Can We Lose Or Leave Our Salvation?

A tough question

Can we lose our Salvation? This is a controversial topic that brings about division within the church. It is a very important topic because the likely consequences that come from drawing the wrong conclusion to such a paramount question can be eternal.

Uncompromising positions that cause dissension

First, let me start by saying, that in my life, I have weighed both sides of this theological argument. People on either side are so convinced and uncompromising in their position, despite the fact that there are plenty of scriptures to the contrary regardless of which position a person holds. It’s a real hot-button topic among Christians. I know people who have left a church over this one topic. If you believe that a person can lose their salvation, you have to concede that there are many verses that teach just the opposite. Likewise, if you believe that salvation cannot be lost, there are a plethora of verses that would seem to indicate otherwise. We have to be cautious that we don't explain away verses just to make them fit within our theological viewpoint.  I am going to dive in-depth here in a moment and cover some of the scriptures for both sides of the argument. I don’t think anyone can know for sure. I lean much more towards the eternal security side, but I cannot disregard any of the scriptures. I believe all the scriptures with my whole heart. Some things, I just do not understand because the Bible has not made them clear enough and I believe that that is for a reason.  I challenge all my Christian friends to take a few minutes and read my study and respond with your thoughts. I want to know others perspective on this sensitive and oftentimes divisive topic.

There are many beliefs with regard to salvation, some of which I will debunk in this study.  Calvinists generally believe that you cannot lose your salvation. Not all Calvinists, but most.  I don't consider myself Calvinist, because I could never agree with all 5 points. Calvinism is itself, a perversion of the gospel in some regards. The Armenians hold the opposing view, which is that you can lose your salvation, and many of them believe you can lose your salvation every time you sin.  Other groups believe that it depends upon what type of sin you commit as to whether or not you lose your salvation. I would point out that regardless of which position a person holds, they generally all can agree on this: all that matters is that you’re saved before you die.

The weightier question for all of us should be do we have it?  Whether or not we have it is clearly more important. Nevertheless, I’m going to dive head first into scripture and see what it says about losing or leaving our salvation.  First, I will cover many of the popular scriptures that appear to teach that one can’t lose their salvation. They are verses I love, and I think many people love regardless of which position they hold on the topic.

Salvation defined

Before I begin to dive into this legendary divisive mystery, I want to briefly discuss Ephesians 2:8-9 so we know what salvation is. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  So, we are saved by grace (God’s unmerited favor), and that not of yourselves (nothing you did yourself, everything that Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary), it is a gift of God, not of works (Not from my good works or lack of sin), lest anyone should boast (so nobody can claim they saved themselves). A very important concept to grasp here is this: If our works do not save us, then they cannot preserve our salvation either.

Allow me to travel off on a brief tangent here. There are many people who teach a works type of salvation. If works are required to save us, then we are all in trouble. We are all sinners. There are also those who teach only certain types of sin can cause you to lose your salvation. When you hear preachers teach that this sin or that sin can cause you to lose your salvation, immediately, I think, “OH NO!! I have done that!” Let’s get something straight here. No matter who you are, you are never adhering to or following the perfect will of God for your life. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” IF we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us of ALL our sins. This doesn't specify some sins. Christians struggle with sins. All of us! Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. “All” would include Christians!  How many sins would it take for someone to lose their salvation? This idea that we can lose our salvation based on sinning is not scriptural. The same grace that saves me, is also available for everyone else. Something I need to remember on occasion with regard to grace being for all of us. We are only innocent because we have faith in Jesus taking all of our sins upon Himself.

The Unpardonable Sin

I've heard many sermons, theories, and beliefs regarding the one unpardonable sin – commonly referred to as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The unpardonable sin is discussed in all three of the synoptic gospels. Matthew 12:31-32 says, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” This is something a lot of people feel like they have done. Some background to this is as follows: Jesus is healing people, and the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of using the Satanic powers to heal people and perform other miracles. Blasphemy means to speak evil against. Oftentimes, people read this and they think, “I’m afraid I did that.”  Note that Jesus didn't tell these Pharisees who accused Him of using the powers of the devil that they actually committed the unpardonable sin.  Jesus simply said they were close to it. It is important to also note that John’s gospel doesn't mention the unpardonable sin, Jude never mentioned it, James never mentions it, Paul never mentions it, Peter never mentions it, and nobody else ever mentioned it. So, I believe that if you actually were living there in the time of Jesus and credited the works of Jesus to the devil; you were close to committing this unpardonable sin. If you lived after Jesus, it would be pretty hard to accuse him.  I believe that is why other writers in the New Testament never mention this. Unless you were a Pharisee facing off with Jesus while He was proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah, I don’t really believe you have anything to worry about. The only sin that will send you to hell is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ for the rest of your life. Again, if you confess your sins, He is faithful to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

To believe that we can lose our salvation based on some sin we commit is to completely over estimate our own level of righteousness on our best day. We are all sinners, saved by grace. We are not burdened by obtaining our own salvation.  1 John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” If anyone thinks that on their best day, they are not a sinner, they have fooled themselves! Don’t kid yourself, we are all sinners – the saved and the unsaved alike. John basically boldly calls us a liar if we claim we are not sinners. That’s one of the reasons why it is wrong to say, you’re going to hell for that sin. To esteem one sin higher than another can be dangerous. I would argue that some sins God hates more than others, yet any sin causes us to be in need of a savior. We are all sinners – Again, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The only thing that determines whether or not I am saved is my faith in Jesus, that through His unmerited favor, He has freely forgiven me of all my sins – past, present, and future. I’m saved by grace, not by living a sinless life. I’m not advocating that it’s safe to freely sin. I am saying we all sin regardless of whether or not we are saved. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 says, “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.”  Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” So, obviously, God does not want to give us a license to sin and be disobedient. We respond in love and obedience to the gospel of grace. OK, that’s the end of my tangent!

Are you one of His sheep?

Picking back up where I left off before my tangent, In John chapter 10, we start up with some of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. John 10:26-30 says, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”   It’s a great assurance to know that my salvation is God holding on to me, not me holding on to God. Jesus is God, and God is essentially proclaiming here that nobody can take me from Him.  But, I will point out here, that we have free will. We can choose God, or we can choose other gods. But does that mean we can choose God at one point in our lives, and then later choose something besides God? I don’t think so – not if you truly know Jesus. I will discuss whether or not we can choose to leave God in a minute. Notice here, that Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”  So, the real question we have here is - Am I one of His sheep?

No sin, no power, not even death can separate us from the love of God!

Romans 8:37-39 read, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  What great verses here, where Paul boldly declares that nothing created has the power to separate us from the love of Jesus. I am a creation of God, and everything on this earth, including the earth is not capable of separating me from the love that God has for me. There is nothing I can do to lose God’s love.  There is no sin, there is no power, and not even death can separate me from the love of God.  What a comforting scriptural truth!

We can know that we have eternal life

1 John 5:10 says, “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”  So here, John gives us the very reason why he wrote this particular book.  John said, we can know we are saved. Our salvation is not something that God intended for us to be in the dark on. We can know for certain that we are either saved, or we are not. Eternal life for us can start right now and last forever. You either have eternal life or you don’t.

If they were ever really of us, they would not have left us!

Finally, 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”  So, those who argue on the side of eternal security use this verse, and rightfully so. Basically, what John is saying here is that they appeared to be like us, but appearances are deceiving because if they had truly been like us, they could never actually change. So, while we have free will, it is clear by these verses that we won't use that free will to leave our salvation behind if we ever truly had salvation to begin with. Many who claim that they are Christians, simply put, are not! Matthew’s gospel in chapter 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”  These are somewhat scary verses. People can actually deceive themselves into thinking they are saved. I will talk about this in a little more depth at the end of this study, but let me reiterate that everyone can know whether or not they are saved! If you are concerned about whether or not you are saved, it is a very good indication to me that you actually are saved. That concern is the Holy Spirit inside you convicting you. If you have that kind of conviction, I believe it is a very good sign.

Open and shut case?

So, from these verses, it is very clear to me that I can’t lose my salvation.  So you might be thinking, this is an open and shut case. Based on these verses, we know what salvation is, we know that sin cannot cause us to lose our salvation, that nothing created can separate us from the love of God, and that if I’m saved, there is no power or anything else that can pluck me out of the Father’s hand. Obviously, there is no way we can lose our salvation based on these verses. But these verses contain only one part of the truth. I think it is wrong when have two seemingly conflicting truths, to pick one, and explain the other one away. We will now dive head-first into the opposing argument using scripture.

Another truth

Now we get to the verses those who believe in eternal salvation have to wrestle with, explain away, and really pretend aren't there. This is another truth.  All scripture is inspired by God.  Hebrews 6:4-6 says this: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”  So, to encapsulate these verses in a condensed manner, it basically says that Christians who say they no longer believe in Jesus cannot return to repentance. Now, I know many reading this will disagree with my brief interpretation, so let me break it down further.  Do these verses sound like they are describing a Christian to you? These verses are speaking of someone who was enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Doesn't that sound like a Christian? What other type of person could be a partaker of the Holy Spirit? In preparing my study on this topic, I found literally dozens of webpages, books, and articles explaining away this verse. Some of them go so far as to claim that you can have all these things and still not be a Christian. I'll let you decide. The most disturbing part of this scripture reference is that it declares quite clearly that if you lose your salvation, you can never get it back. I think it is dangerous to just explain away a verse like this when so many lives are on the line. So, I think we err on the side of caution, rather than just explain verses like these away so they fit within our interpretation of scripture or our theology.

Dangerous to explain a verse away to make it fit with our theological viewpoints

I don’t claim that I know exactly what the verse means or how it works together with other scriptures, but I think it is foolish to make excuses for God and I think it is even more dangerous to explain it away.  In looking at opposing viewpoints to this verse, many claimed that this portion of scripture was only talking to the Jews. I think that is asinine. How we can pick some verses out and say that they were only talking to this group of people and they don’t apply to me and then take other verses in the book of Hebrews as though they were written to apply to me.  These verses don’t sound like something I can just throw away. There are many verses in the Bible that I don’t understand, but I believe them all. For example, I don’t believe in a works based salvation, as I previously stated. I believe we are saved by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ. Saved from what? SAVED FROM MY SINS! Yet, Jesus said in Matthew 6:15, “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  Some might say, how can you be saved from your sins by grace alone when Jesus Himself said you have to forgive others to be forgiven. I say, good question. I don’t know the answer to everything. I just believe what the Bible teaches. If it teaches two different truths, I believe them both. So, I believe Jesus when he said I have to forgive others their trespasses so that mine will also be forgiven and I believe that I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. I believe both because the Bible teaches them both. The verse in Matthew is one that many also try to explain away to fit their theology. That is playing with fire (pardon the reference!) when your very salvation is on the line, in my opinion.

Peter weighs in - A cause for concern

I think Hebrews 6:4-6 is the strongest verse for those who believe you can lose your salvation, so I cover it first. 2 Peter 2:19-22 says, “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb:  A dog returns to his own vomit, and,  a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”  So, if they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that to me, sounds a lot like a Christian. Those who argue that one can lose their salvation claim this is a Christian who became entangled and overcome with sin, that it would have been far better had they never known the truth about Righteousness to begin with. However, I don’t see how anyone can clearly say that these verses are describing a Christian. In fact, they are actually describing false teachers. But can a false teacher also be a Christian?  Peter may only be saying that some of these guys knew the Lord, but went back to the world, and it would have been better for them had they never knew God.  I draw a line in the sand of difference between knowing God and having a relationship with God.  I don’t know if these guys actually had a real relationship with God. But I’m not going to explain it away by guessing that they didn't have a relationship with God because nobody knows for sure. To me, there is a strong argument that they were Christians because what kind of person is freed from the bondage of sin, but then returns to it? I don’t know if Peter is referring to a Christian here or not, but he might be. Anyone who claims they do know, in my opinion, is doing nothing more than guessing. However, I will say it is possible that Peter is not referring to someone who was necessarily saved; rather they may have only had a knowledge of God. But that’s just my gut, or a guess I suppose you can call it! In either case, I could be wrong and there are strong arguments on both sides claiming that to be the case. So, in any case, I think it is a cause for concern.

Peter says some difficult things!

The Bible says these things. Peter, in particular says some things that are difficult for me. 1 Peter 3:21 basically says that baptism saves us. But, that’s not true. We’re saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ as Ephesians tells us. I think there are a lot of things in all our wisdom we try to make sense of, but can’t do so any other way, except to explain it away. I know that salvation has nothing to do with being baptized. I don’t want to change the subject and I know what peter is referring to is not salvation, but rather an appeal to God for good conscience (peter is actually referring to what baptism represents – connecting baptism with belief).  But to many his words are not all that clear. There is debate about it and a lot of people have divided over the whole baptism issue. I know anyone of my friends who believes as I do (that you can’t lose your salvation) doesn't like what I am saying here. I feel ya, I don't like it either to be perfectly honest. But we have to deal with it because the Bible says these things. And we have to deal with it honestly.

Demas deserts Paul

Finally, with regard to the scripture some use to make an argument that the Bible discusses people leaving their salvation - being saved and then choosing to leave their salvation behind. This is found in 2 Timothy 4:10-11, which says, "for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry."  Now, here scripture tells us that he left Paul (forsaken here literally means deserted) because he loved the things of the world more than the things of God. Many scholars believe that Demas actually fled for fear of his life because Christians were constantly being killed. Either way, the scripture does not say that Demas was indeed saved prior to leaving the side of Paul. I don't think it is very conclusive at all with regard to Demas being a Christian. But, it is equally difficult to say he wasn't a Christian. That is something we just don't know. 1 John 2:15-16 says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world." So, if Demas loved the world, then he never had the love of the Father in him to begin with and it becomes increasingly questionable as to whether or not Demas was really ever saved. Demas was only mentioned 3 times in the entire bible and it is reaching at best to definitively claim he was a Christian based off the scriptures about him. At any rate, we know he deserted Paul when Paul really needed him. The scriptures are inspired and being that scripture does not identify Demas as a Christian is significant in my view. So, I respect others views, but I completely disagree with this assertion as being conclusive evidence that one can leave their salvation.

What I personally believe about salvation

I believe that scripture as a whole leans more towards the teaching and belief that one cannot lose their salvation. But, nobody knows for sure. Some think they do, but they are guessing at best, albeit educated guesses, it is still a guess. I consider it a guess, because you cannot disregard a scripture to bolster your view. Also, I am not going to hold such a strong view as to say that those who believe you can lose your salvation are wrong when there is evidence to the contrary. After all, Hebrews 6:4-6 is tough to explain away. But, I believe that I just don’t fully understand the verse in Hebrews. Even though I don’t fully understand it, I believe every word it says. In other words, I don’t know how Hebrews 6:4-6 fits in with the rest of scripture, but it is there and I believe all scripture is inspired by God. I’m not God’s lawyer.  But, I will say that the Bible clearly teaches in many other places that we cannot lose our salvation if we really ever had it to begin with. I think it is important when we come across a scripture that we don’t particularly like or understand to compare it to the rest of scripture to help us glean meaning from it. Back to 1 John 2:19, I believe if you walk away from it, you never had it to begin with, and you need it!  There is a saying about love that comes to mind, “If you love someone let them go. If they stay away then they were never yours to begin with.”  And I think that is so true in relationship of any kind, including with God. If someone leaves the Lord and never comes back, then they never belonged to the Lord to begin with.

What we do know for sure!

Here is what we do know. In John 3:36, we read that, “"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”  We know for sure what it takes to be saved. We have to believe in Jesus. Sorry for being so redundant, but we are saved through grace, by faith in Jesus Christ.  So if we believe in Jesus, that He is God, we are saved. This is so easy, even a caveman can get it (I like Geico insurance TV commercials!).


We can all know whether or not we are saved. That is the most important thing to take away from this. If you put your trust in Jesus, you are saved. Recently a girl asked me, if she accepted Jesus on her death bed, would God accept that. My answer was a question to her. Why would anyone want to live life without the certainty that when they died they were saved? Who would want to go through life not knowing if they had their salvation? Nothing is more important. Some people think they have it, and actually don’t. But we can know for sure whether or not we have it. If you truly believe in Jesus as your savior, you truly know for sure because the scriptures tell us as I have pointed out above that faith in Jesus is all that is required to save us. Many people I have asked about their salvation will say, “Well I hope so,” or “I’ll find out when I die!”  There are a lot of indications to let you know whether or not you are saved. If someone asked you how you know that you are saved, and you reply, “Because I have faith in Jesus Christ and I completely trust Him with my whole heart,” then I would agree with that person without any hesitation.  Now, let me say this also – If you think you’re saved because you raised your hand at a Billy Graham or a Greg Laurie gathering 15 years ago, but you have had no change in the way you live your life, I can’t make you feel confident in your salvation because the Bible doesn't give that person much confidence in their salvation.  If you are putting your faith in the fact that you were baptized when you were 9 years old, or because your parents had you dedicated as a baby, that’s not good.

If you want to be saved, my response is that you probably already are. People who are concerned about their salvation are usually concerned because the Holy Spirit is convicting them.  I know that I am saved personally, because I read my Bible and I try to do it – doing it is having faith in Jesus Christ, trusting Him with everything I have, and living my life the way He commands me to. I do it all. Not perfectly, of course! I don’t believe we need works, but I do the works because I want to out of love. I want to because I love Jesus and I want to glorify Him with my life.  Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments!  I put my trust in Him, so I am not worried about it at all! If you do the same thing, you also don’t need to worry about it.