Can a Christian lose his salvation. According to Saint Paul, the answer is “yes”.
Once Saved Always Saved?
Most Evangelical Christians hold that a Christian is “once saved always saved,” by which they mean that once a person has committed his life to Christ, he can never do anything to undo this gift of salvation. The explanation assumes that since the gift of salvation was freely granted, there is nothing that one can do lose it. Contrary to this, we know that gifts can be abandoned, rejected, or destroyed by of the ill will of the recipient. A father may purchase a sports car and freely give it to his son as a gift. It is rightly assumed that a gift cannot be “ungifted” or taken away. I am sure that the son would receive the car gleefully. However, the son may turn around and sell the car for drugs, crash the car, or neglect the car so that it no longer functions. The gift was not “ungifted”. Rather, the worth of the gift was rejected through negligence.
Catholicism views salvation in a similar way – a gift is given freely, but it may be spurned and squandered. The Father freely gave His Son Jesus Christ to suffer, die, and rise again for our salvation. Through the Holy Spirit, God pours out this love upon us so that we become the children of God. In the words of Saint Paul, we become earthen vessels containing inestimable treasure (1 Cor 4:7). And this salvation is a gift. As Saint Paul wrote:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:8-10)
This gift of God is not “earned by works of our own doing” but rather is received “through faith”. However, notice that salvation has a purpose in this life. We are “created in Christ Jesus for good works…that we should walk in them.” Paul is opposed to certain persons trying to earn salvation through works without faith, but he finds no tension between faith and good works once faith has been established in the Christian. In fact, Paul expects that good works will necessarily grow up as the fruits of faith. Remember that Saint Paul, like the Catholic Church, finds salvation through “faith working through love” and not through “faith alone”.
This difference demonstrates that for Saint Paul and the Catholic Church, salvation is understood as progressive and multidimensional. When Evangelicals read Paul, they observe a stress on “faith” and so they focus on this aspect of Paul’s teaching. The Catholic Church reads Paul and discovers in his writings a stress on faith but in the context of various over doctrines: baptism, the church, good works, tradition, liturgy, sanctification, etc. To use an illustration, it is as if two different people look at a written piece of music. The first looks at the piece and after studying concludes, “The note “D” seems to be predominate.” Then he walks over to the piano and strikes a “D” on the piano. The other person studies the same sheet of music and concludes, “This piece of music is in the key of D.” He then walks over to the piano and plays the beautiful piece of music from the sheet in the key of D. The first person tried to distill the music down to one note and as a result, he neglected the rest. However, the second person realized that “D” was the overarching theme and yet he incorporated all the other notes so that something more beautiful resulted.
Evangelicals and other kinds of Protestants in their commendable zeal often distill the writings of Saint Paul to such an extent that they miss the complexities and nuances of the Apostle. This is especially the case when it comes to Saint Paul’s doctrine of salvation. As a result, the Evangelical doctrine of “once saved always saved” misses the nuances of Paul’s doctrine. Paul does in fact teach that “nothing can separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8:39). However, he also clearly states that certain Christians have “fallen from grace” (Gal 5:4). What does the Apostle mean when he says that certain Christians have fallen from grace?
The Apostle explains, “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Cor 9:27). Here the prize is salvation, as is clear from the preceding verses. Saint Paul follows a disciplined life because he knows that there is a possibility that he might forfeit the salvation that he preaches. For this reason, in the very next chapter, Paul encourages the Christians in Corinth to do the same: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Cor 10:12). The “fall” here is the “fall from grace” spoken about by Paul in Galatians 5:4. Interestingly enough, the warning about falling from grace in Galatians 5:4 is immediately followed up by Paul’s exhortation to have “faith working through love” in Galatians 5:6.
Since the Apostle believes that one might fall from grace, he elsewhere encourages the Christians in Philippi to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Here again we see Paul’s emphasis on a “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). We are to work out our salvation. While it is a gift, it requires our effort. If you receive the gift of a bicycle, it is worthless until you actually get on the bike and start peddling. If the giver of the gift saw the bicycle leaning against the wall in your garage covered in dust, he would be offended. The giver wanted the recipient to enjoy cycling, but this intention was never realized. The same is true of salvation. The gift of salvation has been given to us so that we can be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29). This is a profound honor. We are called not only to believe in Christ, but also to become like Christ. We participate in the life of Christ. It is for this reason that we are called Christians. This means that our life is characterized by acts pertaining to faith, hope, and charity (1 Cor 13:13). When we willingly break the bond our bond of charity with Christ, we fall from grace.
We learn from Saint John that some sins are “mortal sins” and some sins are not mortal in this way:
If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal (1 Jn 5:16-17).
Following John’s classification of these two kinds of sins, the Catholic Church teaches the following about mortal sin:
Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it” (CCC § 1855).
Mortal sins are called “mortal” because as Saint John explained, they bring death to the soul. The other class is called “venial sin” from the Latin word venia, meaning “forgiveness” or “pardon”. Evangelicals understand the difference between mortal and venial sins whether they acknowledge it or not. If you were playing golf with your pastor and he let out a cruse word when he hit his golf ball into the forest, you would be disappointed, but not broken-hearted. However, if your pastor were engaged in an adulterous affair with the church’s secretary, you would have cause for alarm. The same is true in marriage. There are certain sins that inhibit the growth of love between a husband and wife, but they do not rupture the loving relationship, as would adultery or physical abuse.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, three conditions must be met in order for a sin to be mortal: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent” (CCC §1857). Would Paul agree with this? As a matter of fact, the Catholic Church looks to Paul as the foremost delineator of mortal sins. The Catechism cites no less than seven passages from the letters of Paul as examples of mortal sins (CCC §1852), but in particular it cites the Apostle’s Epistle to the Galatians:
Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:18-21).
Saint Paul lists a set of sins and concludes with, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:21). Who is Paul warning? He is warning Christians. If they do these things, then they will fall from grace. In other words, they “shall not inherit the kingdom of God”. Paul shows that there are certain sins that are mortal. These sins disqualify a Christian from inheriting the kingdom of God. The Apostle could not explain it any more clearly. In fact, these “mortal sin lists” are a common feature of Paul’s epistles. For more examples of Paul’s lists of mortal sins, see also Rom 1:28-32; 1 Cor 6:9-10; Eph 5:3-5; Col 3:5-8; 1 Tim 1:9-10; 2 Tim 3:2-5.
We find further confirmation of “falling from grace” when we turn to the Epistle to the Hebrews. While the Epistle to the Hebrews does not bear the name of Paul, Catholic tradition has held to be “Pauline” in origin. Some have speculated that its core was by Paul and that it was later composed and polished by Saint Luke on behalf of Paul. Others believe that it lacks the signature of Paul because it is addressed to the Hebrews. This makes sense when we remember that Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles. Whichever the reason, the epistle certainly incorporates the theology of Paul and resembles Galatians in many ways.
In The Epistle to the Hebrews, we find three passages that echo the exhortations found in the other epistles of Paul about falling from grace. In Hebrews 4:1 we read, “The promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.” Here, the assumption is that a Christian may “fall short” of entering into Heaven. Hebrews 6:4-6 is a difficult passage for Evangelicals and is often admitted to be the one passage that refutes the Evangelical doctrine of “once saved always saved”.
For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt (Heb 6:4-6).
Here we have persons who have been “enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,” and yet they are able to “commit apostasy” and reject the Son of God. Two verses later, he compares such apostates to thistles worthy only of being burned (Heb 6:8).
The Epistle to the Hebrews later takes up the problem of apostate Christians in its tenth chapter. It is worth quoting in full. The emphases are mine:
For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:26-31).
This passage confirms Paul’s doctrine of apostasy and the warning set forth in the sixth chapter of Hebrews. A man will fall into “a fury of fire” (Heb 10:27) who has “spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace” (Heb 10:29). Notice how the person in question has already been “sanctified” by the “blood of the covenant”. This person has received the gift of redemption of the New Covenant through the precious blood of Christ. And yet such a man will forfeit all those benefits and fall into the fires of Hell. Clearly, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the epistles of Paul in general teach that the Christian can “fall from grace”. This fall occurs through apostasy or through committing mortal sin and this accords perfectly with the Catholic doctrine of salvation as it regards the possibility of falling from grace.
Taylor was an Episcopal priest in Fort Worth, Texas before being received into the Catholic Church by Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth.
Taylor was also formerly the Assistant Director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., located three blocks north of the White House, where he lectured regularly. He was served under Archbishop John J. Myers and Msgr. William Stetson for the Pastoral Provision of John Paul II, the canonical structure by which Anglican clergy are received into the Catholic Church and then go on to pursue Holy Orders in the Catholic Church.
He is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary (M.A.R. Theology), Nashotah Theological House (Certificate in Anglican Studies), and University of Dallas (M.A. Philosophy). He is currently a Ph.D. student in Philosophy at the University of Dallas where he studies the Natural Law theory of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae Ia Iaa qq. 94-108). Taylor and his wife live in Dallas, Texas with their five children. He is the author of The Catholic Perspective on Paul (forthcoming).
Visit his personal site at: www.taylormarshall.com
Taylor is also the Editor of Christian and American at: www.christianandamerican.com. 
You’ve used up all the substance! I have nothing to add in reply, really… I’d just be repeating Scripture quotes and nodding my head in agreement with you and St. Paul.
Excellent site, great Paulcast too.
Actually, I thought of something to contribute, though tangentially. There is a common thread in Jesus’ preaching and Paul’s writing about being worthy. It’s not about being worthy to RECIEVE the gift of salvation, but about being found worthy in the end. Jesus says there is such a thing as a “worthless servant” and that some people are not “worthy” of following Him. Paul continually prays that Christians be made worthy, lest they receive the Word in vain. (cf. Matt 10:37-38, Matt 25:30, 1 Cor 4:1-2, 1 Cor 9:27, 1 Cor 10:8-10, 1 Cor 11:2, 2 Cor 13:5, Eph 4:1-3, Phil 1:27, Col 1:9-10, 1 Thess 2:10-12, 2 Thess 1:11-12)
St. Paul, pray for us, that we may be made WORTHY of the promises of Christ.
I wish the Catholic teaching on this would be a little clearer regarding the analogies of salvation we are given in the Bible. Specifically, salvation is treated analogously as being “adopted into the family of God.” This familial theme runs throughout the scriptures — God as our Father, our Blessed Lady as our Mother, our having “sisters and brothers” in the Lord.
The scriptures also speak of an inheritance which is “laid up in the heavens for you” (1 Peter 1: 4). This is a familial term, and if the Bible is going to use the term inheritance, then we must apply those understandings of an inheritance to our salvation.
First of all, what is the inheritance? It can only be one thing — eternal life. This is even the understanding Jesus places upon eternal life. (Mk. 10:17; Luke 10:25; Luke 18:18). The Bible also speaks of this inheritance of eternal life (1 Corin. 6: 9-10; Gal. 5:21).
Therefore, in the same manner that one can lose one’s earthly inheritance by bad behavior or bringing disgrace upon the family name, so we can lose our inheritance of eternal life by bad behavior (unrepented of mortal sin). We have not lost our salvation, which was that grace by which we were made adopted children of God. We are still adopted children. But we have lost the inheritance which God has set aside for all His children who remain faithful to the covenant they are in.
When we as Catholics say we can “lose our salvation” it sounds like we are saying that we can be “unborn again” and it confuses Protestants. I think it would be much better to say that we can lose that which our salvation has set aside for us — the inheritance of eternal life.
But that’s just my .02 on the subject, and is worth about that much!
Ed
Ed,
Great comment and I agree. Losing salvation can be an overly confusing phrase. For Catholicism, salvation is very much a “future” reality. And yes, we cannot become “unborn” after being “reborn”. I like your stress on the biblical theme of “inheritance”. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. I need to reassess as to which is the best way to present this topic.
The Patristic metaphor of “shipwrecking” is also very good, but inheritance is more biblical. Thanks Ed!
I understand well the limits of articles, but I found your article like a jigsaw puzzle missing most of its pieces. You are fond of quoting Heb 6 as an example of someone who could fall away from grace and loose their salvation. If that is the case, then it would certainly be “impossible” for such a person to ever get it back! For those who feel they can loose their salvation, once it’s gone, it’s impossible for them…to be brought back to repentance. And if those who have lost their salvation due to mortal sins are unable to repent, then once it’s gone, it’s gone. I much prefer to include all of the other “jigsaw” pieces and rest in the finished work of Him who will complete the good work that He has started.
Jake,
If you listen to podcasts or have an mp3 player, you may find that my podcast on “Confession and Mortal Sin” provides more pieces to the jigsaw puzzle:
http://pauliscatholic.com/2009/07/episode-6-saint-paul-on-confession-and-mortal-sin/
Regarding, the “restore again,” Hebrews 6 isn’t saying that people can’t repent and turn again to Christ (otherwise, St Peter the pope would never have repented and been restored by Christ). Instead, Hebrews is saying that such a person can’t be “restored” in the state of apostasy (or in the context of the Epistle – by returning to Judaism).
Catholics read Hebrews 6 like this: “It’s impossible to for someone to be reconciled to Christ so long as they are crucifying the Son of God again in a state of apostasy.” The teaching is not “A person can’t repent.” The true teaching is, “You can’t return to ceremonial Judaism AND still remain Christian.”
This is similar to Saint John’s warning about “mortal sin” in 1 John 5:16:
“There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that.”
He says that we shouldn’t try to pray for the forgiveness of one who has committed mortal sin – because in that state there is no forgiveness. We have to pray for an interior change through grace (real reconciliation with Christ), before such a sin can be remitted.
As a Catholic Christian, I have discovered that all these passages complement one another and make a cohesive whole. As a non-Catholic I had jigsaw pieces that were left over and seemingly didn’t belong to the puzzle. Hebrews 6 and 1 John 5:16 regarding mortal sin just didn’t fit my Reformed theological system. Only as a Catholic did those verses finally “fit”.
Just thought I would add to the discussion two passages that have always struck me…the parable of the sower has powerful implications regarding one’s salvation. Matt. 13:1-23. Notice in the parable Jesus shows the purpose of the word of God is to bring about fruit (or grain in this example). And then again the parable of the vine and the branches, John 15:1-8, in verse 2 Jesus states “Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” And then in verse 6, “If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.” In verse 2 the branches belonged to Jesus…”every branch of mine” but in vs. 6 they were thrown into the fire. The reason being, they did not bear fruit (works).
The point about sonship vs. inheritance is important to keep in mind, yes! Another thing is the meaning of “salvation” – it is soooo frequently spoken of in a very confusing manner, now referring to initial, then to present and then to future salvation, without distinguishing the terms and conditions and applying the same passages to them one after the other etc. Part of the problem of course is that Scripture itself uses the terms in all these tenses without making the distinction. And yet if we want to try to harmonize and understand the message of salvation in a coherent way we need to be clear whether we are talking about entrance into the community of salvation or the final resurrection or what.
As for losing salvation and mortal sin, I’d like to raise the discussion to a higher level. First of all, in this post the Pauline methodology was abandoned and 1 John and the CCC were brought into the picture. Why aren’t the Pauline passages enough? Indeed it seems to me this is one of the biggest challenges to the Catholic Paul: Paul doesn’t talk about losing salvation or sanctifying grace by a single mortal sin – he talks about the fact that those who consistently live wicked lives contrary to the Spirit of God will be jugded accordingly on the last day and excluded from the Kingdom. It doesn’t seem to be at all the common Catholic mindset of going back and forth between the state of grace and the state of sin with one consented evil or lustful thought here or there and a subsequent confession to a priest. There is no exhortation to repent and get back into the state of grace through confession to a person who has received holy orders and the supernatural power to absolve sins in persona Christi. Rather Christians living in sin are simply called to live according to the spirit. The verdict will be given on the day of judgment. This is how it seems to me at present, but I’m still struggling with this and trying to think it through.
If the above argument was put to me, I would have to answer by appealing to the case of the incestuous man in 1 Cor 5 and his restoration in 2 Cor 2. This is the closest we get to a mortal sin excluding a Christian from communion and absolution in persona Christi by a minister of Christ (Paul!). But there are problems with this too. How does one then distinguish between mortal sin and excommunication? This practice seems to apply only to huge sins – Paul doesn’t do the same to the numerous other flesh-bound Corinthians or Galatians. What all of this has done to me is really to redefine my concept of mortal sins. I was much more scrupulous before, but Pauline spirituality forces me to not be overly concerned about falling from grace unless there is a very grave and a very deliberate apostasy or immorality… which I trust the spirit will keep me away from. What do you think about this?
How briskly can somebody expect to lose weight?
The point about sonship vs. inheritance is important to keep in mind, yes! Another thing is the meaning of “salvation” – it is soooo frequently spoken of in a very confusing manner, now referring to initial, then to present and then to future salvation, without distinguishing the terms and conditions and applying the same passages to them one after the other etc. Part of the problem of course is that Scripture itself uses the terms in all these tenses without making the distinction. And yet if we want to try to harmonize and understand the message of salvation in a coherent way we need to be clear whether we are talking about entrance into the community of salvation or the final resurrection or what.
As for losing salvation and mortal sin, I’d like to raise the discussion to a higher level. First of all, in this post the Pauline methodology was abandoned and 1 John and the CCC were brought into the picture. Why aren’t the Pauline passages enough? Indeed it seems to me this is one of the biggest challenges to the Catholic Paul: Paul doesn’t talk about losing salvation or sanctifying grace by a single mortal sin – he talks about the fact that those who consistently live wicked lives contrary to the Spirit of God will be jugded accordingly on the last day and excluded from the Kingdom. It doesn’t seem to be at all the common Catholic mindset of going back and forth between the state of grace and the state of sin with one consented evil or lustful thought here or there and a subsequent confession to a priest. There is no exhortation to repent and get back into the state of grace through confession to a person who has received holy orders and the supernatural power to absolve sins in persona Christi. Rather Christians living in sin are simply called to live according to the spirit. The verdict will be given on the day of judgment. This is how it seems to me at present, but I’m still struggling with this and trying to think it through.
If the above argument was put to me, I would have to answer by appealing to the case of the incestuous man in 1 Cor 5 and his restoration in 2 Cor 2. This is the closest we get to a mortal sin excluding a Christian from communion and absolution in persona Christi by a minister of Christ (Paul!). But there are problems with this too. How does one then distinguish between mortal sin and excommunication? This practice seems to apply only to huge sins – Paul doesn’t do the same to the numerous other flesh-bound Corinthians or Galatians. What all of this has done to me is really to redefine my concept of mortal sins. I was much more scrupulous before, but Pauline spirituality forces me to not be overly concerned about falling from grace unless there is a very grave and a very deliberate apostasy or immorality… which I trust the spirit will keep me away from. What do you think about this?
I read about a third of your article, and stopped reading when I noticed you having committed an offence I consider unforgivable when arguing theology. In your article, you quote 3 words out of Galatians 5:4 and stop at that. When I looked up the actual scripture, I found that verse in the context of what I consider a warning against putting too much emphasis on works. In fact, here Paul is referring to someone who accepts circumcision (works) as being severed from Christ. Please explain your interpretation of Galatians 5:1-6 TOGETHER and IN CONTEXT.
Also, I would like to point out Galatians 5:12 “I wish those who unsettle you [over circumcision] would emasculate themselves!” (I think this can be extended to overemphasizing works in general, but I will not present an argument for that here since I have not given it enough thought yet)
The protestant explanation of people “falling away” is that they never had true faith in the first place. Some may consider this a dogmatic cop-out, but it is no different from responding “prove it” to someone who says “God does not exist”.
I would also like to point out that many protestants (including me) believe that anyone who says he has faith and does no good works is lying. The point is to emphasize faith, realizing that genuine faith will bear the fruit of works, not to look at works and try to gauge faith (which is unfair to people who try to obey “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”). However, it is ridiculous and unproductive to claim that someone may know with total certainty whether another person is saved.
I forgot the blockquote!
I’m a believer who studies God’s Word. I put together some verses which seem to “prove” the “IMPOSSIBILITY TO LOSE SALVATION” and other verses, which seem to “prove” the “POSSIBILITY TO FORFEIT SALVATION”. It is important to study them prayerfully and to be careful not to apply “human logic” without subjecting it under the authority of God’s Word:
IMPOSSIBLE TO LOSE SALVATION:
Psal 37:28
For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved forever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
MATTEW 24 NIV
24 … False Christs …to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.
JOHN 5
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
JOHN 6
39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
JOHN 10
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
JOHN 11
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
JOHN 13
1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
JOHN 14
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
JOHN 17
1 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
ROMANS 8
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I CORINTHIANS 1
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I CORINTHIANS 3
15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
EPHESIANS 4
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
PHILIPPIANS 1
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
II TIMOTHY 1
12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
II TIMOTHY 2
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faitfull: he cannot deny himself.
HEBREWS 7
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
I PETER 1
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
I JOHN 2
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
I JOHN 2
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you …
POSSIBLE TO FORFEIT SALVATION:
EZEKIEL 33
12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.
13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
MATTHEW 10
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
MATTHEW 24
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
MARK 13
13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
LUKE 8
13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
JOHN 8
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
JOHN 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
(POSSIBLE TO LOOSE SALVATION:
Cont.)
ROMANS 11
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
I CORINTHIANS 5
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
I CORINTHIANS 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
2 CORINTHIANS 6
1 We then, [as] workers together [with him], beseech [you] also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
PHILIPPIANS 3
18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
COLOSSIANS 1
23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
I TIMOTHY 4
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
I TIMOTHY 5
15 For some are already turned aside after Satan.
II TIMOTHY 2
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
HEBREWS 3
6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
HEBREWS 6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
HEBREWS 10
26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
JAMES 5
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
II PETER 2
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
I JOHN 2
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
I JOHN 5
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he hall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
REVELATION 2
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
REVELATION 3
5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Additional verses:
EZEKIEL 3
20 Again, When a righteous [man] doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous [man], that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
EZEKIEL 18
24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, [and] doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked [man] doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
REVELATION 2
11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
REVELATION 2
17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth [it].
Kurt Niederer
If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.
If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
There is noticeably a lot to realize about this. I assume you made some nice points in features also.I found a great place to learn ????,hope you can like it.
Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.
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I appreciate this topic. I would argue on some of the instances where bible passages say it’s “POSSIBLE TO FORFEIT SALVATION”.
For instance, Matthew 10:22. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved”.
I don’t see anything in that that implies you can forfeit salvation. I see this as a statement of fact in much the same sense that St.Paul says drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
I see it as a matter of cause and effect. I believe that if one is born of God (adopted) into His family he will endure to the end. I believe this is what the bible teaches consistently.
I appreciate the analogy of a forfeited or squandered gift. But I do not believe the comparison
of human father to human child is one that can be applied to Holy Father and human child.
The bible makes the analogy of “Potter (God) and clay (us)” in Isaiah and Romans. Does that clay talk back to the Potter?
My point is, there are some things we cannot understand as humans. That’s because our brains on not on the level with God.
I believe just as the book of Apacalypse says Jesus was “slain before the foundation of the world” in God’s time it had
already been done (even before the cross), but still had to be experientially lived.
I believe the bible teaches the same about salvation and God’s election of His elect.
I believe because people confuse cause and effect (without holy spirits guidance) they “see” that there are bible versus that say it is possible to forfiet salvation.