Eternal Security?

The doctrine of eternal security—also called the Perseverance of the Saints—is one that many Christians disagree over. Is it true that a Christian is “once saved, always saved” or is it possible to lose our salvation? There are many aspects to this argument, but let’s just concentrate on one: does God require anything of a person who is saved?

A widespread teaching in the church—especially among evangelicals—is that if we say a prayer asking Jesus into our heart, we are saved. Thus, there is nothing left to do, since Jesus “did it all” on the cross. Consequently, we never need to question our salvation, since we once said that prayer. In fact, we’re told—just to be safe—write down the date of that prayer in your Bible, and you can point back to it in case you ever have doubts. You’ve got fire insurance for eternity. Sadly, it’s going to be bad news one day for a whole lot of people who bought into such a watered-down Gospel.

Besides leaving out crucial pieces of the true Gospel—like the need for repentance and recognition of all that Christ really is—the “salvation experience” described above leaves one with only a rearview perspective of salvation. It gives the false impression that perseverance is really just preservation. “Don’t worry. God will preserve you until His kingdom comes. You said that prayer of salvation, right?” Indeed, God will preserve those He elects. But that’s not the sum of what the Bible teaches. In fact, Jesus Christ repeatedly told His disciples that His followers would need to persevere in the faith: Matt 24:13, Matt 10:22, John 15:5-6; John 15:9-10; Rev 3:10-11.

The story Christ told about the sheep and goats, recorded in Matt 25:31-46, reinforces the need to persevere in the faith. The sheep are those who fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and those in prison. The goats failed to do those things. The sheep are saved, the goats are eternally condemned. It’s clear from this story (and several other teachings throughout the Old and New Testament) that perseverance doesn’t simply mean struggling to keep the faith. It also involves doing the deeds that God would have us do.

Am I claiming that good works get us into heaven? No, absolutely not. Even in the parable about the sheep and goats, Jesus said that the heavenly kingdom had been prepared for them (the sheep) from the foundation of the world. I don’t dispute that salvation is based on God’s grace alone, through faith alone (Eph 2:8-9).

What I am saying is that faith without works is dead, and a dead faith will not get you into God’s kingdom. However, a living faith will produce many good works, so much so that Jesus says that His kingdom will be inherited by those who produce its fruits. In fact, Christians were created for good works! So, if you are a Christian, you should be able to look at the fruit your life is producing and see that it is good. We should all (myself included!) take stock of our lives to see whether we can honestly claim that we are persistently doing good works through faith—and the good works of the sheep in Jesus’ story is a great starting place!

Note: All underlined text is hyperlinked to the applicable Bible verse (in ESV) so you can look up the reference yourself rather than take my word for anything.