Thursday, October 11, 2007
Eternal Security
Lately I have been thinking about the whole eternal security thing and something hit me; can you really have eternal security if you cannot lose your salvation? Those who argue that we have eternal security say that once you are saved you are always saved. Opponents of this idea always bring up some example of someone who "becomes" a Christian and then "falls away." Those who are in favor of the preservation of the saints reply, "that person was never truly saved." And, it is with this answer I have decided that if you cannot loose your salvation you cannot be secure in your eternal state (you can not have eternal security). Following this logic, I cannot be assured of my salvation until I die and enter heaven. Why do I say this, because many people have thought that they became Christians only to have fallen away and been put in the category of "never really being saved." If this is true, how can I know that I am truly saved, well I can't, that is until I die. There is no way for me to know if I am "really saved" or if I only think that I am. However, If I can loose my salvation, I can be assured that I am saved right now, if I die right now I can be assured that I am going to heaven because I have not turned my back on God. If I can loose my salvation I can have eternal security. I can be eternally secure that if I remain in Christ I have salvation.
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Calvin said that your eternal security came from Christ's nourishing and personal presence. A. N. S. Lane said that for Calvin, "it was not possible to partake of salvation without being sure of it.” If you knew Christ you could be sure of your salvation. Theodore Beza took over after Calvin, and transformed his theology into the Assurance stuff that we think of. Contrary to Calvin, Beza and William Perkins (one of Beza's followers), pointed to men's work for the assurance of salvation. R. T. Kendall said, “For Beza one could not look assuredly to Christ until he had sufficient assurance from his sanctification." The outworking of this theology is exactly your point, Perkins died wondering whether he was saved becuse he wasn't sure if his works were good enough. So if you believe Calvin, you can be sure of your assurance through knowing Christ personally.
This being what it is, I don't believe in Eternal Security, as it stands. I think Calvin's theology is based on misreadings of the Biblical texts through Greek philosophic categories, instead of through the mindset of the Hebrews who wrote the Scriptures.
Recently I came up with some new language when speaking of eternal security. I do not believe that you can loose your salvation, that is I do not think that anyone will ever wake up one morning and realize that they ar enot saved because they "lost" their salvation. Rather I believe that we can give up our salvation. If I continue in relationship with God I will never loose my salvation. Although, if I walk away from God I will give up my salvation.
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