An issue of debate in many Christian circles is whether or not a believer in Christ can lose his salvation. In other words, can someone who was once, by faith in Christ, an adopted child of God (John 1:12) lose that status and be cast out of God’s kingdom? The stakes for the Christian are never higher than they are with this question. It is a matter of eternal life or death. In this article, I will present a very under-utilized Bible verse that, in context, ends the debate, provides the Biblical answer on this crucial topic, and brings glory to God.

              To be clear, the Bible presents a mountain of evidence on this subject, not simply one verse. But my life has been deeply impacted by 1 John 3:9, and that is why I am going there.

Salvation

              To begin, we first need to define salvation. Without a proper view of the concept as it’s presented in the Word of God, we won’t be able to understand what it actually means and, therefore, whether a believer could lose it if he had it. Defining it is everything. So, Biblically, salvation means rescue or deliverance, to be saved. Specifically, saved from the guilt and power of our sin and brought into fellowship with God. Let’s look at the elements of guilt and power.

Guilt

              Sin, being any action or attitude that contradicts God’s perfect character, leads to an objective guilt before God that demands punishment. Christ solved this problem for us:

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14)

The phrase “canceling the record of debt” speaks to our guilt being taken away. And how was this accomplished? The answer is given at the end of 14. It was “nail[ed]… to the cross” (Christ, taking on our guilt, was killed in our place.) So, Jesus paid the penalty in full, and we are credited with his perfect righteousness, the perfect and right-standing before God. For this reason, the Apostle Paul is able to write, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). ‘Condemnation’ means legal judgement. It’s gone! In an act of amazing love, Christ lifted our guilt from us.

Power

              Not only did Christ rescue us from the guilt of our sin and God’s judgement, he also gave us the gift of his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us and makes us new, replacing our sinful desires with hearts desiring to please God. The old sinner died; a new infant in Christ came. And, being freed from our slavery to sin (see John 8), this new life allows us to pursue God, liberated from the clutches of sin’s power. On freedom from the power of sin:

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:1-4)

It’s this reality, “newness of life,” that the Christian can and must now walk in! As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” Jesus speaks on this crucial concept in John 3. He tells Nicodemus that no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again, meaning born from above (by God). So, only God can produce this life change. Overcoming sin’s dominion is founded on the reality that a true believer in Christ is marked by the gift of the Holy Spirit, who indwells the believer and produces new spiritual life in him. Out of this reality, the Christian will defeat the practical hold of sin, progressively.

True Salvation

              Based on what we’ve look at so far, a true salvation, a true relationship with God, is marked by Christ taking on our guilt, forgiving our sin, and giving us his Holy Spirit. If a person never receives the Holy Spirit, he is not saved (see Romans 8:9b). Or, to put it another way, receiving the Holy Spirit is true salvation. This is key.

The Real Question and the Real Answer

              The question becomes, then: can a person who has received the Holy Spirt, the guarantee of the believer’s future inheritance with God (Ephesians 1:14), lose this status (and lose the Holy Spirit)? Let’s look to the book of 1 John. For context, the Apostle John penned this letter to a group of believers who dealt with the false teaching of Gnosticism, particularly taking the form of denying Christ’s humanity. He wrote to provide these disciples a series of tests that distinguish the true children of God from the children of the Devil. Growing in a general life pattern that conforms to these realities, namely love for others, obedience to Christ, and a true view of God as he has revealed himself gives the believer the privilege of having assurance of his salvation.

              In chapters 2 and 3, John writes about the salvation criterion of obeying Christ, or the behavioral test. A true salvation results in a lifestyle that generally shows behavior consistent with Christ’s character. Sinless perfection is not in view, but John clearly shows that a true follower of Jesus “practices righteousness” (1 John 2:29). Again, think of practicing righteousness as a general, growing, life pattern. As John develops his argument, he writes that Christ came to take away sin, leading to a lifestyle of righteousness. After contrasting the behavior of those ‘of the devil’ with those ‘born of God,’ John comes to the verse I want to focus on.

              “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” (1 John 3:9).

The term “born of God” is synonymous with “born of the Spirit.” John, then, presents a non-negotiable reality for those who have truly been saved: none of them make a practice of sinning. None of them live a life generally marked by sin and rebellion from God. It’s impossible. And why is it impossible? Because God’s seed abides in them. God’s seed is his Holy Spirit. Just as a good seed inevitably produces good fruit, the Holy Spirit inevitably produces a life of obedience in those he indwells. When God regenerates someone, making him a new creation, the Lord always ensures that the new person grows in godliness. The Lord is undefeated in this endeavor. So, everyone for all time who receives the Spirit lives a life, in some measure, that honors God and kills sin.

              We must ask the question, though, why would someone theoretically lose his salvation to begin with? Would it be because he is too obedient? Too holy? Would the Lord one day say, “You, Jerry, have loved me too wholeheartedly and loved your neighbor perfectly. Therefore, I cast you out of my kingdom!” Of course not! That’s ridiculous. So here’s the answer– if a believer could lose his salvation, it would be due to his persistent disobedience and sin, running God’s patience dry. In essence, the believer would sin his way out of God’s kingdom. This idea is important to think about. Losing salvation would result from an unrepentant lifestyle over a long amount of time…

 But remember what we read in 1 John 3:9: the believer “cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” So, since this verse teaches that a true Christian cannot fall into persistent, unrepentant sin, what must we conclude about the possibility of the Christian sinning his way out of God’s grace? We have to conclude that this scenario is impossible! It could never happen! The Holy Spirit is too powerful, the Lord is too good, to allow one of his own to fall away. As Jesus states,

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

God, in his love and through his unshakeable power, preserves those who are his. As we can see in these verses, maintaining a true fellowship with God is not about the believer’s ability to follow God perfectly; rather, it is about God’s ability to keep those who are his sheep! The perspective to take is one of God-centeredness, not man-centeredness.

Can a believer lose his salvation? No. Not if it is a true faith. Because a true faith is grounded in regeneration by the Holy Spirit, who ensures that the believer will not “keep on sinning” (1 John 3:9), but will “overcome the world” (1 John 5:4). I pray that this article helps you rejoice in the Lord!