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Results from: Answers On or After: Thu 12/31/70 Author: deang Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | can you lose your salvation | Bible general Archive 1 | deang | 17773 | ||
A very difficult question and volumes have been written concerning it. It is like the question of the unforgivable sin. I tell people - if you are worried that you have done it - then you have not. The apostates do not worry if they have offended God. It is only us who love Him, who go around all stressed out whether we have done the unforgivable. There is certainly much in the NT about 'falling away'. Paul says in Galatians 5:3,4 of those considering circumcision, that if they cave in, would be put back under the bondage of The Law and obligated to keep the whole thing (salvation through the following of ceremonial aspects of the Law, i.e. sacrifices) - and clearly says of those trying to be justified this way: "You have been severed from Christ...you have fallen from grace". 2 Peter 2:20-22 speaks of false prophets who "entice by fleshly desires..." and says of those deceived by their teachings: "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT, and, A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire." I Corinthians 10:1-12 speaks of those who followed Moses out of Egypt, about how they set their hearts on things that were evil, about how all the things that happened to them were written for our benefit so we would not make the same mistakes, and ends by saying "...let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall." And of course Hebrews is chock full of warnings from beginning to end. Chapter 2 warns to "pay attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it." The writer says, "every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty", and then asks - "how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" All of Hebrews chapter 4 is of interest and should be read several times though. Chapter 6:4-6 of course says it so plainly that there is simply no room for argument. Chapter 10:26-31 also has something to say. Verses 28 - 29 especially deserve comment: " Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? Now whatever one decides about verse 26, there is simply no wiggle room with these two verses. For whatever we decide - we can clearly see that disobeying Moses brought death - but turning our backs on Christ once we have known him, brings something worse than death. Many commentators have written some very strange words regarding all of the above mentioned passages. Much of what is written I can't even understand. I can only say that to the simple minded the meanings are clear enough. The basic message is always this: If others can fall, so can you - and if this is not true it certainly begs the question: If one cannot fall away - then why bother with all of the warnings about it? God wants to see us engaged in the great struggle against sin. God understands what we are going through and how plain weak we are. James says we stumble in many ways and John says that there is sin that does not lead to death. We also have God's promise that no one can snatch us from his hand. I think the idea here is Apostasy - a complete falling away. Telling God to take a hike. Many people see backsliding and falling away as being the same thing. I can't accept that - I mean, just about every person in the Bible backslid from time to time - but God always restored them. Then there are those like Esau and Judas, who harden themselves to God - can't even hear Him anymore. At any rate - if your heart can still grieve over your 'fallen' state - then you have not fallen away. |
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