Some facts to consider, in hopefully logical order:
1. Scripture contains seemingly contradictory claims about receiving eternal life. Some of its verses, those we’re usually more familiar with, say eternal life is possessed right now. Such as John 5:24:
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
I John 5:13 agrees:
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
As these Scriptures suggest, all you need is simple belief, and you have eternal life immediately. What is belief? As one author says, “when a person extends a trusting, submitted faith in Jesus Christ”—in what He did to save us from hell. We will call this Initial Salvation.
2. But there are other less-well-known Scriptures that say, actual receipt of eternal life is delayed until our life’s end—and that what we have now is just the hope of eternal life. Such as Titus 3:6-7:
…whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Or Jude 21:
Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life
3. Either God’s Word has a glaring contradiction here, or else eternal life must be in two stages. Let’s assume the latter. We’ve called the first stage “initial salvation.” Let’s call the second stage, represented by Titus 3 and Jude, “Final Salvation.”
4. Initial salvation is what's most often evangelized: It’s the moment when a person extends a trusting-submitting faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, delivering us from the destination for our sins, hell.
Final salvation is the one we don’t hear too much: Entering heaven is only for those who die in a righteous state. That is defined that they have been abiding in Christ, and are reliably obedient to His commands since initial salvation. Their belief in Him produced fruits in their lives. This is the aspect of salvation that’s hard for many people to swallow, because it suggests that to be truly saved from hell, we have to go from merely belief, or mental assent, with no change in behavior necessary—to radical changes in behavior being necessary to go to heaven. The much-ignored final salvation is called “conditional security.” Conditioned on our behavior, on works, after we're initially saved.
5. Since you’ll have a harder time accepting the required works of righteousness, or the conditional security of Final Salvation, I have lots more verses for you to ponder.
• Romans 2:6-7 God will give to each person according to what he has done. 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life
• Galatians 6:8b-9 the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
• Titus 1:2a a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised
• I Timothy 6:19: storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life
"Laying hold" suggests striving, works. This is more evident in the next verse. The phrase "fight the good fight" suggests the striving, the fruit, the works.
• I Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
• Romans 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
• Mark 10:30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life
These verses thus say continuing to maintain eternal life is future, and a process of behavior. But since life is a mixture of sin and good works, we feel uncertain about whether our sin will keep us out of heaven. And don’t we hate uncertainty; we'd rather have an easy formula, a one-off kind of deal, like just believing in the initial salvation, and then we're done. So obviously Calvinism is popular.
But it doesn't come that way, as Scripture above makes clear.
6. With this “new” idea of what final salvation takes, an important question is raised: If eternal life is delayed, is it possible for anyone who has accepted Christ (has “initial salvation”) to LOSE IT between initial and final salvation? Calvinists, whom people follow (whether they know it or not) believe the answer is NO, based on the 5th point of Calvin's famous TULIP, the letter "P": Perseverance of the Saints. As the Westminster Confession (now remember, this is not the Bible) declares (Chapter 17, para.1): “They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved…can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace: but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” They further insist that such does not depend upon our own free will but “upon the immutability of the decree of election.” Thus, once we accept Christ, they believe we're "locked in" to eternal life. Unconditional security. This belief system has been popularly called, “once saved, always saved” (OSAS). Most popular evangelists adhere to this Calvinistic belief.
7. But there is an opposite belief system, called Arminianism. Some of their important beliefs are:
• Christ's atonement was made on behalf of all people (Calvin insisted His atonement was Limited (the letter "L" in TULIP) to those God arbitrarily picked as saved.
• God allows his grace to be resisted (i.e., free will) by those who freely reject Christ--vs. Calvin, the letter "I"--Irresistable grace. The Holy Spirit, they say, will not let us get on the wrong path.
And now, to the most important point,
• Believers are able to resist sin but are not beyond the possibility of falling from grace through persistent, unrepented-of sin.
It is the last bulleted point that’s the main bone of contention to Calvinists. Arminiasm believes it’s possible to lose eternal life between initial salvation and final salvation. Calvinists believe that when you're initially saved, the story is over. So which theology is correct—Calvinism or Arminianism? As Scriptural verses above show, the answer is Arminianism--we need to depend on His grace to help us fight sin and obey His commands and show fruit to be assured of heaven.
8. IF God wants you to believe eternal life is sure and certain for believers, if Initial Salvation is all there is, and heaven is guaranteed (such as believed by Calvinists)--then Scripture would be full of secure statements for the believer and have no listing of conditional behavior. But that means we have to wave away and ignore all the Scriptures in #5 above, right? All of Scriptural conditional statements and delay are lies, right? We would also have to accept glaring contradictions in Scripture that we began discussion with, right? No, wrong. The simple solution is, salvation has two aspects: Initial and Final. And you could lose it in between. Arminianism requires a holy life to achieve heaven. This is totally backed up by Scripture, as we saw many times above. As Hebrews 12:14 says:
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord
9. Final proof: Some more verses that are seemingly "in contrast" to one another, which HAVE to suggest two stages in eternal life to avoid a contradiction in Scripture:
Luke 7:50:
Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Versus Matthew 10:22, spoken to already-saved disciples:
And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved
I John 4:4 sounds like we’re already overcomers forever, no stopping us, it’s all done by Jesus:
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
But then there’s Rev. 2:10b-11, which seems to show that WE have to strive at overcoming to get there in the future:
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”’
Why does God do this, saying, "you're saved," then saying, "you have to overcome to be saved?" Perhaps, as Romans 6:11 seems to interpret, there is value in psychologically "reckoning" ourselves as overcomers--this helps us become overcomers. God also doesn't want us to fall into complacency.
Same contrast about sonship: Here’s a verse that says we are sons now: Galatians 3:26
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus
But here’s some verses that say “wait, there’s some conditions here, some things you do before you can finally be a son:” Rev. 21:7,8
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death
10. And here’s just a few more verses which also condition eternal life: Hebrews 3:14
For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end
Hebrews 5:9
And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
The word “obey” is in continuous sense. You’ve got to keep on obeying.
11. Sobering verses on the importance of sin depriving you of eternal life, and on how important it is to cut off all such behavior to keep it. Some hyperbole in there
Mark 9:43-44, 47:
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 ‘where Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out….
Luke 13:23-24
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
12. How can we feel eternally secure, when Scripture says we could:
Wander off, I Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows…
Turn back: John 6:66
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Fall away Luke 8:13
But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away
And how could a God who doesn’t want anyone to perish, II Peter 3:9:
The Lord is not slack… not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
The God whose will is perfect in its attainment, how could He allow people’s faith to be shipwrecked? I Tim 1:19
having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck
Now you can’t make shipwreck unless you were first on the ship! The answer is, He gave us the free will to turn aside from the faith and lose what we obtained.
13. Consider how Christians are likened to a salt that can lose its saltiness, Matthew 5:13
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out,
Christians are compared to virgins (in Matthew 25:1-13) whose lamps run out of oil (note: they possessed it, then ran out of it)—and what do they hear Jesus say? As verse 12 sadly points out, “I do not know you.” This does not mean, "I never knew you." The groom would have known his bridesmaids. He's saying, "I knew you, but your life has changed so much, it's like I don't know you now."
14. Calvinist teachers want us to be relaxed, less anxiety-prone. They tell us, “you’re assured, just love God; let good works arise out of thankfulness.” So why are so many verses comparing the Christian life to being:
• A soldier in a battle (II Timothy 2:3,4): You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier
• A wrestler, Ephesians 6:12a For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age
• Willing to shed blood, as it were, to defeat sin: Hebrews 12:4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin
• Willing to even leave our families (see my blog on "Defeating the Taliban"), Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
• A slave to God: Romans 6:22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life
15. When the rich young ruler popped the big question about obtaining eternal life to Jesus (Luke 18), what did He do? Did Jesus want to make it easy to understand, to win him? Did He tell him it’s just faith in Him, nothing else? NO! As Luke 18:18-23 records, He gave him a rough time defining the word “good,” then He gave him a rough time on how he should be saved, testing him by running through some of the 10 commandments first (!), then gives him an almost impossible restriction to cease his focus on materialism.
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
Now, does Jesus, seeing that he is a good man, seeing his sorrow, beg him to reconsider, urge him, tell him how much he could lose? Does He water down his tough final restriction? NO! He is done speaking to him. His words in vv. 24,25:
And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
16. These ideas might shock you. But don’t, whatever you do, reject them outright, dismissing them that “I’m taking verses out of context,” etc etc. Considering the volume of verses above, that cannot be the case. There are things about God here that we should explore, take a fresh unbiased look at ALL of His Word. Attaining and keeping eternal life might not be as we were taught!
Acknowledgement to Brother Dan Corner, preacher, writer, and watchman on the wall.
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