I was having a theological discussion today over what some see as a big problem in Biblical interpretation. And that is understanding how the perseverance (or eternal security) of believers fits with the Scriptural warnings that appear to be directed toward believers, telling us to beware of falling away from the Lord and His salvation. If the Bible teaches both in that way, then we have a major contradiction. But such is not possible in God's perfect and holy Word. So as usual, the problem must be that our interpretation is creating a contradiction that isn't really there. There is plenty of Biblical reason to believe that once you are saved, you are always saved, and there is no real Biblical support for saying that a real Christian can fall away from the Lord and lose his or her salvation. You will see why I believe that.
Personally, I believe in "the eternal security of the believer," and I prefer using that phrase to the term "perseverance." In the simplest terms, the Bible says that before a person comes to believe in Jesus Christ, that person is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), but when someone truly believes in Jesus Christ, committing their life to Him, they are given "eternal life" (John 3:16). So, salvation is the receiving of eternal life, and by definition, this kind of life is supposed to last forever. If it could end in any way, including through an individual's personal action or decision, it would not be "eternal life." Therefore, once someone has come to have "eternal life," that life will never end, or in other words, their salvation will never be taken away.
"The eternal security of the believer" also involves the preservation of God. This preservation is a part of God's side of the equation in salvation. On His part, God did all that it takes to save us from our sins, while on our part, we must believe in what He did to receive that salvation. After salvation, our part is to live in faithful obedience to God, while God's part is to preserve the eternal life that He has given us through salvation, as Jesus promised in John 10:27-28, saying "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." The way I see it, we didn't deserve salvation to begin with and we sure don't deserve to keep our salvation afterwards, but we have it and keep it through the grace of God alone!
Now we must tackle the idea that the Bible warns believers about the dangers of falling away from salvation. I personally do not believe that the Bible makes that case, and I have studied each of the passages that are typically used to teach that. There are passages that speak of believers falling out of fellowship with the Lord and His Church through sin, and there are passages that speak of people falling away from the point of receiving Jesus Christ after hearing the Word of God and continuing in it for a time. But nowhere does the Bible expressly say that true believers can or will depart from God and lose their salvation.
I think that one of the best passages to clear this up is the parable that Jesus gave concerning the Sower and the seed in Matthew 13:3-9. Jesus described a sower dropping seed on four types of ground: "the wayside," "stony places," "among thorns," and "good ground." Only one, the "good ground" produced a crop to harvest. The seed that fell on "the wayside" was immediately eaten, and the seed that fell on the "stony places" showed only a little life before dying from lack of a place to take root. The seed that fell "among thorns" apparently took root, but before they could grow to maturity, "the thorns sprang up and choked them," obviously killing any potential for a crop.
Jesus later explained this parable in Matthew 13:18-23, saying that the "seed" represents "the Word of the Kingdom," or in other words, the message of God's salvation, and the types of ground are those who hear this message. "The wayside" represents those who hear the Word, but don't understand it. The birds that come and eat the seed from "the wayside" represent "the wicked one" (obviously Satan) who "comes and snatches away what was sown." The "stony places" represent those who hear the Word and receive it immediately, but then abandon it when it brings them trouble; proving that one can hear the Word of God and accept it, but not be truly committed to it. The ground "among thorns" represents those who hear and accept the Word, but do not let it produce fruit in their lives. But the "good ground" represents true believers who hear and understand the Word, letting the Word produce ever increasing fruit in their lives. It is on the "good ground" that we see obvious and lasting results.
I think the real problem that people have with believing in "the eternal security of the believer" is the bad example that they have seen among many who profess to be Christian. I personally know of many examples of those who claim to believe in the Lord Jesus and claim to be one of His followers, and yet they live like the Devil. I even know of some who claimed to be Christians in the past, but have since rejected Christianity altogether. Many would say that these examples are proof that a Christian can loose his or her salvation and become an apostate, but I still disagree. What these examples truly prove is that a person can hear the Word of God, accept it to some degree, and even become involved in the religion of Christianity without ever truly becoming a born-again believer in and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ! There are too many who never truly reach the point of having a relationship with Jesus Christ, and that is the key to real salvation. There are far too many people who call themselves "Christian" that are represented by the ground "among thorns," instead of by the "good ground" that a real Christian should be.
Can a real Christian go astray? Yes, but not without being absolutely miserable. Can a real Christian become an apostate? No, because a real Christian has "eternal life" that is preserved by the One who gave it. With the great weight of Biblical support behind it, eternal security beats the idea of apostasy every time!
