Past, present, and future

November 15, 2021 (Monday)

 

Can a Christian “lose” their salvation? This is a heavy theological question that has caused much concern and confusion. I am going to try to dig into this question without dealing with theological constructs.

 

The passage in question today is Hebrews 10:26 – 27.  “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.” [NLT] Notice, this is a one-way trip. Assuming this can (or does) happen, then the person becomes unresponsive to God (see Hebrews 6: 4 – 6).

 

Let’s define what it means to “deliberately continue sinning.” I picked the NLT because it gives the correct sense of the Greek text. We are not talking about something that we trip into, make a mistake, or are taken by surprise. The idea is continual and willful defiance.

 

David prayed, “Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.” [Psalm 19:13 NLT] What David is warning us against is, these deliberate sins control us. The desires of sin become our puppet master, pull our strings and causing us to flop around. Spoiler alert: it ends in tragedy.

 

Seemingly at odds with the idea of “deliberately continue sinning,” is John’s statement in 1 John 3:9, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” [ESV] Later, John makes the claim, “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.” [1 John 5:18 NLT] Also, look back at Hebrews 10:14, “For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.” [NLT]

 

Here’s the sticking point to the previous paragraph. The idea may be formed that it is possible to live a “sinless” life. I once believed this but have come to the conclusion it is false. Nowhere can I find justification that a person can live life without sinning in this life.

 

If it is possible to sin deliberately, where does that leave us? It is a mistake to dismiss a verse because it does not fit what we want it to say. It is also a mistake to weigh verse against verse. Scripture is more of a jigsaw puzzle. We must fit the pieces together, not trim them to fit each other.

 

One way to understand the issue is to suggest that we have saving grace while still being imprisoned in a natural state. This world and everything in it is diseased, dying, and decaying because of sin. Paul wrestled with this in Romans 7:21, 24 – 25, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong…. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” [NLT] Paul lands on this answer, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” [Romans 8:1 ESV]

 

To understand this lofty claim, we need to understand salvation (and all that involves) is really set on two planes. First, spiritual plane where the instant we are saved (in the legal sense) we have everything promised in salvation. Second, the physical plane where salvation is a continual and progressive experience. Why does God allow us to struggle with sin in this present time? Possibly it is to keep us humble, honest, and hinging our hope on Jesus alone.

 

People can miss the reality that salvation, in Scripture, is in three (Greek) tenses. We have been saved (past tense… from the guilt and penalty), we are being saved (present tense… from the power of sin to control, compel, and manipulate), and we will be saved (future tense… when God will complete the good work He stared in us).