Can We Lose Our Salvation?

Many Christians think that believers are not able to lose their salvation. These Christians say that believers can sin and appear to fall away, but God will always bring them back to His grace. They call this “eternal security.” They say, “Once saved, always saved.”

Many other Christians, however, think that believers can indeed reject God and lose their salvation. God will try to bring them back, but if they persist in rejecting Him, God will not force them to accept salvation again (see General Article: Salvation-God’s Choice or Man’s Choice?).

Scripture does not give a clear answer to this question of eternal security. Some verses of the Bible seem to say we cannot lose our salvation, while other verses seem to say that we can.

Those Christians who think that believers cannot reject God or lose salvation point to the many verses that speak of God giving eternal and everlasting life (see John 3:16; 6:54; 11:26). Jesus said that He gave His sheep eternal life, and that “they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Jesus said that He will never drive away those who come to Him, and that He will not lose any that the Father has given Him (John 6:37,39). Paul said that nothing would be able to separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39), and that we have been marked with the HOLY SPIRIT who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephesians 1:14). God who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). God is able to keep what we have given to Him (2 Timothy 1:12), rescue us from temptation (2 Peter 2:9), and keep us from falling (Jude 24). From these verses we can see the believer’s security.

But those Christians who think that believers can lose their salvation point to all the warning passages, such as: he who stands firm to the end will be saved (Mark 13:13). They also point to 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:21-23; Hebrews 3:6,12; 10:35-36. They point to Jesus’ words in John 15:1-6 that anyone who does not abide in Christ is like a branch that is thrown away and … thrown into the fire. Paul said in Romans 11:22 that the GENTILES who did not continue in God’s mercy and grace will be cut off. Paul told the Galatians that those believers who were returning to the Old Testament LAW had fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:1-4). Jesus Himself, while explaining the parable of the sower, said that some “believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away” (Luke 8:13). Paul noted that some will abandon the faith (1 Timothy 4:1). The writer of Hebrews pointed to the danger facing those who have shared in the Holy Spirit or who have been sanctified by the blood of Christ but who later reject Christ (Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:28-29,39). The New Testament gives other similar warnings (2 Peter 2:20-21; Revelation 3:5; 22:19). These Christians ask why these warnings were given if it were not possible to lose our salvation.

John wrote that the antichrists of the church age went out from us, but they did not really belong to us … their going showed that none of them belonged to us that is, none of them belonged to the church (1 John 2:19). Those who think that believers cannot lose salvation say that none of those who later fall away were ever true believers to begin with. Those, on the other hand, who think that believers can lose salvation say that some who fall away were previously true believers and some were not; those who were true believers later rejected Christ and no longer belonged to us. We must be careful about judging who is a false Christian and who is a true Christian (Matthew 7:1-2). And we must not be proud and say that we ourselves will never fall. Paul says that if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). John also wrote: See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father (1 John 2:24).

Thus we see that some verses in the New Testament support the idea that a believer cannot lose his salvation, and other verses support the idea that he can lose it. Surely we must be seeing here two sides of a great truth, which our human minds cannot fully grasp. God’s wisdom is greater than ours.

Someone has said that believers need to hold in balance both of these truths. For the believer who is anxious about his salvation, one should emphasize the truth that his salvation is secure. Whereas for the believer who is overly confident that he cannot fall, one should emphasize the truth that he can indeed fall. Here again, we can see the depth and richness of the Bible. The Bible meets the needs of every man and woman.

In 1 John 5:16-17, we are instructed not to pray for a brother (a Christian) who has committed a sin that leads to death. John may be referring to spiritual death. However, he could be referring instead to the physical death of a sinning Christian brother whose spirit will not be lost (see 1 Corinthians 5:5). If John is referring here to spiritual death, then this verse would support those who think that a believer can lose his salvation. But John does not say what that kind of sin actually is.

It could be that this “sin that leads to death” is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said will not be forgiven (Mark 3:28-29). Notice that Jesus did not say whether or not a Christian can commit this sin. However, the writer of Hebrews talks of the possibility, at least, that a former true believer (one who has shared in the Holy Spirit) can reject God and publicly disgrace the Lord. It is impossible … if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance (Hebrews 6:4-6). Later, in Hebrews Chapter 10, the writer says: If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left (Hebrews 10:26). He then points again to former believers who have been sanctified by Jesus’ blood and who have trampled the Son of God and insulted the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29). It would seem, then, that whoever rejects God’s Spirit and keeps on sinning will not be able to listen to God’s voice in the end, and his chance for salvation will be lost forever. When men keep on sinning after knowing better, their hearts become hardened. They not only cannot hear the voice of God; God may stop calling to them as well.⁵

Many Christians think that a believer also can fall away and keep on rejecting the call of Christ until the same state is reached, and they further believe that these verses (Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:26-31) warn of that possibility. But other Christians think that true believers will not reach that final lost state; rather, they will always repent and fully believe again before they die.

All Christians believe that we are saved only by the grace and mercy of God through FAITH in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). All Christians also believe that we are able to continue in that faith only by the help of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:3). However, from New Testament times until now, Christians have had different opinions about whether or not a true believer can lose his salvation. The Bible does not give an unequivocal teaching on this subject. Therefore, whatever view we hold, we must not allow our opinion to separate us from our Christian brothers and sisters who may think differently on this question. We can see these two opinions about losing our salvation expressed side by side in Jude. In verse 21 Jude writes: Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. In verse 24 Jude points to God who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.

¹ A few of the articles, however, deal with non-controversial cardinal doctrines—in particular, the General Articles entitled Jesus Christ, The Way of Salvation, and The Holy Spirit.

² In other words, all heresies are incorrect ideas. But not all incorrect ideas are heresies. Many incorrect ideas do not make salvation impossible. They may simply be a mistaken interpretation of a secondary doctrine.

³ The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language.

⁴ For further discussion of God’s calling, see General Article: God’s Plans for the Unreached, in The Applied Old Testament Commentary.

⁵ For further discussion of hardened hearts, see General Article: God’s Plans for the Unreached, in The Applied Old Testament Commentary.