By Bob Vaughn - uca@uncommonanswers.com
"Contending for the faith once delivered to the saints"
Uncommon Answers Home Page
ETERNAL SECURITY
"Eternal security", being free from the possibility of falling from a
spiritually "saved" condition into a spiritually "lost" condition, is a
mythical state. Belief in it is used by some as a license to sin. The
blood of Jesus, the one who made the "saved" position possible, has
never been a friend to sin. but a destroyer of sin. Some, though not
all, who advocate eternal security teach that once a man is saved no
matter how wicked he becomes he is still saved.
First,
let's examine scriptures most used in defending eternal security:
1. 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." -- Some who teach eternal security say that since
no man can pluck the sheep from the Father's hand that they are
forever there, but this is not so. In verse 27 Jesus said that His
sheep follow Him. Can a drunkard be a sheep of Jesus? Is he following
Jesus? Some eternal security teachers say he can be. In which case
Jesus would have had to be a drunkard, or a liar to make such a
statement. The drunkard may have in the past been a sheep of Jesus, in
the Father's hand. When sin came he ceased to be a sheep of Jesus for
he ceased to follow Him. Therefore, he was no longer in the Father's
hand. No man plucked him from the Father's hand; he sinned and the
Father plucked him away, for God is holy. Notice also that the gift of
eternal life is conditional to following Him. Only as we follow Him do
we have eternal life; just as only as a sheep follows the shepherd does
he have the good things the shepherd gives. Eternal life is ours as we
follow Jesus.
2. Romans 8:38-39:
"For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -- Some say that this passage
teaches "nothing" can separate you from God. The scriptures say
differently. Isaiah 59:2 --"But your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you." Romans
8:38-39 teaches that no power, no circumstance, no creature can
separate you from God's love in Christ. However, sin and iniquity will
separate you from God. A man can say that no power, no circumstance or
no creature can separate him from his wife's love. Although he may of
his own free will separate himself from his wife by leaving. Likewise,
a saved man can say no power, no circumstance, or no creature can
separate him from God's love but he can of his own free will separate
himself from God by sinning. God will still love him as He loves all lost
men. God's loving you doesn't mean you are saved. "For God so loved the
world" - saved and lost. Notice also that it is "God's love in Christ
Jesus" that nothing can separate you from. God loves even the lost, but
He has a special love for His children -- those in Christ Jesus. As we stay in
Jesus nothing can separate us from God's special love.
3. 1 Peter 1:5:
"Who are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time." -- Some major on the scripture portion "kept
by the power of God" -- which is a great thought, but not the complete
thought in the verse. The keeping power of God comes only through
faith. When we cease to have faith we cease to be kept by the power
of God.
As we can now see
these verses don't teach eternal security. Also, in the light of other
scriptures numerous contradictions arise when these verses are rendered
to teach eternal security . Let's examine some scriptures that
contradict eternal security:
1. II Peter 2:20-21:
"For if after they
have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and
overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For
it had been better for them not to have know the way of righteousness,
than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. But it is happened to them according to the
true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the pig
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." -- These verses are so
clear. They
put the backslider in his place -- on the way to hell. A saved man,
having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be entangled in them again. This has
happened to most of us. But, only
when he is again overcome by the pollutions (sin) of the world,
does he find himself in a worse condition than had he never been saved.
There is a difference in being entangled and being overcome. For the
man who is overcome it would have been better for him to have never
known the way of
righteousness, than to have known it and turned from it. For now he is
"trodding under foot the Son of God" (Hebrews 10:29).
2. Hebrews 10:26-29:
"For if we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, supposed
ye, shall he be thought worthy who has trodden under foot the Son of
God, and counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit
of grace." -- These verses also are very clear to the sincere reader. A
man, sanctified by the truth and by the blood of Jesus, who
sins willfully, will
find that there remains no more sacrifice for his sin. The blood of
Jesus stops working for him. He therefore has
nothing ahead but fiery indignation and judgment unless he repents.
3. Romans 3:25:
"Whom God has set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for sins that are past, through the forbearance
of God." -- Some teach that when salvation
happens sins are forgiven -- past, present and future. The scriptures
teach
differently, as can be seen in this verse. Through faith we receive
forgiveness for sins that are past.
4. 1 John 3:7-10:
"Little children, let
no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous,
even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil;
for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of
God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 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. In this the children of
God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother." -- Don't be deceived by those who say a man can live like the
devil and still be a child of God, for "in this the children of God are
manifest...whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God." The man
who practices sin is of the devil. The scriptures are so clear. If a
man is born of God he does not live in willful sin sin. If he sins
willfully, he dies spiritually and
must repent.
5. 1 John 1:5-8:
"This then is the
message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us
from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us." -- I believe the light is knowledge of the
truth;
and the darkness is iniquity. Only as we walk in the light
(truth) does the blood of Jesus cleanse us from all sin. No one can
honestly say that they have no sin. All have sinned (Romans
3:23). But sin can either be forgiven or unforgiven. No one walking
with God has any unforgiven sin in his life (1 John 3:9).
