Loss of Salvation

Dear Victorious,

I know that the Bible teaches we can not lose our salvation. But Scripture seems to contradict itself in places. For example, in Ezekiel 18:24 and 26, it appears that righteous people can lose their salvation by sinning and not repenting. Doesn't this mean that our salvation isn't as secure as the preachers would have us believe?

Luther A. - Dayton, OH

Dear Luther,

No, that's not what it means. The first thing you need to understand is that Scripture never contradicts itself. It's impossible. So if it looks that way to you, then you must conclude that there is something which you're missing or something that you don't understand. Never, ever conclude that Scripture contradicts itself. If you give in to that lie, then the truth of the whole Bible will be meaningless to you!

What is being talked about in Ezekiel 18 and what is being talked about elsewhere in the Bible in this regard really amounts to whether one was ever saved or had their salvation in the first place. Notice that in the same chapter of Ezekiel it speaks of people who do evil and then repent, and get life. But the verses you reference are where (seemingly) righteous people do evil and don't repent, and get death. This is very different than losing one's salvation. The question is whether one had salvation in the first place.

1 John 3:9 tells us that no one who is born of God (i.e., a true Christian) will continue to sin or go on sinning. That doesn't mean they will never sin. It means they can not sin without being grieved by it and being moved to repent of it. For sure, people are righteous and saved will sin. But the evidence of their salvation will be found in their repentance for that sin. Said differently, the things that grieve God will also grieve the one in whom God lives.

So Luther, the question is not whether one can lose their salvation. Rather the question is whether one ever had their salvation in the first place. Just because someone "got saved" in human terms does not mean that they received the Holy Spirit, and that He dwells in them now. Those things only happen when one has had a true change of heart and yielded himself (or herself) to God in a genuine way.