Eternally Insecure!

Q: Hello There, Regarding eternal security of the believer, how come I have heard several testimonies from Christians and how they have been delivered from the doctrine of eternal security, but no testimonies from Christians how that they were delivered to eternal security?

I don't mean someone that was saved from some other religion such as Catholics, JWs, etc into this false doctrine. Does it not bother you that a number of believers count eternal security as a false doctrine, and speak out against it, but I haven't heard or seen any speak out against conditional security.

I been a Christian for over 30 years...

thank you

A: Thank you for your questions. I have to say that I don't accept the premise behind your questions. Just because you haven't experienced Christians speaking out against conditional security does not mean that it does not happen. Your experience is not everybody's experience. Also, I hope you are speaking out in defense of eternally security assuming you believe in it. I have spoken out against it for years as well as many others I know, including prominent Christian teachers. From my experience those that do not believe in eternal security do not know the full Gospel. In my experience these people only know half the Gospel. In a nutshell, they believe that Jesus died for our sins, but now we have to live a life of obedience and repentance to various forms of religious laws in order to keep ourselves sinless, and thus, saved. Conditional security, by definition, has to outline what the conditions are that a Christian must adhere to in order to keep their salvation secure. And a condition is just another word for law. And the Bible is clear about the role of law in a Christians life. It has no part in it. "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law (Galatians 3:25)."

Most any denomination can be defined by the set of laws it imposes on its congregation. If you are unaware of the role of the Holy Spirit in a believers life, then your only alternative is to burden yourself under some form of law. And the only Law that God acknowledges is the Mosaic Law of the Old Covenant that Christians are not subject to. As a pastor once said, "The (Mosaic) Law is God's contribution to man's best effort to be like Him." When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they believed the lie of Satan. Satan said, "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5)." Ever since that moment mankind, up to and including Christians, have believed the lie of Satan. We are trying to be like God through the knowledge of good and evil. That is what the conditional security crowd is all about. They want people to live under predetermined laws centered around good and evil. In other words, they want to control a persons behavior. What better way to control someone then to threaten them with eternal damnation, loss of salvation, if they aren't obedient? It is an impossible life, motivated by fear, as a person tries to eradicate all the sin from their life in order to please God and their fellow Christians. The only thing they will believe is that God is completely disgusted with them for their inability to live the life they have been deceived into believing He expects them to live.

"You foolish Galatians!.... Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort (Galatians 3:1a, 3)?" If Paul were alive today, he would have similar words for the conditional security crowd. They rely on human effort to do what has already been accomplished for Christians because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Earlier, I mentioned how those who believe in conditional security only know half the Gospel. While the death of Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, His death does not save anybody. His death was only a means to accomplishing an end. The problem between mankind and God is not that man is a sinner in need of forgiveness. The problem is that man is spiritually dead and in need of life. Therefore, when Jesus died, He paid for the sins that caused God to remove His life from Adam and Eve back in the Garden of Eden. That allows God to offer His life, as a free gift to all who accept Jesus Christ by faith, because of His resurrection. That is why Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies (John 11:25)." When we are born again of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ, the life of God, first lost when Adam sinned is restored to us. And because of the eternal consequences of the cross, there is now no sin that can cause that life to leave. That is why it is an eternal life! It is a life that carries you through your physical life, past death, and on into eternity. You can't lose eternal life, otherwise it would be called temporal life.

Those who believe in conditional security are constantly focusing on sins. After all, if you believe you can lose your salvation what is it that causes you to lose it? Sins. However, they need to answer how our sins can cause us to lose eternal life when God is not counting our sins against us? 2 Corinthians 5:19 says "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." The sin issue is over between man and God! The conditional security crowd believes that if you don't have laws to guide your life, "tracks to run on" as it is sometimes called, then you will revert back to a lifestyle of sinning. That may be true, but what they fail to understand is that we have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us and guiding us from within. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age... (Titus 2:11-12)" We are led by the Holy Spirit reminding us of God's grace that leads us. He teaches us about the love of God for us. And when we are receiving His love for us, we will in turn engage the world with that love. And when we are loving others with the love God is giving to us, we will not be sinning against them. "Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10)."

Loving others is the fulfillment of the law. It is not our obedience to laws or our repentance from sins that is the fulfillment of the law. In fact, it is trying to live under laws that increases sin in our lives. Why? Because when you realize that you will never stop sinning, thus believing you will never be acceptable to God, you will turn to the world and sin to find relief. Furthermore, how can we say God is a God of love if He threatens to take our salvation from us if we sin? How then can we say that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)" if we can lose our salvation? How can we say we believe God when He says, ""Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)" if He remove His Spirit from us if we sin? Do you see the inconsistency and contradictions that arise when we believe in conditional security? Salvation has never been and never will be up to us to obtain or maintain through our ability to meet conditions. If we could have achieved salvation on our own then Jesus Christ would not have had to come to this earth! We are saved by faith and we live by that same faith. I am not bothered by people calling eternal security a false doctrine. I am bothered that so many people are unaware of just how much Jesus Christ did for them to the point were they deny the very thing He came to guarantee. Be blessed.