Question: "Can a Christian lose salvation?"

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[SkyDancer]

Nope.

[impactplayer]

I agree - if we could not lose our salvation, then we would have to have lost our freedom of choice - and without freedom of choice we cannot Love - because Love - real Love - is a choice. This is the reason we live - to choose Love!

[kosciusko51]

if we could not lose our salvation, then we would have to have lost our freedom of choice - and without freedom of choice we cannot Love

If what you say is true, than either we lose our free will in Heaven, and therefore the ability to Love, or we can still lose our salvation once in Heaven.

[knarf]

You're right ... but Paul wasn't writing what he knew nor didn't know .... (BTW, I think Luke wrote Hebrews, but can't prove it).

The writers of the Bible were writing the words Go0d spoke for them to write.

MY Bible has no words given by flesh.

[af_vet_1981]

Do what He says, without arguing or murmuring. The phrase "weeping and gnashing of teeth" is referenced in many passages and is horrible to contemplate; just do His commandments; what He said here is similar to what He said to the seven churches in Revelation:

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew, Catholic chapter twenty four, Protestant verses forty two to fifty one,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James

[Salvation]

**”Can a Christian lose salvation?”**

Yes, when they turn away from God and sin.

[Mark17]

It’s just legalistic law keeping, and if you make the grade, God is obligated to let you in.

Gee whiz MM, where have we ever heard the legalistic thing before? 😀

[SpirituTuo]

Baptism is a pretty important part of being a Christian. Jesus commanded it (Matthew 28:19).

Rephrasing your initial question, is a person guaranteed to go to Heaven? Answer, no. Salvation, through Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, is offered as an unmerited, and un-earnable gift. The actions of Jesus can never be negated, and salvation is available for those is wish it. However, a person can refuse the gift of salvation, by living wickedly, disobediently, and unrepentant, and go to Hell.

Consider the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. (Mark 3:28-29, Matthew 12:31-32, and Luke 12:10) This total rejection of salvation is a first class ticket to eternal damnation.

Is salvation then lost? No. It, and God’s accompanying mercy, are totally rejected. However, should the person realize the gravity of rejection, and truly seek God’s forgiveness, they are accepting the gift of salvation.

[kosciusko51]

All sin, as we are constantly at war with the old, sinful self.

1 John 1:8-10

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

[kosciusko51]

However, should the person realize the gravity of rejection, and truly seek God’s forgiveness, they are accepting the gift of salvation.

But once they accept, can they then reject it? That is the question being asked.

[ScottfromNJ]

1 Peter 1:23 -

“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

[metmom]

Yes, when they turn away from God and sin.

So salvation is by works?

You have to keep doing enough works to stay in.

And if you don't do the works, then you're out?

[MHGinTN]

In a yo-yo religion, but in Christianity, no, because satan cannot defeat our Parent, GOD. It is God Who is in you both to will and do of HIS good pleasure. (that’s in the Bible, by the way.)

[kosciusko51]

Good works are product of salvation, not the means of salvation. Paul and James are not in opposition; they are back-to-back defending against legalism and antinomianism.

[GMThrust]

Rev 3:5 implies your name can be “blotted out” of the book of life (lose salvation). I know that it is only one scripture, but it is a very powerful one for me.

[MHGinTN]

Then what do you understand of 1 Cor 5:5?

1 Cor 5:4 When you are gathered in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of the Lord Jesus, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?…

And what was this man guilty of, mortal or venial din?

1 Cor 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and removed from your fellowship the man who did this?

That passage seems to be answering the question of this thread, 'nespat'?

[metmom]

But we're not in a yo-yo on again, off again salvation.

Paul said this.....

(Please note that the following passage is not a verse cherry picked but posted in context)

Galatians 2:15-21 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Galatians 3:1-29 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

[MHGinTN]

Nailed it!

[ealgeone]

Wasn’t that what the Cross was all about? Your position requires a perfect life with no sin ever committed.

[Salvation]

Are You forgetting the Catholic Sacraments — purveyors of grace? Especially the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation?