Subject: Can you lose your salvation? |
Bible Note: Mike, the issues you raise are far more encompassing and involve a great deal more than the exegesis of one isolated verse. When we attempt to construct a doctrine as vital as the doctrine of the perseverence of the saints in Christ (eternal security of the believer) from a single verse, we subject ourselves to the overwhelming probability of grave error. To interpret 1 John 5:16 in the manner that you have attempted is to place it in direct contradiction of a large number of passages of Scripture. For your reference and as proof for this statement, please see John 5:24; 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom.5:9-10; 8:1, 31-39; 1 Cor. 1:4-9; Eph.4:30; Heb.7:25; 13:5; 1 Pet.1:4,5; Jude 24. ..... In examining Scripture on the topic of salvation, or any other topic, we must have the mind-set ever before us that God is absolutely sovereign. It is He alone who chooses to save us and who provides the means for salvation..... By the way, the "sin unto death" of 1 John 5:16 may be exegeted as follows, this exegesis being the most likely explanation among four or five that have been advanced, since it comes nearer in fitting the context of the entire book of 1 John: The sin of apostasy is in view. An apostate is one who has heard the great truths of the Christian faith. He has become intellectually convinced that Jesus is the Christ. He has even made a confession of Christianity. But he has never been truly regenerated (saved). Having tasted the good fruits of Christianity, he totally renounces them and repudiates the Lord Jesus. In Hebrews 6 we learn that this is sin that leads to death. There is no escape for those who commit this sin inasmuch as they "crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame." (Heb.6:6). In this entire Epistle, John has been speaking with false teachers in view, notably and most likely the Gnostics. These false teachers had once been in the Christian fellowship, professing to be believers. Having known the facts of the faith, they turned their backs on the Lord Jesus and embraced a teaching that both denied His Deity and the sufficiency of His atoning work. They followed a convoluted theology that replaced grace through faith with their own concepts of the means of salvation. --Hank |