I was considering the blessings of Ephesians 1 and a thought occurred to me. Remember, Paul says He "has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Eph 1:3). Not "will bless us" or "might bless us." "Has blessed us." Done deal. So we have these spiritual blessings already. So, let's look.
Check some of these out. We're chosen in Him before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and blameless (Eph 1:3). We're predestined for adoption as sons (Eph 1:5). We have redemption through His blood (Eph 1:7). We have obtained an inheritance according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to His will (Eph 1:11). We have the guarantee of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:14). That's not the entire list, but there is something in these that I've included that seem to prove an important doctrine. If these are true, is it evenly remotely possible that we might lose our salvation? If we did, He chose wrong, failed in His predestination, didn't provide sufficient redemption, withdrew our inheritance, and canceled the guarantee of His Spirit.
I know a lot of people who believe you can lose it. I can't seem to put "You can lose it" up against Scriptures like these (and so tightly compacted in this text) and say, "Yep! You might just lose it!" The failure in that case wouldn't be ours. It would be God's failure. And we know that's impossible. So, in the end, I have to believe in the perseverance of God for the saints.
2 comments:
It is so odd to me that anyone could say you can lose your salvation, based on the vast array of verses. For some reason, they take any claim of faith to mean genuine salvation, when the Bible is clear that there will be those that leave because they were never saved in the first place, or there will be those that believe they believe, but were never known by Christ. I could not imagine wanting to be a Christian if God couldn't keep His own promises like the ones you listed here, and more.
Absolutely! God does not fail. I must believe that since saving me was His idea, His doing, and His will, nothing could alter that. Just like my children cannot say to me, “I know you birthed me, but I have decided that I am no longer your child.” That’s inconceivable (no pun intended). As you point out, every action within God’s predestination--i.e. choosing, adopting, redeeming, forgiving, bequeathing, sealing, guaranteeing, etc.--are certain. Since God has perfect foreknowledge of all things, there will be no instance of “Wow, she changed her mind. I did not see that coming!” Instead, it’s “I have done this, and it will stand."
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