ETERNAL SECURITY IN CHRIST AND THE NECESSARY TENSION OF ASSURANCE AND DOUBT One of the persistent controversies within the Church throughout its history concerns the issue of whether or not it is possible for a genuinely redeemed and regenerate individual to fall out of a state of grace back into a state of condemnation. Put simply, can one who has received eternal life ever loose it and ultimately be lost? Obviously there are at least two sides to this debate. Both major sides (and the ones that attempt to carve out a niche between them…) try to make an airtight Scriptural case for themselves. But there can be only one correct answer to such a question, though the qualifiers could be virtually endless. In the final analysis, one either can or cannot be lost again after truly being regenerated. If regeneration can be demonstrated as something that happens within the saved person at the point of true conversion, and not something that happens after this life has ended and assessed, all the in-between answers are nullified. My own opinion is that the answer is a resounding unqualified NO. It is impossible, according to Scripture, for a truly saved individual to ever again be lost. That being said, I believe there are many cases in which one who is thought to be a saved person by others, (and perhaps even himself or herself…) but who was never in fact a regenerate believer. No knowledgeable person in this debate will say that it’s impossible for one who professes Christian faith to afterward walk away from it. We all know of too many examples where people have undeniably suffered such lapses. Those who believe in the possibility of loosing one’s salvation will see the “never was a true Christian” position as a cop-out. But an honest reading of the following material will show that it isn’t. THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL SECURITY The eternal security of the believer, if it is true, is an OBJECTIVE truth. That is, it’s truth or falsehood is independent of what we feel about it or what we think our experiences tell us. If it’s true, it’s true because that’s how God arranged it. So we must base our answer completely upon this question: Does the Bible teach such a doctrine? There are several Scriptural angles from which we can see this. The purpose of this article is not to be exhaustive in dealing with each. But the hub to which all the others connect is the fact that every one of those God has certainly foreknown, predestined, called and justified will be just as certainly glorified. (Romans 8:29,30) In God’s eternal counsels these are already established facts. One of the implications is that not one person who is truly saved can ever afterward truly be lost, since that would break a plainly unbreakable chain of connected. Later in the same chapter of Romans, Paul writes that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The love of which he writes isn’t the general love of God for the world as a whole. If it were, what should we make of the final judgement? No one who is the object of God’s love will ever be consigned to darkness of an eternal hell. God will shed no tears when he declares to the wicked on that day, “Depart from Me… I never knew you…” Indeed, how could God even say He never knew someone who was once saved but then was lost again? So we are presented with two radically distinct groups in God’s mind and in His purpose: Group One The first group is made up of those who are lost and never come to a point of repentance and faith in Christ, and, as Jesus said, would “die in their sins…”. This group inevitably follows the natural inclinations of their hearts, which cannot even desire spiritual good, (as God defines it…) because the fall has broken the ability to do so. That’s why our condition is so desperate. When was the last time you saw a dead person even ask to be resuscitated? We all are, by default, part of the condemned group apart from His electing grace… Group Two: God has known from before time began who is in the redeemed group. Their inclusion isn’t because He foresaw they would come to Christ of their own free will, but because He determined for reasons only He knew to intervene and step into their path and give them a new heart, giving them the desire to come to Him. As unpopular as this idea is to many (perhaps even most…) professing Christians, it is what the Bible plainly teaches to those willing to accept it. Hearing the gospel does not in and of itself make a person a Christian. But when a person hears, and the hearing is mixed with faith, which is a gift from God, the result is conversion – regeneration. This initial response is the point at which the person’s election becomes visible. Group Three: You will notice I initially said there were only two groups, and now I’m saying there’s a third… Well, this is because the third group is made up of people who are really part of one or the other of the two first groups. This third group is indeterminate. There is a sense in which all of us are in this group, mostly owing to the fact that the heart of man is so deceitful that it’s often not satisfied to fool other people. Sometimes it fools itself. So Scripture tells us not to be satisfied with the memory of a fixed event in our past as proof of our right standing before God. It tells us to examine and test ourselves to see if there’s a case that could be made from the direction of our lives that God has indeed changed our hearts. “A transaction with Jesus in the past that has no ongoing expression in our lives was a false transaction. When Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31), he meant that if we don’t abide, we are not truly his disciples. And the opposite of true disciples is false disciples. That’s what we are if we count on past experiences without ongoing devotion to Jesus” -John Piper It may be asked why it matters whether we’re careful about this or not. The truth is that any particular person is either in or out anyway, and nothing a person can do will cause him or her to be elect if it were not so from eternity past anyway. This argument mirrors the objection William Carrey met among the hyper-Calvinist churchmen of his day who said if God wanted to convert the heathen, He could do so without missionaries. Carrey’s answer to them is the same answer I offer here: The gospel is the means by which God calls sinners to Christ. He chose the individuals, and He chose the means. The application to our question is this: Is not a warning to those who are perhaps comfortable in their false assurance a vital part of the gospel? Isn’t warning about the dangers of trusting in a placebo as a cure for a disease part of the doctor’s obligation to the sick? Telling someone that there is safety from God’s righteous wrath only in being in Christ is good. But part of that is insuring that the person know what being in Christ is, and what it is not. The flip-side of this, and one with which we should be at least as concerned, is that it does the cause of Christ no good to have large numbers of professing Christians, the greater part of whom give no outward evidence of it, and yet are accepted by most as genuine. How is Christ glorified in a sinner who is resolved to continue living like a sinner, with no concern for honoring his professed Lord and King? More than that, how is Jesus glorified by His Church telling someone in this state that he or she still might be a Christian, though perhaps a backslider or “carnal” believer? Our problem is that, until the separation takes place at the final judgement, there can and must always be some measure of doubt in our minds about to which group any given individual (including ourselves…) belongs. I know a lot of people will balk at that statement. Doesn’t God WANT us to know that we know that we know? Let me put it like this: It isn’t presumption for us to say that we trust fully in the mercy of God shown in the atoning work of salvation, and that we see ourselves as the recipients of this mercy because God has awakened us to faith in Christ. But it is presumption for us to say that it’s impossible that we might have deceived ourselves into thinking we’ve partaken of Christ because of something other than a genuine trust in Him. To illustrate this, does anyone doubt that Judas, while he was among the disciples, was accepted as one of them, even though God knew from eternity that he would be the one who betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver? Does anyone think that Judas knew all along that, rather than being faithful to Jesus to the end, would betray Him for the price of a slave? When Jesus told the disciples plainly, “One of you is going to betray Me,” they didn’t all stand up and say, “I bet it’s that dirty rat, Judas!” No, they all started asking, “Is it I?” Judas wasn’t an obviously devious plotting wretch. He was trusted with the moneybag, from which he stole – probably often. Even then, I suspect he made convenient excuses for his actions. The one thing I think he seemingly didn’t do was consider seriously that he was, in his heart of hearts, desperately in need of the genuine life that only Jesus could give. Some suspect that Judas was a follower of Christ out of a desire to be on the winning side in what he conceived would be a fight to establish the literal physical reign of Christ as Messiah and King on earth. When he started hearing all the talk from Jesus about dying and being raised on the third day, he decided to cut his looses and run. Others suspect that he thought by putting Jesus in such a desperate predicament that He would be forced to display His power and overcome His enemies and set up His kingdom at that time. The one thing he definitely was not interested in doing was following Jesus for Jesus’ agenda. Was he a saved man who fell from grace? No, he was a lost man who might have vainly imagined himself to have a part in Christ. But it was all on his terms. He was “all in”, though only because of what he thought Jesus could do for him. Don’t get me wrong. The other disciples weren’t exactly what we would consider saintly in their behavior either. But Judas is called out periodically as being a devil – the son of perdition. Jesus said of him that it would be good for him if he were never born, even though his fate was already foreknown and determined to be put to good use within the redemptive plan of God. And we can see in the contrast between Judas and Peter an illustration of the difference between a wayward Christian who is nevertheless truly chosen by God and the one who vainly imagines himself to be redeemed while in reality being a vessel of wrath, being prepared for destruction. Judas, when his own path ended at a brick wall, gave in to despair and he killed himself. Peter, when he had proven to be his own worst enemy, apparently remained with the other disciples. They all were facing their own doubts and fears. After Jesus rose from the dead, Peter, unlike Judas, was restored went on to be, even with all his manifest faults, a true apostle of Christ and great leader in the early Church. This is simply an extension of the tension represented in the question, “how can I know if I’m among the elect? How can I know I’m chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world? The answer turns out to be simple: When confronted with the gospel, did you hear and respond to the inward call to repentance and faith and embrace Christ as your only hope of salvation? That being said, when we want assurance that we truly belong to Him, the Bible never urges us to rely solely upon some previous rite of passage or some line we stepped over in the past. It tells us to examine ourselves NOW to see whether or not we are in the faith. It tells us to test ourselves to make our calling and election sure. One may have had an experience in the past in which he or she responded to a spoken or written message and thought this response marked a “conversion”. However, such an experience can and should be tested to determine whether or not anything beyond a mere emotional response took place. Remember that people with diametrically opposed belief systems can and do honestly make such claims of life-changing moments. They fully believe that what happened to them was real. We need to make sure that such assurances are grounded in truth. In short, our confidence shouldn’t be in feelings, but in facts. It makes little difference what happens in the pondering of our own minds if something didn’t happen in heaven’s courts that marked a true change in our status before God. And the reality of such a change can only be known by how it affects who we are and how we live. We need to be careful in our gospel presentation. Paul described the gospel as the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… It is what God uses to bring people to the cross to take hold of His promise to rescue everyone who embraces Jesus and what He did there as the grounds of his or her forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to Himself. What happens in those who respond in faith to this message is distinct from any good works they have done or ever will do. But it is not separate from future good works in that it will become the motivation for them. James points this out by relating this exchange: “You say, ‘You have works, but I have faith.’ Show me your faith without works, and I’ll show you my faith by my works…” His conclusion it that a faith that doesn’t produce visible effects – works – is a mere said faith, and cannot save anyone. The union of the believer to Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will spur true Christians to desire to be like Jesus in attitudes and actions. But if our message is vague, and if it does not present who Jesus is and what He actually did on the cross – that He bore the wrath of God in the place of all His people… those who would see their sins nailed to His cross, and that the gift of a right standing is given in the place of the sentence of death He took upon Himself – how can we expect God to certify it by actually saving some? Likewise, if we present what some people call “cheap grace”, which perhaps sets forth a fairly good representation of what Jesus did to save us, but obscures the obvious implications to the lives of those who would follow Him, then we’re leaving some to think they are disciples whom Jesus says cannot be His disciples, because in every meaningful sense, they really don’t want to follow Him. In other words, a whole gospel sets forth the necessary implications of the message to the life of the prospective convert. It doesn’t just present the facts about what God did to even make the offer of eternal life as a redeemed reconciled adopted son or daughter of God to a fallen sinner. We don’t tell them, if you follow Jesus, He will reward them with eternal life. We should tell them something more like this: “God has made a way through the cross for estranged sinners to be brought back into a right relationship with Himself. If you really want that life – with all of it’s attendant consequences – if you’re willing to turn from your idols to the true God, you can embrace this message, and God’s promise is that He will forgive and receive you.” Please don’t misunderstand: God saves people even when the presentation of the gospel is such that the truth in it is somewhat blurry. But we should strive to make sure that even when our message is weak and not very well planned out, it conveys the true essence of the message, and not a subtly deceiving substitute of it. And when God is pleased to save some, we shouldn’t think it was because of our great speaking abilities or powers of persuasion. If I convince someone to become a believer, I’ll likely be giving them a false conversion and false assurance with it. But, if the Holy Spirit impresses upon a sinner his or her need of Christ through my frail presentation of the message of the cross and persuades a renewed heart to have confidence in Christ’s atonement, then they have an initial reason to have great assurance. THE QUESTION: WHAT ABOUT ASSURANCE? Stepping back, eternal Security is the Biblical principle that the subjects of God’s redemptive purpose are kept safe until the day of redemption. That those who truly are regenerated cannot become regenerate and therefore again lost. It is an objective truth that concerns particular persons whether or not they individually “feel” it or not. Eternal Security is NOT an excuse for a careless and reckless lifestyle on the part of a person who sees a previous “born again experience” as an iron clad guarantee that he or she has a place in heaven, even while actually living with no internal or external evidence of having been changed. Assurance of Salvation is a subjective experience which can (and should…) vary, depending upon conditions within the life of the individual. Scripture does not discourage us from entertaining a certain level of doubt when it comes to personal assurance of salvation. In fact it tells us to test (examine…) ourselves to see if we are in the faith. It says to make our calling and election sure… It’s commonly thought that God wants all believers to possess absolute assurance of their own salvation, no matter what’s going on in their lives. I understand and agree that ideally every Christian would live such an exemplary Christian life that there would be no reasonable doubt (at least to an outside observer…) that he or she were truly a redeemed follower of Jesus. But, since few of us fall into that nearly perfect category, it’s obvious that what we practically want is assurance that we are saved DESPITE the evidences in our lives that we’re less than perfect in our daily walks… Indeed, that we are often faithless and prayer-less, and generally neglectful of spiritual duties. This is like the man I know who became agitated over the “check engine” light that never went out on the dashboard of his car. Instead of taking it in to have a mechanic determine the cause of the warning and repair it, he simply took the dashboard apart and disconnected the wire to the lamp. He was concerned about the light itself, but uninterested in the actual cause of it being lit. Doubt – lack of assurance – is like that warning light. It being lit isn’t in the end to make you miserable. It’s part of the mechanism to bring about a better end by making you uncomfortable until things are put right. In passing, I would like to add to this the following caveat: I actually don’t think it’s necessarily the ideal situation that a person lives an outwardly blameless life and assumes that this is infallible proof that he or she must be a true follower of Christ. There are some people who may look very good in this way. They may even manage to keep things enough in control that they see no reason to doubt even in what they can see of their own habits of thought. A true Christian is NOT someone who never sins. He is one whose inward desire is to please God who redeemed him by His grace and called him to be holy. When he fails, he is hurt, and wants to be restored, and he knows that the cure is in the cross, and he repents, gets up, and goes on. This should be done frequently, since letting things go can result in a sort of momentum in which a fervent follower of Christ can decline into a sort of spiritual mediocrity. That process of often falling, but again finding hope for forgiveness in the cross, and recommitting to the pursuit of a holy life ultimately should be seen as a glimmer of hope. It may be present in people who have issues in life that keep them from being as victorious in their Christian walk as they should be. If a fellow believer sees that faint flicker, the proper action would be to help the struggling brother or sister to fan it to a flame. But other people – even Christians – may not be able to see it plainly, which can effectively cut off that person from the helpful influence of those who would like to offer it. Knowing this should motivate us to be looking out for such fallen comrades. Perhaps one reason that we don’t grasp the idea that a proper response to the gospel message is a life-long one is that we’re so accustomed in our modern world to pushing a button and walking away, expecting everything to happen without our attention afterward. But salvation doesn’t work like that. It is true that we don’t save ourselves, and we don’t keep ourselves saved. The Holy Spirit brings us to saving faith and He keeps us in saving faith. He causes us to seek Christ when we never would have sought Him on our own, and He causes us to follow Him as “the only One who has the words of eternal life”. Do we have such a small view of the power of the gospel that it can move us through an initial experience that may last mere moments, but not continue to remake us throughout our lives? But, just as God doesn’t repent and believe for us, but expects us and enables us to do so ourselves, He likewise expects and empowers us to take advantage of the means that promote our own growth in grace. If we don’t actively pursue Him, isn’t it appropriate for us to loose some of our assurance? An example of my point can be shown from something related to my trade as an electronic technician. There is a device used in most electronics called a voltage regulator. The purpose of this device is to insure that a certain set number of volts – say six volts – be present at a certain point in a circuit. The regulator constantly monitors it’s own output and compares it to a standard within it. If the output starts to decrease, the regulator will essentially turn open an electronic “valve” to raise the voltage level. If the output goes higher than the standard, the regulator will turn closed the “valve” a little. The end result is maintaining the output within the proper range with tiny fluctuations above and below the norm. The elements of this process involve a standard, a measurement, a comparison, and a corrective action. There is a standard for the Christian: The Bible. It tells us everything we need to know for doctrine, reproof, and for training in righteousness. It tells us what the gospel is and how it should be lived out within us. None of us are perfect, but the general direction, despite setbacks of our lives, should be one of growing in grace. There must be a “measurement” or an evaluation. We are told to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. We are to make our calling and election sure. There must be a comparison of the standard and what we see in our own lives and the lives of fellow believers. Finally, there must be a determination to never accept a discrepancy between the standard and what we see without immediately responding in appropriate ways. This process should be moment by moment – like breathing. Practically it will probably be part of a daily time apart with God. If we are close to Him, it won’t be a time of fearful dread that we might actually be lost. More often it will be a time of review of the day and a confession that we blew it and continue to need His mercy, which is new every day. But the longer you go without “breathing”, the more dramatically you will gasp for air when you finally resume. And if you never breathe, and yet never feel as if you’re lungs will explode if you don’t start breathing, it’s probably because you’re dead. “We are not idle in the battle to abide in Jesus. But in the end the battle is assured because it does not depend finally on us. Jesus wins. No one can snatch us out of His hand. He and his Father are greater than all. Therefore, his demand that we abide in him is that we keep trusting the one who keeps us trusting.” - John Piper My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” - John 10:27-30 [I am] confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:6 Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen. - Jude 1:24,25 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:5-10 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. - 1 Peter 1:3-9
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:16:59 +0000
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