Is salvation secure—or can it be lost? In this post, I share six scriptural truths that anchor my confidence in eternal life through Christ.

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If someone asked you today if you’re saved, what would your answer be? I pray it’d be a confident yes!—with the memory of your decision to follow Christ at the forefront of your mind. (If your answer is no or I don’t know, then please read this page before you continue.)

What if someone asked you if you believed in eternal security? Or do you think it’s possible that some people commit egregious enough sins to lose eternal life?

I have found that most Christians hesitate at the second question. Usually they answer—“Yes . . . well”—and then pause with the I’ve-gotta-think-hard-on-this-one face. I’ll see the doubt in their eyes and maybe the remembrance of a person who made the walk to the front of the church but whose life never showed any fruit. 

I get it. 

There was a time in my life when I struggled with this question. As a young believer, to be confronted with this teaching from others who seemed smarter and wiser and more assured than I was a disturbing surprise.  

For many years the topic bothered me. I was full of questions. Could what they said be true? How could I be sure of my salvation? How would I know if I lost my salvation? How could I get it back if I’d already lost it? 

All the Answers

I’m a believer that all our answers can be found in one place: in God’s Word. Whether it speaks directly or indirectly about our situations, our questions can always be answered there.

To be honest, the topic of eternal security was probably the first real issue that sent me looking for answers to big questions. 

I found my answers in the Bible, and I learned a really big lesson from it: God has given us the tools we need for answers between His Word and the Holy Spirit. Even a young believer, with no special smarts or wisdom, can find what she needs in the Word. 

I also learned the best way to find answers to difficult questions is usually to break them down into their most basic parts. Take this as an example: Is it wrong to cheat on my taxes if I really need the extra money? Commandment number nine: Don’t lie. And commandment number eight: Don’t steal.

That’s what I ended up doing with my questions about eternal security—even though I didn’t realize it per se at the time. 

I know this is a bit of a hot topic in our churches. One denomination says yay and another says nay. I’m not an expert by any means, but I believe God has given me the tools I need, because, at the end of the day or eternity, it doesn’t really matter what this denomination or that one believes. What matters is what the Word of God says. It is our only true compass in this world.

With this in mind, I pray you’ll read this post and my reasons for assurance and be blessed today. And if you haven’t already, search out your answers in God’s Word.

Why I Believe in Eternal Security

#1 – Salvation comes through faith in Christ. 

Our foundation of salvation starts with how to be saved in the first place. Scripture’s clear: salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ—His death, resurrection, and deity. 

Not works. 

It’s that simple. 

#2 – We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. 

The Bible teaches that when we accept Christ as Lord, the Holy Spirit indwells us.

The Spirit provides us with comfort, support, a direct connection to God, and seals us with a promise of eternal life.  

#3 – Eternal life is available to all who surrender to Christ. 

Eternal. As in without end, forever and ever, everlasting . . .

#4 – There’s a flawed logic in the belief that salvation can be lost. 

I’ve never heard anything specific about how one might go about losing their salvation. Like how it happens. Does a person lose their salvation after 50 sins? Or 200? Or is it certain sins? Once lost, how can salvation be re-earned? 

None of these questions can be answered with the belief that salvation can be lost because it’s just not true. The logic is circular, which leads to the never-ending scenario of constantly losing and re-attaining salvation. Which, by the way, I have never read anywhere in the Bible how to re-earn salvation. If we could lose our salvation, I’d think it’d be important to know.

I love the way Dr. Charles Stanley puts it:

If our salvation were dependent upon our actions—if we could be redeemed by doing good works, keeping the commandments, and refraining from sin—we would always be in danger of losing it whenever we stumbled.

Dr. Charles Stanley in The Life Principles Bible (NASB) commentary for Ephesians 2:8-9

#5 – And perhaps the teaching that salvation can be lost is blasphemous.

Hear me out. Scripture clearly teaches the way to salvation, which has nothing to do with works. To teach anything else is a really big deal.

How can salvation be lost by works when it couldn’t be earned by them in the first place? 

The teaching that one can lose salvation reverts back to a teaching of works, which is blasphemous because the Bible says it over and over again: Not works.

#6 – Those who say they were saved and continue to live in sin weren’t saved in the first place. 

I think many of us think of those few people we’ve seen profess Christ only to quickly revert back to hard living. Nothing in that person’s life reflects the choice to surrender to Christ.

But Scripture tells us that a believer’s life is characterized by a pursuit of Christ. We’ll stumble now and again, but we aren’t characterized by sin.

But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 NASB

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are:
immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing,
and things like these, of which I forewarn you,
just as I have forewarned you,
that those who practice such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21 NASB

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I’d like to ask you again: do you believe in eternal security? Not what your church or denomination says.

What do you think based on your own reading and research of the Bible? Let me know in the comments below if you’ve researched this topic and your thoughts. 

*** This post was revised from the archives. Check out the original here. ***

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Here’s a little more reading… 

• Doubting Salvation: My Journey to Assurance from HISsparrowBlog
• Reasons for Believing in Eternal Security – Part 1 from In Touch Ministries

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I frequently link up with the following: Grace & Truth with Embracing the Unexpected, Instaencouragements with Patsy and her crew, Let’s Have Coffee with Joanne Viola, and Blessing Bloggers with Deb Wolf.