First of all, I’ve had no emails or phone calls. This blog is prompted by some reflection and evaluation of yesterday, as well as a brief discussion following the service. Near the beginning of the message I said something like, “If you do not hold to eternal security then I would say you do not believe in the deity of Christ.” While I believe that to be essentially true, I would clarify by saying that if someone does not hold to eternal security, they must not be banking on the deity of Christ, rather their own views and decisions. I believe that is dangerous ground, because in order for one to be saved they must be trusting and believing on a fully divine Christ (according to John). I would also say that in reflection I probably would not make that statement without clarifying that God is sovereign enough to graciously save someone who does not understand eternal security, and even if they are taught poorly later on it may not reflect on what / who they were banking on at the point of conversion.

So, the language seems awfully clear that those who believe on Christ are sheep, and sheep are kept forever. The twisting of a few passages to mean that one can lose salvation is more than unfortunate. On the other hand, many who hold to this are trying to guard against a cheap version of Christianity that exhibits no fruit or change. I would say that the point then is not having something and lost it; rather they never had the thing at all. This appears to me to be the greater biblical position and we can then know that it is not our trusting that saves, it is the Christ of our trusting that saves.