Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach – if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. (Col 1:21-23)Does this passage indicate you can lose your salvation? There is no small number who think so. Look at the text. It starts out in past tense -- "... you were formerly ..." -- and brings us to present tense -- "... He has now ...". In present tense, then, we're looking at reconciled people. And this reconciliation is marvelous ... truly! It is on the basis of His death. It is for the purpose of presenting us holy and blameless and beyond reproach. That is, "reconciliation" = "holy and blameless and beyond reproach" on the basis of what Christ did on the cross for us.
Enter the "if" clause. What is the conditional "if"? "You continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast." That's a serious "if." It requires "firmly established" and "steadfast" and "not moved away." "If" is a conditional statement that, by implication, requires "if not." And we need to know that here. What "if not"? Logically, if you do not remain steadfast, have you lost your salvation, that reconciliation? Well, logically, that makes no sense. If "reconciliation" is a present tense meaning "holy and blameless and beyond reproach," that doesn't change. Or, here, let's look at it from the language. If you do not remain steadfast, what shall we conclude? We don't conclude that you were once reconciled and are no more. That's not reasonable. We would conclude that the "if" refers to "He has now reconciled you." Therefore, if you do not remain in the faith, He never did. You don't lose that reconciliation; you never had it. Instead, you remain alienated, hostile, engaging in evil deeds.
The text here cannot linguistically be tortured to conclude that you can lose your reconciliation. Instead, it is clearly stating that remaining steadfast is the evidence that you have been reconciled to God. And it is abundantly clear from our current culture that there are lots of "believers" who never were, in fact, reconciled to God. They are defecting, which, according to this text, doesn't happen to reconciled people. These are the people to whom Jesus referred who said, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?" (Matt 7:22). To these Jesus doesn't say, "Well, yes, but you lost it." He says, "I never knew you" (Matt 7:23). Because, quite clearly, our God "is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Jude 1:24).
2 comments:
I don't understand why anyone would want to take away security. You would you want to take away the only hope you can have, because if I can lose my salvation, I've done so a hundred thousand times. What pleasure and joy do you get from removing the hope in Christ's holding fast to me? Of what benefit is it to any believer to have that sword hanging over your head that you could commit that unpardonable sin?
To the question, “Can you lose your salvation?” I would answer, “No, you cannot lose a true salvation, since that is granted by God and no one counteracts God, but you certainly can lose a bogus ‘salvation.’” Regarding those defectors you mention, I think of 1 John 2:19 (“They went out from us because they were never with us….”), among other verses. As you pointed out, God’s Word teaches (in many, many places) that the true validity of someone’s salvation claim will be proven not only by the fruit they produce throughout their earthly lifetime but most definitively in hindsight, i.e. did they remain steadfast in the faith. In other words, are they still there at the end of the race (2 Tim. 4:7)? As a person who sincerely desires to be a solid citizen in the kingdom of God for all eternity, I want my standing with God to be unfaltering and my hope for that to be based on the right thing. If my salvation was granted me by God--and not a possession I claim for myself with no biblical basis--then it is not something from which I will depart or that can be taken from me. That is my hope and security!
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