The unconditional love of God for His children
The convincing power of the Holy Spirit

There is debate if God has shown us that salvation is complete and sustained once someone accepts Jesus’ death for their sins or if we can fall in and out of salvation throughout our life.  Therefore, we will review some of the scriptures, but we also look at what best fits the character and purpose of God as He has revealed to us.

As with understanding most scripture, we must make sure that we look at verses and passages in their context and also in the context of the whole Bible.  The Bible is a story of redemption and the unconditional and sustaining love of God towards His children.  We see this throughout the Old Testament with Israel where God never rejected them as His children, but did bless them and discipline them as needed.  We see this in the parent-child relationship God built into our design.  While parents vary in how well they do this, God is perfect in all that He does.

Here is the most important concept:
God put into our design the parent-child relationship because it is a good design to help us understand what He is doing.  It differentiates Christianity from all other “religions”.  While human parents are all imperfect to some level, God is perfect in all the He does.  As our loving and wise Heavenly Father, He is showing us what we would expect from loving and wise parents.  He is showing us unconditional love.  He gives blessings and consequences as appropriate, but all those are in the context of love that is nurturing and maturing their child.  A loving and wise parent does not say, you are not my child today because you did something bad.

Another key point about a loving and wise parent in God’s design is that they decide (unless there was an “Oops”) to have the child, not the child choosing them.  You will see that thread in the verses that support you cannot lose your salvation.  That is important because, as you will also see in the verses, it means that God is perfectly able to draw those He has chosen to Himself and is also perfectly able to sustain them.

In summary, God is not constantly evaluating our behaviors to decide if we are or are not His child at this moment.  God is nurturing and maturing His children which does include blessings and discipline.  A loving and wise parent 1) makes the choice to have the child (naturally or via adoption), 2) they love that child unconditionally, and 3) they continue to draw the child towards them even when the child stumbles.  Again, earthly parents are imperfect at this, but our Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves and, through the convincing work of the Holy Spirit, is able to draw anyone to Himself that He desires and He is also able to sustain their faith.  He is completely all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful.

Above are the key concepts.  For those that want to review the verses most relevant to this topic, they are grouped below.

Verses used to support you can lose salvation:

• Galatians 5:4  “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”  Remember that Christians in the Galatian region were mostly Gentiles with no deep history with God, no Canon (Bible including New Testament) and few experienced teachers on what Jesus did and the Gospel message.  They were being infiltrated by Jews that wanted to add requirements of The Law to the core Gospel and these Christians we mostly ill-equipped to handle the arguments.  Paul needed to warn them what was happening and be very clear on the consequences of adding works to the Gospel.
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 short list of people that practice immorality, greed, drunkenness, etc. will not be saved.  There is no indication that this passages implies that would include Christians losing their salvation.  Other teachings on being sealed by the Holy Spirit, etc. cover that topic.
• Luke 15:11-32 Prodigal son “was lost and is now saved” (v32)  But the father never declared the son was no longer in the family, just that the son had wandered away in actions and attitude.  The prodigal also never stated that he rejected being a family member.  This immature son apparently just wanted to chase after false carnal dreams.  To some extent, all of have something we chase after that is not part of the two greatest commandments.  It could be things like hobbies, sports, etc.  There are many things we likely value too much that distract us.
• 1 John 5:16-18 there are sins that lead to death (mortal sins).  But v18 says that God protects His own from continuing in sin.
• Matthew 24:13  “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”  This verse is talking about the persecution and deceit in the end times.  “Can lose salvation” perspective is that these people were saved and then fell away.  But a better interpretation would be to compare to the seeds that fell on hard or rocky soil that never had it (Matt 13:3-8) or to the people that God says to depart because He never knew them (Matt 7:21-23)
• Matthew 24:44 “Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  This passage is a list of people that are either prepared or not prepared when Jesus or their earthly master returns.  When you look at v37-41, it is about people that saved and not saved without implication about the not saved having been previously saved.  There are people today that say they will think about things of God someday, but not now.  v44 seems to be telling these people to deal with God now because you don’t know when your time is coming and that it might be without warning.
• Romans 11:22-23 Jews were cutoff, but can be grafted back in.  We were grafted in, but can be cutoff again.
  • Jews were cutoff for unbelief (v23), but can be grafted back in if they believe.  Note that they previously only knew of the 1,500 years of the Old Covenant.  Some would have initially rejected Jesus because He did not support what they believed based on those 1,500 years.  If they then understand and accept the New Covenant, they are grafted back in.
  • “…provided you continue in His kindness”  When you graft a different type of branch in, it may not continue to live and produce if it was never compatible and is therefore cutoff again.
• John 20:23  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”  There are a few passages that seem to indicate that authority was given the original Apostles to be a part of accepting someone’s salvation.  These passages do not clearly the idea of falling in and out of salvation during the course of their life.  That would be an extension of the primary interpretation.
• 1 Corinthians 9:27: “But I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”  This section (chapter 9) of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is about him defending his Apostolic ministry since people can come into that group trying to discredit his teachings.  This is not a verse about salvation.
• 1 Timothy 5:8: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” This letter to Timothy is providing instructions on behaviors within the church.  The church should be beyond reproach compared to the unbelieving standards of life.  The verse actually contrasts a believer having this behavior (“worse than an unbeliever”) rather than putting the person into the group of unsaved.
• 2 Timothy 2:10-13 “…If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him …”  This section of this letter to Timothy is about being a good soldier / worker for God.  The section talks about the prizes and pains of that.  This section in v12 with “if we endure” says “then we will reign”.  It is not addressing salvation, but how God uses us or not uses us in what He is doing.  Good soldiers / workers are used in more important work and less achieving soldiers / workers are given less important roles.

Verses used to support you cannot lose salvation:

• 1 John 5:16-18 there are sins that lead to death (mortal sins).  But v18 says that God protects His own from continuing in sin.  This would indicate the mortal sins are by those that are not God’s children.
• Philippians 1:6 He who began a good work in you will complete it.  This verse puts the proper emphasis on who sustains us.  We are battling our flesh and are imperfect.  Does that mean that we are constantly at risk of losing our salvation.  No loving and wise parent is constantly evaluating their love and acceptance their child based on the child’s attitudes.  They love their child regardless of if they mess up or not. There may be rewards and consequences, but even those founded in their unconditional love for their child.
• Ephesians 1:13-14 This letter is written to the church of Ephesus were Paul spent much time before his final stops in Jerusalem and then Rome.  Paul was now in prison in Rome and wanted to remind them on key Christian concepts.  The first half of the letter is a reminder of key Gospel concepts and the second half is about the call to action that should result.  In these two verses, he clearly reminds them that salvation includes a guaranteed seal by the Holy Spirit.  Again, it is God that seals us, not our fragile faith.
• 1 Peter 1:3-5 Another passage indicating that it is God who seals us, not our fragile faith.
• John 10:25-30  My sheep know my voice and follow.  “I give them eternal life and they will never perish (v28).  Another important example of it is God that sustains us, not ourselves.
• John 6:44  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” Again, God draws us, not us figuring things out.  And Jesus says He WILL raise them on the last day.
• John 6:37  “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” Again, the Father determines who will be saved, not our fragile and imperfect reasoning and faith.
• John 3:16 “whoever believes HAS eternal life” no qualifier about “depending on their state of belief at the time of their death.
• Romans 8:33-39 A list of influences that cannot separate us from God.  But does that mean we cannot reject Him on our own because a change within us…  Not a rock solid passage for this question.  That said, the extension of this to include we are not able to reject Him would be the equivalent of inclusion of many of the verses on salvation being also used for falling in and out of salvation.
• Romans 11:29  “…regarding election…the calling of God is irrevocable”  while this passage is talking more about the future calling of Israel back into the fold, this principle pulled into that discussion is a general principle not limited to just this topic.

Verses indicating never really saved:

• 1 John 2:19  “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
• Hebrews 6:4-6  “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.”  The key word here is “tasted”.  Tasted is not “consumed”.  If you were a wine connoisseur and were going to wine tasting, you would do your homework on the expected wines ahead of time.  Then, you would “taste” the wines to see which wine(s) you are going to choose.  Some ice cream places will let you get a small sample of an ice cream before you commit to one.  Many people have heard the gospel without actually understanding it because the Holy Spirit has not yet given some level of actual understanding.  But once someone has actually come to an understanding at a level only the Holy Spirit can provide, they are then at their informed accept or reject decision.  They have tasted, not just heard about, the Gospel.  If they reject at that point, they rejected Christ’s death and committed the unpardonable sin.
• Matthew 13:3-8 Parable of the sower.  The seed on the hard and rocky grounds were never saved.  It is up to God whether or not they actually understood by way of the Holy Spirit (see Hebrews 6 notes above).
• Matthew 7:21-23  People to whom God will say, “Depart because He never knew you.”  Is this the scariest verse in the Bible???  These people think they were believers and apparently did not have anyone around them that saw they were not and were able to communicate that to them.

Verses differentiating between someone stumbling and someone falling:

• Romans 1:32 After a sample list of sins, some of which could be considered mortal, it emphasizes “those that practice or approve”.  That is different than stumbling or being tempted which we all do to some extent — likely more than we realize.
• Romans 7:14-25 Paul does what doesn’t want to do and doesn’t do what he does want to do.  We do too, but are likely less aware than Paul who, as a former Pharisee, was very sensitive to personal attitudes and motives.

Verses used to support salvation by faith alone:

• Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
• Ephesians 2:8-9 salvation by grace through faith, “not our own doing“.