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GraceNotes
GraceNotes is a concise quarterly Bible study on the important issues related to
salvation by grace and living by grace. They are designed for downloading (*pdf available)
and copying so they can be used in ministry. No permission is required if they are
distributed unedited at no charge. You can receive new GraceNotes by subscribing to
our free quarterly GraceLife newsletter.
Topic: Assurance
Spiritual maturity is impossible for believers who have come to doubt their eternal salvation. Yet the lack of assurance is a common problem among Christians and those who call themselves Christians.
The misuse of this passage has too often undermined the believer's assurance. Incorrect interpretations usually start with the assumption that the phrase 'to present you holy, blameless, and irreproachable in His sight' means entrance into heaven.
Can a person once saved ever lose or forfeit that salvation?
There is every reason to think that those who have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior and are consequently born into God's family will experience a changed life to some degree. Some would say that this changed life is evidenced by good works which proves they are saved.
It is not uncommon to see this verse used to encourage professing Christians to examine themselves to see if they are genuinely saved.
As used here, apostasy refers to a departure from or denial of the Christian faith by someone who once held to it. There are several views about what happens to someone who leaves the faith.
Some say that confession is unnecessary since all the believer's sins are forgiven already. What is the scriptural perspective?
Theological labels are a convenient way to summarize belief systems. Many labels have become an established part of theological dialogue, like Arminianism, Calvinism, amillennialism, or premillennialism. Many who hear the label 'Free Grace Theology' wonder what it means. Here is a brief summation.
Some people say the Free Grace view gives people false and damning assurance on the basis of their profession of faith. After all, they may not have believed with all their heart, turned from all their sins (in their of repentance), or done enough good works.
Does this passage exhort professing believers to prove that they are true believers, or does it exhort true believers to demonstrate the faith they have? At stake in the first instance is eternal salvation; at stake in the second are eternal rewards. Careful observations answer this question.
There are some who claim the saving message of the gospel is 'Believe in Jesus as the guarantor of eternal life, which can never be lost.' In other words, a person must know, understand, and express agreement with the doctrine of eternal security ... but does a person have to affirm this in order to be saved, or is this an unwarranted addition to salvation by faith alone in Christ alone?
Since the gospel was first preached, people have objected to the Free Grace teaching that people are saved by the unconditional grace of God through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Often, objections come from misunderstanding the nature of God's grace and what Free Grace teaches. Sometimes objections are merely parroted from others without much thought. Here's how to answer six common objections to Free Grace teaching about salvation.
The fullness of God's grace seems hard to grasp for some. Especially when it is taught in relation to salvation, some raise objections. In \GraceNotes no. 90: Answering Objections to Free Grace
Some believe that salvation can be lost. Considering all that transpires in one's salvation, if it were possible to forfeit that salvation, here's what someone should be told to do.
Does faith come from God to a person as a gift, does faith describe a meritorious work that comes from a person, or is faith a person's response to a truth or promise?
What does Roman Catholicism (RC) teach about how a person can be saved eternally? The RC view of salvation is derived from their beliefs about grace, justification, and the atonement, but are they biblical?
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