After over 65 years of ministry, we have developed the top 27 questions people ask us so we would like to share these questions each week for our weekly blog and share the answers as a resource for you all to use in your ministry, churches, and family.

Top ? #3 Can I Lose my Salvation?

Answer:  No, once a person has received the gift of eternal life God will never take it away from him.

There are many Christians that live in fear that they might commit a sin that will somehow cause God to take away their salvation.  However, the Bible teaches very clearly that the gift of eternal life is something that we cannot lose.  The doctrine that once we are saved we are always saved is called eternal security.  There are two important ways to defend the teaching of eternal security: the nature of the gift of eternal life and direct promises from the scriptures.

First, we will consider the nature of God’s gift of eternal life.  When Christ died to pay the penalty for our sin, he paid for all of our sin at that time.  All of our sins were yet to be committed when he was hanging on the cross.  We are told in Ephesians 1:7 that we have “the forgiveness of sins.”  This obviously includes sins we commit after we accept Jesus Christ as our savior.

God makes salvation available to us by His grace and it is described as a gift.  If it is truly a gift of grace then it makes no sense to say that we receive it as a gift but we have to keep it through doing works.  The Apostle Paul makes the same point in Galatians 3:4 where he says, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”   If we receive eternal life by grace it is logical to conclude that our standing before God is maintained by that same grace.

There are many scripture verses that directly promise us eternal security.  Some of the most important ones are quoted below.

Romans 8:38-39  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:1  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:13-14  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the day of redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.

Philippians 1:6  Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

John 10:27-29  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  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 them all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

Colossians 3:3-4  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.

From these and many other scripture verses, it is clear that the gift of eternal life is something that God will never take away from us.

Please read the following verses:  Romans 8:29-34;  2 Timothy 2:19;  Hebrews 12:2

if you want to enroll in our Free Bible Correspondence course, just email us your full name, address and we will mail you a copy! dwight@prisonmission.org 

God bless you

Pastor Dwight Anderson