Greetings, dear family in Christ. As always, I come with His love, exhorting, teaching, correcting, and rebuking with mercy in the name of Jesus Christ, only passing along the lessons I’ve learned and feel the call to share. I pray over each of you that you will approach these entries with teachable hearts, eager to study, desiring to grow in maturity and unity as the church.
I came across a meme on social media about “once saved, always saved.” It brought up Scripture, and it brought to mind a question a friend posed recently about the ability to lose salvation. It also recalled another memory of a friend’s post about this same topic. In this post, the author was referring to a particular sin—one with a high-probability for death—and proceeded to justify such sin in that once they are saved, if they were to die due to this sin, they’d still find their eternity in Heaven.
Friends, I need to exhort, “THIS IS WRONGFUL, ETERNALLY-DANGEROUS THINKING! “
If this has ever been your mindset, please pay full attention, as I hope and pray over you for understanding.
Let me begin by clarify that nothing external can separate your relationship with God:
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Nevertheless, God has offered us free will, and Scripture explains that some will depart from God of their own volition—although, sometimes one may not even be fully aware he has fallen away.
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons”
The Scripture that first prompted this study is Hebrews 3:12-14
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
The beginning of this chapter in Hebrews first addresses Jesus being greater than Moses, and that Christ is faithful over God’s house—the Christian (as Christians are His temple, filled with the Holy Spirit at baptism [Acts 2:38]). Verse six confirms this, and it also states we are His house “IF” we hold fast our confidence and boasting in our hope.
*One CRITICAL thing to note, God’s Word is full of “if, then” statements. These are conditional statements. Something can only be true when the condition is fulfilled.
The word “confidence” seen here, per Blue Letter Bible, means “the undoubting confidence of Christians relative to their fellowship with God, “ and “‘the absence of fear in speaking boldly; hence, confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, without any connection necessarily with speech;’” The boasting of hope here, again, per Blue Letter Bible, means “the matter for glorying which hope gives, i. e. the hope, of which we glory.” Therefore, this passage—as I have studied and understood—signifies that we are His house IF we are confident (sure/certain) without any doubt of our fellowship (relationship, communion, partnership) with God , and we speak in boldness about our hope in Christ, glorifying Him (worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving by Merriam Webster’s basic definition). I’m of the persuasion this correlates with 1 Peter 3:15
“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”
The last of this chapter of Hebrews addresses the hardened heart. It shows how after God rescued the Israelites from Egypt (salvation, one to be trusted, have confidence in), they—after temptation, testing in the wilderness—rebelled and fell into unbelief and disobedience. As verse sixteen states, “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?” With this rebellion—this hardening of the heart, this unbelief, unfaithfulness and faithlessness, and this disobedience, they were unable to enter Canaan.
Now, back to the key verses in this study.
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
While the false convert is a real thing (and I’ve explained that here in full—the conversion was never genuine, and is evident in one’s lifestyle, choices, and lack of sanctification, growth, and maturity), so is apostasy very real. What is apostasy exactly? By definition, apostasy is “an act of refusing to continue to follow, obey, or recognize a religious faith… abandonment of a previous loyalty” (Merriam Webster)—i.e. fall away. While it is not clear who penned Hebrews, the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible states this, “whoever the author was, he wanted to reassure Jewish believers that their faith in Jesus as Messiah was secure and reasonable. He tried to prepare them for the impending disaster.” This section is also titled “The Peril of Unbelief.”
The writer of Hebrews addresses fellow believers to exhort (“to incite by argument or advice : urge strongly…to give warnings… make urgent appeals [Merriam Webster]) one another every day. This is so that none will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. “Hardened” shown in this verse in proper context refers to becoming “obstinate, stubborn” (BLB). Sin and its deceit can cause that stubbornness, which Merriam Webster explains as “sticking to an opinion, purpose, or course of action in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion” (Sure do see this a lot!). We like to justify our sin when it has become comfortable for us, don’t we? “Hardened” embodies a lack of a repentant heart, and refers to a lack of care and concern about the severity of sin and unbelief—faithlessness, and unfaithfulness. To sum it up, we harden our heart with sin, rebellion. And dying with unrepentance, dying in rebellion to God, is a perilous matter (Luke 13:3; 1 John 1:6; John 8:12; Acts 17:30-31; Acts 3:19; Acts 26:20; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 2 Peter 3:9; Matthew 3:8; Galatians 5:16-21).
(To reiterate a key point, there’s a difference between being truly saved and slipping up in sin [acknowledging a sinful area, repenting of that sin – stopping it and surrendering it completely to the Lord] and willfully living in or choosing sin [no genuine remorse, no repentance, no confession, something that is not found in the life of a genuine Christian].)
With such hardened hearts, we cease abiding in Christ, thus we will be cut off.
“’I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.’”
“And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
We must “keep [ourselves] in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 1:21).
“As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. *If* it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.”
Still today, we are to look at Scripture’s lessons—learning from mistakes made and growing in maturity through sanctification. If we are not actively growing and maturing, if we fail to have a teachable heart, learning what we need in order to help us in that growth, we are already in danger of stagnation and regression, and eventually apostasy—something this passage of Scripture, as well as many others I’ve identified here, verifies as true. Or perhaps we were a false convert to begin with, if there was never any change in the first place.
So let us not fall into the deception of “once saved, always saved.”
Additional Supporting Scripture:
“Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.”
“You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace”
“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.”
There are also many exhortations to remain steadfast in the faith—endurance of the saints—(meaning there is the possibility to not endure, to not remain steadfast, but to turn away) (Colossian 1:22-23/ 1 Peter 5:8-9/ James 1:2-15; 5:10-11/ Revelation 14:12/ Matthew 10:22; 24:13)
References:
Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved July 14, 2021, from https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/heb/3/1/t_conc_1136006
“Glory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glory. Accessed 14 Jul. 2021.
“Apostasy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apostasy. Accessed 14 Jul. 2021.
Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible New American Standard Bible. 1990. AMG International Inc.
“Exhort.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exhort. Accessed 14 Jul. 2021.
“Stubborn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stubborn. Accessed 14 Jul. 2021.
All Scripture (unless otherwise noted): English Standard Version Bible. 2021. BibleHub.com and
English Standard Version Bible. 2016. Crossway
This study was aided by posts from a Churches of Christ social media account and comments from repentandtrustinJesus on social media