If, after living 70 years in belief, in a moment of weakness, right before my death, my feeble mind questions the existence of Yahweh, do I lose the life of Yahweh, and reenter the kingdom of darkness, and take my place in Hell to await my formal sentencing at the Great White Throne, and be thrown into the Lake of Fire to be tormented day and night forever? Wow, that doesn’t sound like Yahweh is Love! Yahweh is Love, and perfect Love casts out fear…. there is no fear in Love. (1John 4)
In Hebrews 6, verses 4-10, the author of Hebrews, says that it would be impossible to renew a person again to repentance, if he should fall away from the faith, because Christ would have to be crucified again. See, true repentance of the heart is a response to us hearing the Gospel of how Christ was crucified for our sins so that we could live with Yahweh. In order for someone, who has sincerely repented unto eternal life with his heart, to repent unto eternal life again would require Christ to be crucified again. Hebrews, however, states over and over again that Christ was crucified one time, and one time only for our sins.
The author of Hebrews is using a philosophical technique known as a reduction to absurdity to make a point. From a false assumption he deduces absurd conclusions, in order to let us know that it is not possible to fall away, because we would be invalidating the crucifixion of Christ, and making it necessary for Him to be crucified again in order to renew us to repentance, which would put Him to an open shame.
Hence, the Bible itself states explicitly that it is not possible for someone who has become a son of Yahweh with His life (eternal life) to fall away (lose eternal life) and become a child of the Devil once more.
When a scripture states something explicitly, then all the other scriptures must line up with it. So, if we think some other scriptures say that it is possible for us to lose the life of Yahweh after we become His son, then we had better rethink things, and bring our understanding in alignment with what Yahweh has stated explicitly.
As far as questioning Yahweh’s existence moments before we die, the author of Hebrews says in verse 10 of that same chapter, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”
Yahweh knows that we are dust, and that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Consequently, Yahweh is not going to take our reward away for questioning His existence in a dark moment.
Look at Peter. Peter denied Yeshua three times in front of others. Did Peter fall away so that it was impossible to renew him again unto repentance? No, after Yeshua was resurrected, He went looking for Peter, and embraced him, and assured him that he was ok. Peter had truly repented unto eternal life so, Yeshua kept him until the end.
Judas is another story. Judas fell away, because he had never repented unto eternal life. Judas knew who Yeshua was, and he even followed him, but he never had a change of heart that laid his plans aside. This is why John 17:3 says that Judas was a son of perdition (Hell).
In sum: According to the Scriptures, a person, who has the life of Yahweh in him, and therefore eternal life as His son, can not fall away and lose the life of Yahweh, and eternal life, and lose his son-ship.
So what about the Scriptures that appear to say we can lose eternal life, or that we must endure until the end in order to obtain it?
Here is one such verse. In 1Corinthians 15, verse 2, Paul says, speaking of the Gospel, “By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”
What does this mean in light of our other scriptures that state explicitly that we cannot lose eternal life, and we have it when we repent?
Paul is simply saying what James says. Namely that we can believe in vain if our belief is not sincere and our repentance genuine. In other words, if we cognitively assent to the fact that Yeshua is the Messiah, and exert effort to follow Him, for only a short while, then this proves that our belief was one-dimensional, and our “repentance” was artificial, being based on fear or human sorrow, not Godly sorrow for our sin that placed Yeshua on the execution stake to die a horrible death for us.
In 1 John 2, verse 19, John provides some helpful insight. In this verse John tells us that the people, who fall away, never were really in the faith, and they fell away to show us they were not in the faith.
Here is another such verse. In Galatians 5, verse 4, Paul says, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
What exactly is Paul trying to communicate to us in this verse?
If we go back to Galatians 3:3, we can see what Paul is saying. Paul asked them why they were so foolish to think they could begin in the Spirit, and perfect themselves in the flesh. To begin in the Spirit means that the Spirit transformed them by giving them Yahweh’s life, making them His sons. In other words, Yahweh justified them (declared them not guilty) thereby saving them from His wrath. Then, they sought to sanctify themselves through the works prescribed by the Law of Moses.
This is what Paul means when he says that they have fallen from grace. The liberty and freedom that comes from grace is not active in their lives, because they have chosen to relate to Yahweh through the law. They have stifled their own spiritual growth, and become a slave to the whole law to keep it, rather than becoming the Holy Spirit’s servant. Essentially, they are already justified, but still they are trying to justify themselves before Yahweh by keeping the law to sanctify themselves.
The Galatians had fallen into the trap that the religious rulers in Jerusalem had set for them. The religious rulers in Jerusalem taught that if people kept the law and sanctified themselves, then Yahweh would accept them (justify them). They had reversed Yahweh’s plan, and His covenants. They placed the Mosaic covenant before the Abrahamic covenant and perverted both of them, making them to no effect. Now, they had tricked the Galatians into doing the same with Yeshua.
The Galatians did not lose their salvation, but they did not experience the blessings of their salvation. This is what Paul is talking about.
There are several other Scriptures that when read on a superficial level outside of the context set by Yahweh’s explicit statements in other Scriptures, seem to indicate that we can lose our salvation. When we use the global context of Scripture, however, we discover that this is simply not true. Yahweh has disclosed the terms and conditions of salvation plainly. And we either believe Him or make Him to be a liar.
As far as Yeshua being both fully God, and fully human, there is no reason why ontologically He could not be both at the same time. We may have trouble processing this truth; nevertheless, there is nothing logically inconsistent about this.
The same thing goes for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being of one essence, and sharing the life of God. We may not fully understand this truth; nevertheless, there is nothing logically inconsistent about it.
This cannot be said about the issue at hand, however.
Yahweh cannot say that He keeps us in faith (salvation) by the power of His Spirit, and that it is possible for us to lose our faith (salvation). These statements are mutually exclusive. Both cannot be true at the same time. Either Yahweh keeps us and prevents us from falling, or He doesn’t. To think that both statements could be true would make Yahweh an unpredictable schizophrenic, who cannot be trusted.
Yahweh can be trusted; He is not double minded. Yahweh said in many places that He keeps us, so that we will not fall, and I believe Him!
Yahweh has given us a full disclosure of the terms and conditions of salvation………….and I dare not call Him a liar to His Face.
So, when the Serpent whispers in your ear, and says, “Has Yahweh really said that He will keep you from falling?” Stand firm in Yahweh’s promise.
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