paravanes:meditations

Let's take a final look at the question asked last month. Is it true that a Christian, a true Christ follower, is "once saved, always saved?" The answer is yes. If you have not read the previous posts on this topic, please read them: ICYMI: Here is the original question . ICYMI: Here is part one of the answer . ICYMI: Here is part two of the answer . Why is there some much confusion over this question? There lives within the organized church structure a problem which has existed since the early days of the church: the false confessor, or the person who claims to be saved but is not. This is not new. Read this passage from the single-chapter Book of Jude (written, according to scholars, at or before the end of the first century, AD or CE). : "These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage." (verse 16) Read this passage from the seventh cha...

Once saved, always saved? Yes. Why? As referenced in the first part of the article, Christian salvation is a work of God. Salvation is an act of God: for God's glory. In the epistle written by Jude, the author describes (in verse one of the book) the saved ones as those who are "kept for Jesus Christ." As the all powerful creator of everything, nothing and no one who is kept for Jesus Christ will ever be lost or removed from his keeping. Even physical death, which is how we leave this world, cannot destroy our spirits (our true selves) or remove those true selves from the keeping and protection and fellowship of Jesus Christ. Salvation is defined as a status, not a set of behaviors. Throughout the New Testament, believers are described as those who are adopted into God's family  and those who have been transferred into the kingdom of light and transferred out of the kingdom of darkness. In each case, it is God, through Jesus Christ, who initiates these ac...

Does the "once saved, always saved" teaching reflect faith trust or prideful arrogance? This was the Final July Challenge question. The answer will be given in three parts. Here is part one. Scripture teaches as much about Christian salvation as we are capable of understanding. Some of these teachings are: 1. Salvation is completely of (through, by, and for the glory of) God. Salvation is based upon grace, and demonstrated through the atoning death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the God-Man who demonstrated God's love and purpose in the earth. 2. No human person can justly or accurately judge another person's salvation. No human person is qualified. 3.  Christ followers are directed in the teaching of the apostle Paul to "examine themselves" to see if they are in (walking in and living by) "the faith." 4. Salvation is not defined in Scripture as a set of behaviors. Salvation is defined as adoption  (a change in family...