One of the most important questions we can answer is how someone is saved. Another important question is whether a saved person can lose their salvation.

I was raised in a Christian home, made a profession of faith in Christ and was baptized at the age of ten. I left the church during high school and became an atheist in college. Did I lose my salvation or was I never saved? Based on what I understand from Scripture about salvation, I believe I was not saved as a child. If that is true, I didn’t lose my salvation because I didn’t have it.

You might say that was just my personal experience and that many saved people do lose their salvation. That’s a fair point, so let’s look a bit deeper.

Calvin or Arminius?

One of the questions I was asked soon after becoming a Christian was whether I was a follower of Calvin or Arminius? I thought that was a strange question for someone to ask since I thought Christianity was about being a follower of Jesus Christ. I did some research and learned why people were asking me that question. They wanted to know whether I believed in eternal security or conditional security. I studied the Bible to find out what God’s Word said about it.

John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius were 16th century theologians, which told me that 15 centuries of Christianity had preceded them. That means the vast majority of the history of the Church occurred before either of them was born. Christians were preaching the Gospel and making disciples, and Jesus was building His Church during those many centuries leading up to the 16th century. I don’t mind talking about Calvinism or Arminianism, but I don’t advocate either view. 

I do find the writings of the earliest Church fathers (Apostolic Fathers) important because they were disciples and co-workers with the apostles. They could certainly make mistakes in their theology, like any of us, but they had the benefit of being trained by the apostles. The apostles were not perfect men, but Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth (John 16:13). When it comes to apostolic writings, I’m depending on the Lord’s promise. Plus, we also have the promise that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16) and that holy men of God spoke as the Holy Spirit moved them (2 Peter 1:21). Prophecy never came by the will of man. That gives me great comfort as a Christian. I can go to the Scripture for the ‘unvarnished’ truth about so many important topics — including salvation.

‘Conditional security’ is an interesting title in the realm of salvation. It means that salvation security is ‘conditional.’ Question is, conditional on what? The word ‘conditional’ means that something is ‘tentative, subject to meeting certain conditions or requirements.’ How does that work for something like the gift of eternal life? Do we give God’s gift back to Him? Will He take it back? If we want it back later, how do we approach God since it was a gift? Can you ask for gift that you reject? We didn’t earn or deserve salvation, so what should we say to God if we rejected it the first time? Lots of questions come to mind.

Conditional and Unconditional

One example about ‘conditional’ and ‘unconditional’ comes from the covenants (agreements) God made with humans. Some of the covenants were ‘conditional,’ meaning that God would keep His part of an agreement as long as people kept their part of an agreement. People had to meet certain conditions (requirements) for God to do as He promised. Some of the covenants were ‘unconditional,’ meaning that God would keep His promise no matter what the other party (parties) did. God did not put any conditions or requirements on human beings in those situations.

We see those two covenantal ideas play out in Scripture. Humans usually did not keep their part of an agreement made with God. They failed to meet the conditions or requirements God set for them. If the agreement was ‘conditional,’ God allowed people to suffer the consequences of their decisions. However, if the agreement was ‘unconditional,’ God kept His promise no matter what people did.

In most cases God is the Maker of covenants in the Bible. The promises are based on His nature and character. We can trust that He can do what He promised because of Who He is – His nature and character. God also determines the ‘conditions’ of the agreements. He can determine whether to make an agreement ‘conditional’ or ‘unconditional.’ That’s completely up to Him. Our job as Christians is to do our best to understand whether something God said is conditional or unconditional. If God established the security of my salvation to be ‘conditional,’ that’s fine with me. If God established the security of my salvation to be ‘unconditional,’ that’s also fine with me. God designed salvation before time began, before the foundation of the world – long before I could have any say in how it would work. Salvation belongs to God. He owns it and decided to give it as a gift. I’m good with that.

As we study ‘conditional’ and ‘unconditional’ agreements and promises in the Bible, it’s good to ask some basic questions concerning the speaker and the audience. Who’s talking and who’s listening? A friend of mine sent me a link to a website with 85 Bible verses that the author believed supported conditional security. The first group of verses were things Jesus said during His earthly ministry. Some were parables Jesus taught to crowds that followed Him. Others were the explanations of those parables He shared privately with His disciples. Some are words He shared with His disciples about a time of tribulation and even great tribulation that would come toward the end of the age. The words that Jesus spoke on earth dealt primarily with covenants God had made with Israel. He was preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and the nation of Israel was in focus.

Though God did make some conditional and unconditional covenants with men before He selected Abram, most of God’s covenants in the Old Testament concerned Israel. That’s what we see Jesus bringing to the forefront of His earthly ministry. However, once Israel’s leaders failed to meet the conditions of God’s conditional covenants we see a change in who God would save. Jesus told the apostles not to go into the way of the Gentiles and not enter a city of the Samaritans, “But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:5-7). That changed dramatically when the Holy Spirit told Peter to go to a God-fearing Gentile centurion and preach Jesus to him and his family. Peter didn’t want to do that because he viewed Gentiles as common or unclean. In fact, Peter told Cornelius – “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). That shows that the Lord’s apostles had no intention of preaching the Gospel to Gentiles in the way we experience it today. It took a powerful vision and the words of the Holy Spirit to get Peter to go against the understanding He had about Gospel ministry. The Holy Spirit demonstrated God’s approval by falling on the Gentiles. That’s why Peter baptized them with water. Peter took heat for doing that when he returned to Jerusalem and had to answer to the other apostles and brethren for what he had done (Acts 11:1-18). 

Even though Peter had that experience and the other apostles finally accepted it, they didn’t start an outreach ministry to the Gentiles. Why not? Because that wasn’t God’s plan. That’s where we meet Saul of Tarsus.

But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake. Acts 9:15-16

I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Acts 26:17-18

We see that Jesus called Saul of Tarsus to preach the Gospel to Gentiles and Jews, but primarily Gentiles. Saul (Paul) did that and it caused a problem for him and the new Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria. The apostles and elders in Jerusalem had a big meeting about that and finally gave their approval for the difference in Paul’s ministry and theirs (Acts 15 and Galatians 2). They thought Paul was wrong in telling Gentiles they didn’t need to be circumcised and observe the Mosaic Law. However, after Peter, Paul and Barnabas shared their experiences with the Gentiles and what God was doing in their lives, the other apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church gave their approval of Gentiles not having to become Jewish converts. It was a first for the young Church. God was doing something new and unexpected.

Paul identified himself as the apostle to the Gentiles. That’s what God called him to do. God had made an unconditional covenant with Abraham two-thousand years earlier that He would bless the nations through Abraham’s Seed. The Gentiles didn’t have to meet any special conditions to have the Gospel preached to them. Israel had rejected Jesus Christ, so God set them aside for a time and grafted in the Gentiles who would believe (Romans 11).

Paul went on to write “that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.” Even though Israel had rejected Jesus, God would save them at a future time because of an ‘unconditional’ covenant He had made with Abraham. Even though Gentiles had rejected Him time and time again, God began to save them through the preaching of Paul and others because of an ‘unconditional’ covenant He had made with Abraham. Israel is set aside now while God works primarily with Gentiles around the world. That work will eventually become “full” (complete) and then God will finish His work of saving Israel. “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” (Romans 11:26-27) That’s an unconditional covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel won’t deserve God’s salvation, but they will be saved because of the unconditional covenant God made with the Hebrew Patriarchs.

As we saw in Acts 15 and Galatians 2, Paul’s ministry continued to be primarily to Gentiles (uncircumcision) and Peter, John and the other apostles’ ministry continued to be primarily to Jews (circumcision). I keep that in mind as I read through the 85 verses on conditional security.

Security for Christians?

Any kind of ‘security’ that a Christian experiences has to come from the type of agreement God makes with them. Is salvation conditional on God or on us? Do we persevere because of something we do and continue to do or something God does and continues to do? Another term used for conditional security is ‘conditional preservation of the saints.’ I come away from the 85 verses about conditional security and many others in the New Testament with a sense that salvation is conditional on God’s keeping us saved. If it’s up to me to meet certain conditions (requirements) to stay saved, then I’m in trouble. I’m too much like the Israelites.

However, I believe that rewards are another matter entirely. Rewards are conditional on what we decide to do with this great gift God has given us. Christians will be judged and rewarded by Christ in the future. Paul made an interesting statement about rewards and salvation in 1 Corinthians 3. It’s not one of the 85 verses, but still important to notice.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.” Paul wrote about laying the foundation and another builds on it. “But let each one take heed how he builds on it.” Why is that? “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Paul wrote that how a Christian builds on that foundation will be judged, “for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” Here’s the part that may be helpful in our study:

“If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:14-15

What Paul did in that section was to focus on the work that a Christian does and the work that God does. Jesus is the Foundation of the Church. That’s ‘unconditional.’ Christians have nothing to do with that. What we do have something to do with is how we build on that Foundation.

Paul wrote that “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it.” That’s quite a statement to make, but it’s true. Paul the Apostle laid the foundation. Again, that’s unconditional. Jesus chose Paul to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul had nothing to do with that choice. In fact, Paul’s choice was to be the Church’s greatest enemy. Paul certainly didn’t meet any conditions for Jesus to choose him for the job of becoming the Church’s apostle to the Gentiles and write almost half of the New Testament.

Jesus is the Foundation and He graciously chose Paul to be the one who would reveal the mystery of Jew and Gentile being one new man (Ephesians 2 & 3). Paul is a wise master builder and another builds on it — “But let each one take heed how he builds on it.”

Every Christian is building on that foundation and needs to take heed (perceive carefully) how they build on it. Paul used building materials that demonstrate value – value to the one who builds and to the one who receives the results of the building. Those building materials include gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw. The value of the first three greatly outweighs the value of the second three. How will we know the value of the materials we use to build on the foundation? Jesus, the Foundation, will judge it in the future.

The term “revealed by fire” can be understood in the Bible as judgment leading to destruction or testing leading to reward. Paul quickly explained which one when he wrote “and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” This portion of Scripture is not about a judgment to destruction, but a judgment to reward. The fact that Paul used the term “endures” (remains, abides, continues) shows that the judgment will impact what building materials receive a reward and what do not. If the works endure, “he will receive a reward.” If the works don’t endure the judgment (work is burned), he will suffer loss. What kind of loss? “… but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” The word “saved” is the same word used scores of times in the New Testament for someone’s spiritual salvation. The word means “rescue, preservation, deliverance.” Many Christians will suffer loss when Jesus judges what we did with our time, gifts and efforts on earth, but it will be a loss of reward not of salvation.

Sovereignty and Responsibility

I believe God has given us an explanation of salvation that demonstrates both His sovereignty and our responsibility. We need to endure to the end. The question is whether that endurance is for the preservation of our eternal salvation gifted to us by God or for the preservation of our works of ministry when tested by the fire of Christ at His seat of judgment. I think the Bible teaches that salvation is God’s sovereign gift to us and our obedient service is our responsibility to Him. 

“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.” 2 Corinthians 5:9-11

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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