I’ve recently been in a discussion with someone who tossed a gazillion verses at me to prove we are not eternally secure in our salvation. That, in essence, once saved always saved is not true. Well, we can argue “proof verses” all day long, but really, I don’t think this gets us anyplace. What we need to do, instead, is to follow the bouncing logic. There are at least two things I think everyone who is a Christian can agree on.
- All sin, of whatever form, is effectively a form of walking away from God.
- Everyone sins, both before and after salvation.
We know these things from the Scriptures. There is no doubt about either one. We don’t need proof verses for them, for they are steeped into every word in every thought in every book in the whole. So, for anyone who believes you can walk away from God, and hence lose your salvation, the problem becomes: Why doesn’t everyone lose their salvation? After all, we all sin, and therefore we all walk away from God. There are a couple of logical responses to this line of reasoning.
First, you could argue that not all sin is a form of walking away from God. Okay—where is your list? Can you give me the list, from the Scriptures, of which sins are which? For certainly, if this is true, there must be a list. Somewhere God must have told us which sins constitute “walking away,” and which don’t. And once you’ve produced the list, then explain to me why those “sins” which are not “walking away from God,” are considered sins at all.
Second, you could argue that while all sins are walking away from God, Jesus didn’t pay for all sins on the Cross. That you can sin “this much,” but no more, because after “this much,” God stops paying. This is, in my opinion, one of the saddest beliefs about God you could encounter: To believe that God only pays for a specific “amount” of sin, and no more. God didn’t “forget” any of your sins on the Cross. God doesn’t measure out three seahs of mercy, and no more.
Third, you could argue that sin is certainly enough walking away from God, but the point is to repent so you walk back. That unless you repent, well, you aren’t saved in the end. Okay, do you remember every sin you’ve ever committed? Do you even know about every sin you’ve ever committed? No, I didn’t think so.
Fourth, you could throw out a bunch of proof verses and just ignore the logical problem underlying this belief. You can claim it’s a mystery, and you don’t understand, but you know what the plain words of the Scriptures say, so you’re going to believe them, no matter whether or not they make any sense. But just as God cannot make a square circle, nor a stone too large for He Himself to lift, God simply cannot make illogical things logical, or “bend” the rules of logic to make things which are clearly contradictory or self-refuting true in some way.
In the end, if you have truly placed your faith in Christ, you are saved. No, not if you’ve “invited Him into your heart,” or “prayed the sinner’s prayer,” or anything like that, but if you’ve sincerely and truly placed your faith in Him, then you are saved. Your inheritance—well that might be a different matter, but salvation is assured.
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