Secure Salvation

Can a Believer lose his salvation? What if the believer stays sinful and doesn't repent? What if the believer denies Christ and leaves the faith? 

In this article, we will break down what salvation means, and also see how safe a believer really is.

How exactly is salvation obtained?

The short answer is No, a truly born again believer does not lose his salvation. But to really answer that question, let us look at how someone gets saved in the first place.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Rom 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

So the Bible is clear in how one does receive salvation - and it is evident that it is not by that person's righteous act, or works of faith. It is a gift. As simple as that. A free gift.

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Eph 2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Think about it - did you do something to gain the salvation in the first place? did your good works save you? No - salvation is designed and executed by God, and we are at the receiving end of it. All we did was accept that we are sinners, acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and believe that He died for your sins. or simply put, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ".

Therefore, If we say we can do something to lose the salvation, we are also implying that we can do something to gain it - and that undermines the grace of God! It is blasphemy, and it distorts the gospel.

Then again, a secure salvation is a gift, not an advantage. Keep in mind that it is not a free-pass for you to sin.

What about believers who stay sinful and don't repent?

Problem is, not everyone who calls themselves a believer is truly born again. If they were born again, they cannot and will not live in a state of continuous unrepentant sin.

1Jo 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

1Jo 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

The idea conveyed here is habitual, constant sinning. To someone who does that, John's statement is absolutely clear - that salvation never took place.

What about believers who leave the faith and deny Christ?

Secondly, if they ever depart the faith, then they were never truly saved in the first place.

1Jo 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

2Ti 2:12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.

 2 Tim 2: 12 also says that those who endure, give evidence of the genuineness of their faith. "If we deny Him" - this is not talking about a temporary failure of a true believer, like Peter who had a fail, but it talks more about a permanent denial such as those who are apostates. Such people were just wearing a mask all along and were never truly born again. So there is no salvation to actually lose it.

Not only these, but few other verses that can be misused to convey that if a believer sins, he will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look at these verses.

Eph 5:5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Gal 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

These verses talk about unrighteous people, people who practice the works of the flesh. Such people are never saved in the first place. So using these verses for a believer is not appropriate, because a truly born again believer who sins or does these things, will resent and repent. He knows that he has vexed the Holy Spirit. His consciousness will not let him remain in a state of sin.

1Co 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

So, in Conclusion,

Can a believer lose salvation? - Absolutely not.

Does that mean we can keep sinning and ask for forgiveness? - Absolutely not. That is misusing the grace of God, and a born again believer would never do that.

So let us take courage in the fact that our salvation is secure in His hands.