(Transcribed from the video above, edited for readability)
We're confronted with this reality in scripture of people who profess faith in Christ and then fall away. They defect. They become apostates. They turn away from the Lord. And the classic examples, of course, are Judas Iscariat, one of Jesus' disciples who betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. And then Demas, who is one of Paul's fellow workers who's a missionary with Paul. And Paul mentions him positively in some of his early letters. And then in his later letter, 2 Timothy, he talks about how demons had forsaken him, having loved this present world. So you've got these examples in scriptures of people who seem to be Christian, and then for some reason or another, they turn away from Christ. They turn away from faith in Christ. They turn away from holiness. They go back to sin, back to the world. So the problem is what do we do with these people?
Then what implications does that have for me and my faith in Christ? Can I have assurance of salvation or salvation, something that can be lost? And historically, evangelicals have answered that in two different ways. So, on one hand, there have been those who've said that when someone professes faith in Christ and then later turns away from Christ and forsakes Christ, that person lost their salvation. They had genuinely been Christian, but when they turned away, they lost something. They lost the life that they had. They were born again, but they lost it, and they go back into sin. That's the classic Armenian Wesleyan position.
On the other hand, there are those who would say no. When someone professed faith in Christ and then turns away, forsakes Christ, it goes back to the life of sin that proves that they were never true Christians to begin with. What they had wasn't real faith. It was false faith, it was temporary faith, it wasn't real. So those are the two. That's the more Calvinistic or reformed perspective on this question.
So, what those two positions have in common is that both agree that when someone once professed faith in Christ and then forsake Christ, that person's not saved. One says that they were never saved to begin with. The other says no, they lost their salvation. Now today, there's another position that is often promoted, and that's the idea that if a person just prays a prayer, if they just say, I believe in Jesus, or they profess faith in Christ, that then, no matter what happens in their life in the future, they're saved and they can never lose that. So the idea is that you can exercise five minutes of faith in Christ and then become an atheist, become a murderer, go into all kinds of sinful behavior, not believe at all, not profess Christianity at all, but still be considered saved so that your eternal destiny is secure. Both of the classic evangelical positions would say, that's not right.
So, I think first of all, we just should say this, that no one is a Christian who does not have faith in Christ and perseveres in that faith in Christ. So, then the question is, so what do we say about these people who profess faith and then turn away? And I think there are good reasons to say that when a person turns away from Christ, it wasn't a true faith to begin with. I'll give you a couple of reasons for that.
On one hand, scripture does talk about this. It talks about dead faith. In James 2, James contrasts a living faith with a dead faith. Faith without works is dead being alone. And you've got this in multiple places in scripture. In John 2, for example, after Jesus performed his first miracle, it says that there were many who believed in him, but he did not commit himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts.
He didn't need anyone to tell him what was in their hearts. He knew that their faith wasn't really a wholehearted commitment to himself. And you've got this happening over and again in the gospels where people seemed to have some kind of faith in Christ. But then pretty quickly when he's not doing the miracles or when they really begin to understand his claims, they forsake him and they turn away. Another example of this would be in the letter of 1 John, near the end of the New Testament. John is talking about those who once were in the church, they were part of the Christian faith it seemed, but now they have forsaken. And John's comment in 1 John 2:19 is thi:s they went out from us because they were not of us. And if they had been of us, they would've stayed with us.
So, it seems that when scripture talks about these people who seem to have faith, but then it turns out to be defective in some way, that the way Scripture itself talks about it oftentimes is to describe it as temporary or as a false faith or a dead faith or something that wasn't genuine.
Another reason why I think a true Christian cannot lose their salvation or because of the wonderful promises scripture makes to those and about those who are in Christ. So, for an example, in John 10, Jesus talks about himself as the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. And Jesus then says this about his sheep. This is John 10:27. He says, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand." So you read verses like that, and there are many others that make these really strong promises about the security of those who are in Christ.
When I read promises like that, I'm strongly inclined to say that a person who really is in Christ, who really is one of Christ's sheep, who really has believed in Christ with a saving faith, who really has been born again by the spirit of God, that God is committed to such a person in such a way that he will never forsake them. He will preserve their faith. Though they may backslide for a time, he'll chase in them, bring them to repentance as his children, and he will not let them be lost.
For more information about Brian Hedges, visit: www.fulkersonpark.com
(First published on Christianity.com on October 19, 2012)
Further Reading:
Is Salvation Through Faith Too Easy?
Can We Be Sure of Our Salvation?
How Can I Know If I'm Right with God?
3 Ways the Joy of Salvation Can Be Restored
How Do I know if I'm Saved? 3 Tests to Ask Yourself
Can Someone’s Name Really Be Erased from the Book of Life?
Photo Credit: © iStock/Getty Images Plus/undefined
