Can I Lose My Salvation?

Jesus says that no one can snatch His disciples out of His hand; they are forever secure (John 10:28–29). Paul tells us that nothing—whether visible or invisible, not distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword—can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:35–39).

Struggling, But Secure

No doubt, true believers will struggle with sin. They can and will fail—and sometimes in serious ways. But God will give them the divine help they need so that their faith remains intact and so that they learn repentance.

Not only is our salvation that secure; our faith is secure as well. The good work of salvation that God began in us will continue until death or the return of Jesus (Phil. 1:6). If someone departs fully from the faith, it is evidence that they never truly believed. John touches on this when, speaking of false teachers, he 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 it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).

“Our boldness comes not from how strongly we believe, but how strong the Savior is in whom we believe.”

It is not the presence or prevalence of sin in a person’s life that reveals them to be a false convert. Apostasy, the denial of the truth of the gospel once held, is the sure sign. But God’s promise to sustain His people is not the guarantee that everyone who claims the name of Jesus will persevere. Many will call themselves Christians, only to later fall away and prove that true faith never took root in their hearts (see Matt. 13:1–23). But those who believe will be preserved by God’s grace.

God’s Preserving Promise

It is important that we understand God’s promise to sustain us in the faith is not a promise to keep us from the presence of sin. All believers continue to sin, and sometimes fall deep into transgression, making a mess of their lives and the lives of others. The 1689 Baptist Confession explains well the presence of serious sin in the life of the Christian, its consequences, and God’s preserving power:

And though [Christians] may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God’s displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves, yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.

True converts can backslide. A straight reading of the Bible shows how often the people of God, even those who love the Lord and help us as examples, fail. The world, the flesh, and the devil all work to lead us away from Jesus Christ, and sometimes they are successful for a time. We can fall into “grievous sin” and even remain there for a while. And while in that place, we may suffer circumstantially, but we will certainly suffer spiritually as the graces and comforts of God are “impaired.” But even when we fall, God remains present with us to lead us back to Himself and to grant us repentance (2 Tim. 2:25).

The Source of Our Boldness

The confidence of the Christian amidst temptation and spiritual attack is not their faith, but the faith. Our faith, like Peter’s, can waver, falter, and fail. Peter denied Jesus three times shortly after Jesus was arrested. All Christians follow suit in one way or another. Our hope while living in this world that stands against the truth is the faith once for all delivered to the saints—that is, the gospel itself (Jude 3).

Our boldness comes not from how strongly we believe, but how strong the Savior is in whom we believe. He has saved us, will preserve us, and will see that we finish well. To say that God sustains His people means not only that individuals will continue in the faith, but that the church will continue as well. “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).