"Is it possible for a Christian to lose salvation?"

Got Questions - "Is it possible for a Christian to lose salvation?" Answered by Luke Marriner

First, it is crucial to note that a Christian is anyone who has repented and believed in Christ alone for their salvation (Mark 1:15). Secondly, it is important to understand that salvation is a gift given by God and not a wage earned by man (Romans 6:23). In other words, there is nothing man can do to work his way to salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is because we are conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5), meaning that we are born guilty due to Adam’s sin and have inherited a sinful nature (Romans 5:12-14). Therefore, since God’s requirement for salvation is moral perfection (Genesis 2:16-17, Matthew 5:48, 1 Peter 1:13-16) and every human has failed to meet this criterion both because of original sin and our transgressions against God (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-9), no man can earn his own salvation. We have all already failed the requirements. Therefore, we need a substitute. 

Through Adam, man receives a sinful nature and guilt, but through Christ, man receives the righteousness of God (Romans 5:15-21). This leads to what theologians call the “Great Exchange.” Christ bears our sin so that we may bear His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, our sin is accredited to Christ, and He bears the punishment for it. Inversely, Christ’s righteousness is then accredited to us, and we receive eternal life in Him. Therefore, the strength of our salvation is not in anything we can do to earn it or keep it but in the power of the blood of Christ, a one time sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:11-28). Furthermore, since you did nothing to earn your salvation you cannot do anything to lose it. It is purely by God’s grace that we are saved and to suggest that our sins can outweigh God’s grace and the redeeming power of Christ’s sacrifice is to hold an incredibly low view of the atoning work of Christ and an incredibly prideful view of the power of our sin. 

This alone is sufficient to make the claim that a true Christian can never lose their salvation. Theologians refer to this doctrinal claim as the “perseverance of the saints” or as some prefer the “preservation of the saints,” to which there is an abundance of Scripture in support of. For example, John 10:27-30 and Romans 8:26-39 are two of the clearest passages walking through the security that Christians can have in their standing before God and eternal destination. They make it clear that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not anything in all creation nor death itself can separate us from God. This is something Christians should jump with joy about, knowing that the God we praise will not abandon us (Psalm 37:23-40). It is also worthy to mention that for God to abandon His people He would need to be unfaithful, sinful. Praise God that He is faithful even when we are not and that He will not abandon the work in us that He has started (1 Samuel 12:19-25, Philippians 1:6). The Lord has sealed us with His Spirit for the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:3-14) and until then it is our mission to worship Him and witness to the world of the good news of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). 

Anyone who claims to be a believer in Christ should test themselves by the Word of God through the Spirit of God and continually pursue holiness, but also recognize that their justification is based on the sinless life, death, and resurrection of Christ, not their works (Isaiah 64:6). A lack of assurance can cause an obsession with it, taking away joy within us, distracting us from our true calling of glorifying God. Therefore, let us recognize the beauty of Christ and the power of His atoning work and use that as our motivation for pursuing holiness in obedience to God (John 15, Galatians 5).