Some scriptural texts seem to shake our sure confidence in eternal security. ‘How do you hold to such a position,’ it may be said, ‘given these verses?’ I think this is a challenge worthy of consideration.

It is quite easy for each one of us to plot our doctrinal demarcations and rashly raise concrete walls around them. To be sure, there are doctrinal truths around which we must erect reinforced concrete walls, albeit through careful study and prayer.

But if we were honest, we all are tempted to ignore uncomfortable counterarguments at times. And yet, the journey to maturity involves patiently listening to thoughts that make us uncomfortable.

My previous article (I hope) illuminated on the truth that believers in Christ cannot lose their salvation. And rightly, there were some who desired me to handle certain texts which appear to contradict this precious truth. This article is a follow up on that.

My main focus, however, is on three of the texts raised, not because they are all there is, but because they are thorny. I do this also because there is just as much that can be handled in a single blog post.

Revelation 3:5

He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 

The church in Sardis is corporately dead, with a name that it is alive (v1). Although the corporate church is lifeless, there are members in it that are alive (v4). These members are ‘worthy’ to walk with Christ in white. They have not defiled their garments.

It is these people to whom Christ gives assurance. Their names shall not be removed from the book of life.

We talked in the previous article about the significance of the doubly negated subjunctive in Koine Greek. It is the most potent denial of any possibility that what is denied will happen. When used, it strongly refutes the idea that what is refuted can happen at all.

As Christ emphatically denied that His sheep shall ever lose their salvation in John 10:28, so does He here as well.

Jesus doubly negates any possibility that the names of these believers in the dead church at Sardis can ever be erased from the book of Life. He insists ‘it shall never happen.’

This text, rather than suggest that it is possible for the believer’s names to be blotted from the book of life, instead strongly denies such an option.

Hebrews 6:4-8

The Hebrew persecuted believers are afraid for their lives, and some even wonder whether they should return to Judaism. The Author writes the letter to remind them of the supremacy of Christ’s priesthood compared to the Levitical order (Chapter 3-5, 7-8). He speaks of the sufficiency of Christ’s blood for the atonement of sin when compared to the blood of bulls (Chapter 9-10).

As to their persecution, he reminds them of the faithful believers who persevered in faith to the end (Chapter 11-12).

In chapter 6 he speaks to them about the danger of not progressing in faith. He warns them that it is impossible for them to return to repentance if they forsake their confidence. He is not saying that they have. He does not mean that anyone did. But he warns them to not think of such.

And then in the midst of that, he remarkably tells them that he knows they will not turn back (v9). He says to them that he has the assurance of their final salvation. Remarkable!

He grounds this assurance in three things: the justice of God (v11), the example of the faithful believers before them who despite challenges were sustained to the end (v12), and the immutability (unchangeability) of God’s promise (v13-20).

Notice that He insists that if they were to lose their salvation, God would be both unjust (v10) and a liar (v17-18). In other words, if they do not make it to the end, then God is not God. The character and work of God is the ground of their assurance. In this, the writer repeats what Christ already mentioned in John 10 as we saw before.

Hebrews 10:26-36

The same idea we saw in the previous passage is here communicated. The writer sandwiches the verses in view between v14 and v39. V14 insists that those who are currently in the sanctification process have already been perfected forever.

Nothing can nullify their justification. They are perfected ‘forever.’ Their justification is not dependent on sanctification. It is the other way round.

Then v39 insists that believers are not of those ‘who shrink back to destruction,’ but of those who ‘have faith to the preserving of the soul.’ The same thing he already said in Heb. 6:9 is repeated here.

In other words, there is a category that shrinks back to destruction. But those are not believers. They may be in the church, in the choir, or even be ushers, and yet not converted. It is these that John the Apostle also speaks of (1 John 2:19). They are ‘in the church’ but not in Christ.

Final Remarks

Now, there are two important reminders I would not like us to miss.

The first is that God’s warnings are His way of keeping us safe on the track. Just like warning signs on the road, they alert us of where the danger is. God holds us safe on this salvation road this way. Yet, the path we walk in is His palm. Our Father’s palm. The road to heaven is in our Father’s hand.

In His hand, we are not tempted beyond what we can bear. In His palm we are safe. He will keep us from stumbling, presenting us faultless before His presence with exceeding joy (Jude 1:24).

The second reminder is that assurance of salvation is for those who have trusted in Christ alone for their salvation, and not in their works. It is also for those whose heart is out to please God, not for those who love their sin. This truth insists that God who saved us shall keep us for Himself to the end.

The Canons of Dort declare thus:

It is not by their own merits or strength but by God’s undeserved mercy that they neither forfeit faith and grace totally nor remain in their downfalls to the end and are lost. With respect to themselves this not only easily could happen, but also undoubtedly would happen; but with respect to God, it cannot possibly happen. God’s plan cannot be changed; God’s promise cannot fail; the calling according to God’s purpose cannot be revoked; the merit of Christ, as well as his interceding and preserving, cannot be nullified, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit can neither be invalidated nor wiped out.

I hope this article has at least shed some light on these three passages. If you have questions or would like a clarification on something, feel free to contact me and I will be happy to get back to you. For further reading please consider this article from Bible.org and another from CRC