Christian Concepts

Bringing your Potential to Light

Eternal Security

How To Work Out Your Salvation

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Does Philippians 2:12 mean that you can lose your salvation? No, it doesn’t. This becomes clear when you consider the immediate context and the rest of the Bible.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

-Philippians 2:12

People with a law-based mindset define “fear and trembling” in its most negative connotation. They do it to maintain leverage and control. If a wife fears her husband’s sin, she might be tempted to manipulate him (not in love) by telling him that if he don’t stop sinning, he might lose his salvation.

But this only sets up a state of constant anxiety. Can Paul be writing to Christians with such a positive message in Philippians, but then throw in such a negative statement? Certainly not. The Bible uses the phrase “fear not” (or “be not afraid”) over 100 times. 1 John 4:18 is against this kind of insecurity.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:18

Fear has two different meanings or contexts. You can “fear” when something terrible is likely to happen. This kind of fear occurs as you rely on yourself. You can also “fear” when you are dependent upon someone else. You can fear being abandoned. To not fear in this situation means you must trust.

“Don’t go near the cliff, you might fall.” For the non-Christian, they are already at the bottom in the sense that they don’t have salvation. If they manage to climb up the face of the cliff under their own power, they should fear falling.

However, the Christian, at the point of salvation, gained “anti-gravity boots” that lifted them up out of the canyon. They can walk anywhere and won’t fall (as in losing their salvation, not as in never sin). The boots are powered by faith.

Paul’s use of fear means to pay attention, be alert, take personal interest in, take it seriously. You can only do this if you are humbly dependent upon God. A prideful attitude would be fearless, careless and boastful. But eternal life and its accompanying faith are a free gift so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Let’s return to the main verse in Philippians and read further:

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

-Philippians 2:13

Therefore, you should be humble as you work out your salvation, as you see it unfold before your eyes, because God is the one who is doing the work, for his great purposes. Don’t take credit for your salvation. Recognize you are dependent upon God. Even though you have eternal security, you aren’t self-sufficient. Your eternal security is possible only because of God’s love and power. Your fear and respect for God should point out you can’t depend upon yourself. This should move you closer to God, to know and receive His love.

Someone who isn’t a Christian might get the wrong idea: I can take my eternal security and abandon God. But eternal security and God are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other. If you have God, you have eternal security; if you have eternal security, you have God.

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You can’t be a little bit pregnant. You’re either pregnant or you’re not.” The same can be said for salvation. “You can’t be a little bit saved. You’re either saved or you’re not.”

Remove the Roadblock to Security

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Without a standard to keep people honest, they might get the wrong idea: You can sin all you want and it doesn’t matter. They advocate that it is possible to lose salvation. The possibility of losing salvation becomes the incentive to keep us from perpetual sin. They would say that rules and consequences keep a person honest.

Some people panic when they have nothing to do. They feel their life is pointless if they aren’t carrying their own weight. They require having a fear of failure hanging over their heads because it drives them forward. They need to earn their passage in life. They resist accepting any gift.

The need for the fear of failure is really avoiding the fear of trusting someone else for the security of your life.

Other people flee the demands of obedience. They want freedom on their own terms. They want God’s provision but not God. They quickly receive any gift but lack respect to the giver.

The need to have resources stockpiled with no strings attached is really avoiding the fear of trusting someone else for the security of your life.

Both kinds of people seek control over their own life. Both want independence from neediness. The responsible person tries to earn their own way by being good. The irresponsible person tries to secure their freedom through any means necessary (often by being bad).

Being responsible for your own load is a mark of maturity. The young son in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) learned this lesson well when he was willing to work as a hired hand for his father. He understood he had taken advantage of his father and wanted to repay his father. Fortunately for him (and you and I), his father confirmed his unconditional love for the younger son.

The older son had the responsibility (“I’ve never disobeyed you”) but he lacked the humility to receive the father’s invitation. The older son wanted to continue to rely on self-effort. The younger son, when he left his father, wanted to rely on self-indulgence. When the resources ran out, he switched to self-effort (“Make me your hired hand”), but quickly accepted his father’s correction; he accepted the ring of sonship and the invitation to the feast.

Both self-indulgence and self-righteousness attempt to provide for self and avoid dependence upon God. So long as you’re depending upon God’s righteousness, you can be sure of your salvation. We can see that eternal security depends on the faith, trust, and hope you place in God. Those who worry about losing their salvation are stuck in a moment of time. They can feel no hope because they are focused on fear rather than on God.

Years ago I went repelling for the first time. Somehow I intuitively understood that to descend to the bottom, I had to lean all the way out from the edge of the cliff. Without a rope and a secure anchor, this would result in a much faster (and deadly) descent. But trusting in the anchor and leaning all the way out made for a pleasant descent.

The same is true for your life as a Christian. You must put all your trust in your connection to God, otherwise, you won’t feel or be secure in your life.

The Tipping Point

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Let’s review a major point before I go on to directly address a scripture that seem to imply it’s possible to lose salvation.

Whether you believe in eternal security or not, most people can see that the Bible maintains a tension surrounding salvation. It’s as if the Bible asks everyone, “Are you saved? Are you sure? Are you really sure? Do you have any doubts?” This is a good line of questioning for reasons I’ll explain in a moment. But first, how would you respond to such questioning?

If you hold onto a lot of anxiety, these questions will stir up considerable fear and doubt. As you push past the tipping point, you’ll find insecurity. You might think, “Maybe I’m not saved. Maybe Jesus doesn’t care about me. Maybe I’m beyond God’s love. Yes, I’ve fallen away and my situation is hopeless.” This is also helpful, provided you don’t stop in hopelessness.

God wants you to feel secure in His love. If your heart has impurities like anxiety, doubt, and fear, He will want to work out the impurities. As this happens, your faith and confidence will grow. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians should convince you that it’s okay to have a goal to become more confident in your faith.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

To be more confident in your faith is only humility as you trust God more. But to be more confident in yourself, in what you can do without God, is only pride. In this context, I present to you a difficult passage for many Bible readers.

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Hebrews 6:4-6

Is this saying it’s possible to fall away from a believing faith with no return path possible? No. Here’s why.

Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians (read more about this). They were raised under the old way, the law. They converted to the new way, faith in Christ. However, they were tempted to return to their old, familiar ways. They doubted the simplicity of the Gospel. In a moment of weakness, in their insecurity, they considered turning back to the OT (or fall away from the NT).

In Hebrews 6, Paul reiterates that there is no turning back. The only way is the way forward is by faith in Christ. Returning to Egypt is futile. “If you come this close to the truth, but reject it and choose to keep looking elsewhere, you won’t find another way.” Paul is emphasizing an all-or-nothing truth. You’re either all-in or all-out. There is no in-between.

You must choose which way you’ll tip. The purpose of such scriptures is exactly to sort out the issue. You must know whether you are saved or not. So which is it? State it loud. State it bold. State it confidently.

Any doubt or concern is proof you’re not one of the ones who fall away. The following verses apply to you (more on this):

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:9-12

God bless you with, “full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish.” Have unhindered energy to pursue the things of God. Amen.

What Is Eternal Life?

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What exactly is eternal life? If you’re thinking about living your current life forever, you probably have the wrong idea. Your current life has pain and suffering mixed into it. True eternal life is improved in both its quality and its quantity (see here).

Beyond this, Jesus speaks a clear definition as He prays to the Father.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 17:3

This makes sense, doesn’t it? Only a few chapters earlier Jesus proclaimed He is life.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

To know Jesus is to have eternal life: Life to the fullest. Abundant life. Life you can begin to experience now but won’t fully experience until this time on earth has passed. In this context, we can say that knowing Jesus is having an ongoing relationship with Him. In other words, you don’t have to know Him completely to have eternal life. You only need access to the way. You’ve received eternal life (it’s done); you’re receiving eternal life (as you know Jesus more and more), and you’ll receive eternal life (when you leave your current physical body).

If you know Jesus you have eternal life, not temporary life. Eternal life is unending in duration but it is more. You have abundant life, not insufficient life. Eternal life is the fullest sense of life. You can live the high life. The worldly definition of high life is an extravagant or luxurious style of living.

Jesus is inviting you into the spiritual high life. The spiritual high life is to have spiritual eyes which enable you to see and know God’s spiritual realities. You can grow in knowing God’s goodness, experiencing the full depth and breadth of eternal life.

Condemned, Punished, or Disciplined

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As you go about life, do you feel more condemned, punished, or disciplined? If you feel condemned, you’re feeling hopelessly abandoned. If you feel punished, you might not believe your situation is permanently hopeless, but in the day-to-day living, you feel overwhelmed. The consequences of life bring you to despair.

The one who punishes is selfish but the one who disciplines invests in a positive outcome. When you’re disciplined but not punished or condemned, you’ll experience a curious mixture of sorrow and hope.

God always disciplines those who are His children. Discipline requires an investment. As God disciplines you, He accepts the responsibility to see you become something more and better. God is on your side. God will never abandon you.

You can have eternal security and endure strong discipline from God at the same time. If fact, you can’t have one without the other.

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Hebrews 12:6-8

God’s discipline is for your eternal benefit, not eternal condemnation. When you can feel the difficulty of life weighing on you, you can simultaneously recognize God is working to help you become better. God’s correction leads to hope. God cares about your life; He wants you to swim not sink.

God won’t simultaneously condemn you to hell and invest in your future. Sensing God’s discipline in your life is yet another way to validate your eternal security. You can confidently say, “I’m a child of God. God cares about me enough to correct me and keep me on the right path.”

Is God for Us or Against Us?

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The Bible contains several stories that may cause you to question whether God is for you or against you. You might feel like one day He is on your side, and the next, He is working to thwart your success. Why would God allow Joseph’s brothers to betray him? Why would He kill Uzzah for touching the ark? Why did He kill Ananias and Sapphira for lying?

Anyone who deliberately goes against God’s purposes can’t expect to have a positive outcome. In the case of Joseph, it was his brothers who suffered because of the famine. They lived with guilt for years. Joseph suffered too, but he didn’t act against God. Uzzah directly disobeyed God’s command. Similarly, Ananias and Sapphira intentionally tried to lie to God.

In all these situations God’s purposes always prevail. Some people are examples to others for what not to do. These are exceptions for the most part. Furthermore, God’s discipline might lead to physical death but not spiritual death. The important take away is, no matter what happens, you must continue to trust God.

God isn’t a trickster. God is for us, not against us. We believers are God’s elect, chosen and justified by Him. God is on our side, working for His purposes which includes our prosperity. And furthermore, God is “kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:35). God is patient and kind to us. The greatest virtue is love.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 8:31-35

If nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, we always have reason to hope. If you can lose your salvation, and believing you’ve lost it, how can you continue to feel hope and connection with Christ? You couldn’t.