Can a Person “Fall Away” From Salvation?
November 20, 2008A person cannot “fall away” from the LOVE of Jesus Christ.
· Romans 8:38-39, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[Love leads to salvation]
[Love does not guarantee salvation]
[Love does guarantee the availability of salvation]
A person cannot “fall away” from the AVAILABILITY of Salvation.
· John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
[Salvation is available to whoever believes]
[God’s love is available, but not His salvation, to whoever does not believe]
However, the Bible warns against FALLING AWAY.
· Romans 11:22, Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
· Hebrews 2:1 & 3, We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away…, how shall we escape [punishment] if we ignore such a great salvation?
· Hebrews 4:1, Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
· Hebrews 6:4-6, It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace.
[If there is no possibility of falling away, why are we warned against it?]
[The falling away warning-passages were written to Christians (i.e. saved people)]
Likewise, the Bible insists that FAITH is the condition for being SAVED.
· Romans 5:1, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord Jesus Christ.
· Ephesians 2:8, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
[Salvation is conditioned upon one’s faith in Jesus Christ]
[Salvation is the gift of God’s grace while faith is our response to the gift]
[If one’s salvation is conditioned upon faith, then it stands to reason that his/her salvation will die if his/her faith dies]
Finally, the Bible gives EXAMPLES of people who “Fell Away.”
· The ancient Hebrew Nation did not remain in Jerusalem during their times of rebellion, but were removed from the blessings of God, from Zion, until they repented in faith and turned back to God for deliverance. They fell away.
· Judas Iscariot may have once been a believer in Jesus Christ. If so, then he fell away, died in his state of rebellion, receiving the “reward” for his wickedness (Acts 1:18). He fell away and did not return.
· Simon the Sorcerer, according to Acts 8:13, “believed and was baptized,” but later was condemned to “perish” (Acts 8:20) because he thought he could “buy the gift of God with money.” He fell away.
· In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus says, “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, he quickly falls away,” (Matthew 13:20-21).
Conclusions
· Reform Theology’s belief in the “Perseverance of the Saints” does not make sense of everything the Scripture says about “falling away.”
· Catholic Theology’s belief that one may step out of (and back into) salvation on a regular basis does not make sense of everything the Scripture says about “eternal security.”
· The only way a saved person can fall away from Jesus Christ is if he or she, after accepting and believing in Jesus Christ, is to later reject Him and persist in that rejection for the rest of his or her life.
· We do not believe that acceptance or rejection of “Perseverance of the Saints” is an issue of salvation.
I have been debating this with people for a long time, only hearing one side of the story, only using small amounts of scripture. I think this is one of the biggest disagreements in scripture. I think you did a very good job laying it all out.
Nice job on this subject. ~ Craig
i agree, this is an excellent subject!
Matt: Just stumbled on this post. Interesting perspective. Since I’ve been on both sides of the issue, I understand/anticipated your comments.
Several things I always found interesting about the Restoration Movement churches’ stance on this issue was:
(1) Even though they said they didn’t believe in the doctrine of “perseverance of the saints”, every person with whom I’ve ever had a conversation on the subject seemed to live their lives as if they believed it! The fruit of their salvation/sanctification was, in some cases, nearly invisible; some were engaged in the grossest of sin and could come up with all kinds of defenses for their lifestyles…all the while ridiculing those silly Baptists and their “once-saved, always-saved*” doctrine. When asked if they believed they were “saved” or would go to heaven, they ALWAYS replied “yes! I’ve been baptized.”
(2) When asked, not a single person from the above mentioned group could name ONE single individual–including themselves–that had ever lost their salvation, i.e. “fallen away.” They said they believed it could happen, but didn’t know anyone that had happened to, nor did they believe it would/could happen to them. Do you personally know someone that has fallen away/lost their salvation?
(3) I also thought it was funny to hear them sing “Blessed Assurance” when I knew many of them said they didn’t believe it.
*I prefer (if I have to use one) the term “IF saved, always saved.” I don’t believe truly saved people will continue in a life-time of habitual sin or abandoning of God’s Word.
Keith:
(1) Yes. There are too many people who have put their faith in their baptism instead of their Lord. We might be saved “at the time of our baptism,” but we are saved “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:15)
(2) My blog mentions several examples of people who fell away in Scripture. That’s enough for me. But yes, I’ve met several people who authentically professed faith in Christ, called upon His name for salvation; repented (at least temporarily), and were baptized. I have no reason to question their authenticity in this expereince. But they eventually rejected faith. You might say they were never saved in the first place. I think of the Parable of the Sower.
(3)I have a blessed assurance that salvation is guaranteed to all people of faith. But I don’t sing that song because it’s old (lol, just kidding). Satan can does not have the power to remove me from the hand of Christ. But if my faith dies, I believe my salvation would die with it. I believe in eternal security–but that it is only promised to people of faith–not to people who no longer have faith.
Thanks for the thoughts.