[ealgeone]

>If you appeal to anything other than grace for your salvation, such as works/good deeds to keep/earn your salvation then you have "fallen away" from grace. You are no longer relying upon Christ.<

In that situation, are you still saved? Were those who preached this "other gospel" to the Galatians still saved?

Let me answer this with a question....was Peter still saved when he was refusing to eat with the Gentiles as he was being influenced by the Judaizers as well?

Paul confronted Peter on this and corrected him. This is what Paul was doing with the church in Galatia and at the same time the Judaizers.

We have no indication in the Word that contradicts that Peter was saved. Nor did Peter in any of his writings indicate he had "fallen away" and need to be "saved" again.

To be sure there are some who teach you can lose your salvation through your sins. This is not supported in the Word. If it were possible to lose salvation due to a sin you commit, that means the blood of Christ is insufficient to cover the sin. And that is not the case.

Paul says, "if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing." (5:2) If they receive circumcision (i.e. submit to the Law of Moses), and Christ profits them nothing, are they still saved?

I'll let 1 John 2:19 answer this one....“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

But what if a believer begins to slide, deviate, wonder, whatever term you want to use....?

We have the Holy Spirit to either pull the believer back or He uses another believer to confront the brother/sister and guide them back. I have the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd in mind here. Sheep sometimes wander off and the job of the shepherd is to bring them back!

I refer to the example of Peter again.

This is the reason why God has given us the Holy Spirit of promise. He is there to guide us and direct us in all things.

One last thing I will leave you with. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. He has been given to us as a pledge of our inheritance. The greek indicates the Holy Spirit is a downpayment, ernest money, on our future inheritance. We are never unsealed per the New Testament.

[LearsFool]

To be sure there are some who teach you can lose your salvation through your sins. This is not supported in the Word.

But that wasn't my question. My question was whether leaving Christ for "another gospel" causes one to lose his salvation. Paul wasn't writing to unbelievers in Galatia. He wrote this warning to Christians, lest they be led astray, lest Christ profit them nothing and they be lost without Him.

If it were possible to lose salvation due to a sin you commit, that means the blood of Christ is insufficient to cover the sin.

Is the blood of Christ insufficient to cover the sins of disbelievers?

The question is not one of sufficiency to cover sins, but rather WHOSE sins are covered. Those who abide in Christ or those who abandon Him? Those who "walk in the light as He is in the light" or those who leave the light to walk in darkness?

If it's impossible to leave the light to walk in darkness, why the strong warnings against that very thing in Hebrews 3 and 4?

"Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today,' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:
'Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.'"
- Heb. 3:12-15

Is the following a conditional statement?...

"Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience."
- Heb. 4:11

If there's no risk, then hasn't the author of Hebrews deceived us with these empty warnings?