Subject: Eternal Security? |
Bible Note: Greetings Lionstrong! I appreciate your response! I have a lot of respect for the Westminister Confession. However, it is a summary of man's belief about what the Bible says, not the Bible. So, I would appeal to it or not, much like I would a commentator's or denominational opinion. My I claify as well that I don't believe in salvation by works. Even if the conditional clauses do indicate that one can reject salvation, they still would not teach salvation by works. The question would be one of abiding or not. You made some good points from other Scriptures, with which I would agree. However, you never really dealt with the conditional nature of these three passages. Conditions logically have opposites. If I say to you, "If you work hard, I will hire you". The implied converse to that statement would be, "If you do not work hard, I will not hire you". Even the example you used from 2 Cor. 13:5 had a conditional statement attached to it, "...unless indeed you fail the test?". 1 Cor. 15:1-2 seems to make the condition very clear. Paul says, 1) You are saved by this Gospel.... 2) If you hold firmly to the word I preached.... 3) Otherwise, you have believed in vain. Col. 1:23 says that we will be presented holy before God, "...If you continue in the faith". Doesn't this mean that it is possible not to continue in the faith? If not, why say it? I respect your viewpoint, I was just curious as to how the different theological perspectives deal with the "if" statements. In my opinion, a theological perspective needs to be able to account for all of the statements of Scripture. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |