Those who teach unconditional security (or, once saved, always saved) doctrine think they’re  clever when they try to defend their doctrine with the question “How can you lose eternal life?”  They throw out this question  in a rhetorical sense to try to sound slick and to try to make their position seem solid.

However, we know from the examples and instructions of the Bible that eternal life can indeed be lost. 

You just have to read the first three chapters of the Bible to see how eternal life can be lost- unless you think that God’s threat of death to man on the same day of eating from the forbidden tree was a reference to physical death (and if you believe that, you also believe that the serpent was right in telling Eve “ye shall not surely die” as he tempted her to eat from the forbidden tree).

Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Genesis 3:4-5: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Satan’s assertion that Adam and Eve would be as gods by eating of the tree implied that they would actually be as God (“Elohim”).  Satan was telling Eve that she could be like God in the sense that she could govern herself and not need God to reign over her.  That is blasphemous, vain, presumptuous, etc.  This is chiefly the sense in which sinful man seeks to be like God.  This is a wicked hope which will never successfully be attained; and this is something which man could not handle if he ever were (in theory) to attain it.  Satan himself had been banished from heaven for aspiring to be like the most High (see Isaiah 14:12-14).  He knew what temptation man was likely to respond to so they would fall likewise.  In doing so they would be brought into Satan’s service; and Satan would get a sense of achieving the wicked intention which he had taken up that led to his own fall.  He thus enticed man to the very same thing he fell by.

Jesus told certain people in John 8:44: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

In obeying Satan, man didn’t become like God but rather came under Satan’s dominion.  The serpent then did not tell the truth.  Adam and Eve gained nothing good from eating of the tree.  What actually happened is that they became intimately acquainted with evil while they lost the spiritual life from God in them and became separated from Him in terms of being able to abide with Him in fellowship as they had previously been able to.  

Saying that they lost the spiritual life from God in them and became separated from Him is just another way of saying that they lost eternal life.  Spiritual death is a severed relationship with God.  

It is evident and obvious by this chapter (Genesis 3) that having spiritual life and wholeness does not remove the possibility of choosing things which lead to spiritual death and corruption.  This logically also makes it evident and obvious that being in a state of spiritual death and corruption does not remove the capability of choosing to be subject to God in repentance and to believe in His provision of redemption for fallen man which leads to spiritual life and entrance on the road to spiritual wholeness.

Later on in Genesis chapter 3 (in verse 21), God made coats of skins to clothe Adam and Eve.  These coats of skins which God made must have involved the death of an animal.  This obviously teaches the lesson of Hebrews 9:22 that “without shedding of blood is no remission.”

Immediately after that moment then, we read in Genesis 3:22-24: “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

God knows about evil from His omniscience; and this knowledge does not corrupt Him.  Man cannot handle the experiential knowledge of evil without great harm to himself.  It is a fitting consequence of sin that all who have sinned die.  The flaming sword guarding the tree of life signified the horrible death which the Seed of the woman (who had been foretold earlier in Genesis chapter 3 also) would have to die in order to open the way for humans to one day eat of the tree of life.  It also signifies the symbolically bloody death to self and sin which any who would have a part with the Messiah have to die, in identification with Him, in order to partake of His redemption and receive eternal life.

Consider the following Scripture:

Hebrews 2:5-9: “For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.  But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him?  or the son of man that thou visitest him?  Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.  But now we see not yet all things put under him.  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

He tasted death for every man to restore those who will be subject to Him to life.  It is obvious that though His death involved Him dying physically, He tasted death on the cross in a way which was more than physical death (much more)- since only an atoning spiritual death can purchase spiritual life for those whom that atonement is made for.

Isaiah 53:10 says: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

Refusal to be subject to God is what brought us into spiritual death and put us in need of an unspeakably costly atonement.  An authentic, valid restoration from our fall would have to involve a real solution to both these problems.  

As we need Christ’s atoning death to restore our souls from death to life, we also need to repent of sin and be subject to God’s authority through Him to partake of the eternal life which He offers.

We must believe in Christ’s atoning death atoning death for our sins and seek justification from God thereby.  Yet it is a mockery of God’s authority to expect to be justified by Christ’s atonement without also being subject to Christ’s righteous authority (pictured by how the Israelites had to eat the Passover Lamb whole with the leaven removed from their homes in order to be spared from God’s judgment which came upon Egypt; Jesus is both Lord and Savior).  

Jesus said in John 5:22-24: “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.  He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

In relation, Jesus said in Mark 9:43-48: “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

To put these things together, the Apostle Paul said the following to the Roman Christians who had already  truly repented, believed in Jesus Christ, and been born-again (and that means they received a deposit of eternal life).

We read in Romans chapter 6: “What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein (my note- that is a statement which is a death shot to unconditional eternal security doctrine and the related concept that eternal life cannot be lost)?  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death (my note- true Christian baptism is a declaration of being under Christ’s righteous authority)?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (my note- that is the desired effect and that is surely possible- yet man’s continual cooperation is necessary as this chapter demonstrates).  For he that is dead is freed from sin.  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (my note- they are not under the law’s condemnation- sin is the transgression of God’s law and God’s grace gives power to fulfill the law which yet must be used a guide to walking by faith in Christ acceptably).   What then?  shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?  God forbid.  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?  for the end of those things is death (my note- that is still the case- let that sink in- yielding to moral uncleanness and lawless deeds still leads to death- and that includes for those who have already received a deposit of eternal life since that is who Paul is specifically writing to here).  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Eternal life in the Bible then is spoken of as a quality of life related to one being properly related to our Maker on His terms.  

John 17:3: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

1 John 2:1-4: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation (atonement) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The eternal life that those who truly believe in Christ receive in this life is a pledge or a deposit of eternal life, not eternal life in its fullness- as salvation in this life has not been finalized nor already arrived at for anyone.

The following things were all spoken directly to Christians who had really been born again in Christ and given a pledge of eternal life.  They had already received a deposit or pledge of eternal life in going through the narrow gate and entering the narrow to life in Christ.  

Romans 8:22-25: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit (my note- that’s a deposit of eternal life), even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit (know), the redemption of our body.  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

2 Corinthians 5:4-10: “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit (my note- that is, a pledge of eternal life- the word for “earnest” in Greek here means a pledge or down payment).  Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.  Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Revelation 2:7: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Fullness of eternal life is only given when one endures faithfully on the narrow way to life in Christ until the end.

Hence the following Biblical exhortations to maintain eternal life, grow therein, and stay on the right course to the end to attain the fullness of eternal life were given to those who had already been born-again in Christ and received a pledge of eternal life from God.

Colossians 1:13-23: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister (this is of course the Apostle Paul writing)…”

Hebrews 3:12-15: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God (my note- “in any of you” is a reference to you Christian brethren- Hebrews 3:1 makes it clear that this is who is being addressed in Hebrews).  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation (this is referring to the Israelites in Numbers chapter 14 refusing to go forward into the land of Canaan when God commanded them to go; these who provoked God by their unbelief and disobedience to His Word died in the wilderness and never entered into the promised land).”

1 Timothy 6:12: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”

This was written to Timothy who had obviously been born-again and received a pledge of eternal life.  

The warning given in 2 Timothy about a certain prevalent vain and profane babbling going around in the first century applies very well to the unconditional eternal security teachers who speak of eternal life as if it could never be lost on this side of eternity (the following warning also applies well to the healing in the atonement teachers who say that faithful Christians should never be sick or physically damaged in any way in this life).  

2 Timothy 2:16-18: “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.  And their word will eat as doth a canker (a gangrene): of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.”

Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com

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