We’ve been tackling the book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings recently, and yesterday we hit the difficult passage in Hebrews 6:4-12. It hits on the topic of apostasy. What makes this passage so difficult is that it’s easy to derive from it that an individual can lose their salvation. Our speaker Nate Irwin pointed out, though, that the question, ‘Can you lose your salvation,’ is actually the wrong question to ask.
The word ‘salvation’ is actually used rather infrequently throughout the New Testament, and in nearly every place where it occurs, it indicates a future event, pointing toward something that has not yet occurred. Scripture seems to indicate that salvation itself is not actually granted until a person dies, hence the frequency with which salvation is referred in terms of hope.
This actually explains a lot to me in terms of those who call themselves Christians and spend years in productive ministry only to fall away later and renounce their faith. The best explanation I’ve ever been able to provide for such behavior is that these folks weren’t Christians to begin with. Now, I have reason to believe that what really occurs is that perhaps these folks give up the faith, rejecting the gift of salvation, and essentially turning away from their hope. They turn apostate, and as such, they lose the hope of their salvation. This passage is also clear that, short of a miraculous work of God, it is impossible to return these lost sheep to the fold – they have tasted and experienced the revelation of salvation and rejected it. In turning away from it, they harden their hearts to such a degree that it is nearly impossible to turn back again (though nothing is ever final until death). It would seem that it is harder to turn an apostate back to the faith than it is to bring to faith late in life one who has lived in unbelief all his life.
While salvation is only finalized upon death, this still does not mean that there is anything a man can do to earn his salvation. No works will ever achieve a level of righteousness great enough to be declared worthy of Heaven in a man’s own merits. He must still believe and have faith – and it takes oh so little faith – but most importantly, he must hold to this faith and walk in it all his life in order to secure the hope of his salvation. This puts the onus back on the man to ensure that he walks faithfully and lives righteously (to demonstrate his faith). Salvation, then, is not the ‘free pass’ that many American Christians seem to think it is – you pray the prayer, receive the gift, and then go right back to living your life the way you were. That is not what salvation is about. It is about a life-changing, life-altering, regenerative change that makes a man more than he was previously. This does not mean, of course, that a man cannot still fail and fall into sin, but the true believer who holds a true faith will not be happy living in such sin and will, at the Holy Spirit’s urging, turn again from it. He will, in short, exhibit the fruits of the Spirit. And if such fruit is not present, then it is likely that this individual has not been truly regenerated and does not truly hold the faith.
Our speaker in the service yesterday evening reviewed the morning message briefly and said that a better question to ask then ‘Can I lose my salvation?’ is ‘Can I lose my justification?’ I’m still looking into that one, since it involves understanding the nature of what justification is and how it is granted. I’ll get back to you on that one.
Tags: apostasy, hebrews, justification, regeneration, salvation, theology
Rushan had a question posed to him recently that requires some attention, I believe:
“I can no longer accept the Bible as literally true, am I still a Christian?â€Â
If you read my previous article, you should already know the answer to this: Yes, so long as acknowledge and accept the message of the Gospel. More specifically, so long as you recognize your inability to attain Heaven on your own and accept the person of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross and subsequent resurrection as your only hope for salvation. If you are able to do and say that, then yes, you are still a Christian.
I might express some concern, however, over what parts of the Bible you consider to be literal and what parts you do not. If you do not believe any part of the Bible to be literally accurate, then we might have a problem, for then what foundation do you have for knowing the only truth that matters, to wit, how to know God and live with Him for eternity? If you cannot believe any part of the Bible to be literally true, then you cannot know whether or not the Gospel itself is true, rendering impotent its power to save. Likewise, you cannot then know that God exists, you cannot then know that He loves you and wishes to have fellowship with you, you cannot then know much of anything except for what your own five senses can tell you – and we know just how deceptive and misleading our senses can sometimes be.
I stated previously, as well, that historical passages of Scripture should be interpreted literally, things like the existence of people who appeared in the various stories (e.g. Abraham, David, Jesus, Paul, etc.) and geographical locations. Archaeology have even been able to verify much of the historicity of the Bible, thus giving it a great deal of authority. The trouble with literal interpretation comes with prophecy and imagery-laden parables. Prophecies are sometimes difficult to interpret, though at least partial interpretations were provided by many of the prophets themselves. But because they are visions of future events, I suspect that some of the prophets could only do their best to describe technologies they had never before seen (such as John the Revelator describing his vision of the end times). Whether we were ever meant to know and completely understand is something of a mystery, but it seems clear that much was given in such visions to provide both warning and hope to those who heard. Christ’s parables were told in such a way as to make those people who would to ruminate over the meaning, but He was also not opposed to providing clear meaning to those who asked (typically His inner circle of twelve).
I do believe that the Bible is a wholly trustworthy document. It’s accuracy has been verified time and again all the way back to the earliest manuscripts, and as such, it holds a great deal of authority and power. It continues to change lives merely by the simplest reading of its pages, further demonstrating that the Holy Spirit has preserved it and uses it to bring God’s children to Himself.
Tags: absolute-truth, bible, christianity, gospel, salvation, scripture, theology
The angels have been rejoicing this week, and celebration is abundant! I just found out that a long-time friend of mine from high school accepted Christ on Monday! This is the best news I have had all week! 
Tags: joy-of-salvation, salvation
I Peter 1:8-9 – 8Though you have not seen him [Jesus], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with and inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
What amazes me here is that this whole process is accomplished purely on the power and strength of faith. This might explain why, though I have never completely lost my faith (only faltered), I have not grown as much spiritually over the last year or two as I would have liked. I have not had the sort of faith that draws me to my Saviour, that instills within me the joy of my salvation and a renewal of my spirit, let alone an inexpressible and glorious joy.
And something else that stands out to me is that salvation seems to carry with it two separate processes—one that is carried out once with eternal implications, and one that is continually being carried out. The one-time action is the initial acceptance of God’s gift of salvation. The continual process is the working of my faith to constantly reshape me into a child of God, the throwing off of the ‘old man’. So, salvation is both a one-time act and a continual process of transformation.
Tags: christianity, faith, i-peter, jesus, joy-of-salvation, old-man-and-new-man, salvation
