09/21/2023
Once we accept the fact that God is our creator and the God of our lives, and we have recognized Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, we receive by grace the gift of eternal life, but is that gift absolute? Is it a firm commitment on God's part? How about on ours as we receive it? The discussion of topics such as this can either divide us or bring us together.
A few years ago I struggled to write a response to a pastor, and dear friend, regarding a statement that I made in one of my devotional messages. In that devotional I wrote the sentence: "He loses his human dignity, and he loses his close spiritual relationship with God... perhaps his eternal life." My friend challenged that God's gift of eternal life , by grace, was not something God would ever take back. This prompted me to revisit a subject of faith that I had struggled with mightily.
Many of you may have had a question in your minds regarding similar statements so I thought it might be good to share the thoughts I sent to my good friend with you today. It is by such discussion of the Word that we learn from one another, and we sharpen one another’s iron.
“Iron sharpeneth iron; So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
Proverbs 27:17 KJV
Here is the letter I wrote to my friend…
"[Dear Friend],
This is such a deep subject, and takes us straight into predestination and free will. I believe that you are exactly right concerning eternal life being a gift of God, and His not taking back the eternal life that He offered us, but when I read Romans 1 and 2 I wrestle with my part in receiving this gift because it appears to me that we can turn away from God and refuse the gift that He has extended to us... we can walk away and become of reprobate mind. When I read Ephesians 1:13 & 14 I also see caveats like "and believed in Him" (v13) and "to the praise of His glory" (v14). What if those who once proclaimed their belief and praised Him, changed their minds and turned away for some awful reason?
In Ephesians 2:8 we are told we can't earn eternal life, it is by grace alone, and I believe that with all my heart, but it also says "through faith", and I once again wrestle with what happens when someone either doesn't have faith, or turns away from their faith in God.
In Romans 6:23 it tells us that eternal life is a free gift of God, but it also says that "the wages of sin is death" so I think of those who turn away from God and His Son Jesus Christ to live a life of sin once more.... the thought of this breaks my heart as I know it must break the heart of God, but how He views this in relation to one who professed his faith and then later denies it is a mystery to me and known only to Him who judges.
I have thus (and I work at this daily) concluded that I will always have faith, that I am safe in Jesus Christ, and that my eternal life is an irrevocable gift of God through His grace alone, but that it is also a gift that requires me to accept it, to maintain my faith, and to claim the redemption from sin that Jesus offers by my confession of those sins and asking for forgiveness.
So I said "perhaps" when referring to losing eternal life. Maybe my choice of using the word "losing" isn't the right word, but that a word like vacates, releases, or denies, would have conveyed my thought better. Regardless, this is a subject that I struggle with constantly and one which I can't say I have reached an absolute conclusion on.
Thank you for being wise enough to pick up on that and to call it out. You have made me revisit this in some detail and any additional thought or insight you have on this subject would be greatly appreciated as I do struggle with this question.
Your Brother in Christ,
Rich "
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
Romans 11:29-33 ESV
We are told in scripture to seek out our own salvation in fear and trembling. My discussion with this brother in Christ is a great example of how we go about doing this. We don't have to do so alone, or become adversaries as we seek the truth in God’s Word... we should join together in wrestling through the hard questions and mysteries that we each face as we read scripture and seek God. Lest we forget when discussing with one another, always remember that God works in each of us and to treat one another with that understanding.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12-13 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Holy Word, and for the desire that faith has fueled in me to know you better through it. I thank you Father for the Church and all those in it, because through our joint efforts to know you we increase our faith and knowledge of you beyond our individual abilities, and beyond our understanding when seeking you alone. I thank you for your firm promise of eternal life, and although there are questions in my mind regarding certain details of my acceptance of that gift, I know that by my steadfast faith and contrition I can work through my lack of perfect understanding of those things, and claim your gift of grace without doubt. Let me hold tight to the truths I know, and seek in prayer with you, and discourse amongst my brothers and sisters in Christ, the clarification of those truths I struggle to understand fully. Help me Father to not only understand your Word but to know you better in the process of my searching for your will and truth in scripture. Let the Church debate those points of contention and be led by the Holy Spirit to a tighter bond by seeking you in the great mysteries of faith. Keep us focused Father, not on our disagreement, but on our unity in common truths... and thus in you. Let those things on which we disagree not divide us, but serve to continue our discussion and prompt us in our quest for common ground in our faith, and understanding of you.
Rich Forbes