Bible Question:
Hi, I would like some help on answering a friend's question. She believes one can loose their salvation and I've been trying to do a study that tells her you can't loose your salvation once you are really born again into the family of God. Can you help? Thanks! |
Bible Answer: Well, at the very least you can see I was right on target about the breadth and depth of this controversy although I must admit I didn't dream it would happen so much in such a short time. However, I too will also concede that throughout God's Word there are some verses that seem to support the Con side of this question while I have already stated I support the Pro side. I'll elaborate. But first of all, I wanted to introduce to you my latest addition to my library. The title is "Bible Commentary" of the King James version. The main reason for my showcasing it like this is the extensive list of unbiased writers and reviewers on the team that put it together. There's a total of 21 persons on this team but I just wanted to describe a few of the more prominent. 1) James A Borland, Th.D. from Grace Theological, BA from LA Baptist 2) Charles L. Feinberg, Ph.D. John Hopkins Univ and MA from Southern Methodist Univ 3) Edward E. Hindson, Th.D. from Trinity Graduate School and MA from Trinity Evangelical Divinity 4) Daniel R. Mitchell, Th.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary and former Professor of Theology at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary Like I mentioned there are many, many more but suffice it to say they cover the whole spectrum of Bible topics and modern denominations so I was reasonably assured that their opinions are at least worth a second look. I'll be quoting from this book quite a bit in the balance of this post and in future posts. So I would cite from 1 John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. John goes on to describe this process placing an equal amount of emphasis on the horizontal relationship with our fellow christians so as to maintain a proper vertical relationship with God our father, 1 Jn 2:11. From the Commentary: "John may have come right to the point; he is probably dealing with a real situation where there are those who claim that you can have fellowship with God and live andy way you please. Exactly this situation had existed earlier and occasioned the wirting of II Peter and Jude. More sophistication had probably been added, but these false teachers or incipient gnostics showed signs of having the same warped logic which would permit practicing known and willful sin." Next I would cite Paul's side of the story from 1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. Commentary: "From the original Greek, 'buffet my body' meant a tremendous amount of abuse. Paul's Corinthian readers knew that in the Isthmian games, the boxers wore gloves consisting of ox-hide bands covered with knots and nails and loaded with lead and iron. To prepare for such an event, a man would have to steel himself against all forms of physical abuse." So we see here that even Paul had to bring his body into submission lest he fall from grace. If Paul could fall, don't you know any and all christians since his time could do the same. At this point, I must get some sleep. I'll continue this dialouge tomorrow. God bless. --Rowdy |