gift from God?
There is a prevailing thought about this question among the Christian community. For example, a popular answer to this question is pictured. They only offer one Bible passage and it sounds pretty good. In Romans 81 it seems like Paul really sums it up. But is he really saying we can lose our salvation?
How Scripture answers "Can we lose our salvation?"
We can be sure that God will hold up His end and no other force can keep us from our salvation1, but Scripture is abundantly clear that we can fall away and thereby lose our salvation1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. In fact, Scripture shows that the New Testament writers uniformly warned about this possibility — Jesus, Paul1,2,9,12,13, James4, John5,10, Jude6, Peter7,8, and even ‘anonymous’3,11 all give urgent warnings that we can lose our salvation.
“You didn’t earn your salvation, so you can’t lose your salvation.” This is the popular response when the question of whether we can lose our salvation comes up. But, of course, we can lose things that we didn’t earn! If someone gives you a dollar bill you didn’t earn it but…you can lose it…you can neglect it…you can forget about it…you can misplace it..you can have it stolen…you can even simply discard it. So it is with our salvation, and Scripture even points to many of these same culprits3,4,6,7,8,11,13 of how we can lose our salvation.
Answer built on scripture-blocks below
1
There is no external power or being that can separate a Christian from their faith/salvation. God is more powerful and above all other forces and His promise is true.
!! scripture-block context extra important here !!
2
Those that have been saved to walk by the Spirit can forget or lose their inheritance (e.g. salvation) by not continuing to walk in (e.g. practice) the works of the Spirit.
3
If we don’t pay attention, we can drift away (fall away) from our salvation.
4
We can wander from the truth, and in so doing, subject ourselves to eternal death (e.g. lose our salvation).
5
If we do not stay true to the word, that is, practicing it and not continuing in sin, we will not receive the promise of eternal life from the Father.
6
Jude’s emphasis is warning about their salvation being “stolen”, by false teachers that “crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (vs 4)
7
Giving in to the passions of the flesh can cause us to lose our soul (e.g. salvation).
8
Christians must be constantly aware and working to confirm our salvation. Specifically, we should be adding those qualities to our faith.
9
A Christian is “being saved” by remaining obedient to the word of Christ. If they don’t continue to “stand” in it or “hold fast” to it, their salvation is “vain” (without purpose/cause/success).
10
A Christian can “lose” what we have worked for, jeopardizing our “reward” (e.g. salvation). In this context, false teachers or “antichrists” can make us stumble (similar to Jude6).
11
Just as some (most) Israelites lost their inheritance from being “disobedient” (e.g unbelief), we can lose ours.
!! scripture-block context extra important here !!
The entire letter of Hebrews is really full of statements3 and an overall message that would not make any sense if it was not possible for a Christian to lose their salvation.
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