O.S.A.S. (Once. Saved. Always. Saved)

Why? Does belief that some people get divorced mean that you do not have very much faith in your own spouse or their promises?

 

The covenant of marriage is not only "till death do us part", but also includes "forsaking all others." If I were to be unfaithful to my wife, would I break the covenant? I would think so. If she forgave me for my unfaithfulness, does that violate the covenant? Of course not. What if I repented, and she forgave me, and we still wanted to be married? Would we be? Of course we would. This is where the marriage analogy breaks down. I personally know 4 people who broke their marriage covenant by being unfaithful, yet they remain married.

Which brings me to a key question. If one party breaks a covenant, does the covenant cease to exist? I mean, we know that God will keep his promises, right? Everybody seems to agree that God will keep his part of the covenant. The opponents of Eternal Security seem to believe that if I don't keep my part of the covenant, then the covenant ceases to be, but that's not true.

God made a covenant with Israel. Israel was unfaithful to that covenant. But the covenant didn't go away just because Israel was unfaithful. God didn't break his promises to Israel just because Israel broke her promises with God. In the same way, just because I break my promise to God doesn't mean that God breaks his promise to me.

God said he will never leave me nor forsake me. Jesus Christ said he would be with me always. Paul wrote that I am crucified with Christ and that he now lives in me. If God doesn't break his promises, and if Jesus Christ said he would always be with me, and God's Word says that Jesus lives in me, how can I possibly leave him? My breaking of the covenant doesn't mean that he breaks his promises.

As to Luke 8:13, I would argue that Christ isn't saying that those who "fall away" doesn't mean that they lost their salvation.

I'm not sure what else there is to be gained from continuing to debate the doctrine of Eternal Security. I've enjoyed it, but I've pretty much said all I wanted to say, and I'm soon to start repeating myself, if I haven't already. So, I'm willing to say let's agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

 

"till death do us part" describes the intended duration of the covenant. "forsaking all others" describes the conditions of the covenant.

If you were unfaithful to your wife, you have given your wife the option of ending the covenant, because you have broken the conditions of the covenant. If she chooses to forgive you and if you wish to remain in the covenant, the covenant can remain intact. However, if she wishes to seek divorce, or of you choose to leave the covenant despite her wishes to save the marriage, the covenant is broken.

Why is it not true? If you choose to leave the covenant, God does not lock you in a cage, just as if your wife wanted to leave your marriage covenant, you would not lock her in a cage.

Israel's unfaithfulness allowed God the option of ending the covenant. In one instance, he did:

Jer 3:8 "And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also."

Even then though, God begged for Israel to return, so the covenant could be restored (verse 14ff).

You are correct. God does not break his promises. But he never promised to lock us in a cage.

He won't. But it is possible to leave and forsake him.

He didn't use the singular pronoun. He used the plural: "you" is the church.

Yet that is in the context of making Christ's death in vain, if one returns to trying to get righteousness by works of the law.

That reminds me of 2 Pet 2:20-22 and Heb 10:29, where someone is worse off by returning to the old ways, than if they had not come to Jesus in the first place.

Why?? The first group does not get saved (verse 12). The second and third group receive and believe and grow, but do not produce fruit (verses 13-14). Only the fourth group produced fruit (verse 15). Every branch that does not produce fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:9, Matt 3:10, etc.)

OK, sounds good. I'm able to agree to disagree.

 

Hello Zachary: All of the scriptures you quote do not teach OSAS. Peter's Epsitles are out of place here. Just stick with Paul for understanding. That is what Paul tells us, and Peter says the Jew had better believe what Paul says for full understanding.

Acts 16:27-30 is a good place to start, " But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30. And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Christian faith, ituttut Galatians 1:11-12

 

Pardon me hijacking the thread, but I wanted to answer a question asked a couple of pages back.

Yes and no. While OT and NT saints are saved by faith, OT saints looked forward to the time of Christ when he would pay for their sins once for all.

NT saints are saved by faith also, but we look back to the time when Christ paid for our sins before we even committed them. OT saints that were living during the time of Christ had to be converted by believing that his blood washed away their sins. Once Christ died and rose again, OT saints were lost until they converted.

There's not a lot of difference between OT and NT salvation, but there is a difference.

 

Problem:
Who is to determine when someone has lost
their salvation?

I had a friend one time that said she was saved the first time 3 years earlier, then while we were talking she said that she then at that point had been saved for 3 weeks straight.

I took that as her saying that she had been as 'perfect as Jesus' for the 3 weeks prior to our discussion. I'm not one to judge or even speculate, buut I can say that salvation is not a feeling. Sometime a saved person feels better than other times, but we are still humans and humans have emotions that are just 'out there'
My only advice is to not rely on your emotions to determine your salvation. Once saved always saved.
I was saved for the 1st time 8 years ago and that is all I (undeservingly) needed for my ticket to Glory.

 

Many have already touched on the error in natter's position (understanding born again). I see that he is well dug into believing what he believes.

However, I would like to ask natters to explain to me what is the purpose of God requiring one to be "born again"?

And just what is involved in being born again?

Is it an act of me or is it an act of God?

Please take some time and give me some scripture supporting your answers.

God Bless!

 

What is the purpose of a married couple "becoming one flesh" - even though they can divorce later?

The purpose of being born again is to come to life spiritually. We are born in the flesh, we must also be born in the spirit. Our carnal nature must die, we come to new life in the spirit. It is an act of God, done to those who believe (meet the requirements of the new covenant in his blood).

We must be born again to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3,5). It is possible to be removed from the kingdom (Matt 13:41-42, Matt 22:2,12-13, Matt 25:14,30, Luke 9:62, Gal 5:15-21, Eph 5:2-5, etc.)!

Hebrews 10:29 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?

Hebrews 10:38-39 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. [39] But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

 

still waiting

 

There is nothing misleading about the doctrine of OSAS since the 'S' in the acronym OSAS clearly means 'saved'. Not 'maybe saved'.

I do agree that one should not tell someone that may not be saved that they are saved. For example, if they just said the sinner's prayer. Wait for the true fruit of the Spirit to come forth.

That is not to say that the Calvinist doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints is correct either. True Christians can fall to sin and be backsliden.

 

From: ”The Reign of the Servant Kings” by Dr. Joseph C. Dillow Th.D

The Golden Chain.

Rom. 8:28-30 describes an unbreakable chain consisting of five links:

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined, and these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Note the terms, “whom” and “these also.” They link, as in a chain, the history of the same group which was foreknown, will also ultimately be glorified.

Foreknowledge
Predestination
Calling
Justification
Glorification

The two verse chain with its five-fold unbreakable links, “those…he also,” is a clear statement of the eternal security of the saints. Can a saved person lose his salvation? Only if it depends upon him. A belief in conditional security necessarily leads to consideration of what sin or sins are necessary to forfeit salvation. If we entertain even the remotest possibility that there is something we can do or not do which can nullify the value of the blood of Christ, we will focus our attention on our obedience, and not Christ’s blood. This is the way human nature works. (Prov. 14:12). If 99% of saved people cannot be lost, but 1% can, we have no sense of security ever. (Eph. 6:17a). We would be no different than anyone else (1 Cor. 10:13).

From Genesis to Revelation salvation is presented as a work of God. God the Father purposes, calls, justifies, and glorifies those who believe on Christ. God the Son became incarnate that He might be a Kinsman Redeemer and die a substitutionary death. He rose as a living Savior, both as Advocate and Intercessor, and as Head over all things in the church. God the Holy Spirit administers and executes the purpose of the Father and the redemption which the Son has wrought. Therefore, all three persons of the Godhead have their share in preserving to fruition that which God has determined.

Salvation depends upon God. Since it depends upon Him and not upon us, it cannot be lost. First of all, our eternal security …

Depends upon God the Father
From eternity past God’s firm purpose has been established (Eph. 1:3-5). It is therefore clear that our eternal security depends, first of all…

Upon His Sovereign Purpose
Predestined to glory. God’s eternal purpose cannot be defeated in the realization of all He intends, and bringing His redeemed to glory is a major aspect of His divine purpose.

” In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”

“When anyone is born again of the Holy Spirit and justified in Christ, it is because God has formed, from eternity, the unchangeable purpose of that soul. The work of grace in it is the mere carrying out of that unchangeable purpose. As the plan is unchangeab;e, so must be its execution.” Robert Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology 1878.
We have an anchor within the veil. The writer of Hebrews makes this point in Heb. 6:17-20:

” Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

God wanted to show the unchangeable nature of His eternal purpose to give us an anchor within the veil and confirmed it with an oath. Now if He purposed before the foundation of the world to save His elect, His elect will be saved.
His solemn purpose. Now all that He has purposed, He unconditionally promises to His elect (John 6:40). Our salvation depends upon His promise (Rom. 4:16). Our eternal security depends not only upon His sovereign purpose, but also…

Upon His Infinite Power.
He is free to save us. If we can lose salvation, then we must conclude that there is some sin which is sufficiently serious to cause us to forfeit it. Perhaps adultery, drunkenness, etc. This assumes that we were less worthy of salvation after having committed this sin than before, and it reduced salvation down to human ability to merit it. Our eternal security does not depend upon our moral worthiness. If it did, none of us would be saved (Eph. 2:1-5; Rom. 5:8).

We all have imperfections. If salvation can be lost because of a high degree of imperfection, then we have to draw arbitrary lines of distinction between sins which are able to damn and those which are not. Who therefore is worthy? Not Paul, you, or this writer.
He has purposed to keep us saved. In no uncertain terms our Lord declares:

“ 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.

And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:39-40
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
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 10:27-29
The phrase “shall never” is a double negative in the Greek. It is very emphatic.

Those who will not believe are not His sheep (vs. 26). However, the sheep of Christ’s are His past, present, and future sheep, and they shall all be glorified with Christ in heaven. John 17:19-24. (Unless of course you take the stand that the Father didn’t answer His prayer in John 17.)

Upon His “Much More” Love.
The preservation of the saved flows from the free and unchangeable love of the Father. It was God’s love, not the Christian’s worthiness, which was the reason for His salvation in the first place. The Scripture make it plain that God saved no man because he observed some good, attractive, or meriting attribute in an individual sinner. Rather He saved us for reasons independent of us and outside us. He was motivated by His electing love, and not by observation of good in the sinner.

” And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of him that calleth)
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Rom. 9:10-16.
Now, since the cause of the sinner’s salvation had nothing to do with any imagined merit or goodness in the sinner, neither does the preservation of the saints. Since God was not motivated to impart saving grace based on foreseen good works, the subsequent absence of those works should be no motive for Him to withdraw His saving grace. Eternal security is grounded in the Father’s faithfulness; it does not depend upon us. Rather it depends…

Upon His Answer to the Prayer of His Son
The saved are called many things in Scripture: saints, believers, sheep, Christians, partakers of the heavenly calling, etc. But the title most dear to the heart of Christ is repeated seven times in His high priestly prayer in John 17 “those whom You have given Me” (John 17:2,6,9,11-12,20,34). This phrase, according to John 17:20, includes all who would believe in Him through the ages. Even if the Father had no personal interest in keeping them saved, which He does, He must respond to the prayer of the Son, whose prayers are always answered (John 11:42). Jesus prays that we will be kept from hell (John 17:15) and that we will be with Him in heaven (John 17:20,24). Will not the prayers of the Son of God be answered?

The keeping is from perishing. Christ kept the chosen from perishing while He was on the earth, and now He asks the Father to keep us. Judas was not kept because he was never one whom the Father had given Him; he was to be the son of perdition (John 6:64).

It is thus the prayer of the Son of God to the Father that becomes one of the major factors in the believer’s security. To deny the safekeeping of the believer is to imply that the prayer of the Son of God will not be answered.

Not only has God the Father committed Himself by oath to guarantee the eternal security of His elect, but God the Son, through His active and passive obedience has made our final arrival into heaven certain. Our eternal security does not depend on us, but it…

Depends upon God the Son
The apostle Paul specifically raises the question of eternal security in his magnificent conclusion to Rom. 8:
What, then, shall we say in response to this? (8:31)
Paul has just finished presenting the “golden chain” (8:29-30). These five unbreakable links guarantee the believer’s eternal destiny. What shall we say in response to this “golden chain,” he now asks?

If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies (Rom. 8:31-33).

Paul’s argument is that, if God has already justified the man who believes in Jesus (Rom. 3:26; 5:9; 8:30), how can He or anyone else lay anything to the charge of His justified one? This justification comes from the imputed righteousness of Christ and is legally ours. It is not a subject of merit, and its loss cannot be a subject of demerit. Like a human father, God can and does correct His earthly children, but they always remain His children. The truth is that God, who justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5), will not and cannot contradict Himself by charging them with evil. To do so amounts to reversing their justification. Christ either died for our sins and has paid the penalty or He has not. The Arminian cannot have it both ways. God is the only one ultimately who could bring a charge against His elect, and as Paul says, God had already rendered His verdict…justified.
In his answer to the second question, Who is the one that condemns? Paul gives four answers. Each of the answers affirms the absolute security of the believer as unconditionally safe forever:

1. Christ died
2. He is risen
3. He advocates
4. He intercedes

Because of these four ministries of Christ, “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God” (8:39), that is to cause us to forfeit our justification. Our eternal security also depends …

Upon His Substitutionary Death
Paul’s first answer is “Christ has died!” Who can condemn us, he says, if the penalty for our sins has already been paid? The greatest proof of eternal security is justification by faith. Justification refers to how God sees us, not the way we ourselves or others see us. Justification is “exterior” to us. It lies utterly outside us. The interior change is due to regeneration. Justification is forensic; it is entirely a legal matter. This is how God will judge us. We have been declared righteous. It was on the basis of Christ’s death for sin that we were saved in the first place, and is now on that basis that no one can condemn us.

In Col. 2:14 Paul refers to the accumulation of sin as a “certificate of debt.”
He forgave us all our sin, having cancelled the certificate of debt, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. NASB
In the ancient world when a prisoner was incarcerated, a “certificate of dept” was nailed to the door of his cell. On the crime he had committed and the duration and nature of the punishment was written. When the weary prisoner had paid his debt, the prison guard came to his cell, tore down the certificate of debt, and wrote a Greek word across it, tetelestai, which means, paid in full. Then the cell door was opened and the man was free.

Recall our Lord’s last words from the cross. Just before He died He looked to heaven and screamed to the Father, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word is tetelestai, “It is pain in full.”

Either Christ’s death for sin actually paid the penalty or it did not. If it did, then the believer cannot be condemned for the very sins for which Christ died. All sins which we would ever commit were future to the death of Christ. If our sins are a ground of judgment against the believer, then Christ’s death was not propitious. If it was propitious, then our sin is no longer a ground of condemnation. (John 3:18). It is either one or the other.
However, when Christ paid the certificate of debt, it was not just for sins prior to our imprisonment, but for all sin. In contrast to the temporary atonement we might make for our own sin by imprisonment or that an OT priest might make by offering sacrifices, Christ made an eternal redemption.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb. 9:12

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; Heb. 10:12

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Heb. 10:14

When Christ our Priest finished His sacrificial work, it is declared that He “sat down.” The notion of a seated priest was foreign to the Jewish economy. In fact, there were no chairs in the tabernacle because a priest’s work is never done. But here is a Priest who has finisher his work. He sat down! There is nothing more to do as far as paying the penalty for sin.
Christ guaranteed our eternal security not only by means of His substitutionary death, but also by means of…

His Substitutionary Life
Paul does not bring in this aspect of Christ’s substitutionary work in Rom. 8:31-34, but it is the subject of a large body of Scripture. Christ was our substitute by His death, His so-called passive obedience, but He was also our substitute by His life, His so-called active obedience. We can and could do neither (Mt. 5:48; 19:26). But by His righteousness life Christ obeyed for us (forensicly speaking concerning justification).

There is a material cause and an instrumental cause of our salvation. The material cause is the active and passive obedience of Christ. The instrumental cause is our faith in Him. We are justified by His blood and saved by His life (Rom. 5:9-10). The righteousness which the Law required is imputed to us when we believe.
This is necessary because to merely atone for past sin would not be a complete salvation. It would save a man from hell but not make him fit for heaven. He would be delivered from the law’s punishment to a point, but not entitled to the law’s reward. The law required perfect obedience. The mediator then must both pay the law’s penalty, as well as obey the law in the man’s stead if he is to do for man everything that the law requires:

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Rom. 10:4

Christ died for us, but He also lives to intercede for us. Paul emphasizes this in Rom. 8:34 when he mentions that Christ is seated in heaven. Because of His work of intercession, our eternal security depends…

Upon His Present Session
Paul also bases our eternal security on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God. He is our Advocate (1 John 2:1) and Intercessor. This is sometimes called the present priestly ministry of Christ, or His present session.

Arminians have feared that this doctrine will tend to sin. John says in 1 John that there is a motivation in this doctrine not to sin. The heavenly courtroom is opened. Satan the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10), brings the sinning Christian before the tribunal. In his role as prosecuting attorney he presents his case. His accusations are correct. God is just. But Jesus points out that He has already paid he penalty for the sin. “Case dismissed!”

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Cor. 5:21

In 1 John 2:2 we are told that this Righteous One is righteous because of His work for us, He is the propitiation for our sins. Thus, when the Father withholds condemnation, He is just. Christ’s advocacy is presented under the picture of His entrance into the heavenly sanctuary in Heb. 9:24.

It is obvious that while God will exercise parental discipline (Heb. 12:3-15), His child will never be condemned because our Advocate has satisfied the claims of justice.
And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Not only does the eternal security of the believer depend upon God the Father and God the Son, but it also…

Depends upon God the Holy Spirit
The ministry of the Holy Spirit toward the believer in Christ is also devoted to keeping him saved forever. Three specific works of the Holy Spirit are related to the issue of eternal security. Our eternal security depends, first of all…

Upon His Ministry of Regeneration
The ministry of the Holy Spirit in regeneration results in the birth of a new man and the gift of eternal life. Both of these effects imply irreversible change and a permanent new condition.

Spiritual birth.
When Jesus told Nicodemus, “you must be born again,” He taught that there are certain similarities between physical and spiritual birth. In each a new thing is created:
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Titus 3:5
When this happens, a new thing is produced, the new creation:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5:17

This new creation is His workmanship and unites us with the Divine nature itself:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them. Eph. 2:10

Can a man be unborn? Of course he can die, but this in no way reverses the fact of his son-ship and birth, or the love of his parents. Both physical and spiritual birth are onetime events with permanent consequences. Even physical death does not reverse either one. Our conscience existence never ends, and one day all will be raised from the dead (John 5:28-29).
The son of the human parent may rebel and disobey, but he is still of the nature of his parent. That never changes. God similarly has created a new man; He gave birth to all true believers. Even if we rebel and God disinherits us, as an earthly father can, but we will never cease to be His Sons.

There is nothing that can be done to reverse regeneration. Even if we decided we did not want to be God’s children any longer, it would do no good. It was God’s decision and not ours. Spiritual and physical birth cannot be reversed. Is it not obvious that one cannot give his physical birth back to his human parent? Neither can he give his spiritual birth back to his divine parent. If that were possible, then the gospel promise would be contradicted, and a person who had believed in God’s Son would perish and would not have everlasting life after all (John 3:16).

Eternal Life.
Not only are we born into His family, but through regeneration we receive the gift of eternal life. Eternal life implies endless existence. Robert Shank in his work, Life in the Son: A Study of the Doctrine of Perseverance, insists however, that eternal life can only be shared by men. Not permanently possessed by them (pg. 52). However, if a man has eternal existence, he will live endlessly. Eternal life is owner permanently the moment it is given. It is a characteristic of the new creation. To be given the gift of eternal life, according to Shank, is to be given the gift of living until you die and no longer live forever. This is absurdity. Jesus himself argued that eternal life was first of all the promise that a believer will rise from the dead after he physically dies John 11:25-26). But He also says that a Christian has eternal life right now and this means he cannot cease to live. Over and over again the Savior stresses the permanent nature of the gift of eternal life. He told the woman at the well that, after drinking the water He would give, she would “never thirst” (John 4:14). He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Eternal life is permanent. “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). The Christian will “certainly not be cast out.” Second, our eternal life depends…

Upon His Baptizing Ministry
In 1 Cor. 12:13 Paul tells us:
”For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”NASB

Through the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit we are brought into organic union with Christ. Paul develops this further in Rom. 6:
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” Rom. 6:3 NASB

In this famous passage on sanctification Paul explains that Christ’s history has become ours. His death to (our) sin has become ours. But there are permanent effects of this union:
Now if we have died with Christ we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Rom. 6:8-10 NASB

Because of the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit, uniting us to Christ, what is true of Him has become true of the believer. One thing that is true of Him is that He died to sin “once and for all” and that He will “never die again.” Paul specifically tells us that this is true of us as well:

”Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 6:11 NASB

But, finally, our eternal security depends…

Upon His Sealing Ministry
There are three references to the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit:
Who also sealed (sphragizo) us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge (arrabon). 2 Cor. 1:211-22 NASB

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, (note the Parable of the Sower) you were sealed (sphragizo) in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge (arrabon) of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, (His children) to the praise of His glory. Eph. 1:13-14

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed (sphragizo) for the day of redemption. Eph. 4:30

Two things stand out in these verses: (1) the Holy Spirit has sealed us, and (2) the Holy Spirit is the pledge.

The ancient practice of using seals is behind the figurative use of the word here. A seal is a mark of protection and ownership. The Greek word sphragizo is used of a stone being fastened with a seal to prevent its being moved from a position. In fact this was apparently the earliest method of distinguishing one’s property. The seal was engraved with a design or mark distinctive to the owner. The seal of ownership or protection was often made in soft wax with a signet ring. An impression was left on the wax signifying the owner of the thing sealed. When the Holy Spirit seals us, He presses the signet ring of our heavenly Father on our hearts of wax and leaves the permanent mark of ownership. We belong to Him (1 Cor. 6:20).

In Eph. 1:13-14 we are told that the Holy Spirit Himself is the seal. He is impressed upon us, so to speak. The Holy Spirit cannot be broken. In Eph. 4:30 we are told that we are sealed unto the day of redemption. This sealing ministry of the Spirit is forever and guarantees that we will arrive safely for the redemption of our bodies and entrance into heaven (Rom. 8:23).
We are forever protected from wrath (Rom. 5:9). We cannot lose our salvation anymore than we can break the seal. We would have to have greater power to lose salvation than the Holy Spirit has to keep us saved. About all Arminian Robert Shank can do is to weakly object, “But the Holy Spirit can do nothing for those who refuse His ministry” (pg 186). But He certainly can! That is precisely what these verses are saying. Shank lists various experiential ministries which the believer can refuse to accept as proof, such as filling (Eph. 5:18) and points out that we can grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30).

But, those ministries are experiential ministries; sealing and pledging are not. Nowhere are believers asked to allow the Spirit to seal them or to become their pledge. These are things which happen to all believers at the point in time they believed, “having also believed, you were also sealed.” Eph. 1:13

Along with our seal, the Holy Spirit is our pledge. The word refers to a first installment, down payment, deposit, pledge which obligates the contracting party to make further payments unto full purchase. It is a legal concept from the language of business and trade:

1. An installment, with which a man secures a legal claim upon a thing as yet unpaid for.
2. An earnest, an advance payment, by which a contract becomes valid in law.
3. A pledge in one passage (Gen. 38:17)
Similarly, in Rom. 8:23 Paul speaks of the “first fruits” of the Spirit, a down payment to be followed by more. We wait for the redemption of our bodies. We are sealed unto that day.

God, so to speak, has legally bound Himself to our eternal security. The choice of the legal term arrabon (“earnest”) implies that God has legally and morally obligated Himself to bring His children to heaven. A down payment was a statement of one’s honor, one’s word. If one person who was born again in Christ ever fails to enter into heaven when he dies, then God has broken His pledge. No human conditions are mentioned.

Conclusion. If our eternal security depends upon anything in us, it is certain that it is not secure. However, the Scriptures that our final entrance into heaven is guaranteed by the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Since it depends upon an infinite Person, who is faithful and true, it is inconceivable that the salvation of any child of God could ever be lost.

 

From: ”The Reign of the Servant Kings” by Dr. Joseph C. Dillow Th.D

The Golden Chain.
Rom. 8:28-30 describes an unbreakable chain consisting of five links:
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined, and these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Note the terms, “whom” and “these also.” They link, as in a chain, the history of the same group which was foreknown, will also ultimately be glorified.

Foreknowledge
Predestination
Calling
Justification
Glorification

The two verse chain with its five-fold unbreakable links, “those…he also,” is a clear statement of the eternal security of the saints. Can a saved person lose his salvation? Only if it depends upon him. A belief in conditional security necessarily leads to consideration of what sin or sins are necessary to forfeit salvation. If we entertain even the remotest possibility that there is something we can do or not do which can nullify the value of the blood of Christ, we will focus our attention on our obedience, and not Christ’s blood. This is the way human nature works. (Prov. 14:12). If 99% of saved people cannot be lost, but 1% can, we have no sense of security ever. (Eph. 6:17a). We would be no different than anyone else (1 Cor. 10:13).

From Genesis to Revelation salvation is presented as a work of God. God the Father purposes, calls, justifies, and glorifies those who believe on Christ. God the Son became incarnate that He might be a Kinsman Redeemer and die a substitutionary death. He rose as a living Savior, both as Advocate and Intercessor, and as Head over all things in the church. God the Holy Spirit administers and executes the purpose of the Father and the redemption which the Son has wrought. Therefore, all three persons of the Godhead have their share in preserving to fruition that which God has determined.

Salvation depends upon God. Since it depends upon Him and not upon us, it cannot be lost. First of all, our eternal security …
Depends upon God the Father. From eternity past God’s firm purpose has been established (Eph. 1:3-5). It is therefore clear that our eternal security depends, first of all…

Upon His Sovereign Purpose
Predestined to glory. God’s eternal purpose cannot be defeated in the realization of all He intends, and bringing His redeemed to glory is a major aspect of His divine purpose.

” In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in
Christ.”
“When anyone is born again of the Holy Spirit and justified in Christ, it is because God has formed, from eternity, the unchangeable purpose of that soul. The work of grace in it is the mere carrying out of that unchangeable purpose. As the plan is unchangeab;e, so must be its execution.” Robert Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology 1878.
We have an anchor within the veil. The writer of Hebrews makes this point in Heb. 6:17-20:
” Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

God wanted to show the unchangeable nature of His eternal purpose to give us an anchor within the veil and confirmed it with an oath. Now if He purposed before the foundation of the world to save His elect, His elect will be saved.
His solemn purpose. Now all that He has purposed, He unconditionally promises to His elect (John 6:40). Our salvation depends upon His promise (Rom. 4:16). Our eternal security depends not only upon His sovereign purpose, but also…

Upon His Infinite Power.
He is free to save us. If we can lose salvation, then we must conclude that there is some sin which is sufficiently serious to cause us to forfeit it. Perhaps adultery, drunkenness, etc. This assumes that we were less worthy of salvation after having committed this sin than before, and it reduced salvation down to human ability to merit it. Our eternal security does not depend upon our moral worthiness. If it did, none of us would be saved (Eph. 2:1-5; Rom. 5:8).

We all have imperfections. If salvation can be lost because of a high degree of imperfection, then we have to draw arbitrary lines of distinction between sins which are able to damn and those which are not. Who therefore is worthy? Not Paul, you, or this writer.
He has purposed to keep us saved. In no uncertain terms our Lord declares:

“ 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.
And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:39-40
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
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 10:27-29
The phrase “shall never” is a double negative in the Greek. It is very emphatic.
Those who will not believe are not His sheep (vs. 26). However, the sheep of Christ’s are His past, present, and future sheep, and they shall all be glorified with Christ in heaven. John 17:19-24. (Unless of course you take the stand that the Father didn’t answer His prayer in John 17.)

Upon His “Much More” Love.
The preservation of the saved flows from the free and unchangeable love of the Father. It was God’s love, not the Christian’s worthiness, which was the reason for His salvation in the first place. The Scripture make it plain that God saved no man because he observed some good, attractive, or meriting attribute in an individual sinner. Rather He saved us for reasons independent of us and outside us. He was motivated by His electing love, and not by observation of good in the sinner.

” And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth)
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Rom. 9:10-16.

Now, since the cause of the sinner’s salvation had nothing to do with any imagined merit or goodness in the sinner, neither does the preservation of the saints. Since God was not motivated to impart saving grace based on foreseen good works, the subsequent absence of those works should be no motive for Him to withdraw His saving grace. Eternal security is grounded in the Father’s faithfulness; it does not depend upon us. Rather it depends…

Upon His Answer to the Prayer of His Son
The saved are called many things in Scripture: saints, believers, sheep, Christians, partakers of the heavenly calling, etc. But the title most dear to the heart of Christ is repeated seven times in His high priestly prayer in John 17 “those whom You have given Me” (John 17:2,6,9,11-12,20,34). This phrase, according to John 17:20, includes all who would believe in Him through the ages. Even if the Father had no personal interest in keeping them saved, which He does, He must respond to the prayer of the Son, whose prayers are always answered (John 11:42). Jesus prays that we will be kept from hell (John 17:15) and that we will be with Him in heaven (John 17:20,24). Will not the prayers of the Son of God be answered?

The keeping is from perishing. Christ kept the chosen from perishing while He was on the earth, and now He asks the Father to keep us. Judas was not kept because he was never one whom the Father had given Him; he was to be the son of perdition (John 6:64).

It is thus the prayer of the Son of God to the Father that becomes one of the major factors in the believer’s security. To deny the safekeeping of the believer is to imply that the prayer of the Son of God will not be answered.

Not only has God the Father committed Himself by oath to guarantee the eternal security of His elect, but God the Son, through His active and passive obedience has made our final arrival into heaven certain. Our eternal security does not depend on us, but it…

Depends upon God the Son
The apostle Paul specifically raises the question of eternal security in his magnificent conclusion to Rom. 8:
What, then, shall we say in response to this? (8:31)

Paul has just finished presenting the “golden chain” (8:29-30). These five unbreakable links guarantee the believer’s eternal destiny. What shall we say in response to this “golden chain,” he now asks?

If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies (Rom. 8:31-33).

Paul’s argument is that, if God has already justified the man who believes in Jesus (Rom. 3:26; 5:9; 8:30), how can He or anyone else lay anything to the charge of His justified one? This justification comes from the imputed righteousness of Christ and is legally ours. It is not a subject of merit, and its loss cannot be a subject of demerit. Like a human father, God can and does correct His earthly children, but they always remain His children. The truth is that God, who justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5), will not and cannot contradict Himself by charging them with evil. To do so amounts to reversing their justification. Christ either died for our sins and has paid the penalty or He has not. The Arminian cannot have it both ways. God is the only one ultimately who could bring a charge against His elect, and as Paul says, God had already rendered His verdict…justified.
In his answer to the second question, Who is the one that condemns? Paul gives four answers. Each of the answers affirms the absolute security of the believer as unconditionally safe forever:

1. Christ died
2. He is risen
3. He advocates
4. He intercedes

Because of these four ministries of Christ, “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God” (8:39), that is to cause us to forfeit our justification. Our eternal security also depends …

Upon His Substitutionary Death
Paul’s first answer is “Christ has died!” Who can condemn us, he says, if the penalty for our sins has already been paid? The greatest proof of eternal security is justification by faith. Justification refers to how God sees us, not the way we ourselves or others see us. Justification is “exterior” to us. It lies utterly outside us. The interior change is due to regeneration. Justification is forensic; it is entirely a legal matter. This is how God will judge us. We have been declared righteous. It was on the basis of Christ’s death for sin that we were saved in the first place, and is now on that basis that no one can condemn us.
In Col. 2:14 Paul refers to the accumulation of sin as a “certificate of debt.”

He forgave us all our sin, having cancelled the certificate of debt, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. NASB

In the ancient world when a prisoner was incarcerated, a “certificate of dept” was nailed to the door of his cell. On the crime he had committed and the duration and nature of the punishment was written. When the weary prisoner had paid his debt, the prison guard came to his cell, tore down the certificate of debt, and wrote a Greek word across it, tetelestai, which means, paid in full. Then the cell door was opened and the man was free.

Recall our Lord’s last words from the cross. Just before He died He looked to heaven and screamed to the Father, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word is tetelestai, “It is pain in full.”

Either Christ’s death for sin actually paid the penalty or it did not. If it did, then the believer cannot be condemned for the very sins for which Christ died. All sins which we would ever commit were future to the death of Christ. If our sins are a ground of judgment against the believer, then Christ’s death was not propitious. If it was propitious, then our sin is no longer a ground of condemnation. (John 3:18). It is either one or the other.
However, when Christ paid the certificate of debt, it was not just for sins prior to our imprisonment, but for all sin. In contrast to the temporary atonement we might make for our own sin by imprisonment or that an OT priest might make by offering sacrifices, Christ made an eternal redemption.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb. 9:12
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; Heb. 10:12
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Heb. 10:14

When Christ our Priest finished His sacrificial work, it is declared that He “sat down.” The notion of a seated priest was foreign to the Jewish economy. In fact, there were no chairs in the tabernacle because a priest’s work is never done. But here is a Priest who has finisher his work. He sat down! There is nothing more to do as far as paying the penalty for sin.
Christ guaranteed our eternal security not only by means of His substitutionary death, but also by means of…

His Substitutionary Life
Paul does not bring in this aspect of Christ’s substitutionary work in Rom. 8:31-34, but it is the subject of a large body of Scripture. Christ was our substitute by His death, His so-called passive obedience, but He was also our substitute by His life, His so-called active obedience. We can and could do neither (Mt. 5:48; 19:26). But by His righteousness life Christ obeyed for us (forensicly speaking concerning justification).

There is a material cause and an instrumental cause of our salvation. The material cause is the active and passive obedience of Christ. The instrumental cause is our faith in Him. We are justified by His blood and saved by His life (Rom. 5:9-10). The righteousness which the Law required is imputed to us when we believe.

This is necessary because to merely atone for past sin would not be a complete salvation. It would save a man from hell but not make him fit for heaven. He would be delivered from the law’s punishment to a point, but not entitled to the law’s reward. The law required perfect obedience. The mediator then must both pay the law’s penalty, as well as obey the law in the man’s stead if he is to do for man everything that the law requires:

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Rom. 10:4

Christ died for us, but He also lives to intercede for us. Paul emphasizes this in Rom. 8:34 when he mentions that Christ is seated in heaven. Because of His work of intercession, our eternal security depends…

Upon His Present Session
Paul also bases our eternal security on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God. He is our Advocate (1 John 2:1) and Intercessor. This is sometimes called the present priestly ministry of Christ, or His present session.

Arminians have feared that this doctrine will tend to sin. John says in 1 John that there is a motivation in this doctrine not to sin. The heavenly courtroom is opened. Satan the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10), brings the sinning Christian before the tribunal. In his role as prosecuting attorney he presents his case. His accusations are correct. God is just. But Jesus points out that He has already paid he penalty for the sin. “Case dismissed!”

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Cor. 5:21

In 1 John 2:2 we are told that this Righteous One is righteous because of His work for us, He is the propitiation for our sins. Thus, when the Father withholds condemnation, He is just. Christ’s advocacy is presented under the picture of His entrance into the heavenly sanctuary in Heb. 9:24.

It is obvious that while God will exercise parental discipline (Heb. 12:3-15), His child will never be condemned because our Advocate has satisfied the claims of justice.

And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Not only does the eternal security of the believer depend upon God the Father and God the Son, but it also…

Depends upon God the Holy Spirit
The ministry of the Holy Spirit toward the believer in Christ is also devoted to keeping him saved forever. Three specific works of the Holy Spirit are related to the issue of eternal security. Our eternal security depends, first of all…

Upon His Ministry of Regeneration
The ministry of the Holy Spirit in regeneration results in the birth of a new man and the gift of eternal life. Both of these effects imply irreversible change and a permanent new condition.

Spiritual birth.
When Jesus told Nicodemus, “you must be born again,” He taught that there are certain similarities between physical and spiritual birth. In each a new thing is created:
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Titus 3:5
When this happens, a new thing is produced, the new creation:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5:17

This new creation is His workmanship and unites us with the Divine nature itself:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them. Eph. 2:10

Can a man be unborn? Of course he can die, but this in no way reverses the fact of his son-ship and birth, or the love of his parents. Both physical and spiritual birth are onetime events with permanent consequences. Even physical death does not reverse either one. Our conscience existence never ends, and one day all will be raised from the dead (John 5:28-29).

The son of the human parent may rebel and disobey, but he is still of the nature of his parent. That never changes. God similarly has created a new man; He gave birth to all true believers. Even if we rebel and God disinherits us, as an earthly father can, but we will never cease to be His Sons.

There is nothing that can be done to reverse regeneration. Even if we decided we did not want to be God’s children any longer, it would do no good. It was God’s decision and not ours. Spiritual and physical birth cannot be reversed. Is it not obvious that one cannot give his physical birth back to his human parent? Neither can he give his spiritual birth back to his divine parent. If that were possible, then the gospel promise would be contradicted, and a person who had believed in God’s Son would perish and would not have everlasting life after all (John 3:16).

Eternal Life.
Not only are we born into His family, but through regeneration we receive the gift of eternal life. Eternal life implies endless existence. Robert Shank in his work, Life in the Son: A Study of the Doctrine of Perseverance, insists however, that eternal life can only be shared by men. Not permanently possessed by them (pg. 52). However, if a man has eternal existence, he will live endlessly. Eternal life is owner permanently the moment it is given. It is a characteristic of the new creation. To be given the gift of eternal life, according to Shank, is to be given the gift of living until you die and no longer live forever. This is absurdity. Jesus himself argued that eternal life was first of all the promise that a believer will rise from the dead after he physically dies John 11:25-26). But He also says that a Christian has eternal life right now and this means he cannot cease to live. Over and over again the Savior stresses the permanent nature of the gift of eternal life. He told the woman at the well that, after drinking the water He would give, she would “never thirst” (John 4:14). He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Eternal life is permanent. “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). The Christian will “certainly not be cast out.” Second, our eternal life depends…

Upon His Baptizing Ministry
In 1 Cor. 12:13 Paul tells us:
”For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”NASB

Through the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit we are brought into organic union with Christ. Paul develops this further in Rom. 6:
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” Rom. 6:3 NASB

In this famous passage on sanctification Paul explains that Christ’s history has become ours. His death to (our) sin has become ours. But there are permanent effects of this union:
Now if we have died with Christ we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Rom. 6:8-10 NASB

Because of the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit, uniting us to Christ, what is true of Him has become true of the believer. One thing that is true of Him is that He died to sin “once and for all” and that He will “never die again.” Paul specifically tells us that this is true of us as well:

”Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 6:11 NASB
But, finally, our eternal security depends…

Upon His Sealing Ministry
There are three references to the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit:
Who also sealed (sphragizo) us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge (arrabon). 2 Cor. 1:211-22 NASB

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, (note the Parable of the Sower) you were sealed (sphragizo) in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge (arrabon) of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, (His children) to the praise of His glory. Eph. 1:13-14
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed (sphragizo) for the day of redemption. Eph. 4:30
Two things stand out in these verses: (1) the Holy Spirit has sealed us, and (2) the Holy Spirit is the pledge.

The ancient practice of using seals is behind the figurative use of the word here. A seal is a mark of protection and ownership. The Greek word sphragizo is used of a stone being fastened with a seal to prevent its being moved from a position. In fact this was apparently the earliest method of distinguishing one’s property. The seal was engraved with a design or mark distinctive to the owner. The seal of ownership or protection was often made in soft wax with a signet ring. An impression was left on the wax signifying the owner of the thing sealed. When the Holy Spirit seals us, He presses the signet ring of our heavenly Father on our hearts of wax and leaves the permanent mark of ownership. We belong to Him (1 Cor. 6:20).

In Eph. 1:13-14 we are told that the Holy Spirit Himself is the seal. He is impressed upon us, so to speak. The Holy Spirit cannot be broken. In Eph. 4:30 we are told that we are sealed unto the day of redemption. This sealing ministry of the Spirit is forever and guarantees that we will arrive safely for the redemption of our bodies and entrance into heaven (Rom. 8:23).
We are forever protected from wrath (Rom. 5:9). We cannot lose our salvation anymore than we can break the seal. We would have to have greater power to lose salvation than the Holy Spirit has to keep us saved. About all Arminian Robert Shank can do is to weakly object, “But the Holy Spirit can do nothing for those who refuse His ministry” (pg 186). But He certainly can! That is precisely what these verses are saying. Shank lists various experiential ministries which the believer can refuse to accept as proof, such as filling (Eph. 5:18) and points out that we can grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30). But, those ministries are experiential ministries; sealing and pledging are not. Nowhere are believers asked to allow the Spirit to seal them or to become their pledge. These are things which happen to all believers at the point in time they believed, “having also believed, you were also sealed.” Eph. 1:13

Along with our seal, the Holy Spirit is our pledge. The word refers to a first installment, down payment, deposit, pledge which obligates the contracting party to make further payments unto full purchase. It is a legal concept from the language of business and trade:

1. An installment, with which a man secures a legal claim upon a thing as yet unpaid for.
2. An earnest, an advance payment, by which a contract becomes valid in law.
3. A pledge in one passage (Gen. 38:17)

Similarly, in Rom. 8:23 Paul speaks of the “first fruits” of the Spirit, a down payment to be followed by more. We wait for the redemption of our bodies. We are sealed unto that day.

God, so to speak, has legally bound Himself to our eternal security. The choice of the legal term arrabon (“earnest”) implies that God has legally and morally obligated Himself to bring His children to heaven. A down payment was a statement of one’s honor, one’s word. If one person who was born again in Christ ever fails to enter into heaven when he dies, then God has broken His pledge. No human conditions are mentioned.

Conclusion. If our eternal security depends upon anything in us, it is certain that it is not secure. However, the Scriptures that our final entrance into heaven is guaranteed by the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Since it depends upon an infinite Person, who is faithful and true, it is inconceivable that the salvation of any child of God could ever be lost.

 

This is true, but I thought you might go into more details. Like recieving the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ.

Paul tells us to examine ourselves...

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor 13:5)

Do you know if Jesus Christ is in you?

God Bless!

 

First of all please forgive me for not getting back in a timely fashion.

Oh, it's not?

Isn't the whole point of John 15 that true believers WILL bear fruit?

You need to re-check your theology, brother. You have gone away from the teaching of Scripture.
Outward fruit is most definitely the evidence of a changed life. </font>[/QUOTE]Here is my clarification:
First of all what evidence is there that your child is yours besides the name he/she has? There is nothing that would indicate that your child is yours besides a) their profession and b) your confirmation. If you are a hard-worker, that does not mean that your child will automatically be. If you live godly that does not mean that your child will automatically be. We often feel like we need to "protect God's honor," when we have not been told that is necessary on our part. Jesus said clearly in John 3, the wind blows and no man know where it came or where it is going. This is in reference to being "born again." Even in the term "born again" this suggests that there has been some prior birth to be compared to. The only prior birth that has been experienced before being "born again" is natural child birth. Hence I refer back to my question, what outward manifestation is there that your child is yours? The answer, nothing.

With regard to John 15, Jesus is saying that as believers if we intend on bearing fruit, which is not an option for the believer, then we must abide in him. Notice he says:
John 15:5 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.
Jesus is not say he that is born again will bear much fruit but rather he that abideth in me. Not every believer will abide in him as referenced in the verse. If every believer would abide there would be no need to say "he that abideth," for every believer does.

There are lots of warnings for the believer that does not bear fruit. Christ is not holding their salvation ransome if they do not bring them forth. Neither should we in our theology.

What say ye?
-DeaconLew

 

Well I say Amen!

God Bless!

 

Yes, I am in him and he is in me.

Sort of like how my wife and I are "one flesh" - yet can still break the covenant and get divorced.

 

Yes and no. While OT and NT saints are saved by faith, OT saints looked forward to the time of Christ when he would pay for their sins once for all.

NT saints are saved by faith also, but we look back to the time when Christ paid for our sins before we even committed them. OT saints that were living during the time of Christ had to be converted by believing that his blood washed away their sins. Once Christ died and rose again, OT saints were lost until they converted.

There's not a lot of difference between OT and NT salvation, but there is a difference. </font>[/QUOTE]No problem. I can’t tell who is addressing whom half of the time, so I use the quote as of yours above. I hope you won’t mind, but I’ll give you my take on OT and NT salvation.

Those of the Old Testament were conditionally saved, and we are unconditionally saved, which you may have seen before. We being Once Saved Always Saved are immediately “born again”, and have already been placed into the Body of Christ. Those of the Old Testament had to endure until the end. It was impossible for them be saved as we, for Jesus had not yet shed His blood, and they did not know His name; also, the Jew is saved by faith, and the Gentile through faith. Christian faith, ituttut Galatians 1:11-12.

 

How do you justify comparing man's laws with God's laws?

God declared "till death do ye part".

Jesus declared that divorce was not God's way.

Jesus said "Moses" allowed it. Jesus said divorce should not be and only one exception, fornication.

Are you suggesting that fornication and believing are in some way synonymous? Because fornication is the only time God will recognize a divorce. It matters not what man declares. You may legally (man's law) divorce your wife for many reasons but God does not go by man's laws and will still recognize the marriage till death do ye part.

Unless losing salvation is more than not believing for you. Is it sinning, lack of works, lack of faithfulness. How much faith does it take? Jesus said if you have faith as little as a mustard seed you could move mountains. Move any mountains lately?

Just want to clarify your position. Just what all would cause one to lose salvation?

God Bless!

 

Oh, it's not?

Isn't the whole point of John 15 that true believers WILL bear fruit?

You need to re-check your theology, brother. You have gone away from the teaching of Scripture.
Outward fruit is most definitely the evidence of a changed life. </font>[/QUOTE]Here is my clarification:
First of all what evidence is there that your child is yours besides the name he/she has? There is nothing that would indicate that your child is yours besides a) their profession and b) your confirmation. If you are a hard-worker, that does not mean that your child will automatically be. If you live godly that does not mean that your child will automatically be. We often feel like we need to "protect God's honor," when we have not been told that is necessary on our part. Jesus said clearly in John 3, the wind blows and no man know where it came or where it is going. This is in reference to being "born again." Even in the term "born again" this suggests that there has been some prior birth to be compared to. The only prior birth that has been experienced before being "born again" is natural child birth. Hence I refer back to my question, what outward manifestation is there that your child is yours? The answer, nothing.

With regard to John 15, Jesus is saying that as believers if we intend on bearing fruit, which is not an option for the believer, then we must abide in him. Notice he says:
John 15:5 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.
Jesus is not say he that is born again will bear much fruit but rather he that abideth in me. Not every believer will abide in him as referenced in the verse. If every believer would abide there would be no need to say "he that abideth," for every believer does.

There are lots of warnings for the believer that does not bear fruit. Christ is not holding their salvation ransome if they do not bring them forth. Neither should we in our theology.

What say ye?
-DeaconLew </font>[/QUOTE]If you don't abide in Christ you are not a Christian. Christianity means maintaining a close relationship with Jesus Christ just as the verse you quoted says.

A generally accepted view of the gospel today claims that it is easy to be saved and that many will go to heaven. But Jesus says that “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14; c.f. Luke 14:31-33). And the road which the vast majority takes leads to hell, not to heaven.

It is widely believed that salvation is entirely accomplished or absolutely guaranteed at the beginning of Christian life at conversion. But the Bible clearly teaches that salvation is a process, “the way which leads to life”, not a single event.

In Phil. 12-13 Paul says:

.......work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Phl 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.

Why would we have to "work out" our salvation if it was already accomplished at one point in the distant past? Beyond that why would we have to do that with "fear and trembling?"

What about this passage from 1 John?

1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1Jo 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

There is no such thing as a "carnal Christian" and a backslider is clearly in danger of hell fire.

 

StraightandNarrow is correct. Salvation is a process throughout our lifetime. Often, Christians use 1 Cor. 15:3-4 say the gospel means good news of Christ's death, buried, and resurrection. Yes that is correct. But many Christians do not think of verse 2 says, "By which also ye are saved, IF ye KEEP in memory what I preached unto, unless ye have believed in vain." Paul says, anyone of you are saved, IF you KEEP the commandments what Paul preached, also God's Word, or we believed in Christ, while do not keep the commandement of God, then our believed is vain.

Hebrews 3:6 says, "But Christ as a son over his own houses; whose house are we, IF we HOLD FAST the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope FIRM unto the end."

Author tells us, we are God's child, IF we hold God's Word, and hold of our hope of eternal life, and to be endure all the way till our death(same with Matt. 10:22; & Matt 24:13). OR... what IF we do not endure by the halfway in the road, as we turn away off the road, into wrong way, then we shall not be saved - Matt. 7:13-14; Luke 13:24.

Heb. 3:14 tells the same as verse 6: "For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we HOLD the beginning of our confidence STEADFAST unto the end."

Our salvation is a process throughour our life till death or Christ comes.

Most people who were saved at the beginning on the right road, did obey the Lord, then somehow, they turn away, stopping serve the Lord, get off the road, and walk in their own ways, get on the wide road, it leads their life unto destruction. FEW of them who are saved at the beginning are stay faithful all the way, stay on the same narrow road all the way till death, have their overcometh for victory have eternal life - Matt. 7:14.

Entering narrow road of our lifetime is not easy. We are already in spiritual warfare. Most of us easy give up and turn away. That why most are end up in destruction - everlasting fire.

Throughout in the Bible commands us, that we must be faithful and to be endure throughout our life till death or Christ comes. If you desire to have eternal life, then better obey what the Lord says, and if you love the Lord, keep his commandment - John 14:15.

2 Thess. 1:8 tells us many people shall be cast away into everlasting fire in the presence of Christ and his angels, because of NOT OBEY the gospel. I fear that many baptists do not obey Christ's commandments. Many baptists are already turn away, please in the world than God. Do not be surprise, many baptists are end up in hell, because of their disobedience.

Most baptist churches in America teaching security salvation or "once saved always saved". It is very popular doctrine. The reason is to make them feel comfort and they have their itching ears, rather to hear "good news", and teaching of security salvation make them feel good. Worry nothing about their salvation. They are continue sinning daily while they still think they already saved.

I used to believe in security salvation for a long, long time. Till 1 1/2 years ago, I left security salvation camp. I rather follow the Bible than what men saying of their philosophy(Col. 2:8).

Dr. Tim, and Deafmidweeker, please do not telling any deaf or deaf pastors what I really believe. Please respect me what I believe. Let me talk with deaf pastors private. Thanks.

In Christ
Rev. 22:20 -Amen!