This is a question that plagues many babes in Christ as they study scripture and desire to grow closer to God in their spiritual life. Many scriptures appear to be saying that you can lose your salvation because of sin that remains in your life after you have been born again.
First of all, it is important to make a point of saying that God is the only one who has the true answers and we must ask Him to show us what His will is in everything that we ask of Him.
- “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” 2 Tim 3:16
Before we can ask about losing salvation we have to understand what salvation is.
What is salvation?
Salvation is being saved from going to hell for eternity. Jesus died on the cross for our sins as the sacrifice.
- “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;” 1 Cor 15:3
Without Jesus’ sacrifice we would die to our sins and spend an eternity in hell. With the salvation He gives us we spend eternity in heaven with God and Jesus. We receive salvation, not just with belief (for the devils believe and they tremble James 2:19), but by believing with all our heart (Rom 10:9).
Salvation is about eternity and where we spend it!
So, now let’s talk about what the theological reason is that you can lose your salvation.
What is the “reason” for losing your salvation?
From what I have been told by those who believe in losing your salvation is that if you willfully sin or you premeditate your sin, you then lose your salvation because you have turned your back on God and are no longer in His presence.
Is this belief correct? What does God say?
Can we be “unsaved”?
I know that I am saved and that I have eternal life with Jesus. When does this eternal life start? The day I die physically or the day I am reborn spiritually.
- “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14
Our eternal life begins the day we except Christ and are born again. We drink of that well and never thirst again, up into eternity. Our physical bodies may die but our souls have eternal life now and we will have it after this body is gone. Our bodies change, our soul doesn’t.
- “ Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” John 11:24-26
So, if John 4:14 says that we will never thirst again then there is nothing that will make us thirsty. When are we thirsty? You find the answer by just reversing the scripture, it would then mean that if you didn’t drink the water that Jesus gave you, then you would be thirsty. I believe that you can’t be saved and be thirsty. That would make this scripture a contradiction and we know that God is not “the author of confusion” (1 Cor 14:33). God used the word “never”. According to the Strong’s Greek Concordance, “never” means certainly not, not at all, and by no means. God doesn’t use words lightly.
- “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.” 1 John 2:25
When He says something He says it exactly the way it means. Nor would God say something and then turn back on His word. Who would ever trust Him if He did that? Why would God expect us to keep our promises/vows if He doesn’t keep His?
Another scripture that shows eternal salvation is John 10:27-29,
- “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. ”
Jesus gives us eternal life and no man is ever able to take us out of His hand. So we know that nothing that we do could ever take us out of the father’s hand after we are saved. So many people think that because they did this or that that now God has rejected them and they have lost their salvation. I have a few problems with this statement.
- “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Deu 31:6
God does not reject us, we reject Him.
Lets go back to what people say is the reason we lose our salvation. We lose it when we willingly sin or premeditate our sin. Does not God give us freewill to do as we choose? Therefore every time we sin are we not willingly going against God?
- “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” Luke 12:47
This verse makes pretty clear that when we (as a believer in Christ) sin we know God’s will. How can you know what good is if you don’t know what evil is? How can you know what darkness is if you have never seen the light? We cannot say we have sinned if we don’t know what we were supposed to have done. Every time we are faced with the temptation of sin we have a choice to make. Being saved we should know what God does and doesn’t want us to do. So that means when we choose to lie for instance we should be convicted to remember that God hates liars. If we choose to lie anyway then we willfully lie knowing it was against what God wanted. So then if we just willfully lied, did we not premeditate that we are going to go against God and do what we want to do instead? A lot of people think that someone who premeditates something that it takes a long time to plan this. The definition of “premeditate” according to Webster’s Dictionary is to think, consider, or deliberate beforehand. This doesn’t have to be many days and weeks but just a few seconds in your mind fighting which choice to make. So, according to all that I have just stated do we not lose our salvation every time we sin?
Let’s look at some more scripture to see what God says. (The bullets represent different scripture topics.)
- “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” John 6:37-39
Jesus WILL NOT cast out anyone who comes to Him. Jesus is doing God’s will which means that He WILL NOT lose anyone who has been given to Him. We know that God gives us to Jesus when we are saved.
- “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44
- “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” John 6:27
What does it mean that God seals us? According to Strong’s Greek “sealed” means, for security: from Satan. God sets a seal on us for security so that Satan can’t have us ever again.
- “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Eph 4:30
When God sets a seal on us it means that we are sealed unto the day of redemption. Period.
- “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matt 6:24
Either you are saved and serve God or you are lost and don’t serve God. There is no in between.
- “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Rom 6:15,16
We should either obey God or obey Satan. We can’t obey God be saved and then decide to obey Satan and become lost. If anyone decides to suddenly serve Satan and denounce God I would question whether that person was ever truly saved.
- “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Rev 3:15,16
- “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36 (see also: John 3:15,16)
If God tells us not to be lukewarm why then would He be lukewarm toward us? He does not say we are His son/daughter and then condemn us to hell every time we fall from His path. That would be lukewarm on his part.
- “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36
NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUTS!!
- “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” Matt 3:11 (c.f. Luke 3:16)
John the Baptist is speaking of Jesus. John baptized with water and he is telling the people that there is one who comes after him that will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. To me this means that there are two baptisms, a spiritual one (Holy Spirit and fire) and a physical one (water). What is fire? Fire is something that purifies. When you put metal in a fire it melts and burns out all the impurities to make it a shiny liquid. The fire does the same to our soul. It makes us pure and gives us a desire for God.
- “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Gal 3:27
When you are water baptized you are just professing to the world what happened to you on the inside. Water baptism does not save you. So if according to the scripture you’ve been baptized into Christ haven’t you been saved? You can’t put on Christ if you don’t know Him.
- “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:” 1 Pet 3:21
Water baptism does not save you. It says, “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh” which means not the physical washing of water. The water baptism is just an “answer of a good conscience toward God”. How? Because then you’ve shown the world what Christ did in you. So how does baptism save us? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus defeated death and now is alive with God in heaven and in the hearts of all his believers we can be saved from our sins!!!!
- “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” Eph 4:5
The words “Lord” and “faith” are both speaking of spiritual things, so then wouldn’t the word “baptism” also be speaking of a spiritual thing? There is only one baptism so this means you can only be saved once.
- “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” Ecc 3:14
I’d say that scripture pretty much says it all! If God saves you then you are saved forever, you by no means lose that blessing.
- “ Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:” Jude 1
Jude was speaking to believers (“them that are sanctified by God the Father”) and was saying that they were preserved.
The Difference between Sinning of the Flesh and Sinning in the Soul
So many people that believe you can lose your salvation don’t understand that there is a difference between sinning after you are saved and before you are saved. Again review how you can “lose” your salvation. They say that if you sin willfully and repetitively you lose your salvation and must “start over” so to speak. This is where the flesh and soul come in.
- “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21
So when you receive the word you are saved, but notice that it says save your souls. The soul is saved from hell.
- “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” James 5:20
When your saved, your soul is saved from death/hell.
So now that we know that our soul is saved when we accept Christ but can our soul sin after it is saved?
- “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” 1 John 3:9
Once your soul is saved that means you are born again. But, born of what?
- “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5
You have to be born of water (physically) and of the Spirit (spiritually) in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. When you are saved you become born of God, a.k.a reborn.
- “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
It’s pretty obvious that according to this scripture we will sin after we are saved. We know that our soul does not sin so what does?
- “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Rom7:17-25
Paul said that his flesh serves the law of sin, but his mind serves the law of God. So with our flesh we sin but with our soul we serve God. He said that it wasn’t him that sinned but the sin that dwells in his flesh.
- “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Rom 8:9
This just proves what Paul was saying when he said that it was the flesh that was sinning because we are not of the flesh but the Spirit.
- “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;” 1 Pet 2:11
Fleshly lusts are always warring against our souls trying to turn us away from God. Satan is never going to just give up on us. Since after we are saved he can no longer have our soul he is going to do anything he can to keep us from getting closer to God or spreading this Good News.
So, you might ask, am I saying that it is okay to sin after you are saved? NO!!!
- “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Rom 12:1,2
- “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Rom 13:14
- “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
All that I am saying is that when we do sin, we sin of the flesh and not of the soul. Therefore, we cannot lose our salvation by sinning after we are saved. It doesn’t matter what sin we have committed. David committed adultery, murder, and lied yet he was still a man after God’s own heart.
Some people when they have sinned such a horrendous sin think that they could never be forgiven again. Well that’s not true!
- “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10
There is no rating for sin. It dosen’t matter which one you committed your guilty of all.
False Conversions
Could it be true that some people who claim they are saved yet commit sins that they never repent of were never really saved? Yes.
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt 7:21-23 (see also: Luke 13:23-28)
These people are the ones who go to church and say “God Bless” yet never strive for a closer relationship with Christ. They have no personal relationship. They open their Bible on Sunday and maybe Wednesday but it lies on a shelf every other day of the week. I know these are bold statements to make and some might say that I am judging those people, but what does God’s word say?
- “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matt 7:15-20
Who are false prophets? People who come and claim they are servants of Christ but inwardly they are as evil as the world. Ye shall know them by their fruits. How do they live their lives? Do they sincerely repent after they sin? Are they studying at home and searching out God’s direction in their life? Or do they just go to church on Sunday and that is why they are a Christian?
There are other examples of people in God’s Word who claimed they were Christians and were not.
- “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” Rev 2:9
The people claimed that they were Jews but were inwardly ravening wolves.
- “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16
They say that they know God but “by their fruits shall ye know them”. And the fruits are that they deny Him!!
- "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:” Rev 2:2
- "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” 2 Cor 11:13
According to Strong’s Greek Concordance, the word “apostle” means, a delegate, messenger, or one sent forth with orders. Therefore, false apostles are people who claim to be from God but are not.
- “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ” 2 Tim 3:1-5
They certainly look like good God-fearing Christians having that form of godliness but they deny the power thereof… God.