Can you lose your salvation? What about the warning passages?

"Can you lose your salvation? If not, how are you to understand the warning passages (particularly in Hebrews 6)?"
Dr. Thomas Schreiner answers in Honest Answers | Episode 14

Watch more episodes of Honest Answers here:

To find out the answer to next week's question, don't forget to SUBSCRIBE:

Ask any questions about theology, ministry, or life; and have them answered honestly by Southern Seminary professors.

Submit your questions by:
Twitter: @askHonestAns
or post them in the comments below

[downearth]

I accepted Jesus as my personal lord and savior at 12. so i always knew about HIm and his work on the cross and why he died for humans. as i grew up i fell short of God and really turned my back on HIM. though i would pray here and there. I was weak and living in my sins. i even at one point denied being a Christian. I got into new age beliefs instead even though i knew the truth. i was in a very dark place because i had left a 12 year abusive relationship. I was broken and lost and in need of a savior. Once i begin to want to come back to Jesus i started getting attack by demons and then one final night i cryed out to Jesus repented and accepted back as my Lord and Savior and gave me a new heart and the Holy Spirit. I know without a doubt i was sealed at 12 but i had to go through such dark times to find my way back to HIM. looking back i grieved the Holy Spirit. I finally feel at peace with my past and where i am headed in life because i know i am no longer alone or dead in my spirit.

[ompaloompa]

Keep away from sin, don't get out of the boat. You choose who you will serve.

[recordhutch]

By grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. Believing that you can help God save you by being good enough is by works or your behavior. Man's righteousness is like filthy rags as God says. He who has Christ has life. Grace through faith in Christ and what He did for us on the cross is what saves us. We were never good enough to be saved in the first place and never will be. God's grace is sufficient because He gives us what we don't deserve, eternal life. If you have accepted Christ as your savior you are saved. If you could loose your salvation by sinning, which we all do, nobody would go to heaven. We all struggle with sin because it is the nature of the flesh to war against the spirit. It is a spiritual war of good against evil, but if your saved you will fight against doing evil. Feed your spirit and you will win most of your battles. God bless

[utojlle]

May God bless you everyone. Trust in God and his son Jesus!

[JPJoaoPaulo]

Pray for me, for God to grant me repentance and grant me grace, I want to be a child of God, I no longer want to be a slave to sin

[festushaggen]

If we can't save ourselves (and we can't) how can we possibly keep ourselves saved? If we were born again, how can we get unborn? If we're sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, how do we break that seal? Salvation is not a work of us, it's the grace of God. If someone has known the love of God and experienced the touch of Jesus Christ, how can we then go into unbelief? Once you've been given eyes to see, you can't be blind again not knowing what it is to see.
The true born again believer will never deny God, even if it means our death. We'll never leave our Lord and shepherd. We'll never want to either. Anyone who says they used to be a Christian and isn't anymore was never a Christian. They maybe went to church, sang the songs, read the Bible or even served but their faith was not real and it wasn't in Christ. They were never born again. They were religious at best. So they left nothing because they had nothing.

All God's people will overcome and endure till the end. We'll forsake everything in this world if need be but we'll never forsake our great God and Savior. There's no going back to the world (why would we want to?) and the true Christian couldn't be dragged away from Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

[daughteroftheking]

My head is Spinning! Something to ponder about and again thank you!🕇

[randy]

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:16. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28 I'm safe and secure in the arms of Jesus.

[GiftofGrace]

It's clearly in the context. Hebrews is about the Old Testament sacrifices. If they go back to those goat and bull sacrifices. Christ's sacrifice was once and for all sins to those who believe on Him.
What keeps us believers in the family of God is through the power of God. Human power can't overwhelm the power of God. 2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. We are sealed and kept until the day of redemption. There is nothing we can do to lose salvation once we believe on Christ alone who died for our sins, buried, and rose from the dead. Think about the thief on the cross, the very moment he believed on Christ, he was saved instantly. How did you miss that?
1 Peter 1
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

[Spirit]

Don't 'pretend' be genuine in your faith. If you were honestly saved, you are saved. If it was just lip service, you need to get honest with yourself.

[poggywoggy]

Please, please help me. I am so afraid. I have wilfully sinned over a great number of years, clearly knowing that what I was doing was so very wrong. I gave my my heart to the Lord many years ago and served and loved Him for many years.
I know the things i have done have been so wrong and how it has offended the Lord.
I am trying to return to the Lord by asking for forgiveness seeking His presence.
I have began reading His Word again but I do not know if the Holy Spirit is in my life. or that God can ever accept me in my willfulness.
Please pray for me that I might know once again the presence of God in my life. I am so frightened and know that my time of meeting the Lord is very near.

[leydenhumphries]

Wow! Love how you explained this. I was in a group of believers once that believed that you had to be good and watch everything you did or you could fall away and loose out. How great it is that God opened my eyes that my salvation is SECURED in Jesus. How great God is!

[faithnarciso]

I agree with this, I really believe that we cant lose our salvation. if you truly encounter Jesus, oh when you truly encounter Jesus you will want what He wants, you will want to do what He wants you to do. As christians we cant / wil never be sinless, we can only sin less. And it is the Holy Spirit that will lead us to sanctification. Salvation is instantaneous but sanctification is not and the good work God has started in your life He is very faithful to finish. We are all works in progress, you will stumble along thecway but God will pursue you and wont stop, He will convict you and teach you til your very last breath. thank you southern seminary inform more and more of us and continue preaching the gospel to the very ends of the Earth.

[stephenbarnigham]

In Hebrews, it says that "it is impossible to renew unto repentance" it doesn't say that they lose salvation! And it is referring to Jewish believers reverting back to the temple system of the levitical practices of sin offerings, NOT to Gentile born-again believers! God bless you!

[savedwretch]

Note what James says about a fellow Christian that falls back/falls away/wander away...
James 5:19-20
"19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.".
NOTE, first off, this exbeliever is now called a sinner. Second we see if someone brings this sinner back (ferering to a previous state of being saved) onto the straight and narrow road....that person has saved the sinner's soul !

[chrismitchell]

When Jesus says “depart from me I never knew you”. These people were not saved. They may have gone to the mega churches and delivered food to the hungry, helped widows and the like but it was not because they were saved. Whatever their purpose for doing these things that are typical of the actions of a born again believer it wasn’t at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. More than likely they did the things for their own vanity and pride which I believe Jesus makes clear throughout these passages. In my experience one must test oneself for no one else knows your mind and heart. It’s true we judge others by their actions as to what type of character they have but that doesn’t always work for judging whether or not they’re saved. However, if someone tries to publicly justify their sinful actions in direct opposition to Christ’s word, then I would say they are likely not saved.
In my own experience I cannot and will not pardon my own sin because I agree that IT IS SIN. Gods word is a part of my make up, my mind and my soul. There is something apart from me that makes clear what is right and wrong and I long to do what is right though I fail early and often at it lol. When I do fail it’s tough to come before the Lord and repent sometimes as I’m ashamed of my failure; and yet I do get on my knees, give thanks and praise and repent.
So, my question to those who believe they can lose their salvation is: do you have a relationship with Jesus? When you sin does it bother you? Do you feel the need to repent of the sin because you long to return to fellowship with Jesus? If so it’s a safe bet you’re saved and assured of salvation and Jesus will leave the 99 to come after the one that belongs to Him. If none of the above is familiar to you I would get on your knees and speak to Jesus like He is right there (He is), repent of your sins and ask Him to save you. You need to mean it. Take care all!

[bikerboy]

I believe someone can't lose their salvation. There's many Christians who believe you can lose your salvation, and there's many Christians who believe you can't lose your salvation. A person's belief about whether or not they can lose their salvation doesn't determine whether they are saved. Accepting Christ in your heart and really meaning it in your heart is what determines whether you're saved.

One of the main reasons why a lot of people think people can lose their salvation is because many people think once saved always saved teaches that once you accept Christ in your heart, you're free to live your life any way you want to and still go to heaven, but once saved always saved doesn't teach that. Accepting Christ in your heart by just mouthing the words and not meaning it in your heart doesn't save someone. In order to be saved, you have to accept Christ in your heart and really mean it in your heart. Once saved always saved teaches that when you accept Christ in your heart and really mean it in your heart, you're always going to be saved, you're never going to live a lifestyle defined by sin anymore, and you're never going to abandon the faith and walk away from the faith. 2 Corinthians 5:17 explains how when people become Christians, they are new creations; old things are passed away and all things become new. When a person accepts Christ in their heart and really means it in their heart, God changes them by them never living a lifestyle defined by sin anymore, having a new heart, never abandoning the faith, wanting to live for the Lord, etc.

There's a lot of Bible verses that are strong evidence how you can't lose your salvation. 1 John 2:19 mentions how there's no such thing as an ex-Christian. If there's no such thing as an ex-Christian, it implies that someone can't lose their salvation. Matthew 24:13 mentions how true Christians preserve to the end. When a person accepts Christ in their heart and really means it in their heart, they're going to preserve to the end. 1 John 5:13 explains how you can know for certain that you have eternal life. If you can know for certain you have eternal life, that's strong evidence how you can't lose your salvation. Revelation 3:5 explains how Christ won't remove true Christians from the Book of Life.

[autumnfall]

“Therefore I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time MANY of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him”

[celtsstar]

We must renew our minds in the word. Faith comes by hearing the word. So in order for us to grow and be like Jesus we listen and learn from the holy spirit who will give us guidance and wisdom through the word.

[Slayer]

I believed the gospel and accepted Christ 36 years ago, and I'm still saved today. I'm not scared of losing what Jesus has done.