Can you lose your salvation?

Recently, a learned brother in Christ , and also an avowed Wesleyan Arminian; challenged me once again on the doctrine on whether salvation can be lost. For 5-point Calvinists like myself, we believe that our sovereign God who has done a work of grace by calling us to him will not let us fall away irredeemably. He will preserve us to end. We call this point the “Preservation of Saints” , the “P” in TULIP.

As an Arminian, his contention is that this salvation is not certain. It can be lost due to the lack of judicious cultivation of one’s salvific faith. Or maybe just stumbling back into sin. the His proof text used was from Hebrews 6:4-6, which states:

“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have been enlightened, who 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 again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt”

A-ha! ‘So one can fall away!’ said my antagonist confidently. On the surface, it sure looks like that. Those referred to seem to have all the hallmarks of a believer, seen all the things associated with that of a follower of Christ, and sadly had backslided away; beyond redemption

It is a tough passage no doubt, but then again, what does one make of another verse that seems to contradict that?

“ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
- John 10:27-29 (ESV) –

Or this:

“even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will”
- Ephesians 1:4-5 –

Notice the phrase “ no one is able to snatch them out”. That means nobody, not Satan, not your beer loving friends or a night in Vegas; no one can snatch you from the Father once he has called you

This does not mean that you do not sin. After justification, we are still works in progress. This is the process of santification, but we will not be sinless until we are in heaven where there is no sin.

The confusion, I believe, comes from a view of salvation as a one time event where you get your ticket punched as though you were about to board a train. This is the present view of salvation in the evangelical church. You put your hand up, and accept Christ. Thereafter, you strive to be good, but if you’re not, you might backslide so much that you lose your place on the train. God takes your ticket, so to speak

Look at Ephesians. We are chosen before we even ‘decided’ to go up for that altar call. That aligning of your heart’s compass needle to the true north of the Godhead is a work of the Holy Trinity indeed. It is the Holy Spirit, regenerating your mortally depraved soul, pointing to the Son as the atoning sacrifice for your sins and bringing you to your knees in repentance before the Cross. Redeemed from your sins by his blood, you have a righteousness not of your own, that of Christ, and through that, the Father calls you his own – from the very start

It’s the ultimate love story

To solve the issue of Hebrew, one should look at the literary effect being outlined here in that passage. The key phrase is the use of an absolute proposition : “It is impossible..” By doing so, he is stating the absurdity of a certain situation happening. And the example put forward is a question as to whether someone who is a believer can fall away

The manner in which it is answered is telling. The author’s premise is:

1) It is possible to “taste the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come..”
2) But once you experience all that, how is it possible that you can fall away?
3) For it should be impossible for you to do that, but if you do, then maybe you haven’t really “tasted the goodness of God”
4) Thus, those who claim all that and still fall away…were not truly saved in the first place

This is sobering thought. But it does make sense in the light of other cautionary passages such as Philippians 2:12 which tells you to “..work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. It means work on your sanctification, know that you are justified but if there is no display of sanctifying behavior, in other words, your deeds do not follow your words – then brother, sister: I think you have a serious problem here saying that you are justified

Thus, my problem with the Arminian view. If Jesus says that he will “give them eternal life and they will never perish”, how come some seem to do just that in Hebrews? This gives us the unsavory possibility of having to call our Lord a liar; which he definitely is not. But the author of Hebrews in not telling tales as well, which leads us to the position that there are those who look, smell and taste like a follower of Christ; but they are not of him. Again, we do well to heed the verse that says:

“ Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven”

Or in my vernacular, putting a tuxedo on a goat still makes it a goat.

SDG