In church circles, you will frequently here this question – can you lose your salvation? This is a crucial question and one that needs a sober and biblical response. It would be fair to say that forming a strict doctrinal position on this is a little unwise – the traditional ‘once saved, always saved’ (OSAS) position needs to be answered in context. OSAS is a very attractive doctrine – however, how does it account for people who genuinely made professions of faith in Christ Jesus and then later in life consciously and methodically renounced their faith and in some cases requested the Holy Spirit to leave them – would the Holy Spirit forcibly stay in the life of someone who ordered Him out? An element of free will is involved in the profession of faith – surely, we don’t surrender our free will at that point and are prevented from reversing that decision. We will all know people who made a ‘decision’ for Christ at some point in their lives, and there is then no evidence whatsoever of a genuine saving faith. The Bible is absolutely crystal clear in reassuring believers that no one can snatch their salvation away from them. However, this is very different from a person who becomes saved and then at some point in the future consciously and abandons their faith in Christ. We would suggest that it is true to say that while God does indeed preserve us in our faith, it is also true to say that believers can intentionally and willingly abandon their faith in Christ if they choose to. Wherever we stand on this issue, either view can lead to other dangerous positions we need to be careful to avoid. The OSAS position can obviously lead to a passive licentious approach to one’s faith which is clearly a bad thing and may lead to a false sense of security if wrong. Equally, if you believe salvation can be lost, it is possible to fall into the trap of a legalistic ‘works-based’ gospel. It is better to hold this issue in the same tension it is presented within Scripture. For those who hold that it is impossible to lose salvation, they will need to deal with passages such as Revelation 3:3-5 which are addressed to the church from the lips of Jesus:
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. [Revelation 3:3-5 NIV]
The section above is a warning to the church is Sardis and it is inescapable that not having their name blotted out of the book of life is conditional on being victorious. In fact, many of the letters in Revelation 2 and 3 contains a promise that is conditional on endurance:
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. [Revelation 3:21 NIV]
Although this is speaking about a particular time, this section of the Olivet discourse clearly implies that Jesus is saying that believers can walk away:
Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. [Matthew 24:9-13 NIV]
Being saved is linked to standing firm to the end. Timothy was warned by Paul about this:
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. [1 Timothy 4:1 NIV]
In the second letter to Timothy, the same warning is made:
if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; [2 Timothy 2:12 NIV]
Here is another passage that present a conditional promise:
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. [Hebrews 3:12-14 NIV]
The use of typology may assist in understanding this. Our sinlessness or righteousness is imputed to us for salvation like a garment:
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. [Isaiah 61:10 NIV]
The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” [Zechariah 3:4 NIV]
In a parable about the wedding banquet, Jesus points out a man who was not wearing the wedding garment that would have been provided for him – this is symbolic of the garment of salvation that we have to wear:
But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. [Matthew 22:11 NIV]
The man was removed – he was not clothed properly. We can only be saved if we are clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Satan cannot remove this from us. God will not remove this from us. However, it is possible for us to remove it from ourselves if we choose to. For believers, this means dearly holding on to our faith and the promises of God and walking with Jesus Christ in a living, dynamic relationship that demonstrates the fruits of salvation.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation–if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. (Colossians 1:21-23 NIV)