Can You Lose Your Salvation?

Yes.

Now that you know my opinion, allow me to share the reasons why I believe this to be the correct answer.

I am tempted to quibble over the word ‘lose,’ here. Part of me really dislikes that word because it feels too passive – almost like it’s saying that you can lose your salvation like you lose your car keys. I don’t believe that the Bible teaches this. However, I do believe it is possible to forfeit your salvation, or become disqualified. I believe that this can happen either through blatantly rejecting the truth, or through negligence. So, here’s my new title:

Can You Lose Forfeit Your Salvation?

The issue ultimately comes down to a question of God's sovereignty. Those who purport that it is impossible for a true child of God to ever fall away from Christ, come to that conclusion through a series of theological ideas and presuppositions. Here are at least a few of them:

First. God is sovereign. God's sovereignty is His absolute right, and absolute power to do anything He wants. Absolute power means that there is nothing outside of His ability. He created the universe with His word, and so for Him to modify that universe in some way, great or small, is nothing. Absolute right means that He is completely justified in whatever He does, even if we don't understand the reasons. If I were to so choose, I could go outside right now and take a baseball bat to my car, and beat the crap out of it. Even though it seems bizarre, even unthinkable that I would do this, it remains my right to do so if I choose. Why? Because it's MY car. The universe and all it contains belong to God alone. Therefore He is completely justified in whatever He chooses to do with it. That is the simple definition of "sovereignty," as it pertains to God.

Second. Every true believer was "predestined," or "elected" for salvation based on God's sovereignty. This simply means that God, long before we ever existed, essentially made a predetermined choice that we would be part of His kingdom. This is Biblical. Read Ephesians 1. However, where most Calvinists then make a leap, is in saying that His sovereignty overrides our free will. That, essentially, we would not have ever chosen God unless He had made us choose Him. This is actually part of their core theology. Calvinism uses the acronym TULIP to help define their doctrines. The "T" of TULIP stands for "Total depravity." This means that we are so fallen, so wretched, so sinful in our minds that we could never come to a place of accepting the Gospel without direct intervention from God. Second, the "I" of TULIP stands for "Irresistible grace." This means that when God calls a person, they will be unable to resist His calling.

I disagree with these conclusions. I do believe that we are totally depraved, but not so much that we are incapable of choosing or comprehending God! I believe that God put within man an innate understanding of His existence, "that we might feel after Him," (Acts 17:27). I believe that God presents to us the choice of following Him, and then the ball's in our court. In other words, I believe in the value and reality of human free will, and I think it is something God created...

The real issue is not whether God is sovereign or not. The real issue is: If God is truly sovereign, is man truly free? It's a profound question, and it can get you all twisted up in your thinking if you're not careful. Here's my humble solution.

I believe it is a misunderstanding to think that God's sovereignty demands a kind of micro-managing of the universe. That every drop of rain that falls, every gust of wind, every human encounter, every choice, is something directly and specifically influenced by God so that there could not have been any other outcome. Yet, I think on some level this is what Calvinism demands. That God's sovereignty means that nothing ever happens that God didn't directly intend to happen. The only problem with this, is that we know it to be false! Through scripture, and through life experiences, we observe a world that is truly fallen and depraved. Every day, people are doing things that offend God. The Bible says that sinful people are "storing up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath." God's anger is building toward sin, and one day His full wrath will break forth upon this wicked world, and wash all sin away. In fact, that's an even easier way to explain it - the existence of SIN proves that God's creation is not under a tyrannical, exacting sovereignty. We all do things that God would rather we not do, and yet He remains sovereign. How?

Think of it in mathematical terms. Calvinism sort of demands that God's sovereignty be a simple equation, like,

1 = 1.

But the reality is that there are many variables in this equation.

2x + 3(x - 5y + 6) = 1.

One of those 'variables' is human free will. The equation still equals 1, (i.e. God is still sovereign) but it's not so simple as we would think. In God's sovereignty (His absolute right, and absolute power to do anything), He created a race of people who have the power to make choices, either for good or bad - without consulting God first! God created a race of people who could make choices against Him, and against His will. Even though this must create an unimaginable divine frustration, it places such an incredible dignity on every human, that it is almost unthinkable. God, who is able if He so desires, to sway the will of every one of His creatures; who could have, if He so chose, created a race that was utterly obedient, decided instead to create a race with the capacity for disobedience, sin, malice. He created a race so endowed with free will that people could actually choose to become atheists, to deny the one truth that binds the whole universe together! For more on choice see my other blog on Choice.

Here's the other thing. On top of His sovereignty, God is omniscient. This means, quite simply, that there is nothing outside of the realm of God's knowledge. Not even the future. God has perfect knowledge of everything, with intimate detail. Jesus told us that God knows the number of hairs on our heads (Matt. 10:29-31). The Bible also says that God knows the number of the stars in the sky, and has a name for each one (Psalm 147:4). It is utterly impossible for us to understand this attribute of God. Everything God does is based on this ultimate knowledge of all things, past, present and future.

This means that before He ever said, "Let there be light," He could see, with perfect clarity, the whole of human history. He saw Abraham, Joseph, and Moses and Jesus, and Paul; He saw the crusades, He saw Luther nail his 95 theses to the church door. And God saw me. Insignificant me. And He knew me perfectly, even then. God knew that when the Gospel would be presented to me, I would embrace it, and I would love Him. He knew all of that long before He said, "Let there be light." THIS is the basis of predestination...

The key question for those who try and teach hardcore predestination, is this: "Is the election arbitrary?" In other words, was God simply playing a cosmic game of "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo" when He chose me? Or was there some sort of rational, sensible selection process. Well, the Bible tells us in 1Peter 1:1-2.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Notice those two important words - according to. Those two little words say a lot. They tell us that our election was in fact not arbitrary. It was based on God foreknowledge, God's perfect understanding of all things that will ever happen. He looked through time, saw those who would embrace the Gospel message (though anyone could have), and sort of 'marked' those who would accept Christ. If we understand election this way, than the idea that some are elected to salvation (based on His foreknowledge) and some are elected to judgment (also based on His foreknowledge) is not so difficult a concept to accept. No one's free will is violated, and neither is God's sovereignty. It's win - win...win.

PS - I recognize that I didn't actually get to the idea of 'losing your salvation.' Maybe in another blog.