thanks pastor, excellent study including the Greek tenses.
God’s leaving us all a continuous road of unfettered moral choice and responsibility is as apparent to me in my life (and others) as in the stories and teaching shot through the new and old Testament Scripture from Adam onwards. for me, that’s the essence of “race” that Paul talks about having finished after having “kept the Faith.” it’s also the essence of the growth i experience everyday as a christian under trial and training in this world.
i sometimes have concern for christians who profess “one and done, unconditional salvation” especially when i see how they continue to live their lives as if God isn’t looking, but i hope that as Bob Cooke’s dad once said to him after a disagreement about God, “Boy, we’ll both find out in heaven who was right.”
Thank God that He is always ready and waiting to forgive.
I think you’re right that God is always ready to forgive so long as we continue to repent and look to Christ. I think Christ has total and complete authority in regards to salvation. The key question is whether or not one can back slide so much as to lose salvation and yet also still repent and be restored before they die in their sins.