Fall from Grace?

by David Lasseter


 

This is yet another vital topic to those who wish to spend eternity in heaven, but one about which much disagreement exists in the religious world today.  Can a Christian fall from God's grace and face eternity in hell, or will his salvation persevere despite his return to a lifestyle of wickedness.  To illustrate the degree of confusion among religious people today regarding this issue, please consider the positions of two different groups within the Baptist church:

Southern Baptist (http://www.utm.edu/martinarea/fbc/bfm/5.html):  "All true believers endure to the end.  Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.  Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."

Freewill Baptist (http://www.hilltopchurch.com/we_believe.htm):  "We Believe that God has given to the believer Scriptural grounds for knowing positively that he is saved; that God has promised and provided to keep His children even in times of failure; when they fall out of fellowship with Him; that God has assured His followers that as believers they are secure in Christ and shall never perish; but that God has, also, clearly warned the Christian against the possibility of making a shipwreck of his personal faith in Christ, and thereby, becoming an apostate, and that, if such should happen, there is no way he could be restored to salvation - his doom would be sealed."

So different groups within the same denomination disagree on the doctrine of the "Perseverance of the saint."  As in our other studies we must ask ourselves whether the Bible is so unclear as to make our understanding of such an important issue impossible.  The answer must be no!  In 1 Corinthians 14:33 we read, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."  Let's look to His word and determine whether a Christian is guaranteed salvation no matter what, or is it possible for such a one to be lost.

An understanding of Biblical teachings regarding God's love for man, God's grace, mankind's works and law are necessary to correctly understand the teachings dealing with the Christian's possibility or impossibility of eternal damnation.  We'll consider each of these topics in detail.  I'll close our study with a review of additional scriptures which deal with our question and a summary.


 

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