Four Challenges to Eternal Security

The eternal security of the believer is one of the great doctrines of the Christian faith. When understood properly, it provides a balm of comfort and relief to the Christian by knowing that whatever storm they may face, they can know their salvation will ultimately not be lost. And the reason why salvation may never be lost is because it is guarded by the hand of Almighty God! The Bible repeatedly asserts that the power of God preserves the Christian so that they can never lose their salvation. Yet there are errors and challenges in people’s thinking regarding the doctrine of eternal security, and I will briefly address four of them.

First Error: Many Have Based their Theology of Salvation on Man’s Free Will

One of the first challenges we must understand is that Many have based their theology of salvation on man’s free will. Rather than understanding that salvation is a work of God from beginning to end (Jonah 2:9; Eph 2:8, 9), they overemphasize man’s free choice. They reason that if it is man’s free choice that puts you into salvation, then by man’s free choice, you can lose your salvation. For example, in Roman Catholic theology, if you commit a ‘mortal sin,’ then salvation is forfeited and must be regained through confession and penance. It is called a ‘mortal sin’ because the sin is said to kill God’s grace in your life. Man can forfeit salvation by exercising free choice. Or in Protestant Arminian theology, salvation may also be forfeited through human choice by simply renouncing the faith. The Arminian asserts that it is a violation of man’s free will for God to guard the Christian from losing their salvation. But in asserting this, the Arminian proves too much because then it would also be in violation of man’s free will to preserve Christians from sinning in Heaven (where there is no sin!). So clearly, we must understand the compatibility between man’s faith and God’s guarding that faith in the Christian life (and in Heaven). When we study the Scriptures, that is exactly what we see. Paul tells the Philippians, “[12] …work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” In these two verses, we see both man’s continuing faith and God’s work in sustaining that faith for His ultimate purposes. It is not contrary to human responsibility for God to guard the believer from renouncing their faith.

Second Error: Believing Those who Fall Away Lose Their Salvation

The second error people often make is in believing that those who fall away from the faith lose their salvation. This is an error that is often made from our perceived experience. We all know someone who professes faith in Christ. Someone who grew up in the church with us or became a part of our small group. Then, they are thrown off by a different life circumstance, drift away from Christianity, and ultimately renounce the faith altogether. This is the story of one of my childhood friends with whom I grew up at church. His spiritual life was a constant yoyo. Professing Christ, wandering into drugs and sin, and returning to his original profession. Once we got to college, however, he left the faith altogether. There was no return. The apostle John informs us of these situations, saying, “ [19] They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become lain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). John says that those who depart from the faith were never of us. They never possessed the genuine article. They professed faith, grace, and Christ as Lord, but never were truly born again. I believe this is Paul’s point regarding some of the Galatians in Galatians 5:4, “[4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” These Galatians have not lost their salvation if they truly believe you can be justified by works of the law. Rather, if they continue in this position, they are demonstrating that they never were genuine Christians. They are falling away from their original profession.

The Bible emphasizes that true faith always perseveres. John says, “[4] For everyone who has been born of God overcomes this world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Jesus says in Matthew 24:13, “ [13] But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” The Parable of the Sower or the “Soils” as some call it, might be the most instructive teaching in the New Testament on saving faith (Matt 13:1-9; 18-23; Mark 4:1-12; Luke 8:4-10). In the parable, Jesus mentions four soils: the hard path (Matt 13:4), the stony soil (v. 5, 6), the thorny soil (v. 7), and the good soil (v. 8). What is interesting is that both the stony and thorny soil appear to be true Christians. With both, there is a profession of faith with “joy” Jesus says. But in the case of the stony soil, the “tribulation” and “persecution” of the world ultimately cause the professor to fall away. In the case of the thorny soil, the “deceitfulness of riches choke the word” and cause the professor to fall away. Only in the case of the good soil is there fruit produced. The fruit is the litmus test for saving faith. James says, “Faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26). Or as John says in 1 John 2:4, “[4] Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Third Error: Forgetting that Salvation is a Work of Divine Grace

Salvation is God’s work from beginning to end. That’s why Jonah proclaimed, “[9] Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). As it relates to eternal security, the believer continues in faith because God preserves them. Swiss theologian Roger Nicole once said, “The key to perseverance is the preservation by God of his saints, that is, the stability of his purpose and the fixity of his design.” It is God’s design and purpose that Christians persevere; therefore, they are held fast. This is exactly what Jesus means when He says, “[37] All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). In Jesus’s explanation, salvation begins with the purpose of God (“All that the Father gives me”). This purpose of God precedes man’s coming to Christ. Then after coming to Christ, Jesus says that He preserves those who come to Him (He will never “cast out”). Divine agency brackets human choice. Therefore, salvation is ultimately dependent on God’s grace and preservation.

Perhaps this is seen most clearly in the text, which the Puritan, William Perkins, called “the golden chain of salvation.” We are talking about Paul’s grand statement in Romans 8:29, 30:

[29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [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.

In verse twenty-nine, God sets His affections on a certain people before time. This is the meaning of the word ‘foreknew’ (proginosko). In the Bible, knowledge often constitutes a knowledge of love and intimacy. For example, in John 10 Jesus describes the sheep as those whom He “knows” (John 10:27). Of course, Jesus knows the thoughts and hearts of all people (John 2:24, 25). But here, he is referring to a special knowledge of love and intimacy reserved for His sheep. Those whom God foreloves, He “predestines” to salvation. Predestination in Scripture is not based on foreseen choice by the agents (because sinners do not naturally choose God (Rom 3:10, 11). Rather predestination is based on God’s eternal purpose of grace (Eph 2:4, 5; Rom 9:11-15). Then God calls, justifies, and ultimately glorifies those whom He foreknew and predestined. If you notice the logic of the passage, you will see two startling realities.

First, God is the acting agent in every stage of salvation. God foreknew. God predestined. God called. God justified. God glorified. Second, you will notice the continuity in every group. All those whom God foreknew are then predestined, and then called, and then justified, and then glorified. Thus, Perkins’s golden chain. There is a chain of salvation without any missing links. And each link in the chain is God’s decisive action! It is no wonder Paul waxed a few verses later,

[38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] 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” (Rom 8:38, 39)!

Fourth Error: A Failure to Understand What Christ Accomplished on the Cross

One of the mistakes Christians make when thinking about eternal security is to forget what Christ accomplished at Golgotha. The question is: Did Christ merely make salvation possible? Or Did Christ actually save sinners in the atonement? Many evangelicals have asserted the former. Christ only made salvation possible. The nature of Christ’s atonement was not intended for anyone in particular. But to the contrary, throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see that Christ’s atonement actually saves sinners. It is a real atonement. Surely this is the apostle’s meaning in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “[21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Clearly, Paul views the atonement as not just providing a general, hypothetical atonement but rather a specific, particular atonement “for our sake.” Jesus Himself understood Himself as the “good shepherd” who “lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). It was for the believers, the sheep, for whom Christ gave His life. Therefore, we must understand the cross as an actual atonement for a particular people. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “[20] You were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body.”

When Christ died on the cross, He bought a particular people. He ransomed them from the punishment of God, Hell, and the grip of Satan (Mark 10:45; Rom 3:24, 25). For this reason, “no one can take them” out of His “hand.” He bought the sheep. Therefore, He will not lose any sheep. That is the power of the cross. Jesus saves sinners!