Posted on 02/20/2017 5:31:52 AM PST by metmom
A common question for many is, “Can I lose my salvation?” I’ve heard both sides of the argument, and only God truly knows a person’s heart, but I can share a few thoughts. The reason there is a debate is because the Scriptures teach that salvation is a gift from God that cannot be earned, but they also offer warnings about falling away. There should be a healthy tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. This issue should not create a spirit of division, elitism, or theological superiority.
One school of thought suggests that salvation cannot be lost, as in losing your car keys, but that it can be left, as in walking away from it. This may be why Jesus spoke of the man who said in his heart “my master delays His coming; therefore, I will turn from living a godly life”. When the master returned unexpectedly, the servant was banished because he chose to turn from what he knew to be right.
In another passage, Jesus said, “You have left your first love,” when speaking to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:4). James 5:19-20 adds, if anyone wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, a soul is saved from death. If anything, these Scriptures, and many more, reinforce the fact that we have certain responsibilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at westsidechristianfellowship.org ...
So is God’s Grace irresistible or not? Is that the question? In other words, can one thwart the will of God?
You know, Paul answered this question (Romans 9:16,19-24 NASB):
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
...
You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?
Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
No, I’m talking about the one who may have walked away from Christ but then later changes his mind/repents and comes back. That passage in Hebrews if read the way it was explained makes it sound like there IS no coming back and I reject that (i.e., the Prodigal Son).
Romans 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. ...
Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ...
Ephesians 1:5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will ...
Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will ...
Acts 4:28 They did what whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. ...
1 Corinthians 2:7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory ...
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9-14)
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (II Cor. 5:21)
For if we are mere marionettes, we would be living a lie. Our God is a God of truth, of love, and of free will.
It's not the question in IMHO. I don't think it's God's will we do many of the things we do.
It is God’s will that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. He doesn’t want any to perish.
However, I also see in Scripture that He draws us and calls us and commands us to repent, knowing that not all will.
He clearly gives us the final choice whether we say yes, to Him or not.
So it’s His will for all to be saved, but it’s also His will for us to make the response. So is God’s will being thwarted?
Love isn’t love if it’s not freely given.
I know people who God has drawn over and over and they know it’s Him and yet love their sin more than they love Him.
There's an understatement if I ever heard one.
I think there is a difference in falling into sin again vs not Believing that Christ can SAVE you from that sin.
You've stated it as I believe it.
Genesis 50:20 (NASB)
“As for you, you meant evil against me, [but] God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
So, was God’s will thwarted when Joseph’s brother did evil towards him?
See post 262. That is the same argument Paul refutes in Romans 9.
Are you talking about 2 Peter 3:9? If so, that passage is talking about how God is being gracious by delaying His return. God takes no delight in punishing the unbeliever, so in His great mercy, He delays His return until all that are to be save will be saved.
If God is omniscient, the He already knows who will call on Him. To deny this denies His omniscience, and thus His Deity.
Furthermore, if it is God’s will that all be saved, and yet not all are saved, then God is not omnipotent.
... marionettes ...
More like pottery...
If it up to us to make the response, then we can unmake the response. Otherwise, we lose the unfettered ability to choose.
So either God chooses and we are secure in our election, or we choose, and have the ability to both follow or walk away.
When God allowed Satan to test Job, did God know that Job would not renounce Him? When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, was God unsure that Abraham would obey?
When Jesus said to Peter that he would deny Him before the rooster crowed, could Peter do anything not to deny Jesus?
So, even in these little things, compared to our salvation, God is in control. So why do we think he is not in control when it comes to our salvation?
Will we have free will in Heaven? If not, won’t we be just marionettes?
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