Doctrine of the Day: Security of Salvation

For those of you that are Christians… why are you still a Christian today?

No, I mean it. You asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, you repented, you placed your faith in Him… when, like 20 years ago maybe? So, why are you still a Christian today? What hope do you have that you will be delivered into God’s eternal presence when you die?

This question leads us to what we commonly call “security of salvation.” The belief we have that God will make good on his promise to save us eternally.

There are a couple of different ways this doctrine has been expressed. One way is to say “Once saved, always saved.” People usually mean by this that once you have placed your faith in Christ, there is nothing that can make you lose your salvation. Therefore, you can have complete confidence in the promise of God to save you on the last day, and nothing you do until then will cause you to lose that.

Another phrase that people use is “Perseverance of the saints.” By this people generally mean that once you have been converted, once you have a changed heart, you will live in that faith until you die.

So, which is true? Am I saved in a moment and therefore free to live however I want until I die free from any fear of losing my salvation? Am I not really saved until the last day and I must work to maintain my faith for fear of making a misstep into hell?

These are good questions because each of these statements have truth in them but still leave the door open for some misunderstanding. I think it is best to look at these two different statements as two sides of the same coin.

Here’s what I mean: If you have placed your faith in Christ alone for your salvation then on the last day you will be with God in heaven. There is nothing that can cause you to fall away from Christ. You cannot “lose” your salvation. But we must still endure to the end in our faith. If we fall away, there was something defective in our faith proving it was not saving faith.

This doctrine is much deeper and fuller than the simple statement that once you make a profession of faith then you are saved for good. So, here is how I would fill out and solidify the doctrine of security of salvation.

1. God does the saving, so He also does the holding. We are saved by the sovereign work of God’s grace through our faith in Christ. Since this salvation is a work wrought by God, then He is also the one who works our continual salvation day by day until we go to be with Him in glory (John 10:28-29; Philippians 1:6). This side of the “security of salvation” coin is God’s work in preserving our salvation by his grace and power.

2. God binds us with his Holy Spirit as his guarantee of future salvation. We were bought by Christ as his bride. This is what we mean when we say we are redeemed. In order to guarantee this purchase for Christ’s future inheritance at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) God places his seal on us to preserve us for that inheritance we receive in Christ and that He receives in us (Ephesians 1:13-14). So, at the point of conversion we are given the Spirit of God to seal us, brand us as his until the last day.

3. We must endure in our faith to the end in order to be finally saved. This is where we get to the other side of the “security in salvation” coin. God saves us. God preserves us by his Spirit and the work of Christ on the cross. However, the Bible is also very clear that those who have been saved will live like it until the end (Mark 13:13). This is very important. It sounds like a contradiction of points 1 and 2, but it is not. The point is that the only “security” we can have in this life that we have made a genuine profession of faith and subsequent conversion is if we endure in our faith in Christ until our dying breath.

Jesus told his parable of the four soils (Mark 4:1-20) to illustrate his point. Of the four only the one plant that bore fruit represented the true believer and follower of Christ. Two of the other three exhibited some characteristics of saving faith but they were not truly converted. Those who bear fruit and endure to the end can be sure of their salvation.

4. The best way to state succinctly our doctrine of security is: preservation of the saints. This places the power rightly in Christ not only for our initial conversion but also for our continual sanctification. This means that each Christian must daily rely on Christ and his righteousness instead of our own strength. It also means that the truly converted will exhibit saving faith until the end because their faith was a gift of God through Christ’s work on the cross.

So, while “Once saved, always saved” is true, it leaves out the persevering of our faith to the end as evidence of a true conversion. And “perseverance of the saints” does include the enduring part of our faith but can make it sound like it depends on our effort in order to be finally saved.

I think “Preservation of the saints” is most helpful as his calls us to trust in the grace of Christ alone for our conversion and implies the continual faith we must display as the fruit of this conversion.

What do you think?