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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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