Can a person really lose their salvation?
By Colin Stewart

There is much discussion within Christianity today regarding whether or not a person can lose their salvation. This article will attempt to address that issue. We will look at both sides of the argument, and draw conclusions from there. We shall start, for the sake of brevity, with the passages that some attempt to use to prove that you can lose your salvation.

Revelation 3:15-16 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth

The church in Laodicia was indifferent. That was their sin. It is not for other sins (adultery, stealing, lying, etc) that Jesus would spew them out of his mouth. Rather, it is for indifference. They didn't care. They thought that they were ok, they didn't need anything else. However, this passage is not relevant to individual believers, and, thus, has nothing to do with salvation.

Matthew 18:23- 35 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.

Here, again, this passage has nothing to do with salvation. It is an illustration of forgiveness. Does it mean, though, that if you don't forgive others, you will lose your salvation? Does it apply to believers? Let us look at a few other passages on forgiving others and see what they can tell us.

Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Here is an occurrence where a verse has been taken out of context, as often happens. However, since the immediate context offers no clues, I will address it in a moment.

James 2:8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

In this passage, we see that our faith must be backed up by deeds. Are the fruits of the spirit evident in your life? Forgiving others is evidence of your faith. If you do not forgive others, do you really have any faith?

Now we can gain a better picture of the passage above, taken from Matthew 6. What we find, by taking this passage and putting it back into the context of the entire new testament, is that forgiving your brother is not a condition, it is evidence, as seen in James 2.

Now we come to a stronger argument. What about Judas? He had all the marks of a believer. He was baptized, he was following Jesus, and would appear to have believed that Jesus was the messiah. But, this begs the question.... Was he really saved or was it all just an act? Only God knows, because only God knows the heart. And, from the mouth of God, we find the answer. He was a devil! He was not a true believer (John 6:70).

Judas stole the money from the moneybag (John 12:5-6). He betrayed Jesus (Mark 14:10). Does this sound like a true believer to you?

Matthew 7:21-"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Only those who do the will of the Father will enter heaven. So, only those who obey God will enter heaven. Does this mean that you can lose your salvation? No. What is God's will? That you believe in Jesus Christ (John 6:40). That you be sanctified. (1Thessalonians 4:3). That you give thanks in all circumstances (1Thessalonians 5:18). That you obey His commands, and do what pleases Him (1John 3:22). What is God's command, referenced in 1John 3:22? That you believe in His son, Jesus Christ, and that you love one another (1John 3:23).

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

This passage is a little bit more difficult to understand. Why would you fear? Why would you be trembling? Is Paul really saying that you should be afraid? I don't think so. And what of this idea of working out your salvation? Do you really have to earn it? The answer is quite simply this: There are two prominent translations for the Greek word translated work out.

One of them is that we are to bring it about, which implies that you have to do something in order to be saved. This is correct. We do have to do something, in order to bring about our salvation: We have to accept God's free gift of Jesus Christ's redemptive work on the cross. The second definition, and this I find interesting, is that we are to show ourselves worthy of salvation. Now, are you ready for this? None of us is worthy. None of us deserves salvation. So, how do you show yourself worthy of something that you don't deserve?

In order to lose your salvation, salvation must be works based. As we have seen, all of the scriptures used to argue that you can lose your salvation have instructed you to do something in order to keep it. This is salvation by works. We will see in a moment that our works can't save us. We are saved by grace, through faith. There is one other point, here. The only way to gain salvation on your own merit is to be perfect. A righteous man is the only one who can enter heaven on his own merit. But, there is none righteous. Yet, those who are born again, are righteous. How? Our righteousness is found in Christ.

I believe that addresses all of the scriptures that imply that you can lose your salvation. So, now we come to the good part, and the best part. From what scriptures do those who hold that you cannot lose your salvation draw that conclusion?

Firstly, eternal life is a promise, with a condition. I cannot find scripture that says "Trust and obey". Nor can I find scripture that says you must earn your salvation. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Ephesians 2:8 tells us that we cannot do anything to gain salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.

You see? Only faith can save you.

Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Moreover, nothing that you do is good enough to earn your salvation. Even your righteous acts are filthy rags. So, how can you lose something you can't earn?

Romans 10:6-10 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Here we see, once again, the condition that must be met, in order to gain salvation. All you have to do is believe.

1John 5:10-13 Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Here we see the certainty of our salvation, and we see that it is now. Those who believe are saved, in the present tense "God has given". This passage was written to believers. Here, we see that the gift of eternal life has already been given. It is not something that is yet to come.

John 10:24-29 The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

As you can see, we are Jesus' sheep. No one can snatch us out of God's hand. Can we, ourselves? No. That verse says no one, does it not? And, if you are a believer, certainly you could choose not to follow God. However, think about where a choice like that would come from. Would it not be made with outside influence? And.... no one can snatch a believer out of God's hand.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

What is Jesus saying here? Simply this: if you believe in Jesus, you will live, even though you die. All you have to do is believe.

Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You know, I quoted this passage to somebody, today, and he said "except you". That's not what this passage says! Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Not even you can separate yourself!

Ephesians 1:4-6 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

This passage is so amazing. Look at this: God chose you before the world was created. Before you even sinned, God chose you. There are other passages that tell us that God knew you would sin when he created you. If God chose you, knowing that you would sin, then why, when you do sin, would God un-choose you? He knew the consequences, right? He knew that even though you are one of the chosen ones, you would still sin. Yet, he chose you anyway.

John 8:34-36 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

This is another amazing passage. I discovered it quite by accident, while I was doing my devotions one morning, during a time of trial in my life. Lest you desire to accuse me of proof texting, or specifically searching for a passage to back me up, this particular one I was not searching for. We have already seen that we are sons of God by adoption, through Jesus Christ. We belong to the family of God forever! But, the question is, would a father cast out his son?

Hebrews 12:5-11 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

I include this passage here, rather than with other passages that imply that you can lose your salvation for a reason. It's here, because it belongs with the previous passages, discussing our adoption as sons. You may think me unwise, or perhaps foolish, including a passage that would be so damaging to my argument. Yet, it is not damaging at all. The question is, how far would God go with disciplining his children? Look closely at the last sentence of the passage above. Note three things. God disciplines us for our good. Discipline is painful. But, discipline produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. God uses discipline to train His children. But God will not cast us out, as we can see in the following passage:

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

Unfortunately, it's not really a black and white issue. The scriptures above, that are often used to support the belief that you can lose your salvation, while they don't specifically say you can lose your salvation, do bring us to another issue. Our responsibility. It's not as simple as "I prayed the sinner's prayer, now I"m going to heaven, and I can do whatever I want." We have a responsibility. Let us now look at the scriptures, and see if we can find out what our responsibility is.

Hebrews 2:1-4 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Here we see one aspect of our responsibility. We ought to pay attention to what we have heard. We also see that there are consequences if we don't. We will not escape punishment.

Hebrews 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

Here we see that we ought to make sure that our heart does not become sinful and unbelieving. We also see that we ought to make sure our heart does not turn away from God.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

Here, we see that we ought to hold firmly to our faith. And What is our faith? That God sent His only son to die on the cross. That by the death of Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven. That on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. That by his resurrection, we have victory over death. We have eternal life.

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

We ought to allow God to complete the work that He has begun in us

Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

This scripture looks familiar... Remember? It was discussed, above, as a scripture that proves you can lose your salvation. You will recall that we discovered that isn't what it says. You will also recall what I said above about it. Well, I won't comment further on it here, since I have already addressed it. What I will suggest is that that is also part of our responsibility. That we are to show ourselves worthy of our salvation. Now... let me answer my earlier question: We ought not to take our salvation for granted.

Part of the process of salvation is sanctification. God begins to work in your life, and you begin to become more like Jesus. Everything about you begins to change. Now, you may say "why should I allow God to work in my life?" Well, my friend, God has a right to, as you are His.

In all of this that we have discussed, there are still many questions. I believe we ought to leave them unanswered for the time being, as, if we knew all of the answers, we wouldn't need faith, and our salvation would lose an aspect of mystery. There are many mysteries connected with our salvation. Some we are to know, and some remain hidden from us. So, let us accept the issue of eternal security as a mystery. But, while we accept it as a mystery, let us also recognize that, according to the scriptures, as long as God is working in our lives, we cannot lose our salvation.