The idea that someone can “fall away so far” from God that they lose their salvation is a religious lie. It is a fear-based control mechanism that directly contradicts the gospel Paul was given to reveal. Assurance of salvation does not depend on performance, repentance records, or maintaining a certain lifestyle. It rests entirely on the finished work of Christ and God’s own faithfulness. If a person has believed the gospel—that Christ died for sins and rose again—they are secure. Period.
This truth is not a license to sin. Rather, it is the foundation that frees believers from sin’s power. The religious mind often cannot accept this and insists on adding a “but.” But what if someone returns to addiction? But what if forgiveness stops? But what if there is not enough fruit in their life? These are the whispers of the Judaizer, alive and well in modern pulpits, troubling consciences and cutting believers off from the enjoyment of Christ.
The Gospel Versus the Diagnostic
Confusion often arises when passages meant to diagnose a dead, unbelieving heart are turned into performance tests for believers. For example, warnings to the lukewarm church at Laodicea or admonitions in Hebrews are cited to claim that a person can be in Christ and then be rejected. This is a fundamental misreading.
The rebuke to Laodicea was not directed at believers about to lose salvation. The “lukewarm” condition described a religious environment of unbelief—a mixture of worldly pride and empty profession infecting the congregation. Christ’s call to the true believers there was to overcome that suffocating atmosphere, not to “get saved again.” A believer can be defeated, confused, and influenced by terrible teaching, yet still be a saved, sealed child of God. Security is not a reward for victory; it is the ground from which victory grows.
The real question is: what is the basis of salvation? Is it ongoing commitment, or God’s finished commitment in His Son?
Paul’s answer is unambiguous: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). And again, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Justification is God’s legal declaration over the ungodly. He does not wait for a person to clean up. He declares them righteous the moment they believe the record concerning His Son. That verdict cannot be overturned by subsequent failures, because it was not issued based on subsequent successes.
The Calvinist Trap and the Assurance Thief
Many who hunger for security turn to Calvinism because it preaches eternal security powerfully. Relief comes with the assurance, “I’m not going to lose my salvation!” But then the trap springs. Calvinism teaches that one cannot even believe unless God first regenerates them. This leads to doubt: “Did I really believe? Or was it just intellectual assent?” This false dichotomy between “head faith” and “heart faith” is never made by Paul. Faith is simply being convinced that God’s testimony is true.
Once doubt is introduced, works become the evidence of that elusive “true faith.” Fruit becomes the proof of salvation, not the gospel itself. This is a backloaded works gospel. It uses the language of grace to sell the poison of law. It removes believers from “him that called you into the grace of Christ” (Galatians 1:6) and puts them back under the microscope of their own performance. Assurance evaporates.
Paul’s assurance, however, is concrete, objective, and external. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). Belief in the resurrection secures salvation. The Spirit bears witness with the spirit that this is true (Romans 8:16). Assurance is based on Christ’s resurrection, not behavior.
What Happens When a Believer Implodes?
What happens when a child of God plunges into deep sin or rebellion? Does God shrug or revoke their sonship?
No. He disciplines. But discipline must be understood biblically. The punishment for sin—all sin—was exhausted at Calvary. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Discipline is not punitive; it is formative. It is the training of a beloved son. Its purpose is to bring a believer to the end of themselves, to make them sick of the far country, and to teach reliance wholly on the Father’s grace.
Sometimes discipline feels severe. A believer may find themselves in a bed of their own making, miserable and confused. Religious people may say, “You’re not saved.” But often, God is doing His deepest work. He orchestrates circumstances to lead to the only question that matters: “How can someone like me still be accepted?” In the ashes, Christ meets the believer with the gospel afresh. The door to the Father’s house was never locked; the place was never forfeited—only the enjoyment of it. This is the “goodness of God [that] leadeth thee to repentance” (Romans 2:4).
Paul saw this with the carnal Corinthians. They were divided, immoral, and drunk at communion. He did not write them off. He reminded them who they were in Christ. He thanked God that they came behind in no gift, “who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8). Their security was based on God’s faithfulness, not their own.
The Unshakeable Foundation
Salvation is secure because it is anchored in the Person and work of Christ, held by the power of God.
Consider the chain God forged: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate… Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30). Every verb is in the past tense. Glorification is as certain as justification. The work is done.
Christ guarantees it: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29). The life He gives is eternal—it cannot end.
Paul seals it: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Any other creature includes the believer’s own failing self. Salvation was never in human hands to keep; it was always in God’s.
This truth must be preached continually. When accusations come, when law rises up, when life feels unworthy—and it is unworthy—run to the gospel. Confidence is not in one’s grip on God, but in His grip on the believer. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). He began it. He will finish it. Believers are safe. They are secure. They are His. Now, and always.
