Orland Evangelical Free Church | Is Eternal Security Real?

The idea of eternal security, as most people are taught it, has the virtue of simplicity. Once you pray to receive Christ you are eternally saved no matter what you do. The bumper-sticker version: once saved, always saved.

But the provenance of this doctrine is suspect. It is a compromise between Calvinistic and Arminian systems, a compromise that tries to avoid the sovereignty of God without placing man's free will under too much strain. The compromise says, "You choose God freely and God sovereignly backs your choice no matter what."

We classical musicians have a saying that infuriates improvisatory cats. When we're having trouble playing in tune we say, "Good enough for jazz."

So with eternal security. Close is off pitch.

The Arminian position is that we choose Jesus Christ without any influence from God to predispose us. A God-influenced choice to believe in Jesus, Arminians argue, would undermine our free will. This position, when it is taught consistently, offers no security in God for the believer. You must make your choice for Christ and never go back on it. Your salvation is your choice.

Many hold an Arminian definition of free will but remain unconvinced that we can lose our salvation. They look at verses like Romans 8.1 and see the biblical priority on assurance: "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." They see that salvation is not ultimately based on anything we do, but on Christ alone.

This is the motivation for building the half-way house of eternal security.

You choose Jesus apart from God's predisposing influence, just like the Arminians describe. He then responds with grace, saving you no matter what you do thereafter. Even if you live carnally, God will keep his promise.

This teaching gives rise to such practices as walking people through the sinner's prayer and declaring them saved. It enables counselors to say to converts, "Write this date in your Bible and never forget that this was the time you gained eternal life."

The spiraling carnality of evangelicals has made this teaching less and less plausible. How can a man who divorces the wife of his youth, forsakes his kids, and marries a twenty-two-year-old possibly be born again? Prayer or no prayer, the guy's not going to survive the great white throne without repentance (Romans 8.6-8).

So is there any such thing as assurance of salvation?

Yes. If we recognize that salvation is the work of God from beginning to end, we can find assurance.

God saved us entirely by grace (Romans 8.29) so that we would become like Christ. "For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren."

God not only initiates the process of salvation, he brings us to faith in Christ and completes the process at our resurrection (Romans 8.30). "[A]nd these whom he predestined, he also called; and these whom he called, he also justified; and these whom he justified, he also glorified."

For assurance of salvation we are not to look at a choice we made once, but at the ongoing work of God in our experience. Being led by the Holy Spirit is assurance of salvation (Romans 8.14-17). "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

There can only be one conclusion for those who have been brought to faith in Christ (Romans 8.31). "If God is for us, who is against us?" Nothing will ever separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8.35-39).

Our sense of security can never come from what we have chosen but only from what God has accomplished. Accept no substitutes.