Biblical Logos Blog

One of the doctrinal controversies is the question about whether salvation can be lost. There are a couple of predominate camps that use Biblical passages to argue their point. One camp says you can lose your salvation, another camp says scripture does not allow for that.

In my own study, I have leaned towards eternal security. That is the camp that says salvation is an eternal gift. I came to that determination through applying Biblical rules for interpretation or hermeneutics. The hermeneutic called the Analogy of Faith in particular leads me to that conclusion.

 Scripture should be interpreted in light of other Scripture, assuming a general harmony and consistency in its teachings, with unclear passages interpreted through clearer ones. 

The clear passages in the Bible seem to teach that the gift of salvation is eternal. Words like “we are sealed until the day of redemption”, seem to prevent any other option for salvation. The issue that causes arguments and debate among believers are statements which seem to imply you can “fall away” from faith. That then, you cannot then be restored. One of my favorite Bible scholars is Dr. Andy Woods. His YouTube ministry had a series on salvation and addressed this question. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a playlist with this teaching on his site. Another person on YouTube collected this teaching into a playlist which you can refer to.

Dr. Any Woods teaching was spread across a few dozen videos. Sharing all of them in a blog post would be too much. I have used the video transcripts and some AI tools to summarize his main points below.

Combined Summary of Eternal Security and Related Passages

This document summarizes the discussion of the doctrine of eternal security (“once saved, always saved”) and related biblical passages. The core idea is that those genuinely saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ are eternally secure and cannot lose their salvation. This view is contrasted with Arminianism (which teaches salvation can be lost) and a strict Calvinist view (which emphasizes perseverance to prove salvation). Both opposing views are criticized for potentially leading to fear and a lack of assurance among believers.

Key arguments presented for eternal security include:

• Salvation by Grace, Not Works: Salvation is received through grace, not self-righteousness, and therefore cannot be maintained or lost through works. Passages like Galatians 3:3, Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 55:8-9, and Isaiah 64:6 are used to support this.
  • Galatians 3:3 (ESV): “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”  
  • Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV): “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  
  • Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV): “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  
  • Isaiah 64:6 (ESV): “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”  

• Eternal Life is Truly Eternal: The promise of “eternal life” in Scripture (John 3:16, John 5:24, 1 John 5:13, Romans 16:26) indicates a salvation that lasts forever, just as God is eternal.
  • John 3:16 (ESV): “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  
  • John 5:24 (ESV): “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”  
  • 1 John 5:13 (ESV): “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”  
  • Romans 16:26 (ESV): “but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—”  

• God’s Promises are Unbreakable: God cannot lie, and His promises are trustworthy. Passages like Numbers 23:19, Romans 3:4, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18, and Hebrews 10:23 are cited.
  • Numbers 23:19 (ESV): “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”  
  • Romans 3:4 (ESV): “By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.””  
  • 2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV): “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”  
  • Titus 1:2 (ESV): “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began—”  
  • Hebrews 6:18 (ESV): “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”  
  • Hebrews 10:23 (ESV): “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”  

• God’s Power to Keep: Believers are kept secure by God’s power. Passages like John 10:28-29 and Jude 1:24 are used.
  • John 10:28-29 (ESV): “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”  
  • Jude 1:24 (ESV): “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,”  

• The Holy Spirit’s Sealing: Ephesians 1:13-14 and Ephesians 4:30 describe the Holy Spirit’s sealing as a guarantee of future redemption.
  • Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV): “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”  
  • Ephesians 4:30 (ESV): “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”  

• Predestination and Glorification: Romans 8:29-30 teaches that believers are predestined for glorification, which is seen as a certainty from God’s perspective.
  • Romans 8:29-30 (ESV): “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”  

• Believers Are Already Overcomers: Believers are considered overcomers through Christ, as described in Romans 8:37, John 16:33, and 1 John 5:4-5.
  • Romans 8:37 (ESV): “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  
  • John 16:33 (ESV): “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  
  • 1 John 5:4-5 (ESV): “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  

• The Nature of a Gift: Salvation is presented as a gift, and requiring works to maintain it contradicts its nature as a gift.
• Impossibility of Reversal: Concepts such as spiritual birth, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16), and union with Christ are presented as realities that cannot be undone.
  • John 14:16 (ESV): “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”  

Addressing Passages That Seem to Deny Eternal Security:

The document then addresses several passages that are often used to argue against the doctrine of eternal security. It provides interpretations of these passages that are consistent with the idea that salvation is secure:

• Old Testament Passages: Passages like those related to Adam and Eve, Nadab and Abihu, Korah’s rebellion, and Joshua 24:20 are interpreted as dealing with divine discipline or God’s dealings with the nation of Israel under the Mosaic Covenant, not with loss of personal salvation.
• Matthew’s Gospel: Passages like Matthew 6:14-15, Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 8:11-12, Matthew 24:13, and Matthew 25:41 are interpreted in their specific contexts, arguing that they are not about loss of salvation but about issues like fellowship with God, warnings to unbelieving false teachers, or events related to the Tribulation period.
  • Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV): “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  
  • Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV): “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”  
  • Matthew 8:11-12 (ESV): “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  
  • Matthew 24:13 (ESV): “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”  
  • Matthew 25:41 (ESV): “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”  

• Pauline Epistles: Passages from Paul’s letters, such as Galatians 5:4, Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 8:13, 1 Corinthians 8:11, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, 1 Corinthians 11:27-32, and 1 Corinthians 15:2, are interpreted as dealing with issues of Christian living, rewards, and divine discipline, not with loss of salvation.
  • Galatians 5:4 (ESV): “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”  
  • Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV): (Works of the flesh)  
  • Romans 8:13 (ESV): “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  
  • 1 Corinthians 8:11 (KJV): “And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?”  
  • 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV): (Paul’s analogy of running a race for a prize)  
  • 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (ESV): (Paul’s instructions on partaking of communion)
  • 1 Corinthians 15:2 (ESV): “and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”  

• Hebrews: The warning passages in Hebrews, such as Hebrews 2:1-4, Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-39, and Hebrews 12:25-29, are interpreted as warnings to believers about the consequences of immaturity and turning away from the full revelation of Christ, not about loss of salvation.
  • Hebrews 2:1-4 (ESV): “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”  
  • Hebrews 6:4-6 (ESV): “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”  
  • Hebrews 10:26-39 (ESV): (Warning against willful sin and its consequences)  
  • Hebrews 12:25-29 (ESV): (Warning against refusing Him who is speaking)  

• 1 John: Passages in 1 John are interpreted as tests for fellowship among believers, not tests for initial salvation. 1 John 1:3-4 is presented as the purpose statement of the book.
  • 1 John 1:3-4 (ESV): “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”  

• Alternative Views: The document also addresses and critiques alternative views like universalism and inclusivism. It argues that these views are unbiblical and have negative consequences for evangelism and missions.

Importance of Context: Throughout the document, the importance of context and careful exegesis is emphasized for proper biblical interpretation.