Pastoral Care / Going Deeper / Eternal Security
Eternal Security
There are 242 verses in the New Testament that talk about believe and receive eternal life. (Instantaneous eternal life.)
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
1 John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
John 6:40
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
John 6:47
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
John 10:28-30
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Timothy 1:16
But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
Romans 8:29-30
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
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Troubling passages to address during this issue .
Hebrews 6:4-6
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Some say this passage is dealing with non-believers. The problem with this perspective is that, first of all, the passage says: “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance.” (This is emphatic.) Yet you will find few, if any, who believe that once a person backslides they can never repent again. It says that “repented” is a phrase referring to believers. It says they “were enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift,” “Partakers of the Holy Spirit.” In addition they “Had tasted the good word of God.” “Tasted the powers of the coming age.” These are references to believers. So if they were believers, the question is what does it mean by “if they fall away?” The key to understanding this passage is the Greek word for “fall away,” “Parapesontas.” It does not indicate a one- way action. It is the word for drift. Indicating that the status for the individual is not hopeless. Second, the fact that this verse states “It is impossible” for them to repent again actually supports a once-for-all nature of repentance, the change of mind. They don’t have to repent again because that is all that is necessary for “eternal redemption.”
Hebrews 9:12
He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
Third, the text seems to indicate that there is no more a need for drifters (backsliders) to repent again and get saved all over again any more than there is for Christ to die again on the cross.
Always interpret the few difficult passages with the many very clear ones and not the other way around.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Refer people to Eternal Security (Charles Stanley) and When Critics Ask (Geisler and Howe).
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