The Fear of Loss

The argument is made by a significant portion of Christendom that it is entirely possible that a true Christian can lose his or her salvation. More than that, it has happened and continues to happen. This portion of Christendom argues that it is folly to hold that your salvation is eternally secured. "You 'once saved always saved' and you 'eternal security' and you 'perseverance of the saints' types are wrong ... all of you. Beware!" It was one of Rome's biggest complaints against the Reformers. It was a major division between Arminians and Calvinists. It continues to be a divisive point to this day.

I got to thinking about "losing my salvation", considering what it would take. If it actually happened that genuine believers, saved by the blood of the Lamb, were to actually have and then lose their salvation, what would that require and what would be the ramifications? I think it is no small question.

First, what is required in order for someone who has this great salvation to lose it? I don't mean on what basis they could incur such a loss. I mean what has to transpire of such a loss was to occur? There are many sides to this question.

There is, first, the clear biblical statement. If you lose your salvation, it cannot be regained. There is no means by which it can be recovered. If you hold to "conditional security" -- that salvation can be and is lost sometimes -- then you must cling to "once lost, always lost". The Bible gives no room for the warm and pleasant notion that you can repeatedly make the trip back to the throne of God for a reissuance of salvation. Instead, God's Word assures us that, once lost, it is impossible to be restored (Heb 6:4-6).

There is the "eternal life" aspect. John wrote "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life" (John 3:36). Notice the tense of the sentence -- "has". Not "will receive" or "can rightly expect". "Has". Present possession. Thus, in order for a person who genuinely believes in the Son (which isn't a simple concept) is currently in possession of life eternal, and in order to lose the salvation that faith provides, they must lose eternal life. Consider that contradiction. In what sense is it eternal if it can be lost?

There is the "forgiven" concept. On the "negative" side, John said, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). On the "positive" side, Paul wrote, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). So this is from two directions. On one hand our sins have been cleansed -- "all unrighteousness" -- and on the other hand we have been endowed with "the righteousness of God". Thus, in order to lose this great salvation, there would need to be some unrighteousness that "all unrighteousness" does not include that has the capability of overcoming our complete forgiveness and the righteousness of God bestowed on us. Now that is some powerful sin that can overpower forgiveness and expel God's righteousness.

Then, of course, there is the whole "adopted" principle. The Bible makes it clear that those who come to Christ -- who are "born of God" -- are adopted into His family (Gen 15:3; John 1:12-13; Rom 8:14-17; Rom 8:29; Rom 9:26; Gal 3:26; Gal 4:5-7; Eph 1:5; 1 John 3:1-2). In order to lose my salvation, I would have to become "unadopted", which, by the way, is not a word. The process would be that we would be not children of God, be adopted by God, and then be unadopted by God.

This leads to the real questions to me. The real questions to me revolve around the nature of God. I know me. I know that I have some massive capabilities to commit horrendous Cosmic Treason. Sin comes naturally to me. If it is possible to commit a sin that overrides "eternal life", overpowers forgiveness, drives out God's righteousness, and forces God to "unadopt" me, I have that capability. But what about God? What are His capabilities? We call Him (rightly) Sovereign, Omniscient, and Omnipotent, just for starters. We know that He is both Just and Merciful. So, if it is possible that I could be saved by grace through faith and given eternal life and forgiven of all my sin and endowed with the righteousness of God and adopted into God's family ... and then lose it, what does that say about God? I would say that it would represent a massive failure on the part of God. He failed to foresee my serious apostasy so is not actually Omniscient. He failed to keep me in His hand where "no one will snatch them out" (John 10:29) so is not actually Omnipotent. He failed to accomplish His own will, negating any genuine Sovereignty. And He will hold me accountable for sins He says were forgiven, canceling any sort of justice on His part. Further, Jesus Himself was mistaken when He assured us "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me" (John 6:39). The requirement would be that He will and has lost some of those given to Him. In human terms, we'd have to conclude that God is just a poor planner. He intended to save all but failed. He willed to certainly save those who came to Him, but wasn't able. He knew that some would fall away, forgave them, and then reapplied their sin to them because of what He knew they would do anyway. He adopted some who He knew would need to be unadopted later. In the end, He would not be sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent, just, or even wise. His forgiveness given would be incomplete and His righteousness applied would be inconsequential. He would not be, in many aspects, the God of the Bible.

I know humans. We are capable of miserable failure. But God is not. When you consider the magnitude of the salvation God offers, the aspects that it includes, and the nature of God Himself, think about what it would mean for that salvation to be lost. I think it's a much bigger problem than the "conditional security" view allows. Bigger, in fact, than they can handle. Is the specter of losing one's salvation a frightening one? If you have the slightest sense of what that means, it should be. It would mean losing eternal life, losing forgiveness, returning to condemnation, losing your adoption, and all without any hope of ever being able to remedy the situation. Neither God nor Man has a correction for this condition. Worse, it would mean that God is not God. Now that is a truly terrifying thing.