Matt Pavlik

Reading time: 4 minutes

Salvation happens in the heart. The spiritual heart (not the physical one) is the key to understanding salvation. Circumcision, similar to baptism, is a picture of what happens to a saved person.

Physical Circumcision and Baptism do not Save a Person

The spiritual heart is invisible, internal to a person, and therefore only accessible by God. During physical circumcision, physical flesh is removed from the body. During Old Testament times, God used this sign to mark His people. Circumcision was simply a way to differentiate God’s people from other nations (though this does not mean that circumcision saves a person).

There are two Israels. There is the physical nation, which is God’s people of the Old Testament. And there is the spiritual nation, which is the true believers in Christ. Circumcision was a sign of faith, given to the physical nation, chosen by God over all other nations. Likewise, baptism is a sign of faith, given to the spiritual nation, those chosen by God out of all people.

Both circumcision and baptism take place after people become true believers. Their purpose is to publicly identify with Christ, not to save a person from sin. They are a sign of what has happened; they offer no value toward saving a person. They are a physical (external) sign of a spiritual (internal) reality.

Abraham was circumcised after his faith. Non-believing infants were circumcised and non-believers today can be baptized, but there is no reason to do this. NT believers are baptized only after the testimony of their faith. This is why Paul can argue that circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing (Galatians 5:6).

For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

Romans 2:28-29 NLT

Circumcision of the Heart Permanently Identifies a Person With Christ

To become a believer, Christ must perform a spiritual circumcision on the heart. He must cut away the sinful nature, causing the spiritual heart to come to life. Once done, the person’s union with Christ is complete and irreversible.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Collosians 2:9-14 NLT

Just like it is impossible for a man to become uncircumcised, it is impossible for a true believer in Christ, who has been spiritually circumcised in the heart, to return to spiritual death. The Christian who has been circumcised has had his physical nature cut away. It cannot be “glued back on.” The person who has become alive in Christ is fully identified with Christ. Just as Christ lives forever, so will the person whose record of charges has been crucified.

God resurrects His people to spiritual life. He will never then kill them, returning them to spiritual death. The Christian is a new creation in the sense that his heart is spiritually different than the non-believer’s. If you are saved, recognize your circumcised heart and rejoice in what God has done for you. God’s saving is a profound alteration that brings a person to such fullness of life that it can never die.

For further reading:
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/circumcision-heart
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/how-do-circumcision-and-baptism-correspond
https://christianconcepts.com/guard-your-heart-or-you-will-become-lost
Image created by Matt Pavlik using Photoshop AI

Reading time: 10 minutes

The scriptures abound with warnings about the necessity of enduring to the end. Some say that if there is no possibility of apostasy, what is the purpose of all of these warnings? But these warnings support God’s people, encouraging them to not doubt the security of their faith.

God Uses His People To Accomplish His Plans

God’s goal is the certain salvation of all His people (those who belong to Him). But many circumstances come together to bring about that end; for instance:

• the death of Christ
• the operation of the Spirit and application of the atonement
• the various gifts in the church (1 Corinthians 12:8, Ephesians 4:11-13)

The spiritual gifts and offices are filled and exercised in the church. The gospel is to be preached in the whole world; God’s people are to be encouraged with promises; the riches and beauties of Heaven portrayed; the sufferings of Christ remembered. God employs these means to stimulate the saints to fulfill His will.

We Christians do our part while acknowledging that God is the supreme power that makes it work.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 ESV

All this sowing, planting, and watering is simply God’s method of accomplishing His plans. There is no evidence that He will fail in any way because He uses His people. Furthermore, we don’t know everything that God knows. So we must continue to do good in as many ways as possible because we don’t know which efforts God will bless more than others.

 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Ecclesiastes 11:6 ESV

Encourage Secure Christians With Warnings

Warnings are encouraging because they differentiate between those who have fake faith and those who have genuine faith.

It is right to present to the believer the awful doom of the wicked; that he may see the fearful consequences of sin; that he may fear God, and also see from what he has been taken and saved; that he may love God. Neither is it inconsistent with truth to encourage saints with such passages as:

• But the one who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13 ESV).
•  Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death (John 8:51 ESV).
• If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned (John 15:6 ESV).

These warnings point out the awful end of a hypocrite, and always keeping it indelibly stamped upon their minds that it is by faithfulness that they are to have the continued evidence of their acceptance with God; that by diligence alone they shall make their calling and election sure to themselves, and have the testimony that they are secure in the covenant of grace. Even so, God is the one who works in us, enabling us to endure.

Also, teach them that faith without works is dead; that real and saving faith is as surely known by good works as a tree is known by its fruit; remind them of how many have made a fair start, to all appearance, and finally staggered and fell from their profession, and now seem to be more deeply involved in sin than ever.

Paul exhorted Timothy to “War a good warfare; holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck, of whom is Hymenseus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” He also tells the Corinthians to deliver such to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul does not here intimate that these were eternally lost. Yet, like poor Job, they are delivered into the hands of Satan, that they may be chastised and sorely rebuked, till they “learn not to blaspheme.”

What Christian has not had some experience in the chastenings of the Lord? If any be without chastisement they are bastards and not sons. When you neglect duty, yield to the vanities of time, and are engrossed in worldly things, you find yourself cold, barren, and unfruitful (but not beyond God’s reach, and not without salvation if God is working in you through His Holy Spirit).

In Hebrews 10, after the apostle has shown that once cleansed from sin we shall be clean eternally and that we are forever perfected by the one offering, he goes on to exhort believers:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV

Why all this exhortation if there is no danger of apostasy? First, notice that all the enduring and positive focus is valid because “He who promised is faithful.” When we focus on God’s faithfulness, we no longer need doubt or fear. Second, the enjoyment of the presence and approval of the Spirit are worth ten thousand times the pains and labor it requires to maintain them. Third, the chastisements of God for our disobedience are terrible to a Christian. When He hides His face and leaves us in midnight darkness, we might pitifully cry, “Why art thou cast down, oh, my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?”

Reader, have you not been thus cast down, grieved, and conscious-stricken, for some sin you have committed? God tries us in the fire as gold, so that the dross and tin are taken away. God does not intend to destroy His children; instead, He aims to irradicate sin, pride, envy, revenge, and malice; all these enemies to God’s purpose must be destroyed. Therefore, the sore chastisements of God are for our good, and as fire purifies the gold and takes away the dross, so these chastisements shall purge His people from their sins. God brings us through trials to purge away the evil, to abate the flesh, and above all else, to save the person.

Paul suffered greatly as a servant of God. Listen to his letter to the Corinthians:

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

2 Corinthians 11:23-27 ESV

Heaven is a rich reward, to be sure, but the road to it is a thorny one.

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

Hebrews 10:32-34 ESV

Pauls speaks of the enlightened one knowing they have a better inheritance that remains (does not perish, is eternal). How could they know this, and believe in apostasy? He concludes with:

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Hebrews 10:39 ESV

Here, after all his exhortation and warning, he tells them that we are of them that believe until the saving of the soul.

The best ground upon which to plant an exhortation is that of encouragement. Washington encouraged his men by telling them God would certainly give their arms victory in the end; that this great country of ours was destined to be a free one; that the oppression of England would be overturned.

Yet, he exhorted his men by telling them of the sad state our country would be in if we were defeated. He pointed them to their children and children’s children, and in this way he led them over many hard marches; sometimes barefooted, hungry, half-clad and half-armed; with an enemy twice as numerous, well armed and equipped; often his men stained the earth with the blood from their bare, lacerated feet. They bore all this and endured to the end. Why? Because their souls were in a blaze with the doctrine of predestination. It was this that emboldened them in every battlefield.

So we see that certainty of victory is the greatest stimulus that can be given. They believed that God had predestined this country to be free. When David went to meet Goliath, he preached the doctrine of predestination as he went, and yet he did not become lazy but was full of energy. Make a man feel sure that God will give him success, and it will make him strong.

The fact that the bible abounds with warnings and exhortations is no evidence that apostasy is possible. If a parent warns his children every morning and evening of some danger, describes it to them, takes them where they can see it, shows it to them, and is so watchful over them that he never sleeps nor slumbers, builds a wall of salvation around them, never leaves nor forsakes them, dwells in the midst of them, and makes them as secure as himself, would you go off and tell that this man’s children would be very likely to be killed? Certainly not.

God Almighty takes better care of His children than any earthly parent can of his. Nothing makes God so desirable as the thought that it is a treasure that cannot be burned or stolen; moth or rust cannot corrupt it. Though our earthly goods may be stolen, or the reverses of providence may leave us penniless — we may suffer and die with hunger — God provides us an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that cannot fade; reserved in Heaven, where no evil influence can come, and kept there for us, and we are kept by the power of God. Oh, glorious thought!

God keeps his children; they are not left to themselves, but he keeps them unto salvation, and keeps them ever ready to be revealed in the last day. Look up to the starry sky, and tell her host if you can; cast your eye over the earth, and think of the hand that made it, with its fullness, and then say, He keeps me; poor, sinful, unworthy me, and keeps me as the apple of His eye. If it is said He keeps you through faith, no difference; it is the power of God, no difference how exerted, and the power of God is all we want — it is all we need to keep us.

This is post 25, the final one in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
Image by OpenIcons from Pixabay

Reading time: 15 minutes

Salvation is by faith alone both before and after God causes a person to become born again. There is nothing within a person that God counts as righteousness before being saved. After a person is saved, there is only the work of Jesus Christ that keeps the person saved.

J.H. Oliphant, in Chapter 16 of his book, shows that although Methodists, as a people, do teach the possibility of apostasy, their published confession of faith denies the doctrine of apostasy. He contrasts Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 of their formal theology with their everyday practical theology.

Article 7 – Original Sin

Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.

Article 7

Look closely at these words. “His very nature is involved in sin, and because of the corruption of his nature, he is inclined to sin continually. Here is total depravity, undeniably. He is not partially inclined to sin, but he is continually so; no intermission. As the water is continually rushing down the channel of the Ohio, so his nature is unceasingly rushing him headlong in sin, and if left to himself he is certain of destruction. Outside influence must interpose; grace must arrest him; unconditional election by grace only will reach his case.

Article 8 – Totally Depraved

The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.

Article 8

Who ever heard the utter helplessness of man more fully set forth than it is here? “Cannot turn and prepare himself by his own strength and good works?” If he cannot turn himself, and he is ever turned, what will turn him? Is it true that God must turn him, and yet cannot keep him turned? How does this article say he is turned? “The grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will.” Then he cannot have a good will only as grace gives it to him.

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Phillipians 2:13 NLT

But Article 8 not only tells us that God must work in the sinner a good will, but “work with him when he has that good will.” How can one fall from grace when God works in him a good will, and works with him while he has that good will?

Surely, if he ever should lose that good will, it would be while God was working with him. Paul was persuaded that where God had begun a good work he would perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. This was Paul’s opinion — reader, is it yours?

No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day.

John 6:44 CEV

Therefore, man cannot have this will, unless it is produced in him of God. He never will be inclined to God; never truly repent of sin; never love God, nor his cause; never hate sin and long for holiness, unless God Almighty works in him the will. I ask in all candor, how can someone lose his salvation if God works in him while he has the will? If the working of God gave the will, cannot the working of God keep the will? If I take the city, can I not keep it? Can the man become worse than he was before he received the will? God gave him the will without any merit or good works, and now will God forsake, desert, and leave him because he still sees no merit in him? This article, fairly examined, proclaims the biblical, Calvinistic theology.

Article 9 – By Faith Alone

We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.

Article 9

This article cannot harmonize with conditional salvation, or apostasy either. It says we are counted righteous, “only for the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If this is the only ground of justification, where is the room for conditions of losing salvation? This article sets forth the only hope of poor sinners — the righteousness of Jesus. It points every sin-ruined, sin-condemned sinner to Jesus and tells him that though sin has ruined him, and all his works are evil, and though there is not one good trait in or about him, yet there is hope for him.

It discards all good works and bad works as a ground of salvation and lifts the eyes of every forlorn sinner to Jesus, who constitutes the whole and sole ground of hope for any or all of Adam’s race. It declares that God accounts us righteous for the merit of Christ, and I am sure that if God accounts us righteous for the merits of Christ, he will not account us unrighteous, because there is still no merit in us. He will not first clothe us in Christ’s merit, and then unclothe us; but once clothed, there is no reason why we shall ever be unclothed.

I heartily join in the thought that we “are justified by faith only” — faith in Jesus as the only sure, eternal ground of hope. We have sinned, to be sure, but he has paid all our debt. We are daily going into debt, but He is our husband, and our growing debt is constantly met by Him.

Article 10 – Works Follow Faith but Never Precede Them

Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit.

Article 10

This article lays the sure foundation for the final perseverance of every Christian. According to this article, good works are not the cause of faith. They have no more to do in procuring either faith or justification than the fruit has to do in producing the tree that bears it. Neither do good works continue one in faith, any more than the fruit continues the life of the tree that bears it. How astonishing that one will profess to believe this article, and live in a church that publishes it as a part of their faith, and yet believe it is possible to lose salvation.

John Calvin never uttered a sentiment more foreign to apostasy than this article. Faith is the only root from which works grow; and works, therefore, have no more to do in procuring faith or justification, than the fruit has in producing the twig that bears it, or the sap that gives it its growth, or the root of the tree.

Who made the tree, and who alone can make trees? It was God, and He also gives us faith and justifies us for the merits of Christ alone, and not for any works or merit found in us. This is biblical truth, and true according to this article, yet it doesn’t seem to be taught in a modern Methodist church (proof forthcoming). Can a tree bear good fruit this year, and bad next? Only God can change its nature; and so with his people, all their good works have nothing to do with changing their nature. Works follow after being born again and, therefore do not, in the least measure, procure that birth.

Where is the good sense in saying that men are justified, not for any merit or works of their own, but for the sake of Christ alone, and yet advocate the doctrine of apostasy? All these articles make salvation to be as wholly of the Lord as the resurrection of the body, and our obedience as a consequence of salvation. This is sound and wholesome. It is a rock as firm as the everlasting hills on which we may put our feet with security.

Some claim that anyone who faithfully preaches against apostasy and the sentiments of these articles tends to licentiousness. The particular point here is, that if you preach to saints that they are infallibly secure, it will cause them to become careless and neglectful.

This argument is founded on simple ignorance and has been referred to in several places in the New Testament. It was to this very class of persons that Peter referred when he said:

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

1 Peter 2:15-16 ESV

These ignorant and foolish men are those who think it dangerous to preach the final perseverance of saints; they think that the saints must be scared into obedience. It was in reply to this very doctrine that Paul spoke, when he said, “What, then, shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?” In another place, he answers, “How can we, that are dead to sin, live in it any longer?”

Paul here shows that the motives to obedience are from quite a different source than the fear of apostasy. “How can we, who are dead to sin, still live in sin?” If there were no hell or devil, we would still be inclined to serve God. It is from choice we serve him, and our greatest grief is that we cannot serve and love him better.

Why are genuine Christians so intent, both day and night, in serving God; why are they continually lifting His name on high? Surely they are not afraid of losing their salvation. If the advocates of the God-dishonoring doctrine have impressed it upon the minds of saints below, certainly it has never been advocated in Heaven. If you were to tell the guests of Heaven that they are secure and cannot fall, and therefore they need not concern themselves about the praise of God, they would doubtless tell you that if they had a million times the capacity to praise him, all should be employed; and the more you cry to them that they are secure, the louder would they praise him for that security.

Saints on earth should and do praise God for the immutable security He has thrown around them. Have not the saints on earth tasted Heaven’s blessing? If God has loved me and gave his Son up to death for me, and loved me and cared for me all the days of my wicked life; forgiven all my sins, and gave me a standing in Christ; adopted me into his own family, and sealed me unto the day of redemption with the Holy Spirit of promise, will all this tend to make me neglectful? No, never.

If you are a Christian it would stir you up to serve him who has done so much for you. Look over the country, and ask why our best citizens do not steal. Is it because there is a law to punish them? No. If there were no law they would not steal; and if you know of one who thinks that he would steal if there were no law, you had better not give him too good a chance, law or no law.

Likewise, if you know of one professed Christian who thinks it would be unsafe to tell him that he cannot lose his salvation because he would “tend to licentiousness,” consider whether his heart is right in the sight of God.

Parents reward their children with kind words of approval when they obey them; but when they disobey, they do not kill nor disinherit them. It is utterly unnatural to disinherit a child for any cause. So good works are pleasing to God, understanding they cannot make up for sin, nor endure the severity of God’s judgment; and he that obeys God will be rewarded even here; his cup will often run over with joy; while the disobedient one will be cast down, become barren and unfruitful, and even be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Article 12 – Once Saved, Sin Does Not Disqualify Anyone

Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.

Article 12

This article declares that we all sin after justification, yet these sins are not unpardonable. I grant that we all sin, and therefore have reason to be a praying people as long as we live, and also need to repent daily; every Christian realizes that this is not a perfect state. It also says, that if we depart from grace and fall into sin, we may, by God’s grace, arise and amend our lives. This does not say a man can fall beyond the grace of God, but virtually denies it, for it teaches that by God’s grace, they may arise, amend their lives, etc.

A different section of the Book of Discipline (Of Sanctification?) teaches that God by His grace, gives the ability to love God, and in this, the plain teaching is that the grace of God may reinstate whoever departs from the right way. All these articles put together, crush the doctrine of apostasy, and are an eternal veto against it and salvation by works of any kind, good or bad.

Methodist Practical Faith Contradicts Their Declaration of Their Faith

As we have seen, the traditional Methodist doctrine says much to support salvation being by faith only and not by works. However, as J.H. Oliphant has uncovered, the actual beliefs of the Methodist church have drifted into nonsensical contradictions. The following is a perfect example of double-speak that attempts to count two contradictory statements as both true:

In our Wesleyan-Arminian theology, as in all mainstream Christian theology, salvation still isn’t ours to possess. It is always and only God who saves. In that sense we cannot “lose” salvation. But we can “fall away” from it. Or to use another metaphor, we can move so far from the saving streams of God’s love and power that we parch and spiritually die.

Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards

We are born into this world spiritually dead. God saves us, making us spiritually alive in Jesus Christ. Having been made spiritually alive, there is nothing with the power to cause us to die once again.

Rev. Taylor also seems to think a significant number of protestants teach that everyone who professes to be a Christian will be saved. Calvinists do not believe that by saying “magic words” someone is saved for all eternity. The time on earth will prove whether a person is truly saved. Ultimately, God knows those who are His. But Calvinists do teach that if people are genuinely born of God, they will be preserved by God for eternity.

We’re not reducing salvation to a propositional transaction, as some forms of American Protestant proclamation have done, so that once we believe and say certain things, no matter what else happens, we “have” salvation and can never “lose” it.

Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards

Not All Who Profess Christ Have Genuine Faith

All of this reinforces to me that there are many people out there who lack understanding of what the Bible teaches. They have given in to worldly, humanistic wisdom that denies God’s sovereignty, and places man’s so-called “free will” (man’s sovereignty) above God’s. For those who have a genuine faith in Christ, never lose heart or doubt the day of your salvation. God is mighty to save you!

This is post 24 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
Image by 愚木混株 Cdd20 from Pixabay

Reading time: 7 minutes

Everyone will not be saved, but those who are saved cannot be lost. Salvation is priceless like a fine pearl or a hidden treasure. Those who have it, value it above all else and act accordingly in the primary aspects of life. Jesus contrasts two groups of people in Matthew 25. Five virgins are respectful, prepared, and discerning; they are wise by the Spirit of God. But the other five virgins are impulsive, entitled, and careless; they are foolish, lacking God’s Spirit. In this parable, God only saves the wise.

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

Matthew 25:1-4 ESV

So, the foolish did not prepare to endure to the end, like the wise.

Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’

Matthew 25:7-9 ESV

God Does Not Save the Unprepared

Some believe this text teaches it is possible to lose salvation. They tell us that all of the virgins are saints, the lamps are the hearts of God’s people, and the oil is the grace of God; and when the lamps of the foolish virgins went out, they lost their salvation. The first objection to this interpretation is that the text says, “They took no oil with them” and if the oil is grace, they had no grace, to lose.

Whether they had “no oil,” or “not enough oil” makes no difference. The result is the same. God says to both, “I do not know you.” The foolish ones did not think to take (enough) oil to last however long was needed. They were not thinking about heaven, but only the immediate circumstances in this life. They did not have in mind what was necessary for eternal life and were unprepared. It is not like they had sufficient oil, but then decided to dump it out to forfeit their inheritance. No! They were insufficient from the very beginning.

The foolish virgins said their lamps had gone out. Certainly, their lamps were never properly lighted for someone heaven-bound. They were insufficiently prepared from the beginning because only a genuine Christian will persevere until the end. A lamp without oil will not burn long; likewise, a profession without grace will not last long.

Afterward the [foolish] virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Matthew 25:11-12 ESV

And, this is even more strongly stated earlier in Matthew, where amazing spiritual works do not guarantee anyone entrance into heaven:

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 7:22-23 ESV

No doubt these foolish virgins thought their lamps would burn long enough, and felt secure and ready for the approach of the bridegroom. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). They thought they were standing complete in Him, and felt that all was well, but when the cry was heard, they found, to their astonishment and grief, that they were unprepared. All their hopes had been built on the sand.

These foolish virgins more closely represent the unsaved who are only professors. They were among the ten virgins, so unsaved professors are in the church. They thought their lamps would keep burning, so carnal professors have a form of Godliness but are strangers to its power. They were disappointed in the end, so all mere professors will be astonished when they hear it said, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

God Saves by Oil not by Works

Oil represents the Spirit of God. To be content without oil, therefore, means to rely on some other working for salvation. These foolish virgins thought they had been doing all that was necessary. Perhaps they lived under the impression that salvation was by works, and their lamps would be kept fueled by their works. But to their astonishment, in the presence of the assembled world, God himself will say, “Depart; I never knew you.” All your profession was without real knowledge of Him; you flattered yourselves that you were earning Heaven and His approval by your works, while your works were at best fifthly rags.

The righteousness of the best of men will not bear the test here; the righteousness of God is all that will pass. The fools were professors, but not clothed in Christ’s righteousness, which is the “wedding garment.” They have ever trusted in their works, while nothing but grace will save sinners.

The five wise virgins had their own oil. The foolish virgins lacked their own and so attempted to borrow others, which was impossible (verse 9). People will not be saved by borrowing another’s righteousness, except if it is Christ’s righteousness.

If these ten virgins represent the church, and all of them were Christians, it appears the visible church would be composed entirely of Christians. But since a large part of the professed followers of Jesus are utter strangers, having never been broken in heart for sin, or brought low at the feet of Jesus, nor been true mourners, or truly contrite in heart, yet seem to have more assurance than those who have felt what is it to be sinners. How many professors are there nowadays, who are even leaders in their churches, and yet not safe in the common business of life, whose words cannot be relied on by anyone, when there is anything at stake?

It does seem fitting that these wise and foolish virgins should represent the whole church. The foolish virgins are so foolish as to be content without enough oil; likewise, thousands in the church are foolish as to be content, though they have not even tasted that God is gracious. Only the people who have truly experienced God’s grace are aware of having been heavy-laden souls and guilty, condemned sinners before God.

It does seem from this that many poor, deluded souls will believe to the very last that their lamps are burning and that they are ready to meet God, and shall learn that all their hopes were vain. What a disappointment to fully believe that many wonderful works will save you, and in the end, when you need everything, to find you have nothing.

What a pity that so many of our preachers, instead of preaching the plain, simple gospel of Christ in its raw power, are declaring that salvation is by works, and in this way turning the minds of the people from Christ, and fixing their confidence in duties. Let each of us ask ourselves the question. Have I the real grace of God, or am I a mere Christian in name only? Have I real hope, and can I give a reason for that hope? Is all my hope fixed on God? Do I trust him for every grace?

These five virgins were foolish. It is said in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” If these virgins were foolish, they were not wise, and if the first principle of wisdom is to fear God, these foolish virgins did not fear him and therefore were not real Christians. I fully believe that all who do not fear God are unconverted, and I am not arguing that unconverted ones cannot be lost. Thus, we have seen that the parable of the virgins cannot be made to teach apostasy.

This is post 23 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Adam was at first good, and very good. But he fell into sin and experienced spiritual death. He broke like a jar of clay. Some believe this to be an instance of apostasy. The following shows this cannot be possible.

Adam Did Not Lose His Salvation When He Fell

Adam did not have salvation before the fall, so he could not have lost it. God brought Adam (and Eve) into this world differently than all following humans. God created them directly but the rest of us were brought into this world through physical birth. Adam was created without sin but with the potential for sin. The rest of us are born into sin without a choice in the matter. We don’t only have the potential to sin, we are born spiritually dead, sinning from the beginning. Adam knew what it was like to be without sin but he did not know what it is like to be immune to sin because he always had the potential to sin.

Although Adam was good, he was but a natural man. God formed his body from the dust, perishable. But when God raises a person, the body is spiritual, imperishable.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:42-49 ESV

Adam was under the law, while saints are not under the law, but under grace, and sin shall not have dominion over them (Romans 6:14). God does not impute sin to saints.

In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:19 ESV

God considers the saints as righteous without them performing any works. David calls the saints blessed because their sins are never counted against them (Romans 4:6-8). So he does not impute sin to his people, and he did impute sin to Adam. We know this because Adam died spiritually and God removed him from the garden.

Christ dwells in His saints, but He did not dwell in Adam. “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 ESV). “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11 ESV). Many passages show that Christ dwells in his people; and there is no evidence that he did dwell in Adam, for before the fall there was not (yet) the need of a Christ.

Saints do not stand justified for their righteousness, while Adam’s only hope was in his record of keeping the law.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

1 Corinthians 1:28-30 ESV

Therefore, Christ is the righteousness of saints. No human can boast in their righteousness but must rely solely on Christ’s. The saints’ justification comes from God, not by any self-effort.

But in that coming day
    no weapon turned against you will succeed.
You will silence every voice
    raised up to accuse you.
These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord;
    their vindication will come from me.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

Isaiah 54:17 NLT

Saints Cannot Lose Their Salvation

Saints are not vulnerable to sin like Adam because they have experienced a spiritual rebirth. If Adam’s righteousness had been of the Lord, and if Christ had been his righteousness, he would not have fallen; but such was not the case with him, and therefore he fell; yet such is the case with saints, and therefore, they will not fall.

Saints are inclined to keep the law, or to do the will of God; for God works in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). If God had worked in Adam to do His pleasure, the result would have been different. God not only makes His saints sufficient to meet the demands of the law, but He also keeps them to that standard by His Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They are shielded, so that the wicked one cannot touch them.

Christ is the strong tower into which the righteous run and are safe. He is the rock of ages and is to them a high rock in a weary land. God has appointed salvation as walls and bulwarks around the saints.

I have never heard an argument made in favor of apostasy, without a false foundation: that salvation is by works. The Bible abounds with obvious contradictions of this position. Have you ever heard any man defend the doctrine of apostasy, urging that it is by works that we become saints and continue to be saints, but also admit that there is no merit in works and that all the merit is in Christ? What a messy contradiction.

If salvation is by works, then Christ’s blood is to be of no avail, and the whole plan of salvation is a failure. If by works, then Heaven could be empty, and hell full of the purchased by the Savior’s blood. No matter how often or how positively God’s word says it is not of works, despite all this, the advocates of apostasy invariably declare salvation to be of works.

How shocking the thought that a man may miss Heaven, though he has

• been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
• been born of the Spirit and incorruptible seed, even born of God.
• in him the very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.
• Christ within him and his life hidden with Christ in God.
• eaten the Savior’s flesh and drank his blood.
• drank of the water of life.
• been built upon Christ as a sure foundation.
• been joined to him as a wife to a husband.
• rejoiced in the thought that the God of the whole earth is his shepherd and that he shall not want.
• said with joy, The Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer and my God, my strength in whom I trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Despite all this, some believe he may lose his salvation and go to hell forever. How discouraging such an idea would be to those who are weak, who say, “When I would do good, evil is present with me. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” If there is a doctrine calculated to starve the weak, to discourage mourners in Zion, to fill the wicked with carelessness on this subject, this is the doctrine. Who could or would with courage seek the blessing of salvation, if the odds are a thousand to one against remaining saved?

Thankfully, the Bible is clear that salvation is for eternity. This never means that saints can sin as much as they want–that would be the attitude of the unsaved. Only the saved, by God’s power, leave behind the constant desire to sin.

This is post 22 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 4 minutes

Genuine servants will inherit God’s kingdom; false servants receive nothing but ongoing suffering. Therefore, knowing what distinguishes a true servant from a false one is of utmost importance.

Matthew chapter 25 illustrates the differences between genuine and false believers. A careful interpretation of Jesus’s parables will show the contrast between these two groups. God’s plan for life and redemption focuses on sorting people by their conversion status.

True Servants are Active

In the parable of the ten virgins (v. 1-13), the five faithful virgins act decisively on their convictions. They know God is real and prepare accordingly.

In the parable of the talents (v. 14-30), the two faithful servants also act decisively. They use the abilities God has given them, having the faith to produce results.

During the final judgement (v. 31-46), the sheep actively lived out their faith by ministering to others.

False Servants are Passive

In the parable of the ten virgins (v. 1-13), the five foolish ones lacked conviction. They could not see the reason to be prepared until it was too late to avoid destruction.

In the parable of the talents (v. 14-30), the fearful servant lacked understanding. Being an imposter, he did not know how to use his talent. So he could only make excuses when the master returned.

Finally, during the final judgement (v. 31-46), the goats did nothing to demonstrate the genuineness of their faith–because they had none.

Jesus Contrasts His Servants

I agree with most of Oliphant’s writings, but occasionally he misinterprets scripture, as with Matthew 25:14-30. According to him, all three servants are believers, with God only disciplining the third servant for his lack of productivity.

Let us inquire what is meant by this parable. It is used to define something about the kingdom of heaven, the church. And, by a little thought, you will observe that they were his servants, without these talents; for, “He called his own servants to him and delivered to them his goods.” Then, if they were his servants before they received the talents, they were not the servants of the wicked one; consequently, these talents were some gifts or graces he bestowed, not to make them his servants, or according to their needs, but “according to their abilities.”

Oliphant page 101

However, there are several reasons this interpretation isn’t the best:

• Every person God has created is a servant. A person can be a servant, but not be saved.
• The place of “outer darkness with weeping and gnashing” is most often used to describe the place of eternal torment.
• The context of this parable is between the other two parables, which make sharp contrasts between the eternally saved and the eternally condemned.
• The master calls the servant “wicked.”

But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

Matthew 25:26-27 ESV

The master cuts right through the excuses to expose the true condition of his heart. A genuine believer would have at least invested the money to collect interest. But this man had a wicked heart that resulted in slothful behavior. He had no care or concern for building God’s kingdom.

I certainly agree with Oliphant in his conclusion, that a truly saved person cannot lose his salvation. But in this case, we differ on what the scripture teaches. Either way, the point is that Matthew 25 does not teach that a person can lose salvation. It teaches that true believers will naturally act on the faith that God provides, while false believers, those who only profess Jesus in name, will not act for the simple reason that they do not hold enough conviction to motivate them to action.

What are we to do with such tough parables? True believers do not need to panic because they will consistently desire to grow God’s kingdom. They can be discouraged, but not without the hope of eternal life. They can be unproductive for a season, but cannot help but bear fruit because they are connected to the true vine. All you need to ask yourself is, “Am I willing to use whatever God has given me to serve His purposes?” God then works in the willing heart to produce many times over in fruitfulness.

This is post 21 in a series; you can read the previous post.
https://www.bibleref.com/Matthew/25/Matthew-25-30.html
https://archive.org/details/doctrineoffinalp00olip/page/100/mode/2up
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