The Deep End

Safe and Secure: Salvation Is of the Lord

May 26, 2022 at 4:01 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments
Tags: doctrine of eternal security, eternal security, eternal security of the believer, everlasting security, John 6, Jonah 2, objections to eternal security, once saved always saved, perseverance of the saints

The doctrine of the eternal security of the believer is: All those to whom God in Christ Jesus grants eternal life will, without fail or exception, be held securely and safely by God’s power, and the eternal life they have received cannot be revoked, rejected, lost, stolen, given back, or otherwise reversed. This doctrine goes by different names:

1. Everlasting security
2. Once saved, always saved
3. The perseverance of the saints
4. The preservation of the saints

When it comes to the doctrine of eternal security, probably the most-asked question is: “Can I lose my salvation?” or “Can a Christian lose his/her salvation?”

It’s important to make a distinction between these questions, and to emphasize that one of the questions deals specifically with “Christians,” because a lost person (a non-Christian) can’t lose salvation any more than a circle can lose its right angles. By definition, salvation would have to be granted in order to be lost.

Also, it is important to note that salvation is granted or given (because it is by grace), not earned or achieved. If we grant that premise, then we must acknowledge that the questions posed above are illegitimate and need to be rephrased. If we are not clear that salvation is by grace alone, and therefore is not by works or some combination of grace and works, then we have a different topic to cover: salvation by grace alone, or salvation by a combination of grace and works? If you believe that salvation is not by grace alone, I would encourage you to read the Bible or at least click and read here, here, here, and here.

Now, back to the topic of eternal security. We need to ask, “Who grants salvation to people?” God does:

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Jonah 2:9

“Of” means “in every respect and sense.” Some translations will say “comes from” or “belongs to” and those ideas are included, but salvation is exclusively the Lord’s domain. He does not owe it to anyone and He can not be bribed, nor will He share the glory for granting it with any human being.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12-13

I have started this lesson on eternal security with verses which are not normally the prooftext verses for that doctrine. I will get to some verses like that later, but what I have found is that most people who reject the doctrine of eternal security have a fundamental misunderstanding about from where exactly salvation comes, and Who exactly is in charge of it. Eternal salvation is not a cooperative effort: God does not require, nor does He allow, our assistance in the granting of spiritual birth. Most people jump straight to John 3 and Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus when referencing the term “born again,” but you can see it is already here in John 1.

Therefore, we must start off with the right question. NOT: “Can I lose my salvation?” or “Can a Christian lose his/her salvation?” INSTEAD:

1. Can I lose the Lord’s salvation which He has granted to me?
2. Will God take away the salvation He previously gave to me?
3. If I didn’t save myself, why do I think of it as “my” salvation?

These questions indicate a more Biblical understanding of the concept of salvation, and one that places the emphasis where it should be, and one that gives glory to the One Who deserves the glory for saving sinners who had absolutely no hope on their own.

Now we should be able to look at some of the verses which clearly address the doctrine of eternal security and handle some of the objections to those verses.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

John 6:37

So that we can avoid an accusation that we have snatched a verse out of its context, let’s see what is happening in John 6 that prompts Jesus to make this statement:

Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

John 6:34

Some of Jesus’s followers wanted Him to duplicate the miracle of the manna that the Old Testament Israelites had experienced in the wilderness, as recorded in Exodus, and to make it so that they would never go hungry. Throughout the early and middle chapters of the Gospel of John, Jesus was separating those who wanted to use Jesus to meet earthly needs from those who would truly believe that He was God in the flesh.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

John 6:35

The bread that they could eat with their mouths was temporary, but Jesus Himself IS (“I am”) the bread of everlasting life.

But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

John 6:36

This prompts the question, “So, who will come and who will believe?”

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

John 6:37

Q. How many will come to Jesus?
A. “ALL” that the Father gives Him.

Q. How do they come to Jesus?
A. They are given to Him by the Father (“the Father giveth me”).

Q. Will there be any given by the Father who won’t come to Jesus?
A. No (“shall come to me”).

Q. Who are the ones that will come to Jesus?
A. Only the ones who are granted eternal salvation (“him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”).

Now, the objection to this by those who don’t like the doctrine of eternal security goes something like this: “But what about the ones who don’t want to be kept secure? Who pry themselves lose? Who sneak out the back door? Who slip through His grasp?” And in order to support their objections they will say that John 6:37 is contradicted by other verses that talk about people “falling away.” They will take verses that deal with the doctrine of assurance of salvation, rather than the security of salvation, and give these more weight than this very clear and incontrovertible statement in John 6:37, despite its use of words like “all,” “shall,” and “in no wise.”

In other words, those who oppose the doctrine of eternal security will assert that John 6:37 doesn’t say that people can’t remove THEMSELVES from God’s security. The problem with this assertion is that it is a case of special pleading which focuses on the idea that God Himself won’t cast them out, but that they might cast themselves out, while ignoring that this would make a Jesus a liar when He said “all” and “in no wise,” because if people could remove themselves from God’s security they would be overcoming God’s power and will. Jesus made the pronouncement that God will not cast out those given to Jesus, and omitted the idea that they might cast themselves out, because this would have been unthinkable to His listeners, and would, in fact, be logically impossible.

Who can cast themselves out of their own salvation? Literally everyone, because such a salvation is not real. Who can cast themselves out of God’s salvation? Literally no one, because they belong to God.

Next time, we will look at other verses which specifically prove the validity of the doctrine of eternal security.