Posted on 06/08/2017 5:24:08 PM PDT by ealgeone
Question: "Is eternal security a "license" to sin?"
Answer: The most frequent objection to the doctrine of eternal security is that it supposedly allows people to live any way that they want and still be saved. While this may be "technically" true, it is not true in reality. A person who has truly been redeemed by Jesus Christ will not live a life characterized by continuous, willful sin. We must draw a distinction between how a Christian should live and what a person must do in order to receive salvation.
The Bible is clear that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 14:6). The moment a person truly believes in Jesus Christ, he or she is saved and secure in that salvation. It is unbiblical to say that salvation is received by faith, but then has to be maintained by works. The apostle Paul addresses this issue in Galatians 3:3 when he asks, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" If we are saved by faith, our salvation is also maintained and secured by faith. We cannot earn our own salvation. Therefore, neither can we earn the maintenance of our salvation. It is God who maintains our salvation (Jude 24). It is God's hand that holds us firmly in His grasp (John 10:28-29). It is God's love that nothing can separate us from (Romans 8:38-39).
Any denial of eternal security is, in its essence, a belief that we must maintain our own salvation by our own good works and efforts. This is completely antithetical to salvation by grace. We are saved because of Christ's merits, not our own (Romans 4:3-8). To claim that we must obey God's Word or live a godly life to maintain our salvation is saying that Jesus' death was not sufficient to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus' death was absolutely sufficient to pay for all of our sinspast, present, and future, pre-salvation and post-salvation (Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Does this mean that a Christian can live any way he wants to and still be saved? This is essentially a hypothetical question, because the Bible makes it clear that a true Christian will not live "any way he wants to." Christians are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christians demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), not the acts of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). First John 3:6-9 clearly states that a true Christian will not live in continual sin. In response to the accusation that grace promotes sin, the apostle Paul declared, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2).
Eternal security is not a license to sin. Rather, it is the security of knowing that God's love is guaranteed for those who trust in Christ. Knowing and understanding God's tremendous gift of salvation accomplishes the opposite of giving a license to sin. How could anyone, knowing the price Jesus Christ paid for us, go on to live a life of sin (Romans 6:15-23)? How could anyone who understands God's unconditional and guaranteed love for those who believe, take that love and throw it back in God's face? Such a person is demonstrating not that eternal security has given him a license to sin, but rather that he or she has not truly experienced salvation through Jesus Christ. "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him" (1 John 3:6).
Isn’t sinning turning away from God?
No it doesn't because the bridesmaids are at the wedding feast and WE born again believers are the BRIDE.
We're not the guests at our own wedding.
Well half of them are thrown out as workers of iniquity. Seems humility is highly prized by the groom.
Plus I am quite sure many a horrid sinner (is one sinner a worse sinner than any other sinner in God’s estimation?) has found Christ/been found by Christ (maybe kind of a guy like Saul/Paul?) and while they acted like hell before meeting grace and Jesus on the road to Damascus, but thereafter lived by the grace and the faith of Christ....
So yes, some “horrid sinners” will be present in the hereafter along with the victims ( if they were saved too).
The whole difference is both parties will be gloried and forgiven and forgiving, so no vomiting would appropriate....
And when does being a victim of a crime make the victim an automatic saint? Just wondering.
There are not degrees of being lost in sin....
Disregarding the Blood of Christ is the line in the sand so to speak.
Did your parents disown you whenever you disobeyed them?
Were you not part of the family any more? Did they kick you out of the house?
Did you have to work or earn your way back into the good graces of your own parents?
There's a big difference between sinning and willfully choosing to reject God.
And Scripture doesn't tell us that we lose our salvation every time we commit a sin nor does it teach that every little sin we commit is a is rejection of God at the cost of our salvation.
On the contrary, if you believe that then you have to figure out what to do with the passage in Hebrews that says this.
Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
If you think that salvation can be lost by sinning, then it is IMPOSSIBLE to bring that person back to repentance.
There is no on again/off again salvation depending on what kind of day you're having.
Salvation, then, is a one shot deal and if you sin once, by your reasoning and definition, you are lost, and that is that. You CANNOT come back again.
But if you believe that a Christian and gain and lose his salvation on a minute by minute basis, then how to you explain, or rather explain away, the verses I posted in post 12 about the security of the believer in Christ?
So, yes in a sense it is turning away from God but not rejecting Him to the point of forfeiting one's salvation, if that were even possible.
There is no such thing as cheap grace. If you say that you love the Lord Jesus Christ but do not live the life of a blood-bought sinner who has been saved, is being saved, and will be saved, then you are a liar.
Along the lines of the redeemed by grace through faith having an assurance of their salvation, I was thinking how Scripture talks about those who through their way of life demonstrate they have a genuine faith. John the Baptist talked to those religionists who bragged about their "pedigree" and how they were superior to the everyday man. He castigated them saying:
But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit worthy of repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. (Matt. 3:7-9)
That phrase, "produce fruit worthy of repentance", or produce fruit that proves your repentance, tells us that a genuine faith WILL be shown by the fruit it bears in ones life. It's what Paul was talking about to the Ephesians:
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) (Eph. 5:8,9)
We know that it is NOT our good works or manner of life we lead that merits our salvation - because it is faith in Christ that brings salvation - but a changed heart cannot help but desire to live in the light. Whereas in our lost state we enjoyed the darkness, we will no longer want it - it feels wrong and brings us shame. It is why we are told to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Finally, we are encouraged by:
You've misunderstood the function of works. It's not for salvation.
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works (Romans 4:4-6)
"...to him that worketh NOT, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his FAITH is counted for righteousness."
Salvation is "without works" because the reward is NOT of debt, but of grace. Salvation is a "gift" not of works, lest any man should boast.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.(Ephesians 2:8-10)
Not that we MUST walk in them, but SHOULD. "By grace though faith" gets one to heaven. "Works" determine the rewards one receives in heaven.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)
Even without rewards (debt reckoned from works) "he himself shall be saved".
Do we all still sin? Yes.
Do we look for ways to sin? No.
I believe that's the difference.
Amen. This.
“Jesuss Passion, Death, and Resurrection, redeemed all of mankind for eternity. This redemption/salvation, is a permanent, unmerited, un-earnable, and eternal gift.”
You were running well...
“However, as humans, we often reject that gift, but through Gods mercy, are able to accept the gift again.”
...then somebody cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth, and put you back in the driver’s seat.
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
Calvin was a theologian and a pastor, as well as a lawyer. Your comment is equvalent to saying Paul was a Jewish tentmaker. True, but incomplete. I do not know why you wished to make this point about Calvin, but it appears that it was to discredit him. Please let me know if I am wrong.
John Calvin was born as Jehan Cauvin on 10 July 1509, at Noyon, a town in Picardy, a province of the Kingdom of France. He was the first of four sons who survived infancy. His mother, Jeanne le Franc, was the daughter of an innkeeper from Cambrai. She died of an unknown cause in Calvin's childhood, after having borne four more children. Calvin's father, Gérard Cauvin, had a prosperous career as the cathedral notary and registrar to the ecclesiastical court; he died in 1531, after suffering for two years with testicular cancer. Gérard intended his three sons Charles, Jean, and Antoine for the priesthood.Young Calvin was particularly precocious. However, by age 12, he was employed by the bishop as a clerk and received the tonsure, cutting his hair to symbolise his dedication to the Church. He also won the patronage of an influential family, the Montmors. Through their assistance, Calvin was able to attend the Collège de la Marche, Paris, where he learned Latin from one of its greatest teachers, Mathurin Cordier. Once he completed the course, he entered the Collège de Montaigu as a philosophy student.
In 1525 or 1526, Gérard withdrew his son from the Collège de Montaigu and enrolled him in the University of Orléans to study law. According to contemporary biographers Theodore Beza and Nicolas Colladon, Gérard believed that Calvin would earn more money as a lawyer than as a priest. After a few years of quiet study, Calvin entered the University of Bourges in 1529. He was intrigued by Andreas Alciati, a humanist lawyer. Humanism was a European intellectual movement which stressed classical studies. During his 18-month stay in Bourges, Calvin learned Koine Greek, a necessity for studying the New Testament.
Also, Calvin's theology can be traced to the Bible, part of which is expressed in The Canons of the Council of Orange (529), so to claim that he made his own religious system is in error.
Then you deny the truth, as he was a theologian and a pastor, had more than sufficient training for the role, and has been recognized as such for centuries.
You can have the last word, as I will not continue debate you about obvious facts that you deny.
I receive, and continue to receive God’s graces through His Providence. I have been given the gift of Faith by the Holy Spirit.
Nothing I do can merit salvation, Jesus did it, once and for all.
However, I can reject the gift of salvation by refusing to obey God’s laws, and by refusing His commands. On the other hand, when I remember His love, mercy, and greatness, I feel true sorrow, and seek to conform my life to His will.
Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what God has ready for those who love Him. Loving Him is more than obeying the Commandments, it is about serving others and evangelizing.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. I can’t get to Heaven just by saying I believe in Jesus, as the demons acknowledge the divinity of Jesus. On the other hand, I can’t just tick off a bunch of actions and wait around to die. No, I have to believe and acknowledge Jesus as my Lord, by my own submission. I also have to love my neighbor as my self, as well providing for those in physical and spiritual need. We perform these actions out of love for God, imitating His example.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.