Buff Scott Jr.
Sophomore
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2023
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Saved Forever vs. Forever Lost
[Let’s Give Some Thought To a Contentious Topic—A Topic That
Has Incited Division Throughout the Christian
Community For Centuries]
[Let’s Give Some Thought To a Contentious Topic—A Topic That
Has Incited Division Throughout the Christian
Community For Centuries]
It is noteworthy there are numerous scriptures that confirm the destiny of the believer and/or non-believer, commonly cited as “predestination.” It is my view that those who are predestined are those whom God foreknew would be saved. The bone rubs when we take those scriptures and force into them the idea that those chosen to be saved cannot be lost, and those selected to be lost cannot be saved.
Paul sums it up when he says, “And those whom He foreknew He also predestined...and those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified” [Rom. 8:29-30]. Who did God predestine or predetermine? He predestined those he knew in advance would be saved! Those whom God foreknew would be saved after hearing the Gospel call and embracing it. God will then justify and glorify them.
The believer whose heart is attuned to the Lord will not be lost. No one can snatch him out of God’s hands [John 10:28]. He will stumble, fall, fail, and make blunders during the course of his walk with the Lord, but God will lift him up, indeed carry him if necessary, and point him in the right direction again. For if we “lose our salvation” every time we stumble, there’s no hope for any of us because life is a series of stumblings and mistakes. Praise be to God, however, His grace compensates for our imperfections.
Actually, we’re addressing the child of God who wanders from the truth, turns his back upon the Lord, and rejects the grace which is available for every believer. We’re talking about the man who once accepted the Lord, genuinely and truly, but then returns to the mire from which he was rescued and dies in that state.
Are there examples in scripture? There’s a multitude of biblical affirmations that strongly and clearly imply that a believer who goes astray, deliberately and knowingly, and pursues an evil lifestyle the remainder of his days, will be lost eternally. But I’ll submit only two. We don’t need to introduce a whole volume of scriptures on this subject to establish the premise.
“Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme” [2 Timothy 1:19-20]. Hymenaeus is mentioned again in 2 Timothy 2:17-18 as one who had “wandered from the truth” and was teaching “that the resurrection had already taken place.” He and other heretics even destroyed the faith of some.
These two men had shipwrecked their faith by heretical teaching. What faith? Their faith in the Lord. They had accepted the truth, but wandered away from it. Paul delivered them to Satan, and there’s no record of their repenting of their hideous crimes. Now tell me: May a “backsliding” believer who moves into Satan’s corner and dies in that state be saved eternally? And please note that the whole person of both men was delivered to Satan, not just the flesh.
“Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murdered has eternal life in him” [I John 3:15]. Note, please, that John is writing to fellow believers. A believer who harbors hatred in his heart toward his brother is on the same level as a murderer. Neither has eternal life in him as long as he remains in that state. Surely this teaches the possibility that one of God’s chosen can be lost.
It seems that those who drift into chronic evil and die in that condition have lost their secure position and will be disowned. Should you need additional information or question that statement, then please give your attention 2 Timothy 2:12 and 2 Peter 3:17. The controversy on this biblical theme will no doubt continue—yes, continue as long as we are in the flesh and and as long as man has the mental ability to agree and disagree.
Paul sums it up when he says, “And those whom He foreknew He also predestined...and those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified” [Rom. 8:29-30]. Who did God predestine or predetermine? He predestined those he knew in advance would be saved! Those whom God foreknew would be saved after hearing the Gospel call and embracing it. God will then justify and glorify them.
The believer whose heart is attuned to the Lord will not be lost. No one can snatch him out of God’s hands [John 10:28]. He will stumble, fall, fail, and make blunders during the course of his walk with the Lord, but God will lift him up, indeed carry him if necessary, and point him in the right direction again. For if we “lose our salvation” every time we stumble, there’s no hope for any of us because life is a series of stumblings and mistakes. Praise be to God, however, His grace compensates for our imperfections.
Actually, we’re addressing the child of God who wanders from the truth, turns his back upon the Lord, and rejects the grace which is available for every believer. We’re talking about the man who once accepted the Lord, genuinely and truly, but then returns to the mire from which he was rescued and dies in that state.
Are there examples in scripture? There’s a multitude of biblical affirmations that strongly and clearly imply that a believer who goes astray, deliberately and knowingly, and pursues an evil lifestyle the remainder of his days, will be lost eternally. But I’ll submit only two. We don’t need to introduce a whole volume of scriptures on this subject to establish the premise.
“Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme” [2 Timothy 1:19-20]. Hymenaeus is mentioned again in 2 Timothy 2:17-18 as one who had “wandered from the truth” and was teaching “that the resurrection had already taken place.” He and other heretics even destroyed the faith of some.
These two men had shipwrecked their faith by heretical teaching. What faith? Their faith in the Lord. They had accepted the truth, but wandered away from it. Paul delivered them to Satan, and there’s no record of their repenting of their hideous crimes. Now tell me: May a “backsliding” believer who moves into Satan’s corner and dies in that state be saved eternally? And please note that the whole person of both men was delivered to Satan, not just the flesh.
“Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murdered has eternal life in him” [I John 3:15]. Note, please, that John is writing to fellow believers. A believer who harbors hatred in his heart toward his brother is on the same level as a murderer. Neither has eternal life in him as long as he remains in that state. Surely this teaches the possibility that one of God’s chosen can be lost.
It seems that those who drift into chronic evil and die in that condition have lost their secure position and will be disowned. Should you need additional information or question that statement, then please give your attention 2 Timothy 2:12 and 2 Peter 3:17. The controversy on this biblical theme will no doubt continue—yes, continue as long as we are in the flesh and and as long as man has the mental ability to agree and disagree.
