If there is one heart-rending fact in our nation today, it is the multitude of men and women, all about us, who have once served the Lord in the church, professed a vital experience of salvation, given evidence of having received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit—many even having preached the Word of God—who today never darken the door of the church, nor make any pretense of serving the God Whom they once professed to love with all their hearts.

Maybe this can be dismissed by saying these were never really saved in the first place; or by believing that some day, even in the last moment of life, they will repent and return to the Lord. That these statements are true of many, we do not doubt. But, we cannot blithely dismiss the whole matter in so simple a way. One great preacher, who believed strongly in unconditional eternal security, admitted this vast group of former witnesses to Christ, and he invented a virtual purgatory where they might be punished and purged from their backslidings before being admitted to the eternal reward of the saints.

Note carefully that this subject is not being dealt with under the topic, “The Insecurity of the Believer,” but rather, “The Security of the Believer.” Above all else in our Christian life, we must have a positive assurance of our salvation. It is certainly God’s will that men be saved and that they know it. Every spiritual experience, every conflict with the enemy, every prayer that is uttered, every promise that is pleaded, is based on an assurance of one’s position in Christ. Whenever a Christian endeavors to do anything for God he must be able to stand on the firm foundation of the positive assurance that he is His child. He can have this assurance now! “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Thes. 1:5).

This subject constitutes an age-old battle ground. The controversy has been waged for years, and there have been those who have gone to extremes on both sides of this question. Friends have parted. Churches have split. Denominations have started. Whole schools of theology have been formulated. There is only one way to settle the disagreement—by the Word of God. The only thing wrong with that statement is that both sides say exactly the same thing. The Calvinist brings a long list of proof texts, each asserting that salvation is an eternal work and once wrought in an individual heart it can never be undone. But the Arminianist comes along with an equally long list of scriptures that prove the very opposite. “O, but,” the Securityist says, “you interpret those wrongly;” and the Non-securityist says, “So do you.”

The fact that this difference has continued for so many hundreds of years, and that so many good men are on each side of the question, proves that there must be scripture and good reasoning for both positions. There is no easy, simple way of proving one side right and the other wrong—or else it would have been done long ago. The BIBLE must be the answer. But the Bible must be interpreted by the Bible. The conclusion that must be reached is that there is truth in both positions, but to carry either to the extreme is either to destroy the believer’s sense of assurance and security, or to comfort the apostate in his apostasy. There are two sides to every theological question. This is because every doctrine has to do with God and Man.

Salvation—and every spiritual blessing—comes from God. But it has to do with Man, and because of the manner in which God has made him as a free moral agent, he has a part to play in every spiritual transaction. Had God made him a mere automaton, without a will or mind of his own, this would not be. But it is so. Therefore, in every theological matter there is God’s side and Man’s. This simple fact helps us understand why it is possible to list two arrays of scripture. They seem to contradict each other, but in reality they do not. One has to do with what God promises to do. The other has to do with what Man must do. Actually they do not contradict, but compliment each other.

Note these blessed promises of the keeping power of God: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, My Father which gave them to me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (Jn. 10:28–30). “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38, 39).

These glorious promises must not be minimized, but they must be understood in proper relation to such passages as:

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (Jas. 1:13–15).

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which bringeth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing: whose end is to be burned (Heb. 6:4–8).

One of the basic rules of hermeneutics is that the obvious meaning of a passage is probably closest to the true meaning. One can hardly read verses four and five of this passage without believing that these expressions are describing one who has experienced salvation.

While this passage warns of the danger of turning away from Christ, it must not be used to teach that there is no hope for one who falls away. The Scriptures make it clear that if one who has turned away from Christ, that is rejected Christ, will humble himself and return to faith in Christ, there is forgiveness.

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God … Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up (Jas. 4:5–10).

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (Heb. 3:12–19).

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins (Jas. 5:19, 20).

May I remind you that this last passage was written to Christians (see Jas. 1:2). To say that they were Jews is beside the point, for in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. This speaks of a Christian who sins, but if one “convert him” (lit., turns him back from his sin) he “shall save a soul from death.” It is possible then for the soul, not merely the body, of a Christian to die. Note also 1 John 5:16: “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall be given life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

The Christian is distinctly told: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). But the Scripture hastens to add; “for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (v. 13). God put two great principles here in these verses, and the Bible says: “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The Bible presents and enforces both truths and it never tones down the emphasis of one for fear of clashing with the other. In this very connection, Alexander McLaren says: “The short cord of my plummet does not quite go down to the bottom of the bottomless, and I do not profess to either understand God, or to understand man, both of which I should want to do before I understand the mystery of their conjoint action. Here we have this positive setting forth of both of these lines of truth—what God says, He will do; and what He says, we must do. “Work out your own salvation … for it is God that worketh in you” (Phil. 2:12).

It certainly is not God’s Will that any of His children should be lost. We are also assured that He is able to keep them from falling. But these things are not automatic. God does not save a man against his will, nor does He keep him against his will. Just as faith and repentance are necessary for salvation, so they are necessary for the continuence of that salvation in the Christian’s life. The scriptural condition for salvation is believing. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (Jn. 3:36). “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn. 3:18). “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (Jn. 5:24). “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (Jn. 6:47). It is important to note that the word “everlasting” (lit., eternal) in these last two verses is not an adverb but an adjective. It is the life that is eternal, not one’s possession of it. The word “believe” in these, and other passages (see Jn. 3:16; Jn. 6:40) is in the present tense, and means “to believe and to continue to believe.” It is the continuous or progressive present tense and implies not only an initial act of faith, but a maintained attitude. Assurance of security, therefore, is for the believing ones. The elect “are kept by the power of God through faith” (1 Pt. 1:5). Moody calls attention to the literal translation of John 10:28, and says: Not for one moment do I doubt this literal translation: “My sheep keep on hearing my voice, and I keep on knowing them, and they keep on following me: and I keep on giving them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.” Some read the passage as if it says: “My sheep heard my voice, and I knew them, and they followed me, and I gave to them eternal life.” The verbs are present linear, indicating continuous action by the sheep and by the Shepherd, not the punctiliar fallacy of the past tense.

There is no promise in the Bible that God will keep the man who willfully turns away from the provisions of salvation which Christ has made. In fact, we are plainly told: “If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation” (Heb. 10:26, 27). These verses describe an apostate who willfully turns away from, or rejects, Christ. “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under [at the testimony of] two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:28, 29). Such a one who turns from Christ most certainly has no hope, because he willfully turns from the only source of forgiveness and cleansing.