Is Our Salvation Secure?

Question: I am really struggling with my walk and I need some guidance. I thought I was a mature Christian of 20 years. Beginning in 2000, I started reading the bible and praying every morning for about 45 minutes. I faithfully attend and have served in church leadership. I hope you can help me.

I am confused by “saved by grace through faith.” I have been taught to believe that I am saved by this statement alone. However, after all these years, I now find myself questioning its validity. This single statement is the foundation of Romans row that we use to lead non-believers to Christ, but seems to be in conflict with many other verses (Ephesians 5:5, Philippians 4:17-19 and especially Galatians 5:19-21 among others) that specifically claim disinheritance if certain behaviors (sins) are demonstrated.

According to Galatians 5:19-21, I have yielded to reveling (intense pleasure (smoking)), lasciviousness (sexual lust (don’t all men?)), envy, drink, wrath etc., etc. I will not inherit the kingdom and thus if I’m not inheriting the kingdom, doesn’t that mean I’m not saved even though I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior? The more I read these verses, the more it seems to me that I am not permitted to sin in any way nor yield to any worldly or fleshly desires. If I do, I am not going to inherit the kingdom.

Doesn’t this mean that I am not saved by grace through faith but instead I am saved by my efforts (i.e., forsaking all my worldly, fleshly impulses and desires)? And if it is by my efforts, how is it by grace?  I argue with God over this. I pray for understanding. I beg for His help. I’m so confused and convicted. Maybe he has bigger plans for me and expects more from me. I don’t know, but I sure need some help with this. I’m questioning my own salvation.

Answer:  Let me begin by saying that you are not alone in your feelings.  I believe that every true Christian has periods of doubt regarding their salvation.  The enemy of our souls, Satan, attacks believers in this area getting them to doubt their salvation and thus reduce their effectiveness for the Kingdom.  However, if we come to a proper understanding of the Scriptures, we can rest in the assurance that God provides.

The key to understanding the Scriptures on this point is to have certain passages in balance.  We can read some passages of Scripture and come away with one understanding, and then read other passages of Scripture and come away with another understanding.  One of the things we need to understand when interpreting Scripture is the context.  I’ve heard it said that the first three rules for interpreting Scripture is context, context, context. 

One can read a passage such as Galatians 5:19-21, which reads, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God,” and conclude that if we’re guilty of any of these sins, then we will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Yet what is the context of this passage?  The greater context is Galatians 5 in which Paul is telling his readers that Christ has freed them from the yoke of the law (Galatians 5:1).  However, lest someone take this to mean that Christianity teaches freedom from the law in order to indulge the flesh, Paul says in 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

So now we know that in Christ we have freedom from the law, but that freedom is not license to sin.  In order to know more, we must look at the entire context of Galatians.  Why did Paul write this letter?  Galatians was written to a group of churches in Asia Minor.  The people in these churches were facing the threat of the Judaizers—a group of teachers who were spreading the lie that in order to be truly saved one needed faith in Christ and observance to the Jewish law.  Paul writes to tell them that to go back to the law is to nullify the death of Christ (Galatians 2:21).  The whole point of the letter to the Galatians is to show the glorious truth that we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone (2:16).  Christ died to free us from the bondage of law keeping (5:1).

However when this truth is preached there are always those who say that grace opens the door to licentiousness.  What is Paul’s response to this?  In Galatians, Paul commands us to “walk by the Spirit” (5:16).  Walking by the Spirit allows us to resist the temptations of the flesh.  As suggested by the word “walking,” resisting temptation is a process (often called sanctification).  As evidenced by the number of exhortations in the NT to holy living, it is a slow, laborious process in which we will fail from time to time.  The whole point of the Christian life is to match our position in Christ with our daily practice.  As Paul says in Romans 5:8-10, if Christ died for us while we were sinners, even more so will we be saved by his life.  In other words, if Christ went through the ultimate sacrifice while we were in our worst state, then now that we’re reconciled with Christ won’t he continue to do his saving work in our lives?

Those passages you mention serve two purposes.  One is that they serve to show us how not to behave.  In other words, now that we’re Christians we need to stop behaving the way we used to do before we accepted Christ.  The second purpose is to demonstrate false believers.  When you read a passage like Galatians 5:19-21, if these sins are characteristic of your life—i.e., if your life is an unbroken pattern of unrepentant sin in these areas—then it doesn’t matter what you call yourself, you’re not a Christian.  The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is when they commit the same sin, the Christian is broken in his heart over his sin because he knows deep down that sin is inconsistent with his new life in Christ.  The non-Christian will either show no remorse over his sin or experience a deep regret over having been caught in his sin.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that those who are in Christ are new creations.  What that means is that we are new people with a new master (Christ) and new desires (holiness).  When a new creation in Christ sins, his reaction is much like Paul’s in Romans 7, a deep remorse over his sin and a desire to do what is right.  Rest assured in the words of Romans 8:38-39 (“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”).  One who is truly saved is secure in God’s grip and nothing, not even his own sin, can separate him from God.  Jesus died to save you and Jesus now lives to preserve you!  When you sin, and we all sin, confess your sin and repent (1 John 1:9).  God’s grace covers our sins (Romans 5:20).  Sanctification is a process in which we grow in Christ-likeness.  Holiness and righteousness should be the direction, if not the perfection, of our lives!

I hope this brings encouragement and reassurance!

Originally answered for GotQuestions (www.gotquestions.org) on April 4, 2008.