Can I “lose” my salvation?

“Can I lose my salvation?” This question haunts many believers, and with many Christians debating its possibility and wielding scripture in defense of their position, more dust from this skirmish is kicked up, further clouding the truth of the matter. I don’t relish scriptural sword fights among Christians who are determined to prove the biblical validity of their doctrinal stance, who seem more interested in being right than building up others in the faith. Besides, most of these debates are distractions from the core of the gospel message, and serve only to divide a body that’s meant to be united and they tend to impede new believers before they’ve even had a chance to grow. That said, the answer to this question is so important that I want to share a helpful understanding in order to remove an area of uncertainty the enemy will use to terrorize you.

Typically there are two ways that believers are concerned about losing their salvation. They are fearful that somehow they might unintentionally disqualify themselves from it, or for some reason God might revoke it. To clear these concerns up, it would be best to start by giving a solid definition of what salvation is. Abstractly, salvation can be described various ways and these descriptions can help to understand the many aspects of what it means to be saved, but concretely, there is one way I believe that gives the believer the best understanding. Please note, rather than filling this article with quoted scripture I have merely inserted relevant scripture links for reference to the text for you to click on as you read if you wish.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13

In my opinion it is best to think of salvation as a rebirth into a heavenly bloodline with a birthright and an inheritance and this perspective is well supported in scripture. Jesus said, that unless one is born anew, he cannot perceive, experience, or enter the kingdom of God. This rebirth, also referred to in scripture as an adoption, is a spiritual shift in bloodline, that from fallen Adam to that of risen Jesus. As with any adoption, there is a process to making it legal. In this case, one needs to repent, believe, receive, and hold fast. You can not receive salvation if you don’t acknowledge your need for it. If you don’t believe in the identity of Jesus being fully God, who became fully man, and that he lived a sinless life, dying in our place, and then was raised from the dead, you can not receive it because you do not receive the one who made your adoption possible and the means by which He accomplished it. If you do not receive Him, you can not receive salvation, because He is our salvation. It can not be earned, and He is the only way. If you do not hold fast to this hope, that is, guard it jealously and zealously, you will likely not keep it for the heat of persecution and cares and trials of this life will tempt you to give it up.

We can’t inherit salvation through natural lineage, nor can we achieve it through sheer willpower, or even earn it by how hard we work for it. It isn’t something we deserve or something we are owed. It is only made available and possible to be received by the grace and will of God alone through faith. It is a free gift. Therefore, God isn’t about to revoke it. And because you consciously walk and grow in it through relationship with the Father, you can not accidentally disqualify yourself from it. However, it must be made clear that it can be relinquished, and in that sense you can lose your salvation, or rather, it’s better to say, you have the ability to give it up. Like Esau, we can treat it with contempt. We can trade it for a temporary reprieve from tribulation. We can renounce it to avoid persecution. We can relinquish it, as Esau did. Like Jacob, we need to pursue it, cherish it, and guard it. This is why scripture says, “Jacob I loved; Esau I hated.” Not because God capriciously picked Jacob over Esau, but because He foresaw Esau spurn his birthright, his godly heritage, and treat the holy gift of God as contemptible, as something common and of little value. Esau had the gift of God’s eternal promise and gave it away for a mere bowl of stew.

So to summarize, you can not lose your salvation, as by accident and it can not be stolen from you, nor can it be revoked, for God’s word endures forever. Just be warned, you can reject it and in that case there is no getting it back. When your salvation, the truth of God, becomes more valuable to you than anything, than the love of others, the esteem from the world, or personal comforts, etc, then there is nothing in heaven or on earth that can take it from you. It is as eternal and reliable as God Himself, for it comes from Him. I hope this helps you be confident in your salvation and bring you peace.