Eternal Security — It is God’s will

3. Timothy Morton — IT IS GOD’S WILL! John 6:39; It is God’s will that Christ lose none of those who come to Him.

Jeff Paton — Don’t confuse God’s will with God’s decree. God is not willing that ANY should perish, but some will. Jesus said that it was not God’s will for Him to lose any; but yet, he admits to losing Judas. Jn. 17:12. Keep in mind, one must have something in order to lose it!

Glen H. – Yes indeed it’s God’s will that God, the Son will not lose any, and a couple verses before v. 39, in verse. 37, it is clearly taught that all that will come to Christ, Christ will absolutely not lose them.

If you look at John 17:12 you will see very clearly that Judas was not given by the Father. Christ reinforces the fact simply by what he calls Judas “son of perdition” , the term “son” was always given to identify the person, as in John 21:16, Peter was called “Simon son of Jonas” and Judas is “son of perdition” or “son of the destroyer” Also if any are wondering about Judas in John 6:70 where it says Christ chose Him, it is worth noting that Christ is speaking of their roles as apostles, not as Christians. As we know today there are men that rise up proclaiming to be ministers, and preachers yet are false.

Everlasting Life is Everlasting

2. Timoty Morton — EVERLASTING LIFE IS EVERLASTING! Daniel 12:2; John 3:16, 3:36, 5:24, 6:40, 6:47; Romans 6:22; etc.; Likewise, everlasting life can never end. It is everlasting regardless of the believer’s behavior.

Jeff Paton — Regardless of behavior? This is rank antinomianism! It renders all exhortations to holiness in the Scriptures to be absolutely useless. This is the same error as is noted in point #1.

Glen H. — For ones who are curious to what antinomianism means, it simply means “ones that belief moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary for salvation” – Britannica

It would seem that people who do not believe in eternal security put great emphasize on good works to get to heaven. It is worth a study of 1 John 1:8 and Romans 6,7 to realize that even though we are saved we still have sin in us, we still have the ability to sin, but God is willing to forgive the Christian that sins and asks for forgiveness (v.9). For ones who say this is a free ticket to sin and get away with it, has no grasp on the true joy of being saved. A saved person has no desire to sin and “get away with it”. 2 Cor. 5:17 tells us that we are new creatures. Paul can tell us in 2 Cor. 7:1 to live holy, why? For 2 simple yet great reasons; we are Christians and God wants us to live for Him. Second of all we still sin, but are saved, and God wants us to live for Him.

What Mr. Horton said about it not being affected by the “believer’s behaviour” is not what Mr. Paton is trying to say he means. It is save to assume that what Mr. Horton is attempting to say is that our behaviour does not affect the promises of God, such as the fact that He has promised us eternal life. Our behaviour though may show the reality or lack of, what we profess to have.

Eternal Security Series — Part 1

While browsing a Christian directory, I came across an article concerning eternal security and why it did not exist.

The following article was written up by a Mr. Timothy S. Morton. He listed 50 points of why eternal security was real. Mr. Jeff Paton, in return attempted to rebuttal all 50 of Mr. Morton’s points.

The task I have taken on is to rebuttal all of Mr. Paton’s rebuttals, and add reinforcements to the wonderful teaching of “eternal security”

Mr. Paton’s website is www.eternalsecurity.us and has many links to why he believes eternal security is not real. I hold to the teaching of eternal security, believing it is very biblical. If you are confused about anything on other sites about eternal security please feel free to contact me at: potandtorch@gmail.com , I will reply. You can contact Mr. Jeff Paton at: comments@eternalsecurity.us

POINT:

1. TIMOTHY MORTON — ETERNAL LIFE IS ETERNAL! John 3:15, 10:28, Romans 6:23, 1 John 2:25, 5:11, 5:13, etc.; By definition eternal means never ending. Once a believer has eternal life it can never be taken away. If it could be it would not be eternal!

JEFF PATON — Eternal also means that it has no beginning! If you had to gain it, you don’t have eternal life according to this argument! This argument ignores the conditions of present tense belief (John 3:15,) and present tense hearing and following (John 10:25-28,) in these verses. It fails to understand that the “life” is eternal, and not our possession of it.

Glen H. – There are an obvious 2 types of “life” that we can read about. The obvious one is “life” as you have it at the present moment and the moment you’re conceived which is physical life. Better described as a “living soul” as in Genesis 2:7.

The second is “eternal life”. We do not at birth have eternal life, so it is an obvious thing that needs to be gained. Christ Himself could say that in John 5:40; 10:10 and then also in 20:31. In John 5, He could say: “and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.”

Eternal life is actually a possession we gain by believing. Now a quick look at the present tense of belief, hearing and following:

“whosoever believeth in…”. Truly it is a present tense, the greek word of “belief” here is pisteuo. If God wanted to make us believe that it was truly conditional though, a much more clear Greek word peitho could have been used, which shows that one needs to be persuaded.

The word belief in John 3:15 is true, actual current belief that Jesus is the Messiah, a saved person never stops realizing that. W.E. Vine can sum up the meaning of the word very clearly it shows complete “reliance upon, not mere credence.”

Concerning John 10: 25-28, you have wonderful teaching there
Hearing – The true Christian indeed continually hears God’s voice, but we also know we can grieve God (Eph 4:30 – another verse that shows the beauty of eternal security).
Another beautiful verse to show you can tell a true Christian by the fact that they follow no other except for Christ.

If you read this entire chapter that is mentioned there in John 10, you can not help but see the teaching of eternal security in terms such as

v. 28 give = which is in the indicative mood, which shows a simple statement of fact.
never = a double negative which shows an absolute fact it could have been worded “no never, absolutely not”

Once again I will mention that the term belief in John 3:15 is not a conditional statement but rather an absolute statement that is directed towards a certain person or thing, which in this case is Christ Jesus alone.

Once Saved, Always Saved

INTRODUCTION

There are many different terms that can be used to explain this topic. Some prefer “perseverance of the saints”, “eternal security” or “once saved always saved”. The ones that are against this teaching are more likely to call it a teaching direct from Satan.

In this article though I am not interested in defending the Eternal Security position, but instead reinforce the beautiful teachings of it and the nature of our Saviour with some verses, and I pray it may help some that are confused on the subject and bring praise to God for ones who know it to be a doctrine of God’s word.

NATURE OF GOD

Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Titus 1:2 In hope¹ of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

To understand this topic, it is very important to understand the character of God first and what it means when He makes a promise. This topic will be called on later as well. As from the two verses mentioned above, God is not like men where He would lie to us, and He is not one to change His mind when He has chosen something. I believe even people who do not support the teaching of eternal security would agree with this attribute of God, they fail to execute the fullness of the meaning of it though.

PERSONAL CONDITIONS AND MEANS OF JUSTIFICATION

Romans 3: 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it––
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Lost

Some of the major points I wanted to notice in the above reading has been put in italics. The first part I want to notice is the well known verse 23. “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It needs to be stated once again that the world was born lost (Ps. 51:5), and before we were reached and saved we were out of reach to enter into God’s glory, there was nothing we could do to gain favour or entrance into heaven as explained in the above scripture. We were in the darkness of this world (Eph. 5:8).

Means of Justification²

Regardless if they will admit it or not, people who believe you can lose your salvation after trusting in Christ, believe in a works orientated salvation, even though it is contrary to all of scripture, Romans 3 makes this clear with quotes such as “justified by his grace” “justified by faith”

Humans have nothing to do with the gift of Salvation, that is simply why it is a gift. A true gift is given due to the care and love of the giver to the receiver, if a person has done anything whatsoever to earn something then it is no longer a gift but a wage (Romans 6:23), so salvation is a complete gift given by God to the one who puts his/her trust in Him.

FUTURE FULLNESS OF OUR SALVATION

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

1 Cor. 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

The two scriptures given go hand in hand with what I want to explain in this subject. and the term “firstfruits of the Spirit” will be picked up more in the next subject but simply shows that we the Christian who has put his/her trust in the Saviour — Jesus Christ bear the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, or are marked by God with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us. Now the fullness of this salvation we have entered into is not complete, there is a day coming when we shall enter into the fullness of the promise of salvation we have been given. In Romans 8 and 1 Cor. 15 we have it, where our bodies will be changed, death will be done away with and our perishable bodies will be changed.

So all that are saved have a day when the adoption will be made complete, where the great salvation will be made complete when we look upon the face of our Saviour, when we leave this world to spend eternity with Him.

So the question must be asked, “In this process can not a person reject Christ, turn from Him and in doing so not enter into the fullness of it? It is not God who changes His mind and rejects the person so His promise is still intact, but rather it is man who does the turning.”

OUR SECURITY

The question/comment quoted above is one that may be paraphrased but carries the idea of what is usually presented by people against eternal security.

Some problems with that is, the promise of salvation was never made by man, it was made by God. It was a gift given by God, one that man could not simply go and take for Himself. Here are a number of verses that may help.

Ephesians 1:13 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.

2 Cor. 1: 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

if you wish for information on the seal of God, please feel free to read last month’s issue concerning the Seal and Ephesians 1:13, yet this seal was set by God. The seal as explained in Ephesians 1 which is the Holy Spirit has been put within every true Christian as a “certificate of authenticity” if we may, to show the reality, this Spirit helps us to pray (Ro. 8:6), allows access to God (Eph. 2:18) etc.

Notice verse 14 as well, “until”. There is no doubt in the coming fullness of this salvation God has secured us in, God has and can guarantee people of salvation through Him alone (2 Cor. 1:22)

Below are some verses to show that we have nothing to do whatsoever with keeping or losing our salvation, but has everything to do with our Lord and Saviour — Jesus Christ.

1. Corinthians 1: 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ¶ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Php 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

Please read the verses carefully, notice especially the bolded verses. We could spend pages and pages of writings and thousands of words answering every verse people try to twist and discredit the teaching of eternal security, plus please just read these verses for yourself, slowly and think about them. Salvation is God’s gift, He has given it to us who are saved, have sealed the Holy Ghost within us to show the authenticity of it, and has promised to continue to sustain us until the coming of the Lord, when our sinful bodies will be done away with and we will spend eternity in heaven. — not because of anything we did, or certain things we did the right way, but simply on the finished work of the cross and the promise that salvation is God’s gift and He will never take it from us saved.

2 Timothy 1:12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

    1 The Greek word for hope here “elpis” does not have the same meaning as we would give it today. It does not mean something we are unsure of but is something we expect with a confidence

2  to be set free, or made right/righteous