Eternal Security

Today in my intro to the New Testament class, we discussed eternal security. To begin, I come from a Baptist background, and the school I attend is affiliated with the Church of God denomination. Apparently, they have a totally different view on salvation than that of the Baptist. My professor ask the question, 'Is it possible for one to walk away from or lose their salvation?" Of course, over half the class said that it was, but I had a different opinion. I stated that if a person totally repents and asks Jesus to save us, putting it as elementary as possible, then the blood of Jesus covers our sin, and we are saved by grace through faith. Then I went on to say that if a person chooses to stray in their life into a life of sin, which we are all bound to do at one point in our life, then we step out of fellowship with God, but do not lose our salvation. The reason is because Scripture is very clear that salvation is eternal.

In response my professor read from 1 John 1:6 which says, " If we say that we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." (ESV). But my thoughts were, that of the definition of fellowship is communion in the original Greek, not salvation. If a person chooses to walk away at some point, if they are truly saved to begin with, they will experience great conviction and will be miserable. I am speaking from experience here. If you lost your salvation, which means that the Spirit no longer resides in your heart, this would not be your experience. I also find it hard to believe that someone would willingly use only one passage of Scripture to justify their stance, and totally ignore the rest.

My professor then went on to say that this was not a huge matter, and that we shouldn't really be worried about it, because we are all going to be in heaven one day anyways. I just find it difficult to accept that this is not major. The fact that their are people out there who believe that Jesus is God enough to save us in the first place, then turn around and pretty much say that he is not God enough to keep us just blows me away. I think that it is a very big deal and shouldn't be taken lightly.

My stance is this, that we are saved by grace through faith and repentance. Jesus died for the sin of all, and all of those who become saved have their sins, past and future, forgiven eternally. Grace does not give us license to sin, but does cover us if we sin and repent. I believe that the journey of a Christ follower is a hard one, and we must try to live in total fellowship with God. But we do not attain salvation on our own. The Bible tells us that it is not by our merit or works that we are saved, but by what Jesus did on the Cross that brings our salvation. All in all, I will have to agree to disagree, but I do welcome your comments.