ETERNAL SECURITY

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ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED (CONVERTED, BORN AGAIN) ?

Is "Eternal Security" A True Doctrine?

Some people think, or are led to believe, that once a person is saved, that they are always saved, no matter what they do. They are led to believe, by their own fleshly minds, by a false prophet or preacher, or by the devil, that the New Covenant under Jesus Christ did away with the moral commandments. Nothing could be further from the truth and that is the spirit of antiChrist.

These days, many people get converted [John 3:3], or just get a touch from the Lord, perhaps receive the baptism of repentance but don't fully accept Jesus Christ as Savior [Mark 1:4]. They feel that they have paid their homage to the Maker [Isaiah 29:13], and then go out and do whatever they please [I Timothy 4:1, Isaiah 14:9], plus forget about helping others and studying the Word of God [I Timothy 4:16, II Timothy 2:15].

The word saved is often used as a synonym for being converted, regenerated or born again, but it is not a true synonym for those words, in all contexts. The word saved is often mistakenly defined as having arrived at a point at which we will go to heaven at some point after death, no matter what we do. This is not true.

Many years after conversion on the Damascus road and preaching the Gospel, Paul had not counted himself to have had it made [Philippians 3:12]. 'Attained' here is from the Greek 'lambano', meaning obtained. After many years of following Christ, he had not reached perfection in Christ. He urges us to keep reaching for Christ Jesus, to continue to pursue [Greek dioko] the ultimate prize, to ever be with the Lord [I Thessalonians 4:13-17, Philippians 3:13-16].

We must be born again to enter the kingdom of God [John 3:3, I Peter 1:23]. Is born again being reincarnated? No, nothing like that at all. Being born again means being converted [Matthew 18:3, Luke 1:17, Mark 10:15]. Convert [Greek strepho]means 'to turn', and [Greek epistrepho] 'to turn about, towards'. It is more than “turning over a new leaf”, as it means to turn to the Lord our God with our heart and soul [Deuteronomy 30:10,15,16,20], in order to receive the promise [Acts 7:3,5, 1:4,5].

God promised the Jews a land of milk and honey [Exodus 3:8], everything they would need. And God will provide everything we believers need[Philippians 4:19], even though it may not always be what we think we need [Philippians 4:11-13]. Contrary to some popular teaching which is nourished by carnal minds, accepting Christ and obeying God and Jesus does not in any way guarantee physical prosperity or even health. A quick look at the saints described in Hebrews chapter 11 illustrates this.

The land of Canaan, that is the land of Promise or the Promised land, does not mean physical prosperity [Exodus 3:8, Psalm 105:42, Hebrews 4:1, Acts 2:39], though false teachers of the law [Jeremiah 14:14, II Peter 2:1-3, Hosea 7:14,15,I Timothy 1:7, II Timothy 4:3] teach and preach as such. The Hebrews who entered the land of Canaan had to work hard physically in order to have anything. God did not build their homes or plow their fields for them.

Even the people who physically entered the land of Canaan did not receive the promise of the Father [Hebrews 11:13,14], yet they kept their faith. The promise of the Father, the kingdom of God, was made available to people on the day of Pentecost, to all who repent of their sins and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior [Luke 17:21, Deuteronomy 30:11-20,Exodus 23:20-33 > Ephesians 6:12, Acts 1:4, 2:31-36,39, 13:23, 26:7, Romans 4:16, Galatians 3:14,Ephesians 3:6, Hebrews 6:15, Acts 2:1-4,33].

A true Jew [child of God] is anyone who is a converted person [Romans 2:28,29], and it was actually always meant to be so. That is, the Lord knew that the land of Israel would reject Christ, as a nation, and so that would open the door for the Lord to make salvation available to the Gentiles, in order to provoke Israel to jealousy, so they might end up accepting Christ [Isaiah 11:10, 49:22, 54:3, 60:3, 62:2, 66:19, Jeremiah 16:19-21, Acts 9:15, 10:45, 11:113:47, 14:27, 15:3, Romans 2:14, 10:12, 11:11-28].

And now back to the point at hand. Once we have repented of our sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior and Master, can we just sit back, do nothing, and do whatever we want, and be right with God? When we get hired for work, can we sit around and do nothing, stay home and not call in, or clock in and leave to follow our own pursuits? If we're an employee, we're an employee, right? But will we receive a paycheck for doing nothing? Will we remain an employee very long if we do not contribute to the success of the company?

We know that we are not saved by things we do or do not do. We are saved by the grace of God. It is a free gift that we do not deserve [Ephesians 2:8,9 I Peter 3:21, Amos 2:9-16, Romans 3:23]. Good deeds or refraining from bad deeds has nothing to do with obtaining salvation [again I Peter 3:21, Acts 2:38, Romans 10:3, 9:31,32].

But if we do not help others, how can we say that the love of God is in us [I John 3:17]? The word brother in I John here is the Greek adelphos, meaning not just our brethren in the Lord, but all people, all neighbors [Luke 10:27-37]. There are many ways to help others besides financially. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself”. Likewise, apathy in the midst of need is contributing to the affliction.

We can say that we have faith in God, but if we do not show it by our actions, is it truly faith? We can say that Buick makes the best car, but if we drive a Ford, are our actions making us true? See James 2:14-26.

Revelation 14:20 says that the patience (abiding under, continuance from Greek hupomone and hupomeno) of the saints is obeying God's commandments and having faith in Christ. Jesus said that if we love Him, we must keep His commandments [John 14:15, 20:28], which is twofold.

If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and God manifest in the flesh [I Timothy 3:16], then we know also that he does not condone breaking the moral commandments, or moral law, which He did not abolish [Matthew 5:17, Deuteronomy 10:12]. But since there are between 300 and 400 moral laws, how does he expect us to keep them always and never break a one? Especially since if we break one little part of one, we are as guilty as if we had broken all of them [James 2:10, Leviticus 5:17]. It is a mystery, but it is a mystery which God has revealed to us.

We are guilty of sin whether we know it or not [Leviticus 5:17]. Once we repent and accept Christ, we are accountable once we are reproved or convicted by the Holy Ghost [Leviticus 4:27,28, Romans 5:13]. The Holy Ghost will let our soul know that our body has sinned [John 16:8, 13, I John 3:4,6,7-10], and once we've repented will let us know that we are His children [Romans 8:16].

God knows that it is impossible to keep every commandment day in and day out without transgressing somewhere, even if only in our thought life. Thinking something wrong is also a sin [Matthew 5:27-30]. Yet we are to continually aspire to not sin [Hebrews 12:4], sin being the breaking of the commandments of God [I John 3:4]. The commandments show us things that we are not to do, and things that we are to do. Sin is the breaking of any commandments. If we do sin, we simply need to sincerely confess our sins, and ask God to forgive us, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Some misuse verses like Romans 4:4 and Ephesians 2:8 to mean that we are justified without doing anything for God, that we are saved simply by believing, by having faith. If every believer obeyed the Holy Ghost, like a good child obeys his parents, this article would be unnecessary. But in verses like these, true definitions of words are very necessary in order to understand just what scripture means.

Justified is from Greek word sozo meaning 'to be acquitted of', to be uncondemned. The word saved in Romans 10:9 could be replaced with the word converted when referring to a believer's conversion to the faith. It also has a broader meaning, because the word saved was used. This ties in with the 4th paragraph, where we learned that Paul, as an experienced preacher, had not considered himself to have “arrived”. We must continue to contend [Greek agonizomai] for the faith [Luke 13:24, Deuteronomy 2:24, Jude 1,3].

James tells us that faith without works is dead [James 2:14-26]. Works [Greek sunergeo] here means 'work with', is in working with God. Jesus tells us that if we love Him, to obey His commandments [John 14:15-18,26, 16:13]. The Holy Ghost took the place of Jesus, on earth, and He tells us what we are to do, and what not to do. This is in contrast to Romans 4:4, where work [Greek ergazomai] means 'to earn by working for'. We do not earn our salvation nor heaven, because not a one of us deserves any of God's grace and goodness [Ephesians 2:8,9, Romans 3:23, Isaiah 64:6, Psalm 14:2,3].

Jesus says that if we love Him, to obey His commandments [John 14:15]. Commandment [Greek entole] here means 'an injunction, charge, precept, commandment', having to do with the moral and religious precepts. It is different from diatagma, which stresses the concrete character of the commandment, “that which is imposed by decree or law” [Hebrews 11:23], such as a law by a government. See also

Law, in the bible, is all of the ceremonial, ritualistic and moral law, but the New Covenant divides them up. We no longer have to adhere to ceremonial and ritualistic law, but the moral law is in effect. It is in effect more than it was in the Old Testament, in that the Holy Spirit puts the moral laws into our hearts and minds [Jeremiah 31:33, Romans 6:17], freeing us from the concrete essence of it, in that we have forgiveness is we sin. Revelation 14:12 makes it plain that the patience of the saints (Greek hagios, believers) is obeying the commandments of God and having the faith of Christ. Patience [Greek hupomone] is 'an abiding under], and longsuffering [makrothumia]. See also Hebrews 7:22,26, Matthew 5:48,hebrews 8:10].

Since the Holy Ghost took the place of Jesus on earth, anything that It impresses upon us or says either to do or not to do, is the direct command of Jesus [John 15:14]. As Jesus Christ is the very image of God the Father, God manifest on earth, that is, having all the attributes and expectations of God, we are obliged to do our best to obey the moral commandments [Hebrews 3:7-12, Romans 8:29, II Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:13-15].

How can we say that we have faith and believe in Jesus Christ if our fruit doesn't bear witness [Luke 6:44]. Can both bad and good water come out of the same well [James 3:8-18] ? Just as a report card reveals what kind of student we are, our words and actions reveal what kind of a person we are [Luke 6:27-45]. Our words and actions reveal the thoughts and intents of our heart [Luke 6:43-49].

What we know to do, we are to do, and what we know to not do, we are to not do [Philippians 3:16]. We are to do good to and for people as much as we can, both brethren and the unbelievers [Galatians 6:10]. We are also to refrain from doing any evil at all [I Thessalonians 4:3,4,7, 5:14-22, I Peter 2:11-24, Exodus 19:5, 23:21 > Hebrews 2:1-3, 4:1,2,7-9,11, 5:8, 6:4-6 > Malachi 3:7, Luke 11:17,18,21-26, 15:11-32, Deuteronomy 11:26-28, Romans 2:1-10, 6:1-18, II Thessalonians 1:8,8,11,12, I Peter 4:1-9,12-19, Luke 7:31,32, Romans 1:18-32, Isaiah 30:1-3, 9-13,15,16].

Christ Jesus warned various churches during the Apostle John's time of various errors, blatantly stating that they weren't ready in the state that they were in. And he is warning all of us now. Any message to anyone, at any time, recorded in the bible, is applicable to us today in these modern times. Jesus had good things to say about each of the churches, but here we are only concerned about the things that needed to be discarded or improved.

The Church of Ephasus had people claiming to be apostles, but were not, and so were liars. Apostle comes from the Greek words apostolos and apostole. Apostolos means 'one sent forth'. Jesus was sent forth by God and came from God [John 20:21, Mark 1:2, Malachi 3:1, Luke 1:26-33, John 1:1-5, 9-14,16-18]. Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and is also the Apostle of our faith [Hebrews 3:1]. An apostle is one sent forth by Jesus Himself [Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19,20, John 24:48], being an eye witness of Him after the resurrection, either before the ascension or after [Acts 9:1-9,15,16,20, 26:9-18, 14:14, Romans 16:7, II Corinthians 8:23].

Ephasus also had left their first love, Christ, and were admonished to return to the works that they had been doing earlier on, or else their candlestick would be removed [Revelation 2:1-5]. Lampstand is not correct. The Greek words are lampas and luchnos, meaning torch and lamp, respectively. Both of these items are portable, use oil and need replenishing. This is symbolic of the believer and the Holy Spirit.

The Ephesians did hate the deeds of the Nicolaitanes. The Nicolaitanes were followers of Nicolas, a pagan type of Nimrod, a wicked man written about in Genesis [http://rcg.org/questions/p062.a.html]. Nicolas, like Nimrod, demanded that he be worshipped as God or as a god. The Nicolaitanes instituted various kinds of pagan and other antiChrist doctrines into Christianity, most of which are still in churches and society today[http://churchages.com/en/book/doctrine-of-the-nicolaitanes/].

The Smyrna church had people who said they were Jews but were not, and were of satan [Rev. 2:9]. But most of the Smyrna church was comprised of devout believers.

The church in Pergamos had people who held the doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitanes [Rev. 2:14,15]. The doctrine of Balaam was to cause people to stumble, and there are many in the church today who do just that, sometimes under a pretense, such as testing a believer. That practice is of satan, and those people are filled with envy, not the Holy Spirit. God never tempts anyone to commit a sin, nor does He cause confusion to His true people [James 1:13-17, I Corinthians 14:33, Proverbs 1:10-19, Psalm 5:8-12, 10:3-11,13-15,18, Romans 14:13, I Corinthians 10:12, III John 9-11, Malachi 2:8, Isaiah 28:7, Jeremiah 18:13,15-18,20-23, Esther 6:6-14, 7:10 > Hosea 11:1-6, Isaiah 3:11,12,15-26, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Amos 5:11-27, Matthew 23:1-39, Isaiah 58:3,4, Job 6:24-30, Acts 2:38]. Jesus said that if they didn't repent, then He would fight against them [Rev. 2:16].

The church of Thyatira condoned and practiced the worshipping of idols and committing fornication, which thing Jezebel, King Ahab's wife, did, and was eaten of dogs [II Kings 9:30-37, Rev. 2:18-23, I Corinthians 6:18].

The church in Sardis had a name that they were alive, but were dead (spiritually) [Rev.3:1-4].

The church in Philadelphia was lukewarm, rich and didn't think they needed Him anymore [Rev.3:7-21, Hebrews 12:2-17].

It is important that we do our best, pray for one another, uplift one another, correct one another as needed, and make sure that we are in the faith [James 5:16, Colossians 3:1,2,5-10,12-25, Galatians 6:1-10, Proverbs 15:5, 15:10, 17:10, II Timothy 3:16, Proverbs 19:25, 9:8, Isaiah 11:3, John 16:8, Ephesians 5:11,13, Matthew 18:15-20].

We need to all pray the prayers of Nehemiah and Daniel [Nehemiah 1:3-11, Daniel 9:3-19, I Corinthians 10:12].

This is a conclusive but by no means an exhaustive article. There are many more passages which clearly illustrate that "eternal security" is not so. God can keep us spiritually sound, but it requires effort on our part. If it wasn't so, then Christ would not have had to come to earth or been crucified.

06/28/2014