The most
frequent objection to the doctrine of
eternal security is that it supposedly
promotes the idea that Christians can
live anyway that they want to - and
still be saved. While this is
"technically" true, that is
not the "essence" of eternal
security. A person who has truly
accepted Jesus Christ as his or her
Savior "can" live a sinful
life - but he or she "should"
not do so. We must draw a distinction
between how a Christian should live -
and what a person must do in order to
receive salvation.
The Bible is abundantly clear that
salvation is by grace alone, through
faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone (John
3:16; Ephesians 2:8- 9; John 14:6). A
person is saved by faith - faith alone.
The moment a person truly believes in
Jesus Christ, they are saved and secure
in that salvation. Salvation is not
gained by faith, but then maintained by
works. The Apostle Paul address this
issue in Galatians 3:3, "Are you so
foolish? After beginning with the
Spirit, are you now trying to attain
your goal by human effort?" If we
are saved by faith, our salvation is
also maintained and secured by faith. We
cannot earn our own salvation.
Therefore, we cannot earn the
maintenance of our salvation either. It
is God who maintains our salvation (Jude
verse 24). It is God's hand that holds
us firmly in His grasp (John 10:28- 29).
It is God's love that nothing can
separate us from (Romans 8:38- 39).
Any denial of eternal security is, in
its essence, a belief that we must
maintain our own salvation by our own
good works. This is completely
antithetical to salvation by grace. We
are saved because of Christ's merits,
not our own (Romans 4:3-8). To claim
that we must obey God's Word or live a
godly life to maintain our salvation is
equal to saying that Jesus' death was
not sufficient to pay the penalty for
our sins. Jesus' death was absolutely
sufficient to pay for all of our sins -
past, present, and future, pre-salvation
and post-salvation (Romans 5:8; 1
Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
So, with all that said, does this mean
that a Christian can live anyway they
want to and still be saved? This is
essentially a hypothetical question,
because the Bible makes it clear that a
true Christian should not live
"anyway they want to."
Christians are new creations (2
Corinthians 5:17). Christians
"should" demonstrate the fruit
of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), not
the acts of the flesh (Galatians
5:19-21). 1 John 3:6-9 clearly states
that a true Christian will not live in
continual sin, or he will not make sin a
continual business. In response to the
accusation that grace promotes sin, the
Apostle Paul declared, "What shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin,
that grace may abound? God forbid. How
shall we, that are dead to sin, live any
longer therein? (Romans 6:1-2).
Although we are never to assume to know
whether a person is saved or not, the
Bible makes it clear that the evidence
of salvation is repentance. "They
went out from us, but they were not of
us; for if they had been of us, they
would [no doubt] have continued with us:
but [they went out], that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of
us." (1 John 2:19). The fact is, if
a person who claims to be saved doesn't
show any signs of repentance, or any
desire to put away sinfulness, but
continues in their sin with no apparent
conviction, we should consider that
person "not of us".
Eternal security is not a
"license" to sin. Rather, it
is the security of knowing that God's
love is guaranteed for those who trust
in Christ. Knowing and understanding
God's tremendous gift of salvation
accomplishes the opposite of giving a
"license" to sin. How could
anyone, knowing the price Jesus Christ
paid for us, go on to live a life of
continual sin (Romans 6:15-23)? How
could anyone who understands God's
unconditional and guaranteed love for
those who believe, take that love and
throw it back in God's face? Such a
person is demonstrating not that eternal
security has given them a license to
sin, but rather that he or she has not
truly experienced salvation through
Jesus Christ. "Whosoever abideth in
him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath
not seen him, neither known him."
(1 John 3:6).
