Assurance of salvation is important for believers to live a
secure, joyful life. Sometimes such assurance is described as the security of
the believer. We believe that Christians do not lose their salvation. When we
trust in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit, which guarantees eternal life (see
Eph.4:30). God’s power keeps us from falling away (see 1 Peter 1:3-5). Jesus
promised that no one can
snatch us away from him (see John 10:28). The Bible teaches that
we can know we are saved (see 1 John 5:13).
Some Christians hold that we can choose to turn away from Christ
and lose our salvation. They argue that no one can snatch us out of Christ’s
hand, but we can choose to walk out of his hand. They cite Scripture such as
Hebrews 6:4-6 as showing that we may lose our salvation. Ryrie writes that Hebrews
6:4-6 has been understood in the following ways:
1. People can lose their salvation. If this is true, they cannot
be saved again.
2. This passage in Hebrews 6:4-6 refers to people who only profess
faith, but have not been saved. So they are only falling away from the
knowledge of truth, not that they have committed to follow Christ. Notice that
Hebrews 6:9 seems to indicate that Paul doesn’t expect the true Christians to
fall away.
3. The Scripture admonishes Christians on to maturity. It is
impossible to fall from salvation. These verses are similar to speaking to a
group of students in this way: “It is impossible for a student, once enrolled
in this course, if he turns the clock back [which cannot be done], to start the
course over. Therefore, let all students go on to deeper knowledge.”17 We
maintain fellowship with Christians who believe that one can fall from
salvation. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Perhaps they are right
and we are wrong.
It is important for us to recognize what is essential and what is
not essential for salvation. Romans 10:9,10 teaches that if we confess with our
mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God will raise us from
the dead, we will be saved. So if people hold to essentials such as these
verses, they are our Christian brothers and sisters. God knows that we will
disagree on some theological issues, but as long as we are in agreement on the
essentials, we should have fellowship. In this way, we can be a witness to the
world (see John 17:20,21). We think that the Bible gives sufficient assurance
for believers to be confident in their salvation. If we are truly seeking to
follow God, we can have peace and assurance of eternal life. The fruit of
righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence
forever (Isaiah 32:17) .If we are not seeking to follow God, we have a
warning—we may not have true faith, so we may not be saved. To summarize, we
have assurance and warning. For more information regarding assurance of
salvation, see “Assurance of Eternal Life” in the training module, “The Call to
Missions.” (For details
and for free course visit <www.missionstraining.org>)
