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Many Christians, by virtue of poor
teaching, have no assurance or certainty of their own
salvation. Because of this they reject the doctrine of
eternal security (that the true believer in Christ can
never lose his or her salvation).
But we believe that not only does God
want us to know that we can have assurance of salvation
in this life, but He also wants us to know that we will
never be lost.1
When Christ paid the full penalty for our sins 2000
years ago, remember, all our sins were future at that
point. If the Bible teaches our sins are forgiven at the
point of true faith in Christ, this must logically
include all of them, even all future sins. Thus, "He
forgave us all our sins" (Col. 2:13). Therefore,
come what may in life (please read Rom. 8:28-38), the
person who trusts in Christ alone for salvation will go
to heaven when he dies because God Himself informs the
believer that he now possesses "an inheritance that can
never perish, spoil or fade" because it is "kept in
heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:4). The salvation God offers
is perfectly secure precisely because it involves a
gracious act of God and is in no way dependent upon
human merit or good works for its accomplishment. It is
simply a free gift (Rom. 3:24)!
Because salvation occurs by God’s grace
and is in no way dependent upon anything we do to earn
it, and because the divine penalty for all sin was fully
paid by Jesus on the cross, the Bible teaches that those
who have genuinely received Christ as their personal
Savior may from that point forward be fully assured that
they now possess eternal life. Again, consider the
following Scriptures carefully:
I tell you
the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who
sent me has eternal life and will not be
condemned; he has crossed over from death to life
(John 5:24, emphasis added).
I tell you
the truth, he who believes has
everlasting life (John 6:47, emphasis added).
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 (1 John 5:13, emphasis added).
Again, these verses teach that God wants
believers to know they now possess eternal life merely
by their personal trust in Jesus. If any person now
possesses eternal life, how can it be lost?
Unfortunately, the above Scriptures do
not reflect the teachings of the cults which maintain
that salvation is a provisional, lifelong process
partially or wholly earned by a person’s own works and
individual merit.
Biblically, of course, salvation can be
viewed as a process, but only in this manner: that
sinless perfection and glorification are not received
until after death. And so we struggle in this life to
increase our sanctification and "work out" (Phil. 2:12),
not work for, the logical consequences of our
having already been saved and of having already received
the gift of eternal life. Thus, biblically, true
salvation—in the sense of our right standing before God
and forgiveness of all sins—occurs at a point in time
(the point of receiving Christ as personal Savior), even
though the practical implications of salvation
(progressive sanctification or growth in holiness) are
worked out over a lifetime.
Thus, 1) complete reconciliation with God
(full forgiveness of sins and cancellation of the
penalty of sin); 2) regeneration (being made spiritually
alive to God and the imparting of eternal life), and 3)
justification (the crediting of Christ’s full and
complete righteousness to the believer) all occur in an
instant, at the moment in time: the point of faith.
They are irrevocable since they are all
gifts from God, and God says that He never takes back
what He gives: "For God’s gifts and his call are
irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29). This includes God’s calling
to salvation and His election (Eph 1:4,5,11; Acts
13:48).
To summarize:
1. Salvation, or an eternally valid
right standing before God, occurs solely due to the
death of Christ (what Christ accomplished on the
cross) entirely apart from works and personal
righteousness (1 John 2:2; 1 Pet. 2:24; Rom. 10:13;
John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
2. On the cross Jesus Christ paid in
its entirety the full divine penalty for all sin (Heb.
10:12,14).
3. In terms of our standing before God,
full salvation occurs at a point in time (1 Cor.
5:17-21; 1 Pet. 2:24). It is not a lifelong process
that occurs or increases over time, which is
sanctification.
4. Complete salvation is secured solely
by personal faith—by trusting in Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of sins (John 1:12; Rom. 10:9,10; Eph.
2:8,9). Good works enter the picture only as a
result—not a cause—of our salvation (Eph. 2:10; Rom.
12:1,2). Thus, good works are not even a partial cause
of our salvation (Rom. 11:6; Gal. 3:13,21; 4:9,10;
5:1,4).
5. At the moment of saving faith a
person is fully—not partially—justified (Rom. 3:28;
5:1). In other words, a person is declared righteous
by God Himself—fully and finally. All his sins are
forgiven and God declares him legally righteous
(perfectly righteous in God’s own eyes), even though
he continues to remain a sinner because of the
presence of a sinful nature (Rom. 3:28-4:6; Jas. 2:10;
3:2; 1 John 1:8-10). What this means is that in an
instant of time a person has passed over from
spiritual death to spiritual life, and that nothing
else is required for him to go to heaven (see John
5:24). Once justified, a person can never lose her or
his justification (see Rom. 8:30-38; 11:29).
6. At the moment of saving faith a
person has also been regenerated—God has made him
alive spiritually and imparted eternal life to him.
Regeneration does not occur at the point of baptism or
death; rather, it occurs at the point of saving faith.
The fact that regeneration involves the imparting of
eternal life underscores the finality of biblical
salvation (John 6:47; 1 John 5:13).
7. Because a person now possesses
eternal life, his salvation, as a result, can never be
lost (Eph. 1:11-12; 1 Pet. 1:3-5). Such a person is
eternally secure from the point of saving faith,
regardless of his sins or his works (Rom. 8:28-38).
In conclusion, in the field of
comparative religion, what the Bible teaches about
salvation is truly revolutionary—eternal
salvation, wholly by grace, as a free gift, is found
nowhere else.
Note
1 We wrote
our book, Knowing the Truth About Eternal Security
(Harvest House)—to prove this Scripturally.
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