In the previous post I showed how we can know that we are eternally secure. In this post, I am going to, for lack of a better term, play "Devil's Advocate" and go over some scriptures that those who believe you can lose your salvation cling to as proof text.
2 Peter 2:20-22
"20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."
Let's analyze these verses a little more closely. In verse 20 it says "they have escaped the pollutions of the world..". Note it does not say they are saved, just that they have escaped the pollution through knowledge of Jesus Christ (i.e. they heard the Gospel... heard but not fully believed and trusted). They know about Jesus Christ but they do not know Jesus Christ. Continue in verse 20. The word "entangled" is used. The word entangled literally means to weave something into a pattern. What happens is these people being referenced are weaving themselves a pattern and going deeper and deeper into bondage from false teaching. The 2nd chapter of 2 Peter is primarily about being weary of false teachers. When this happens to those people, the deeper bondage, they end up being worse off than if they had never heard about Jesus.
Remember the scripture in Luke 12:47-48 "47 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. 48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Since these people being talked about heard about Christ but never made the commitment to believe, they will suffer a worse fate than someone in the remote reaches of the world who has never heard of Jesus.
Reformation without Regeneration leads to greater Degradation and final Condemnation.
A classic example of this truth is Judas. Jesus said of Judas in Mark 14:21 "The Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born." Judas heard the truth. Judas reformed his life. Judas was a disciple of Jesus. He escaped the pollutions of the world for a while but his latter end was worse than his first.
Going back to the explicit examples in the text from 2 Peter, he is describing a dog and a hog. Jesus always referred to true believers as His sheep, never a dog or a hog. Peter gives the example of a dog who vomits, but then hates to leave a warm meal just lying on the ground so he returns later on to lap it up. You say, now that's disgusting. I know. Peter meant it to be that way to prove a point. Now that dog had something inside of it that made it upset to the stomach so he got rid of it. The dog may have felt better after getting rid of it, but it was still a dog... it was not changed!!!
Now for the hog or pig. Something about a pig. You can scrub it, use right guard, left guard, use the finest perfume, and put a pretty bow on it, but a pig will only stay clean for so long. At first opportunity, that pig is going to run back to the mire. Why? Because that is it's natural habitat.
So examine the illustrations Peter is using. The dog feels better, the pig looks better. The pig is cleaned up and the dog is cleaned out, but neither are changed. That is the main point Peter is making.
Here is another verse some might use to say you can lose your salvation.
Matthew 24:11-13
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Some will take this passage and say "see, you have to endure to the end to be saved." The problem with that theology is Jesus never said that. What Jesus is saying is that in order to endure to the end, you have to be saved. Without the power of the Holy Spirit in you to endure, you'll never make it until the end. Do you want to know who is saved? Those who endure unto the end. Again go back to the text in 1 John 2:19 that I mentioned in Part I of this subject. The fact that people don't last is the ear mark to prove they were never saved to begin with. People endure because they are saved, they aren't saved because they endure. Endurance is simply a characteristic of the saved.
A clear illustration of this is found in Luke 22:31-31 "31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." What is happening in this passage? Jesus tells Peter that He is praying for him and because He is praying for him, his faith will not fail; he will endure. Look at verse 32, when thou are converted. Converted here does not mean saved, Peter was already saved. Converted just means to turn around and get straightened out. Once Peter does that, he can help strengthen the brethren. We know that Peter did in fact endure. He may have cursed and swore and denied the Lord Jesus but he never ultimately forsook Jesus. Eternal security is like a gigantic rubber band that can be stretched. We may drift away for a short time, but God brings us back in. God's rubber band will NEVER break so that we could be lost.
In contrast, there is another person in this same chapter who did ultimately not endure because he never had believing faith. That person is Judas. Look in verses 47-48 "47 And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. 48But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" So we have Peter and Judas. Honestly, if we had been there in biblical times not knowing what we know now, if we had to guess which of them was saved we would all have said Judas. It would have had to been Judas. He was the treasurer after all and the person you appoint to be treasurer is the one you trust the most. Then you had poor Peter who was a mess. The only time he opened his mouth was to change feet. Just another example of not judging a book by it's cover. When Jesus told His disciples that one of them was going to betray Him, I doubt anyone thought it would be Judas. Question... did Judas endure? Of course not. He fell away, betrayed Jesus, hung himself and ultimately went to hell (because of his unbelief, not due to hanging himself. Suicide does not send you to hell). Look at John 6:64 "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him." And look also at verses 70-71 "70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve." So what's the point of all this? The point is Peter endured and Judas didn't. Why? Simply because Peter had faith and Judas did not. Judas never had Jesus praying for him that his faith would hold out because he never had faith to start with.
Let's look at another passage that some might use to try to prove you can lose your salvation. John 15:5-6 "5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples."
This passage has absolutely, positively nothing to do with salvation. This passage is talking about fruit bearing. Jesus is using a metaphor of a gardener who inspects his vines and trims away the dead limbs, the succors, the branches that don't bear fruit and prunes them. Well what do you do with a branch that is been cut off and is not good for anything else? You toss it in a brush pile with other limbs not bearing fruit and you burn it. Jesus is saying if we don't abide in Him, we are good for nothing Christians. We do no good for the Kingdom. As Christians we should all bear fruit. Here is a good lesson... never try to get your theology from a metaphor which is nothing more than an illustration. Our theology comes from the Epistles. There are truths that are taught using the metaphors and in this case the truth is that if we are going to bear fruit, we must abide in Christ. However, fruit bearing is not a mark of salvation. Most Christians will bear very little to no fruit. Most Christians will make it Heaven and that's about it. It's a sad fact, but most Christians do not serve the Lord or reach the lost.
Last but not least, there is one passage in particular that many will turn to as proof text that someone can lose their salvation. It is found in Hebrews 6:4-6 "4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."
The writer of Hebrews (I believe it is Paul but I won't fight you about it) is writing to those who are already saved. What this passage is basically saying is should someone fall away (not from salvation but fall away from living the Christian life) that they don't need to be saved again (i.e. Christ does not have to be crucified again). They simply need to get back to what they should be doing. The key is the phrase "renew them again to repentance". Repentance is the change of mind from anything that you believe will save you to believing the Gospel that only Christ's resurrection can save you. A person who is a believer has already had this repentance therefore it is impossible to renew them again to repentance because they have already repented in the believing sense of changing their mind about who Christ is. Paul is saying if you try to renew them to repentance, then Christ has to go back on the cross so we can start the whole process over again. By doing this, you put Christ to shame because you are telling Christ that His death on the cross the first time wasn't sufficient.
If you interpret this verse to be speaking about someone who has lost their salvation, then you would have to conclude that they are "screwed for life" because the text says it is impossible for them to come back to Christ. If you don't believe in "once saved, always saved" then you have to believe in once lost, twice lost".
I like to defer to someone if they can explain things better than I can and so I have copied part of an article written by the late Dr. Hank Lindstrom on this subject of Hebrew 6....
*********************************************
Notice that the passage is talking about those who are saved. There are five things said about them that demonstrate this truth:
First, "Those who were once enlightened" refers to a saved person or one who has seen "the light" of the Lord Jesus Christ. The same word "enlightened" is translated "illuminated" in Hebrews 10:32 and speaks of a saved individual.
Second, "tasted of the heavenly gift" refers to salvation. Romans 6:23 says, "The gift of God is eternal life." Ephesians 2:8 says that salvation "is the gift of God." The word "tasted" is used in Hebrews 2:9 saying Christ "tasted death for every man." We tasted of the heavenly gift in the same way Christ tasted death--that is, fully and completely.
Third, "We're made partakers of the Holy Ghost." The Bible teaches in Romans 8:9, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." In other words, if you don't have the Holy Spirit you are not saved. The moment a person trusts Christ as Saviour he or she partakes of the Holy Spirit. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you are unsaved.
Fourth, "Tasted the good Word of God." The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural (unsaved) man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Only the saved man can taste of the Word of God.
Fifth, "The powers of the world to come." Only the born-again man has experienced the power of God. Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes." A person who is born-again has experienced the power of God.
"If they shall fall away" is not referring to salvation but it is referring to the "Christian life"! Hebrews 6:1 tells us that the writer is speaking about things that accompany salvation. Hebrews 6:1 tells us that the writer is talking about maturity in the Christian life and not about how to be saved.
Well, what is Hebrews 6:6 talking about? Verse six is simply stating to Hebrew (Jewish) believers who were used to a yearly sacrifice that it was impossible for them to be saved again because "by ONE offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified [the believers in Christ] (Hebrews 10:14)." Hebrews 6:1 tells us that we cannot "lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God."
If a believer falls away from serving the Lord, the procedure is not to become saved again. That is impossible. It is impossible to "renew" them again unto repentance (the change of mind necessary to accept Christ as Saviour).
Hebrews 6:6 warns that if you try to become saved again all you do is crucify Jesus Christ afresh to yourself, thereby shaming Jesus Christ.
The Bible does not teach that one must be born again and again and again, etc. You can only be born-again once, never to be cast out (John 6:37) or lost (John 6:39). Salvation is complete and final. (Read John 5:24).
The solution for a believer fallen away from service to the Lord is to start serving again. We are encouraged by the words of Hebrews 6:10, that "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love." God will reward faithful service to him. (See I Corinthians 15:58).
************************************************
Generally speaking, if someone thinks they can lose their salvation they fall into 1 of 2 categories: 1) They are trusting in their works to save them and are not saved or 2) they misinterpret a discipleship verse for a salvation verse. Discipleship verses talk about how we can either lose or gain rewards and fellowship with God based on how we live our daily lives. Salvation verses talk about how we can live eternally based on what Jesus did on the cross alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment