If we have faith in Jesus Christ and are saved then we are trusting in Him alone for salvation.
I have a Strong's expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible with Vine's and Pisteuo #4100 says - to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing),
to entrust (especially one's spiritual well being to Christ). It goes on to say, pisteuo means not just to believe, but also to
be persuaded of; and hence, to place confidence in, to trust, and signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon.
Christians spend the rest of their lives following and obeying Christ "after" they have been saved through faith. You confuse faith with works.
Don't confuse the obedient act of choosing to believe in Christ for salvation with multiple acts of obedience/works which "follow."
So? That does not change the fact that they
went out from us but were not of us and if they were of us then they
would have (not might have or should have) but
WOULD HAVE continued with us.
None of them were of us. Never were. Never saved.
CONTEXT - All three parables in Luke 15 were in
rebuke to the Pharisees and scribes who complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them." (vs. 2) Eternal IN-securists will try to use the parable of the prodigal son to prove that believers can lose their salvation by arguing that the prodigal son was spiritually alive, then spiritually died (lost his salvation) and was spiritually alive again (regained his salvation) from Luke 15:32 based on certain translations which read: ..thy brother was dead, and is alive AGAIN (KJV) ..for your brother was dead and is alive AGAIN (NKJV) ..this brother of yours was dead and is alive AGAIN (NIV)
Yet being made "alive AGAIN" foreshadows the "born AGAIN" experience that Jesus spoke of in John 3:3. Of course Jesus wasn't talking about being born again spiritually again and again. We are born once physically and born "again" once spiritually. I find it interesting that certain translations of Luke 15:32 simply say your brother
was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found (ESV); your brother
was dead, but now he is alive. He was lost, but now he is found (NCV); this brother of yours
was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found (NRS); this brother of yours
was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found (NASB).
1 Corinthians 2:14.
I already explained what is going to be removed. It's place of light bearing and witness,
So, perseverance was good enough for you in Hebrews 3:12-14 but not in Revelation 2:3?
Falling from doing the first works. They needed to repent (change their minds) and do the first works (verse 5). Not repent and believe the gospel all over again in order to become saved all over again, as you seem to teach. Other works-salvationists teach that as well. Works of love no longer characterized the church as a whole in Ephesus, yet in verses 2 and 6, we see that the church in Ephesus was not totally displeasing to the Lord. So, no loss of salvation here.
Amen! Now you are catching on. See Jude 1:5.
You continue to ignore the context. Hebrews 3:8-10 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation, and said,
'They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.' No loss of salvation here. Only a failure to receive it. God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt but destroyed those who did not believe. (Jude 1:5) After being delivered out of Egypt, I'm sure that many of these Hebrews began with loud confidence and profession of loyalty? But then later? That is still falling away from God. Perseverance is proof of genuine conversion.
In Hebrews 4:2-3, we read: For indeed the gospel was preached to
US as well as to
THEM; but the word which
THEY heard did not profit
THEM, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For
we who have BELIEVED do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest," although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Notice that verses 2-3 makes a
distinction between "us" who have BELIEVED and do enter that rest and "them" who heard the word but did not mix faith with what they heard and will not enter that rest because of
UNBELIEF.
Just like in Hebrews 10:26, someone who has received the "knowledge" of the truth and is among genuine believers and is still in the process of considering the truth, but then ultimately decides to
draw back to perdition instead of believing to the saving of the soul still drew back. (Hebrews 10:39) The truth was revealed to such people, yet they still drew back. That is where they drew back from. You can't draw back from the truth if you have not yet acquired the truth and had the chance to consider the truth, but that does not mean you have to fully accept the truth before you draw back.
If I decide to walk across the Brooklyn bridge and I walk right up to the bridge and am on the verge of stepping onto it, but then instead, I turn and walk away from it, does that mean I didn't turn away and depart from the bridge just because I wasn't actually on the bridge? Of course not. It's the same with these Hebrews who
draw back to perdition and do not believe to the saving of the soul.
If we are not abiding, then we demonstrate that we do not have the Spirit. 1 John 4:13 - By this we know that we
abide in Him, and He in us,
because He has given us of His Spirit. Those branches have no spiritual and vital connection to the vine.
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/rwp/john-15.html
Never saved to begin with which explains their hardened hearts. It took them in the opposite direction of God. Considered the truth for a time, then hardened heart and departing from God became their final answer.
You are showing me your eisegesis.
Yes, unbelief. (John 3:18) There is no middle ground.
Their belief was not consummated belief resulting in salvation. Departing from God demonstrates that the stage in the progress of their belief fell short of being firmly rooted and established resulting in salvation. Those who draw back to perdition do not believe to the saving of the soul.
You are not reading these verses in Hebrews in context.
You are about 7 hours ahead of my time here.
I accept what it states after reading scripture in context and properly harmonizing scripture with scripture before reaching my conclusion on doctrine.
Roman Catholics also make that same argument yet teach false doctrines such as the perpetual virginity of Mary, infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, indulgences, purgatory, works salvation etc.. They will even quote the church fathers to back up their false doctrine. We should not assume that those who wrote about church doctrine during the early centuries were consistent with apostolic teaching. Yes, they were closer in time to the apostles than we are but that proves nothing. There were groups that separated from the Catholic Church before the Reformation. These include the Waldensians (who were bitterly persecuted by Roman Catholics) and the Hussites. In 1181 the archbishop of Lyons excommunicated the Waldensians. Three years later, the pope declared them to be heretics. In 1215 the
Fourth Lateran Council declared an anathema on Waldensian doctrine. That explains a lot! Roman Catholics will often argue that before the reformation no one taught faith alone.
To the contrary, we find:
Clement of Rome: "We also, being called through God's will in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves, neither through our own wisdom or understanding, or piety, or works which we have done in holiness or heart, but through faith" (Epistle to Corinthians).
Polycarp: "I know that through grace you are saved, not of works, but by the will of God, through Jesus Christ (Epistle of Philippians).
Justin Martyr: "No longer by the blood of goats and of sheep, or by the ashes of a heifer...are sins purged, but by faith, through the blood of Christ and his death, who died on this very account (Dialogue with Trypho). "God gave his own Son the ransom for us...for what, save his righteousness, could cover our sins. In whom was it possible that we, transgressors and ungodly as we were, could be justified, save in the Son of God alone? ...O unexpected benefit, that the transgression of many should be hidden in one righteous Person and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors" (Letter to Diognetus).
Athanasius: "Not by these (i.e. human efforts) but by faith, a man is justified as was Abraham."
Ambrose: "Without the works of the law, to an ungodly man, that is to say, a Gentile, believing in Christ, his "faith is imputed for righteousness" as also it was to Abraham."
Origen: "Through faith, without the works of the law, the dying thief was justified, because...the Lord inquired not what he had previously wrought, nor yet waited for his performance of some work after he should have believe; but...he took him unto himself for a companion, justified through his confession alone."
Jerome: "When an ungodly man is converted, God justified him through faith alone, not on account of good works which he possessed not."
Chrysostom: "What then did God do? He made (says Paul) a righteous Person (Christ) to be a sinner, in order that he might make sinners righteous... it is the righteousness of God, when we are justified, not by works...but by grace, where all sin is made to vanish away."
Chrysostom: "Again, they said that he who adhered to faith alone was cursed, but he shows that he who adhered to faith alone, is blessed."
Augustine: "Grace is given to you, not wages paid to you...it is called grace because it is given gratuitously. By no precedent merits did you buy what you have received. The sinner therefore received this grace first, that his sins should be forgiven him...good works follow after a justified person; they do not go before in order that he may be justified...good works, following after justification, show what a man has received."
Augustine: "Now, having duly considered and weighed all these circumstances and testimonies, we conclude that a man is not justified by the precepts of a holy life, but by faith in Jesus Christ,--in a word, not by the law of works, but by the law of faith; not by the letter, but by the spirit; not by the merits of deeds, but by free grace."
Anselm: "Do you believe that you cannot be saved but by the death of Christ? Go, then, and ...put all your confidence in this death alone. If God shall say to you, "You are a sinner", say to him, "I place the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my sin."
Bernard of Clairvaux: "Shall not all our righteousness turn out to be mere unrighteousness and deficiency? What, then, shall it be concerning our sins, when not even our righteousness can answer for itself? Wherefore...let us flee, with all humility to Mercy which alone can save our souls...whoever hungers and thirsts after righteousness, let him believe in thee, who "justified the ungodly"; and thus, being justified by faith alone, he shall have peace with God."
We know that the narrow way leads to life, (John 3:18) and few find it (
Matthew 7:13-14). That is true even within organizations and institutions that claim to be Christian and even during the first century we know that the apostles battled people who preached false gospels (2 Corinthians 11:4;
Galatians 1:6-9). Here is why I believe in eternal security of the believer and my belief is not negotiable.
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me
has everlasting life, and
shall not come into judgment, but
has passed from death into life. (John 5:24)
The Lord does not forsake His saints/they are
preserved forever. (Psalm 37:28)
Jesus shall
lose none of all those He has been given. (John 6:39)
Jesus' sheep hear His voice, He knows them, they follow Him, and they shall
never perish or be snatched from His hand. (John 10:27-28)
Those He predestined, called and whom He
justified these He also glorified. (Romans 8:30)
Who also has
sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a
guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:22)
Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has
given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 5:5)
We
believe the gospel, are
sealed with the Holy Spirit/guarantee of our inheritance until the purchased possession. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
We are
sealed unto/for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
He who has
begun a good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
He is able also to
save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
We have been
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
For by one offering he has
perfected forever those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
Those who are born of God are called, sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:1)
Salvation is not probation.
Eternal life is not temporary life.
Jesus is the door. He is not a revolving door.
*I have discovered that ALL false religions and cults that promote salvation by works strongly oppose OSAS/eternal security/preservation of the saints which has always been a major red flag for me.
