“Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”
Hebrews 3:12-14 NLT
Passages like this one cause me to ask this question: “Can a person lose their salvation?!” This is a controversial, but important topic that has been debated throughout the history of the Church. And surely every believer has asked him or herself this question: “Am I really saved?” This thinking typically occurs when a person professing to be a Christian is living in deliberate, willful sin. In such circumstances, the Holy Spirit often lovingly chastises a person and convicts them about their sinful choices. And the Devil takes the opportunity to either condemn the person OR to deceive the person into justifying their disobedience. Let me state from the outset that the Bible is clear that all who humble themselves before God, and in sorrow repent of their sins, they can find forgiveness and restoration. If that is you, read these passages: (Romans 11:23, 1 John 1:9)
This blog post is dedicated to examining what the Bible says about whether or not it is possible to lose the precious gift of God’s mercy and grace resulting in eternal separation from God (Hell). My own speculation has arisen from the plentiful scriptures that I’ve read in which the loss of salvation seems to be a possibility and numerous warnings seem to be clearly issued about it.
Of course, this appears to be in conflict with the passages that teach against reliance on our good works for justification and attainment of salvation in Christ. My research shows ample support for both reliance ONLY on the grace and mercy of God by a truly repentant and believing Christian, but also frightening passages warning of the need to “endure to the end” and to remain “faithful”, “holy”, and “obedient”. Perhaps the two seemingly opposite positions can be reconciled with the following statement:
Salvation is received through sustained faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Heb 3:14, Eph 4:8, Rom 11:22). Evidence of this faith is a life of good works, a purposeful orientation towards service to God, denial of self (James 2:14-18), and Christlike love for others (1 John 4:20-21). In the end, each person’s life will be judged. Some will hear the words “well done thou good and faithful servant. Come and enter my rest.” (Matt 25:23). Others will have their works made of “wood, hay and stubble” burned in the judgement fire, though they themselves will escape “as one escaping through the flames”, (1 Cor 3:14-15) and still others will say,”Lord, didn’t we prophecy in your name?” And He will say, “Depart from me. I never knew you” (Matt 7:22). In all cases, the believer is to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.”(Phil 2:12, 1 Pet 1:10-11)
It is this last point that should make every believer continually evaluate their priorities, passions, allegiances, associations, attitudes, behavior, speech, works, and everything else that constitutes his life. We ought to experience the familiarity that a child has with his loving, heavenly Father (who has respect, adoration, love, privilege toward the father), but must never have the kind of familiarity that breeds contempt or permits us to take the Father’s love for granted and trample on it like the “prodigal son”. Had the Prodigal Son not repented and returned to the father, he most surely would have died a slave.
In 2 Peter 3 we read:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
The audience here is the Church, and the intimation is that some may NOT “reach repentance”. And later Peter warns believers about coming destruction and how they ought to live. He writes:
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 2 Peter 3:17
Diligent Effort is Required
Peter also makes this sobering exhortation. This passage states that there is a diligent effort required to “confirm” one’s “calling and election”:
“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10-11 ESV
This verse in Hebrews 4:11 indicates that there is an effort on our part required to enter the “rest of God” that was denied the Israelites who persisted in unbelief even after miraculously being led out of Egypt. It isn’t passive, nor realized through complacency. We must “strive” for it, and yet it is not by works (Ephesians 2:9), but through faith (Eph 2:8) as evidenced through our works (James 2:14-18)
Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Unbelief Among the Church
It is clear in this passage in Jude below that there is terrible destruction waiting those who are a part of the congregation, but who are secretly unbelievers:
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. Jude 1:5,12-13
Jesus tells a parable about the weeds sown by the evil one growing among the wheat and the separation of the two that will come only at the judgement:
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:30
Matthew again quotes Jesus speaking about the sheep and the goats all mixed together and warns about the separation and destruction of the goats who represent those who are not true believers. These “goats” will be surprised that they are destined for destruction!
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Matthew 25:41-46 NIV
Jude writes the following contrasting these unbelievers hidden among the sheep with those of us who truly believe:
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Jude 1:17-21
These scriptures below seem to be speaking of a person who identified with Jesus, but who fell away from God [willfully sinned, was a drunkard, glutton, did not abide, etc] and will suffer “burning”. That doesn’t sound like a person who is “saved” from God’s wrath.
“But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.” Luke 12:45-46 ESV
In his parallel account, Matthew adds a visual description of the place these “wicked servants” will go:
“But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:48-51 ESV
Failing to “abide” or to remain in Christ results in something that seems a bit more painful and permanent than a mere chastisement:
“If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” John 15:6 ESV
Persistent Faith and Holiness are Required
There is a frequent urging to persist in faith and holy living as a condition for being saved. The passages below are provide a few examples:
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16 ESV
“Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” 1 Timothy 2:15 ESV
“if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” Colossians 1:23
“For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.” 2 Peter 2:20-21
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another….But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:10, 13 ESV
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 NIV
These passages in Hebrews seem to clearly state that salvation isn’t something that is certain unless a life of faith is maintained until “the end”. The entirety of chapters 3 and 4 provide this context.
“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” Hebrews 3:12,14
“but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” Hebrews 3:6
“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” Hebrews 4:1
“And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Hebrews 6:11-12 ESV
“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” Hebrews 12:14-17 ESV
“That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” Romans 11:20-22 ESV
“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Revelation 3:5 ESV
Does this passage mean deliberate sinning leads to judgement?
Read the following passage and carefully consider its implications:
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV
This passage seems pretty clearly to warn the reader that sinning “deliberately” will judge them with the same “fury of fire” that will consume God’s adversaries. Is the writer speaking to “believers”? We know he is speaking to the audience reading this letter. Presumably, they are those who are profess faith in Jesus. This is further confirmed by the context provided in the passage that says “The Lord will judge His people.”(v30)
And then there is this passage in 1 John which speaks about the “practice” of sinning, intimating the habitual and deliberate act of sinning.
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God was revealed: in order to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Everyone who is fathered by God does not practice sin, because his seed resides in him, and he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are evident: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, namely, the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:8–10 (LEB)
If our works will be judged, do they also provide evidence of our eternal disposition?
“But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,” Romans 2:5-9 ESV
“For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.” Hebrews 6:7-8 ESV
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:18-21 ESV
This is an interesting Old Testament passage:
“Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.” Ezekiel 33:13 ESV
Other supporting scriptures for the reader’s consideration
If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:14-15
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 2 Corinthians 5:10
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:1-21 ESV
This implies believers may not “conquer” and therefore, will not “eat of the tree of life”:
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7
“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” James 5:19-20
“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. Luke 12:8-9
“If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” 1 John 2:29
“Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:7-10
This scripture seems to indicate that unless there is repentance by the Church at Sardis, that God will “come against” them. Frightening!
“Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” Revelation 3:3-4
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:1-13 ESV
We are called to both a love and a fear of God. Consider this passage:
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. Hebrews 4:1
This isn’t merely an “awe” of God. While the range of the Greek word “phobeo” includes “awe” and “reverence”, contextually that does not make sense since the text has been talking about the Israelites who missed out on God’s rest and perished in the desert.
This seems to be very clear about the possibility of falling away from a position of security to a position of condemnation.
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” Hebrews 6:4-6
This passage seems to imply that those who shrink back from the faith will be rejected and destroyed.
“For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” Hebrews 10:37-39 ESV
This passage below implies that it is possible to be “broken off”. That certainly doesn’t sound good.
“That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” Romans 11:20-22
If you return to belief you can be grafted in again!!
“And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.” Romans 11:23 ESV
Obedience to the God’s Word is still required. In the context of the whole counsel of the Scriptures we know that obeying the Law doesn’t result in our justification or our position with God, but it does demonstrate our allegiance and affections to God. See this passage in John below!
“Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”
John 14:23-24 ESV
Other Authors
Tim Keller
There is certainly the danger of lack of peace that results from our constantly evaluating our performance as the pre-requisite or requirement to win salvation. That certainly is not what the Bible teaches. We are saved by grace alone and not through works (Eph 4:8-9). Tim Keller says it well here:
How can we break our heart’s fixation on doing “some great thing” in order to heal ourselves of our sense of inadequacy, in order to give our lives meaning? Only when we see what Jesus, our great Suffering Servant, has done for us will we finally understand why God’s salvation does not require us to do “some great thing.” We don’t have to do it, because Jesus has. That’s why we can “just wash.” Jesus did it all for us, and he loves us—that is how we know our existence is justified. When we believe in what he accomplished for us with our minds, and when we are moved by what he did for us in our hearts, it begins to kill off the addiction, the need for success at all costs.
Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters, by Tim Keller, pg. 93
Thomas á Kempis
I think Thomas á Kempis makes a great point here in that as truly saved people we ought to act and do as though we are truly saved people. Then, there can be no doubt.
“One day when a certain man who wavered often and anxiously between hope and fear was struck with sadness, he knelt in humble prayer before the altar of a church. While meditating on these things, he said: “Oh if I but knew whether I should persevere to the end!” Instantly he heard within the divine answer: “If you knew this, what would you do? Do now what you would do then and you will be quite secure.” Immediately consoled and comforted, he resigned himself to the divine will and the anxious uncertainty ceased.”
Thomas á Kempis, Imitation of Christ (The Dover Editions), pg 25
Faithalone.org
This is an excellent commentary on 2 Timothy 3:11-13 which argues that the believer is secure but scrutinized and risks reward but not salvation.
https://faithalone.org/journal-articles/secure-yet-scrutinized-2-timothy-211-13/
“The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV
Dr. Michael J Heiser
Great podcast episode on salvation by faith vs works by Dr. Michael Heiser
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-naked-bible-podcast/id961385822?i=1000537392685