Response:

Thanks for writing. I understand that you were taught that you could lose your salvation. However, I think that the verses that you are alluding to can be easily explained, while verses that teach eternal security can not be explained away.

A popular verse that folks use to deny eternal security is Hebrews 6:6. The Bible there talks about those who "fall away", and therefore, they say, this must mean that salvation can be lost. However, when that entire passage is analyzed, it becomes clear that the true message of the Scripture is that salvation can NEVER be lost. In the first place, verse six says "IF they shall fall away". It immediately becomes obvious that this is a hypothetical case. The author is saying from verse 4 that it is impossible for those who have been saved to get salvation back IF they fall away. Virtually every person that I have met who believes that salvation can be lost believes that it can be regained. Hebrews 6:4-6 is teaching that IF you can lose it, you can never get it back! If you go further in the chapter, you find that in verses 18-19 we are told that our hope (which in King James Version days meant assurance) of salvation is an anchor for our souls. We can lay hold on it (verse 18 ), because we know that God can not lie (verse 17), and He promised this to the heirs of His promise, which is the promise of eternal life. John 3:16 states "...that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life". Believers HAVE (present tense) everlasting life. If it is everlasting, then it can not be lost, and if I have it immediately, then I am eternally secure from the moment of salvation.

The Bible tells me that I am "kept by the power of God" (I Peter 1:5), not by my own power. Eph 1:14 and II Cor 1:22 indicate that God's giving of the Holy Spirit to believers is "earnest" of what is to come. Earnest money is an expression we use today in buying a house. I give the seller $1000 earnest money when I make my offer as a promise that I will pay the rest. God, Who never backs out of a deal because He can not lie, gave me the Holy Spirit at salvation to prove to me that someday I would receive all the blessings of Heaven. Of course, according to Gal 4:5-6, God adopted me into His family, so that I am no longer of my father the Devil (John 8:44), and he no longer has any claims to me. John 1:12 says that when I received Christ I became a "son of God" because of my belief. Sonship is a permanent relationship. I will always be a child of my earthly father, even if our relationship isn't very good. In the same way, I will always be a son of my Heavenly Father because He adopted me in, even though sometimes, because of my sin, our relationship isn't what it should be.

You are correct when you say that we have a free will. However, when a person gets saved he becomes a "new creature, old things pass away, behold all things become new" (II Cor 5:17). In addition, the believer is "sealed" by God, according to II Cor 1:21-22. And remember from above, the responsibility to keep me saved lies with God, not me.

I do believe that smoking is a sin. And I believe it could be considered "defiling the temple". And God does promise to destroy (actually the same Greek word as is translated "defile") those who do this (I Cor 3:17). But I do not believe that this means a loss of salvation, for the reasons stated above. Overeating can defile the temple as well. Are all overweight people now headed for Hell? No, because we didn't get saved by not smoking or not overeating. We got saved by grace, and we are not going to move on into spiritual maturity by works (Gal 3:2-3; 5:6). Salvation is either all of grace, or it is not of grace at all. Romans 11:6 states "And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work". If I have to add works to grace at any point to either get saved or stay saved, then grace does not exist. Yet Ephesians 2:8 states that by "GRACE are ye saved through faith".

I am curious. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior, plus nothing? Many Adventists that I know believe that keeping the law is necessary for salvation, particularly the Old Testament laws concerning the Sabbath. If I need to keep the law, then I must keep it completely and continually, for Gal 3:10 states "cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them". If a person has broken one law one time, he can not earn Heaven. He must repent, and accept Christ's sacrifice for him on the cross. When he does this by faith, trusting nothing that he has done, but completely in what Christ has done, then he receives the gift of salvation. Has this happened in your life? When was it? Are you sure?

In conclusion, the emotions you feel about wanting to do right, yet failing, are very real, and very common. It was the Apostle Paul who said, "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do...For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do...O wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:15,18,19,24). Paul faced the same battles with his flesh that we do. It certainly didn't mean that he had lost his salvation. He calls himself wretched even as he is being used of God to pen Scripture! When we do wrong, we are responsible to confess our sin to God (I John 1:9), and go on in service to Him. We should endeavor to live holy lives (I Peter 1:15-16), but when we do sin, and confess, our Advocate, Jesus Christ intercedes for us (I John 2:1), and we then need to get up and get back to doing what is right (Prov 24:16).

By Dr Mark Montgomery Ambassador Baptist Church 1926 Babcock Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15209 (412)477-3210