A common, if overly simplistic phrase in Christian circles is "once saved, always saved". This phrase sums up the doctrine of Eternal Security, also known as the Perseverance of the Saints. This doctrine holds that once salvation has been wholeheartedly accepted by faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit seals the believer until the day of redemption as a guarantee of eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30).
Sadly, many in the Church have been deceived into believing that salvation can be lost. Exactly how they believe this can happen varies. Some maintain the semi-reasonable conclusion that salvation is lost when faith is lost. This makes sense. If faith is the condition for salvation, then losing faith means losing salvation. However, this conclusion is completely blocked by 1 John 2:19, which clearly tells us that apostates were never saved to begin with.
One thing we need to remember is that God is omniscient. Apostasy never takes Him by surprise. If someone walks away from the faith, God saw that happen before they were even born. Furthermore, He knows the heart with which they came to faith in the first place. He knows what sort of ground they are when the seed that is the Gospel falls upon them (see Matthew 13:3-8, 18-30). Why, then, would He grant salvation to those who He knows will not receive it?
But another way people contend salvation can be lost is through sin. A common passage they use to prove this is Hebrews 10:26-29, with an emphasis on verse 26, which reads "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,"
To the untrained mind, this verse sounds rather conclusive. Let us therefore lay the foundation of our exegesis by reading a scarier one: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." - 1 John 3:9. 1 John 3:9 is very scary to read. If he who is born of God cannot sin, what does that say about us if we admit we can sin? Well, obviously, it tells us we were not born of God. Unless, of course, we put this verse back in context. Obviously, the interpretation that Christians literally cannot sin cannot be correct, for the very same epistle tells us that if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).
Now, if we read in 1 John 3:9 "he cannot sin", and yet we do not worry that any sin costs us our salvation, can we not also have just a little confidence in our salvation in spite of Hebrews 10:26's warning that "if we sin willfully", there remains no more sacrifice for sins? Obvious answer: Yes. It would be hypocritical to do otherwise.
So what do the scriptures actually mean? The answer is very similar in both cases. In 1 John 3:9, it is actually talking about our attitude towards sin. There is a notable difference between a Christian's attitude to sin and an unbeliever's attitude to sin. A believer, saved by grace, despises the sin that caused Christ's blood to be spilled. We may well fall into it, by accident or design, but we will repent of it, and war against it. An unbeliever, by contrast, embraces their sin as a friend. They revel in it, living almost as if they believe either God doesn't care, or is wrong to care.
In Hebrews 10:26, the answer is similar. It describes not just willful sin, but outright apostasy. This is why verse 29 says that these people have "counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace". What sort of sin is that? Apostasy, of course!
The conclusion of Hebrews 10 further bears this out when it says "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." This tells us very clearly that it is not an issue of mere sin, or even willful sin, but rather falling away from the faith.
But let us take believers of Conditional Security to task with the scariest verse yet: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." (Hebrews 6:4-6).
Let us condense that a little: It is impossible for those who fall away to be renewed unto repentance. Impossible to renew them. Does this not tell us that if we reject "once saved, always saved", the only option left is "once unsaved, always unsaved"? But then we'd all be doomed regardless! Have we not all willfully sinned at one time since we first confessed the faith? I know I have! I first read 1 John 3:9 in my darkest days as a Christian. Following a particularly traumatic event, I stood on the bring of apostasy, returning to the homosexual behaviours of my pre-Christian past. And yet God, in His unfathomable mercy, did not let me go. True to His promise, He used John's epistle to convict me, and renew me, and as He restored Peter following his denial, He restored me following my prodigal trip.
And that's actually how I know Eternal Security is correct. I am nothing special, and I know it. God does not show partiality, and yet He has preserved me, even when, by all rights, He shouldn't have. Truly Paul spoke when he told Timothy "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:13). I can do nought but praise Him for His faithfulness to me, but I cannot fathom a world in which that faithfulness is exclusive to me.
The truth about Hebrews 10:26 is that, rather than referring to faithful Christians, such as the aforementioned Peter and Paul, it actually refers to people like Judas. Judas, of course, was a close disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, hand chosen by Him, no less. Judas walked with Jesus. Judas ate with Jesus. Judas even kissed the very face of Jesus. But with that kiss, he revealed his true nature, for in doing so, he delivered the Son of God over to corrupt authorities, who would put Him through a dubious trial, and hang Him on a cross for crimes He never committed. Judas, my brethren, was a devil, and the whole time, we see that Jesus knew it (John 6:70).
Judas was enlightened. Judas tasted of the Heavenly gift. Judas was a partaker of the Holy Spirit. Judas tasted the word of God. Judas received the knowledge of the truth. How could any one of those statements be false, knowing that he was constantly in close proximity to Jesus over the course of His ministry? And so the question is was Judas ever saved? The answer is no, his condemnation was a fulfillment of the Scriptures themselves (John 17:12). Judas willfully sinned because even with everything he had been given, his soul drew back, and he counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and did so despite the Spirit of grace.
With all of this in mind, I am forced by both Scripture and experience to believe that Eternal Security is true, and Conditional Security is no security at all, for what kind of security would it be if it was based on a sinner like me? Conditional Security places our confidence in the wrong source. It says "I believe in God, but I must make myself worthy of Him". By contrast, Eternal Security says It says "Lord, I know I'm too wretched to be worthy of you, but I also know that you are worthy, and you are able to make me stand (Romans 14:4), you are able to keep me from stumbling (Jude 1:24), and thus I am not of those who fall away, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (Hebrews 10:38-39)."
When our security is based on ourselves, it ceases to be worth more than our exceptionally weak flesh. But when our security is based upon the God in whom we place our faith, we can know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13). Therefore, a correct exegesis of Scripture will inevitably lead us to conclude that Eternal Security is the correct view.