A BIBLICAL VIEW OF ETERNAL
SECURITY
A STUDY BY
GARY RAY BRANSCOME
While it is a great
comfort to know that the preservation of our faith is in God's hands,
and that He is fully able to keep us from falling. We should never
become so smug that we forget that we need His help. Instead, we need
to remember that our eternal security does not lie in the fact that we
cannot lose our salvation, but in the fact that we “are kept by the
power of God through faith” (1Peter 1:5). Keeping that fact in mind, we
need to acknowledge our dependence upon Him and entrust the
preservation of our faith to His care (Psalms 22:29, 2Timothy 1:12,
Luke 8:13).
GRACE
NOT WORKS
Just as we cannot
trust in Christ for salvation unless we are willing to admit that we
need to be saved, we cannot trust God to keep us from losing salvation
unless we are willing to admit that we need His help. Of course, the
carnal mind wants to do just the opposite. When people believe that
their salvation is in danger, their first reaction is to look to works,
not grace, to keep them saved. What they fail to realize is that there
is not a dime's worth of difference between trusting in works to get
salvation and trusting in works to keep salvation. In both cases those
who trust in works are trusting in themselves instead of trusting in
Christ. [Psalm 40:11, 1Corinthians 9:27, Hebrews 10:26, Galatians 5:4,
Luke 8:13, John 10:28-29, 1Peter 1:5.]
1
PETER 1:5
One precious
promise of God's sustaining grace is found in the words, “kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:5). Those words
assure us that having “purchased” us “with His own blood” Christ will
keep us by His “power.” However, the words “through faith” tell us that
we have access to His sustaining grace, through faith in His promise
(Galatians 3:22, Romans 5:2). Therefore, the power by which He keeps us
is the power of the gospel, for the gospel alone is “power of God unto
salvation” (Romans 1:16).
JOHN
10:28-29
Jesus said, “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 10:28-29). That promise is God's Word of comfort to all who
endure persecution for the faith. Through those words He assures us
that He will not let anyone take our faith from us. However, He only
promises us His help because He knows that we would not be able to
endure persecution, or keep from losing salvation, without it. Just as
we cannot save ourselves, we cannot keep ourselves saved.
Once we understand
that sustaining grace is a matter of relying on God to keep us from
falling, it becomes obvious that willful sin would offend the very one
whom we depend upon for support. For that reason, those who look to God
for help are not going to think that they can live in open rebellion
against God and still be saved. In contrast, those who think that they
do not need God’s help to stay saved, all too often fall into that
error.
GALATIANS
5:4
Because the words,
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law; ye are fallen from grace” are a warning of God’s law, they
are meant for the unrepentant, not for those who are contrite
(Galatians 5:4, see 1Timothy 1:9). Moreover, since those words are
specifically aimed at the self-righteous, it is ridiculous for anyone
to think that this passage is teaching that works keep us saved. With
the Galatians, works were the problem, not the solution. In fact, their
efforts to keep the law were a form of disobedience, for in their zeal
to believe that they were keeping the law they were refusing to
acknowledge their sin, and thus were not obeying the truth (Galatians
5:7).
The Apostle Paul
makes it clear that those at Galatia who were seeking righteousness by
the law had fallen from grace, and for that reason had to be born again
a second time (Galatians 4:19). God kept them from being damned by
restoring them to repentance through His Word, as given by the Apostle
Paul. Thus, He keeps us saved by keeping us repentant, not by letting
us sin.
HEBREWS
10:26
“If we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful looking for
of judgement and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries”
(Hebrews 10:26-27).
Like Galatians 5:4,
this passage is a warning of God's law not a promise of grace.
Moreover, as a warning of the law, it was given to condemn sin not to
tell us how to be saved. God intends for those who sin willfully to be
convicted when they read this passage, and to have no rest night or day
until they are sorry that they transgressed His law and humbly come to
Him for mercy. In short, Hebrews 10:26 was written to bring those who
sin willfully back to repentance, for true faith cannot exist without
repentance, and the unrepentant shall not inherit the kingdom of God
(1Corinthians 6:9-10).
Just as God brought
us to faith through His Word, He keeps us in faith through His Word
(Romans 10:17). And, just as He used His law to convict us of sin and
show us our need for forgiveness, He uses His law to continually remind
us of our sin and need of Christ’s sacrifice. Therefore, we should
never neglect the Word of God for it is the source of our spiritual
nourishment, and it is only as we stay close to the Word that we stay
strong in faith. [Psalm 40:11, Matthew 4:40, John 21:15-17, 1 Peter
2:2, Romans 1:16.]
CONCLUSION
The good news that
we are, “kept by the power of God” is an important part of the gospel.
It is a promise of God’s grace that we should never allow to be
perverted by those who claim that someone can live in open rebellion
against God and still be saved. In fact, that doctrine is blasphemous
because it makes God a party to sin. In contrast, God's Word condemns
those who strengthen “the hands of the wicked, that he should not
return from his wicked way, by promising him life [without repentance]”
(Ezekiel 13:22).