Saved by Grace (and Nothing Else)

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I am big on God’s grace. As the title of my site clearly suggests, I believe his grace is absolutely essential for our life, both now and into eternity. There would be no salvation, no life in Christ, apart from the infinite grace of our loving Father.

Because of God’s grace, there is nothing we need to do to earn or keep our salvation. It’s ours already if we are in Christ. That’s amazing grace!

This message of grace, however, is not accepted by everyone. There are those who believe that God’s grace needs to be balanced by his holy demands for justice. This leads them to believe in what I often refer to as a mixed message of law and grace. The argument is that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. That’s good so far. But then they take it a step further. They claim that we have to be obedient to God’s commands and overcome sin in order to stay saved. If we aren’t obedient, we can find ourselves in danger of losing salvation.

I’d like to address the idea that it’s possible to lose our salvation. It seems to me that that is completely incompatible with a God who is love and full of grace. If we could do nothing to earn salvation in the first place, then why would he expect us to be able to do something to keep it. Besides, as you will soon see, that argument seems to run counter to so much the Bible has to say on the topic.  So let’s take a look at some key passages and see what they have to tell us about whether we can lose our salvation or not.

If we can lose our salvation, then…

…Jesus didn’t die for all our sins.  (Colossians 2:13)

…Jesus’ work on the cross isn’t finished.  (John 19:30)

…Jesus would have to die again.  (Hebrews 9:22, 26-28)

…Jesus has not taken away all the sin of the world.  (John 1:29)

…Jesus didn’t completely redeem us by his blood.  (Ephesians 1:7)

…Jesus does not carry the lost sheep home.  (Luke 15:4-6)

…Jesus can drive us away.  (John 6:37)

…God still remembers our sins.  (Hebrews 10:17)

…God is counting our sins against us.  (2 Corinthians 5:19)

…God is keeping a record of our wrongs.  (1 Corinthians 13:5)

…God has not removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west.  (Psalm 103:12)

…God can leave us and forsake us.  (Hebrews 13:5)

…God has not reconciled us to Himself through Christ.  (Romans 5:10)

…God would have to be against us.  (Romans 8:31)

…God will not carry on His good work in us to completion.  (Philippians 1:6)

…God does not keep us firm to the end.  (1 Corinthians 1:8)

…God is not faithful to his New Covenant promises.  (1 Corinthians 1:9)

…it is not God’s will that Jesus will lose none of us and will raise us up at the last day.  (John 6:38-40)

…God is not shielding us by his power.  (1 Peter 1:3-5)

…the Holy Spirit is not a seal guaranteeing our inheritance.  (Ephesians 1:13-14)

…the Holy Spirit would have to leave us.  (1 Corinthians 6:19)

…someone or something can snatch us out of the Father’s and Jesus’ hands.  (John 10:28-30)

…someone or something can separate us from the love of God.  (Romans 8:38-39)

…being born again must mean that we can also die again.  (John 3:3)

…the groom (Jesus) could divorce his bride (us – the church).  (Ephesians 5:25-27)

…the new is gone and the old has come back.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

…we were sold back at a price.  (1 Corinthians 6:20)

…we are not saved by grace through faith alone.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

…we are saved by works, not by grace.  (Romans 11:6)

…we are still under the law.  (Romans 6:14)

…we are still under a curse.  (Galatians 3:13)

…our righteousness is based on works of the law.  (Romans 3:20)

…we have to be perfectly obedient to stay saved.  (James 2:10)

…we would not have peace with God.  (Romans 5:1)

…we would still be God’s enemies.  (Romans 5:10)

…we can be judged.  (John 5:24)

…we can cross back over from life to death.  (John 5:24)

…we can be under condemnation.  (Romans 8:1)

…we can never know for sure that we have eternal life.  (1 John 5:13)

…eternal life is not eternal.  (John 3:16)

It seems to be clear to me from these passages that once we are born again, it is God who keeps us saved.  He has bought us, shields us, keeps us firm to the end, carries on His good work to completion, and carries us all the way home.  Therefore, since it is Him that is doing all the work, He will lose none of us.  We couldn’t turn away from the faith and reject Christ even if we wanted to, which a true believer wouldn’t want to because he is a new creation with a new heart and a new spirit, united with His Spirit.  A true believer wouldn’t even have the desire to reject Christ; He guarantees it.  He is faithful, and He proves it by sealing us with the Holy Spirit as a deposit that guarantees our future inheritance.  (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Besides all that, a proper understanding of the New Covenant helps.  The Old Covenant was like a contract between God and Israel.  Both parties had responsibilities.  If the people were faithful, God would bless them.  But that was the problem; it depended on the people fulfilling their end of the agreement.  As the writer of Hebrews said, the Old Covenant was outdated and obsolete because the people were not able to remain faithful.  The New Covenant, however, is not a contract.  It’s more like a will.  There is only one party that agreed to it, and He is faithful.  It doesn’t depend on what we do.  It depends on God’s promises, and He has promised that those who believe in His Son will not perish but have eternal life.  That’s what is in the will; we are going to receive it because it doesn’t depend on our faithfulness; He has guaranteed that He would keep us to the end.  We can’t jump ship once we are in Christ.  Hallelujah!