A dear friend asked me to comment on several verses which she finds troubling in trying to determine whether a Believer/follower of Jesus Christ can lose their salvation. Here's my comments:
First, It's important to approach Scripture to see what it says without any pre-conceived notions (hard to do). Having an idea about truth, and then trying to find Scripture to confirm or refute the idea is dangerous at worst, and sloppy at best.
Second, I don't believe that salvation is, ever will be, or ever was "behavior-based". The whole point of Jesus coming to Earth to die for us is to pay for our Sin and sins – once for all, the just for the unjust. You can't earn salvation, neither can you keep it or maintain it "in good standing."
Third, My biggest difficulty with the "losing your salvation" argument is that most people aren't talking about "losing" anything – they are talking about committing sins/engaging in sinful behavior that would preclude someone from the Kingdom – and 99% of the time it's someone elses apparent sin behaviour – not their own.
I Cor. 15:2 – I think he's talking hear about belief in the physical resurrection of Christ – which is sort of the whole point. If you don't believe in Jesus' resurrection you probably have "believed in vain." So, it's not a behavior issue here, but is an issue of theology or what you believe.
I Cor. 6:9-10 – Paul is contrasting the "former" life to that of the believer now. Read on to vs. 11-12: "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 'Everything is permissible for me' —but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible for me'—but I will not be mastered by anything." The sins listed in this passage are the effects of SIN, which is literally "missing the mark". This is a pretty comprehensive listing, and if it were not for GRACE we would all be doomed; that is, there isn't a sin listed here that we (believers) are not all guilty of committing – if we are truly honest with ourselves.
1 John 2:3-6 – Obey his commands…remember the most important ones (in order):
1. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength;
2. Love your neighbor as yourself; and
3. Love one another (as I have loved you).
Well, if you say you accept the Lord, but nothing in your life changes – that may be an indication that you haven't really accepted Him into your life. When God gets hold of people (comes into their life) stuff happens. Sometimes it might appear "good" or "bad", but I firmly believe that having God in your life will turn your life upside down. Remember to look around the verses of these passages – the command we have is to LOVE. The contrast is whether we are operating our lives out of LOVE for one another, or do we still HATE (others AND ourselves)? The litmus test, then, is whether we love one another. What does that look like? Consider this passage:
"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Phil. 2:1-4
What does it look like to truly put other people first? How many people do you know that do this on a regular basis? How is running around worrying about your own, personal behavior and habits – that is constantly worrying about yourself and how you appear to God – how does this fulfill this direction from Paul? So we say we accept the Lord and fail to follow His commands? Perfectly/100%/all the time? We're all in that boat – either there is redemption or there isn't in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (I Peter 3:18). "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, HE SAVED US, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus3:4-5) The point I'm making is that there is no standard of behavior to apply to our being justified before Christ – it is solely his work, his suffering, his death, and the sooner we acknowledge this fact, the sooner our pride is broken and we can crawl to the foot of the cross and humbly thank and worship Jesus for the Savior that he is to us.
Any standard of living, for a Believer, that sets any behavior/actions/inactions as being required for keeping our "membership" in the Kingdom of Heaven is tantamount to slapping God in the face and telling Him that what he did was not good enough. This is TRULY a SIN that may keep many believers out of Heaven! "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have NOT sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." (I John 1:9-10)
Matthew 13:3-9 – Here's is where most people get into the semantics issue – were people really saved to begin with, or were they saved and then lost their faith? Notice that of the four possible outcomes for "the seed" that none of the outcomes come at the hands of the seed themselves.
John 3:16 – I have no argument here with your assertion – just don't look at someone and say, "because I see you doing this and that, that obviously means that you don't believe in Him, and therefore are going to Hell." Believing is absolutely ongoing –but it doesn't mean there aren't peaks and valleys; good days and bad- read the following verse: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." God is not up in Heaven looking for excuses to jettison us from the Kingdom; on the contrary, he is looking for any excuse to allow us into the Kingdom – and he not looking at our "sinful behaviors" he is looking at how well we love, how well we put others first, how well we put our own wants and needs 'to death on the cross'. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:12-13)
Mark 13:13 – There is much to this passage before this isolated verse. I don't think it really fits in with the "losing your salvation" discussion. Some argue that this is end times prophecy, others argue that this concerns the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple (that is, some say these events haven't happened yet, others say they have). I do think there is something to standing up for what you believe in – and maybe if you don't "stand firm" you have put your salvation at risk. I think in this context, the "saving" might actually be referring to our physical existence on earth in our current state – that is to say physically saving or losing your life. I could be wrong – I guess the bottom line is: don't deny God. (ahh….but I can't honestly say that I've never denied God, and I don't know anyone who can make that claim – so there must be more tho this…)
Luke 12:45-46 – I think this is another illustration of the active belief. I don't think we should be careless about our belief, but we DO need to be diligent and aware. We need to be aware of others around us, not just worrying about our own lives, but how to improve the lives of others through love – this is what we are commanded to obey. In short, "pay attention." This speaks to me more of an overall attitude, not a model of behavior.
The Prodigal son – I think this parable is speaking more largely about how we are all born with the potential to have relationship w/God – this is how we were designed, and how things were meant to be. I don't think the son leaving is "losing his salvation" I think it is speaking more to the big SIN (I want to do things my way) that we all commit, and that when the Son returns this is the original salvation. Semantic maybe? One might argue that the son that stayed behind, that had the attitude of "what's in it for me/I'm not getting my share/look at what I did, and how I obeyed you" was illustrating the religious leaders of the day (the Pharisees and Sadducees) that focused all their efforts on their own personal situation – attempting to be Holy solely by their own efforts. Jesus had words for these people too – just read Matthew 23 (the whole chapter). Jesus goes to great lengths to explain to these self-righteous types that ALL of their efforts are wasted, and that they are missing the whole point.
Hebrews 10:26-31 – Yeah, this should frighten you. The point is, we're all in this same boat. NOBODY (no Believer) has NOT done all the things mentioned in this passage; we all deserve, and continue to deserve eternal punishment. Fear God! That about sums it up. But understand too, that there is no "grading on a curve" and no credit given for "effort". Things like, "well I tried", or "you should do this or that", or "I did the best I could" don't hold any water.
"Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside." (Rev. 5:1-4)
I Timothy 1:19-20 – Two things: One, Paul uses the word "rejected" which to me is significantly different from "lost". Rejected implies active participation in the process, whereas "losing" implies (to me) something beyond our control. Second, don't assume that "being handed over to Satan" means losing your salvation. If could meant that – but it could also mean, "I'm going to let these guys do their thing, and let the natural (or supernatural) consequences unfold; then they will hopefully learn their lesson and come back (actively) to Jesus.
Addressing your stated confusion, I would simply remind you that being in relationship w/God through Jesus (enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit) is a process. As time goes on you learn more and more how to love like Jesus did; how to treat other people (LOVE is an action word too – not just BELIEVE); the clearest way to understand this relationship is the parent/child relationship. That is, when I became a parent and first loved my children, I understood more completely how their actions and behaviors don't change the fact that I love them (although there is often consequences), in fact, nothing they could do or not do would change my love for them. This is by God's design – that is, he provided family as a model for us to understand how he loves us. Unfortunately in this day and age, and in our country, the model of family has been perverted and pretty much destroyed. Score one for Satan on that – it makes our job harder as believers to love God, our neighbor, and one another – but it doesn't excuse us from needing to do this.
As to us being salt – well, how do we/are we salty in the world? While salt might nave been used to burn the manure pile, it's primary purpose was to add flavor to food. How do we "add flavor" to life? To those around us, what makes us salty? The answer goes back to Jesus big three commands – love, love, and love. It's not just our speech, or our actions, or our behavior, it's also our attitude, what we don't say as well as what we do say – everything done so that people (others – not us) experience the best flavor that life has to offer.
Watching our mouth – has as much (if not more) to do with saying the right thing (or keeping our mouth shut) depending on what the situation calls for, and what the person needs to hear. This is simply not a "don't cuss" thing – it's way beyond that, and that is where so many miss the point.
One of my favorite verses I think might help you. It's from Philippians (my favorite epistle, too):
"Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:2-14)
There is much in this passage, but I'll just point out a few things:
1. Paul was a Pharisee – he understood that he was blameless in the eyes of the law, as to whether he was "saved" or not. He pursued the law with zeal! But he came to understand that trusting in his own efforts (confidence in the flesh) was pointless. In fact, in the original Greek he considers "everything" [he used to do – all that he counted on to make him righteous] as manure (what NIV translates as rubbish is more accurately translated as animal manure). That ought to tell folks about how much emphasis to put on personal holiness, and following a strict standard or moral code (all denominations have them – but they all miss the point).
2. Paul presses on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him. Paul understands what Jesus went through, and what he endured to be able to take hold of Paul. Do you really think Jesus is anxious to let go of anyone after what he went through to save us in the first place? I don't think so… This doesn't meant you acknowledge him once and go about your merry way – following Jesus does require complete and total denial of self, and continual submission to His will.
3. "Not that I've already already obtained all this" – Paul acknowledges that he's not there yet – but that he presses on toward the goal. This speaks to motivation and attitude; he's saying "despite how miserably I've failed in the past (and will continue to fail moving forward), I will keep going – because that's what Jesus expects me to do.
I hope this helps you to sort things out. While I do believe in the truth of the Scriptures you've presented, I don't believe that the "measuring stick" or "standard" is very often put in the right place. Most people will put the standard of "correct" behavior for a Christian just within their reach, but just a little bit out of reach of the next person. It's not our job to go around measuring other people on the basis of the standard – but it certainly is appropriate to measure ourselves against God's standard. Which, bottom line, is perfection – which we will never (and can never) achieve or obtain. But the GOOD NEWS is we don't have to obtain – or strive or try to obtain. Our job is to:
1. Love God
2. Love our neighbors as ourselves (these are the lost)
3. Love one another (fellow Believers).
It's a pretty short list at the end of the day. Go for it!!!