Can You Lose your Salvation?
The answer to the title of this post is emphatically – NO, you cannot lose your salvation if you’re saved!
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-19
In spite of the teachings of many, once you are saved, you cannot lose your salvation. The Bible clearly teaches that it is God through Christ who saves us and keeps us. We can no more maintain our salvation than we could obtain salvation without the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been saved through faith, but not faith that we could muster; it was given to us by God.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5
When you are saved, when you ask the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart, and repent of your sins, the Holy Spirit indwells you from that moment on. (Please note – Become a Christian post on this website). This mystical experience differs greatly with different people. For some there is an immediate transformation; for some there a more gradual transformation. Some struggle with abiding sins for years, before the Holy Spirit gives the grace to overcome them. Nevertheless, if you are saved, the Holy Spirit dwells in you; and you are a child of God and He will finish the work that He has begun in you.
Being confidant 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
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you 1 Corinthians 3:16?
And again
Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? 2 Corinthians 13:5
By nature we were born sinners against God, enemies of God, born to die, destined for Hell.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Biblical Arguments “Supporting” Losing your Salvation
There are many scriptures, if taken out of context to prove a point, might appear to indicate you can lose your salvation, to name a few:
1 Samuel 16:14
Hebrews 6: 4-6
1 Timothy 4:1-3
Matthew 7:21-23
Matthew 10:32-33
Matthew 10:37
Matthew 24:9-13
Mark 8:38
Luke 8:13
Luke 9:26
Luke 14:26
2 Chronicles 15:1-2
All of these scriptures can be easily explained when taken in context to understand their true meaning. It is so important to read the Word prayerfully asking the Holy Spirit to teach us the true the meaning of the Word. It is important to read from the general to the specific. In other words, look for the general meaning of a chapter, and then find the specific meaning being supported by specific verses, even throughout the scriptures. If we look at specific verses without reading the chapter (or even a whole book) to get the context we are in for a disastrous interpretation of the Scripture. We might even believe that we could lose our salvation. Never hang your hat on a single scripture and build a precept upon it; it must be supported by other scripture. Always ask the Holy Spirit to guide you when reading the Word.
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches , comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 1 Corinthians 2:13
But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 1 John 2:27
There are a few favourite scriptures of note that people quote to justify their position that we can lose our salvation and this is very grievous to me. I would like to address some of them specifically. If you want to discuss others please comment at the end of the post or Contact Us.
1 Samuel 16:14
Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. 1 Samuel 16:14
This verse is proof some say, that the Holy Spirit, once having dwelt in you, can depart from you. Those that believe this are under a misinterpretation of scripture. To begin with, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit only happens to Christians and the event is only revealed in the New Testament. Before Christ died on the cross there were no Christians, therefore until Christ died on the cross, nobody experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3:11
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17
In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon certain people, kings, prophets, and judges to give them exceptional powers for a time for example, Jonah (Numbers 27:18) Samson (Judges 13:25) David (2 Samuel 23:2), and the Spirit departed from Saul because of sin and disobedience. He wasn’t a Christian; at no time did he have the Holy Spirit dwelling in him to begin with.
Hebrews 6:4-6
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. Hebrews 6:4-6
This scripture is a favourite of people who think you can lose your salvation. To understand these verses you must read them prayerfully asking the Holy Spirit to interpret (as you should always do). Again these verses must be taken in context, in this case, not just in light of the surrounding verses but the in context with the whole book. Hebrews was written to the early Christian Jews. Jews looked at the Law of Moses and its sacrifices and rituals as the way to salvation.
but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Romans 9:31-32
Hebrews chapters 4 to 8 presents the argument that Jesus is the High Priest. Under the old covenant the Jews were constantly having to go to their priest to offer up sacrifices for their sins. The Jews kept sinning and their priests had to offer up more sacrifices for them. This was the old covenant under the Law of Moses. This is what they were accustomed to. You sin, you get a priest to offer up sacrifices for you. If you sin again, more sacrifices are required ad infinitum. But these sacrifices were only a harbinger of the Christ who came to offer the supreme sacrifice to God the Father.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14
And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10
The Book of Hebrews was written in part, to those Jews who accepted the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but still were married in their hearts to the Law. So those people needed to understand the New Covenant.
– “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. Hebrews 6:4-6
– they already had already repented and were forgiven – they could not do it again; therefore they were holding up the Lord in contempt when they tried to do this. This passage was not a discussion about being saved or condemned, it was a discussion to clear up a misunderstanding about our Lord, and what He did for us. It is not saying it is not possible to restore yourself to repentance; it is saying you’re already saved, you can’t be saved twice.
…for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all… Romans 6:10
1 Timothy4:1-3
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:1-3
These verses are referencing the strong delusion spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:10 – 12 – …and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Another reference is 2 Timothy 3:13. The people spoken of in 1 Timothy 4 are people who were never saved. They may have gone to church, made a confession of faith, maybe they grew up in a Christian environment and thought they were saved by virtue of their upbringing, but they were never saved.
Let us Reason Together
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11
At that that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12
We were sinners without hope. We were enemies with God. He sacrificed Jesus on the Cross for our sin.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We simply accepted the gift of His love for us by that sacrifice.
We have to understand, that when we saved, we were blessed with the Holy Spirit living within us, however, as long as we are on this earth, we still are in the same bodies, the same souls within us, the same hearts within us until that great Day of the Lord when we are transformed totally. We still suffer under the curse of sinful man in the flesh. The Holy Spirit that dwells within us is constantly warring within us. Please read Romans 7 and first 11 verses of Romans 8. This is the Apostle Paul lamenting our present condition. As long as we are on this earth we will sin, but we strive for less and less as we grow in our walk with the Lord. Some people who say they no longer sin, no longer consciously sin, are fooling themselves; they are certainly not fooling our Saviour. They fall into the same trap as Israel does when they think that they save themselves or maintain their own salvation without the Holy Spirit.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…if we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us…My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 1:8 & 10, 1 John 2:1
For the sanctimonious, who don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t steal, don’t carouse, there are still sins of the heart, lust, hate, blasphemy, evil thoughts, and so on.
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man… Matthew 15:18-20
As long as we live in the flesh we sin.
He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5
As long as we seek the Holy Spirit within us we will gradually be transformed to conform to His likeness.
…being 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
But it is the Holy Spirit who transforms us; we cannot. We cannot save ourselves, nor can keep from sinning. Jesus saves all from sins – past, present, and future. Being saved does not mean we get a pass from past sins – but now we have to keep our slate clean. We couldn’t do it then – and we can’t do it now either. But by the grace of God we have a great, compassionate God who imparts righteousness to us by believing in the one sacrifice for sin that only God could provide through Jesus Christ.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Jesus saves us and keeps us and the Word constantly says this. To deny this idea is to deny that God is who He says He is. It is to fall into the trap of sinful men’s hearts, that men can work their way to God’s favour. In other words, sinful men just cannot accept that God gave us this free gift because He loved us; we simply have to do something to save ourselves.
We Are Sure of our Salvation
Here are some Scriptures, of many that assure us we are saved and kept by the Lord Jesus and not of ourselves.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. John 10:27-29
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
This is a faithful saying:
For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
12 If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
13 If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, Jude 1:24
Brian Pickup