“...who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we take possession of it...”
St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians -
Chapter 2 - Verse 12
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but much more now in my absence)
with fear and trembling work out your salvation.
The bible makes it clear that salvation is not gauranteed because human beings are required to use their free will to cooperate with the grace they have been given by God alone. Anyone has the choice and free will to seriously disobey God and lose their salvation at any time - only Christ himself was sinless.
Assuming one has achieved salvation is presumptious and prideful, because all men sin.
That can be interpreted also to work it through, not to earn it but to mature in it.
And THAT interpretation does not conflict with the eternal security promised to believers being sealed by the Holy Spirit.
So tell me, if believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit, what exactly does that mean if not to be kept from *losing* their salvation?
What then, is the point of sealing anyway?
And why call the deposit of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer a guarantee of his inheritance until he takes possession of it, if it is not guaranteed because the person may do something to lose it? How is that being sealed?
“Assuming one has achieved salvation is presumptious and prideful, because all men sin.”
Your very language contains the falsehood that ANYONE can ever “achieve salvation”.
ALL salvation is based ONLY on the completed work of Christ, gratefully accepted in outstretched hands of faith.
It is ALL Him. It is all to HIS glory. When someone comes to faith and apprehends what happens - as described in God’s own Word - when they entrust themselves to God’s grace, they cannot be prideful. They had nothing to contribute. It is a reflection of what HE did in eternity and time to secure their salvation. This recognition is the farthest thing in the world from pride. It is the most humbling recognition in life.
Only Him. Only for His glory.
And THAT, ladies and germs, is the accursed gospel Paul warned us about!
Today is the day of salvation. We are new creatures in Christ, the old has gone, the new has come. We are crucified in Christ, we no longer live but Christ lives in us. The life we live in the body we live by the faith of the son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.
We are saved NOW, when we are born again. If we have to wait until we die to find out, we cannot be born again. The opportunity is lost because it must happen while we're alive.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 10:25-30 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Ephesians 1:13-14 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:4-8 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.