What's the Relationship Between Eternal Security and Forgiveness? (Disparate Things #3, Questions #2, Part 2)

 

I enjoy drawing parallels between seemingly disparate things, and as a Bible college student I love when questions pop up in my studies that I never considered before. So here's a two-in-one: How are the Christian concepts of forgiveness and eternal security related? 

In Part 1, I talked about my changing back and forth on the eternal security question (can one, or can one not, lose their salvation?) and suggested that an understanding of forgiveness both prompts the question and sheds light on it. Here is what I am learning and pondering about forgiveness at present:

Basically, forgiveness means letting go of (a) bitterness, and (b) the need to punish. The main reason the world says, "I can't forgive him/her" is they think "forgive" means "go back to the way things were," and/or they will not let go of the bitterness of being wronged. They think "forget" means "develop amnesia about it" (it doesn't; it means stop rehearsing it, stop ripping the Band-Aid off, stop living back there). The world system, for all its supposed and illusory freedom, consistently makes life harder and sadder than the kingdom makes it. It really does.

The book Total Forgiveness by RT Kendall delves at length into the implications of real forgiveness. Deep, meaningful forgiveness, it points out, involves not having to constantly tell others what so-and-so did to you (exceptions would be a counselor; the police, attorney, or court; or intimate family). Forgiveness also means not allowing a repentant person who wronged you, and may now dread your presence, to continue to fear you. It means hoping they will forgive themselves, praying for them, and wishing them well. It also means, in cases where the person has no idea they hurt you, or will likely deny they hurt you--all too common--that you forgive them without their even knowing you've done so. In other words, you surrender the need to announce "I forgive you," creating defensiveness or backlash (or perhaps self-righteousness on your part) by making sure they know how magnanimous you're being. And why do we do all this, besides to walk in freedom and grow character? We do it because "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." We do it because "if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15b NIV). But...but...but, we think. We are personally forgiven when we receive Jesus' blood atonement for our sin. So what is this tit for tat we're reading about? 

Let's look at the Lord's Prayer--forgive us as we forgive--and examine the context. To whom do we pray this prayer, and to whom did Jesus teach the prayer? The answers are (a) our Father, and (b) His disciples. Only people who are already saved (forgiven) can be disciples and call God Father (John 1:12). This prayer, then, is one for believers to pray to stay in fellowship with their Father. Keep that word "fellowship" in mind and consider--what if we don't forgive? 

Do we lose our salvation? No. Why not? Because if so, then salvation is by works. If you gain salvation "by faith," but lose it by works, salvation is by works! Kendall makes several clarifying statements to sort all this out: Salvation is unconditional; fellowship with God is conditional. Justification before God is unconditional; the anointing of the Spirit is conditional. Membership in the family of God is unconditional; intimacy with Christ is conditional. Eternal destiny is fixed; rewards are conditional (Kendall, 2007). What these statements do is explain how the forgiveness we practice (releasing but not always continuing in relationship) does conform to the forgiveness God offers. God isn't constantly booting us out of the family and then taking us back, but He doesn't necessarily restore "everything back to the way it was" when we transgress. Unconfessed or pet sins can grieve the Holy Spirit; anointing can be lost (King Saul and Samson are examples), failure to actually pursue relationship with Jesus (by lacking a prayer life, for example) can hold you distant; and rewards are certainly conditional (1 Corinthians 3). So--if the forgiveness being taught to Christians today is the forgiveness God asks for and models, then it seems to me eternal security is at the heart of it, and I do believe a deeper understanding of some theological topics will shed light on others, because it's all going to hang together.

I hope I've been coherent; I'm still thinking about all this, and I love knowing that when we study God's living word we'll never get it perfect and never get it all. But here's where I am now: While pursuing the validity of how forgiveness is taught today, I believe it does reflect God's mode of forgiveness, and as an added treasure, speaks to the permanence of salvation in Christ. 

What's the Relationship Between Eternal Security and Forgiveness? (Disparate Things #3, Questions #2, Part 1)

 

I enjoy drawing parallels between seemingly disparate things, and as a Bible college student I love when questions pop up in my studies that I never considered before. So here's a two-in-one: How are the Christian concepts of forgiveness and eternal security related? 

The thing is, all Christians will agree that forgiving and forgiveness are central to our faith, but not all agree that eternal security (the impossibility of losing salvation once gained) is correct theology, so some believers may feel the connection is obvious while others find it nonexistent. A wide difference of opinion and understanding indeed.

Transparency time: During my 47ish-year walk with the Lord, I have gone back and forth between the can you/can't you lose your salvation camps. I don't mean flip-flopping like a landed fish every few years; I mean I came to Christ in the "yes you can" community, eventually began to doubt the Scriptural certainty of this and adopted the "no you can't" position for a time, moved back to the "yes you can" thinking without really examining it that closely, and am currently perched on the precipice again even though I belong to a local body that believes you can. Part of the reason I'm reconsidering the question will be explained by my current in-depth study of forgiveness, and most of the rest of my argument is this: 

First, when we are saved, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14). Though "sealed" seems to be the most-used translation, other words including "marked," "stamped," "signed," and "identified" are also used. Can we really break a Holy-Spirit seal, mark, stamp, signature, or ID? I would err on the side of saying we cannot, certainly not by anything less than conscious and permanent repudiation of Jesus. Too, there's a logic problem: having received salvation by faith, if we can lose it by something we do, then salvation is by works. It would seem, then, to lose salvation you would have to nullify faith. Finally, and I recognize this is not a biblical argument, when we are adopted as children of God (Ephesians 1:5), is He really going to let us go? Most human parents will not give up on or cut ties with their children no matter what the children have done. Does God do less? It just doesn't sit right. At this time, I'm prepared to state that if a believer in Jesus Christ can lose their salvation, it will have to be by a conscious, willful, for-all-time rejection of Jesus that will grieve the Holy Spirit enough to break that seal. In other words, if salvation can be lost, it's not nearly as easy as most "yes you can" believers assume--and fear. I submit that to the extent they're too set in this fear, their trust is in their own ability to be good rather than in Jesus. Again, the line of thinking tends to turn into a subtle salvation by works. But now let's look at my forgiveness study to trace how I even got to the eternal security question in the first place. 

In recent years, by which I mean the last twenty or so, there's been an increase in the teaching that forgiveness doesn't require continuation of a relationship in order to be forgiveness. I don't disagree. An obvious example is the case of an unsafe individual such as an abuser. Do we need to forgive? Yes. Do we need to maintain relationship and thus stay in the abusive situation? Of course not. Yet, when God forgives, he takes us back into relationship, right? Therefore, I mused, are we forgiving on some lesser level than God does, and is that okay? 

Spoiler: I believe we are not forgiving on a lesser level, and that the doctrine of eternal security may well be germane to arriving at this conclusion. But this post will get too long if I detail all of that here, so I'll continue in Part 2 on Wednesday, February 18. 

In Plain Sight

 A cookie cutter

a glisten of sugar

a remnant of lace

a length of ribbon

a rose from a long-ago corsage

bits and bobs gathered

bring out of hiding

more beauty than we ever guessed was there.

Musings

Part of the sin of anger is that it's often a cover for more vulnerable emotions. To the extent anger isn't anger, it's a lie.

The only person who got to say "It is finished" about His own life was Jesus. 

What God went through to get the gospel accurately passed down the millennia to us is exceeded only by the cross itself. 

Prayer for February

 

Dear Father, we often give little thought to February except to call it dreary and short. Lacking the frosty diamond brightness of January, and anything more than the wimpiest tease of spring, it's the sag in winter's middle, soggy and slushy with a slap of wind. 

Unless, of course, we're willing to see with different eyes.

To the beauty of charcoal branches against palest gray, the hush of mist and haze, the patience of transition as the earth sleeps. To the invitation to slow and breathe if only we will, to know that waiting has value, tomorrow is not promised, and today, even today, with You in it, is beautiful in its time. To the revelation that living and watching February, day by day, is faith practice, the substance of Your promises hoped for, the evidence that spring will come. And February, though worthy and necessary in itself, is Your nature's reminder that though sorrow lasts for a night, joy comes in the morning. 

Lord, I pray that what we may see as the gloom of February bears much fruit in our lives: forbearance, simplicity, hominess, appreciation for not just what will be but what is. Help us make it a special interim of Scripture, prayer, and quiet contemplation of You to which You will draw near. Help us remember, and experience, that when the world fades and grows dim, You never leave us or forsake us, and You are what matters. 

Father, thank you for your grayscale, silvertone, interlude called February, and use it to speak to our spirits. Amen. 

When Your Gift

 

When your gift doesn't make room for you

usher you anywhere at all

even though the word says it will--

wait

look 

it'll come:

the small chance 

seize it

fill that gap 

with your gift.

No one noticed? 

On the main road, maybe not, but

along that dusty path

around back

over the bridge

through the tunnel

years and a half from now

someone, God-appointed, sees

and says,

"Aren't you...? Didn't you...?"

The small chance comes again

different shape

place

time

seize it again

fill that gap

with your gift.

And someone else,

even if only one someone else,

sees.

While you wait, perhaps God waits too

for others to learn

they need what you have

for you to learn

it belongs at His feet

and the door to the holy place

opens a crack

and one greater says,

"Aren't you...? Didn't you...?

"Would you...?"

When your gift makes room for you

ushers you in

because God said it would,

go in on your knees

go in with your readiness

go in with integrity

go in, in Him

because you've been ushered

into the presence

of the Great.

Musings

 Since the Holy Spirit lives in me, I want to live in such a way that He is happy about it. 

When sharing the gospel, who you are matters much more than what you say. 

Unforgiveness is idolatry. 

A Year of Beauty

 

Tea and a sweet, anyone?

I don't usually think in terms of choosing a "word of the year," but the word beauty has been repeating strongly in my mind and spirit. I'd like to make this a year of beauty.

"Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is the Lord (Psalm 45:11)

"He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you" (Song of Songs 4:7)

"From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth" (Psalm 50:2)

"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I see: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple" (Psalm 27:4)

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news..." (Isaiah 52:7a)

"And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord" (Ezekiel 16:14)

It's the beauty all around us that testifies and convinces us of God (Romans 1:20). I pray the beauty He created will convince many, many more this year.

Random Questions from a Bible Student (Questions #1)

 Sometimes questions are just lovely in themselves. It occurs to me that some are to be pondered, some enjoyed, some even perhaps forgotten, and others pursued to answers. But not necessarily rushed to answers. How wonderful, even luxurious, is time given to think, research, pray, and "wisdom" them through, those that call to us. For example:

• Does the positioning of books in the Bible affect how we interpret them? If so, how?
• How do the different and specifically chosen literary forms convey meaning?
• Which NT book is really the oldest--James, Galatians, or 1 Thessalonians--and could an argument for James be the fact that there's NO hint of Jewish/Gentile conflict in it; i.e., it was written before any Gentile converts joined the believers? 🤯
• Is the prophet Jeremiah a type of messiah, and if so, how???
• Why do people struggle so much with the problem of evil when it can be easily explained by our fallen world (it wasn't only man that fell) and the existence of a spiritual enemy? 

I don't know the answers to any of these, nor does that bother me, even though they might well be answered with research, simple or rigorous. I may or may not seek the answers. But I remember a time, as a high-achieving child, when I thought the smartest people were the ones with the answers. Maybe it's just as enlightening, if not more, to be the one with the questions. 

To Grow Your Faith, Grow Your Hope

 

We know this saying is Scripture; in fact, it's the words of Jesus (Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:6). Yet struggling with faith is common, struggling to believe small faith has any value is common, and Mark 9:24 records the father of a demon-possessed boy crying, "I do believe; help my unbelief!" We are like that. Even when we believe, we don't believe perfectly. (I think because deep down we tend to a "too good to be true" stance toward God and His plans and promises, for several reasons: we know we deserve hell in our fallen state, we've never experienced pure goodness in our fallen world, and God simply is "too good"--good to the absolute max, though not too good to be true.) 

Hebrews 11 is often called the faith chapter, as it describes what faith does and then lists a number of Old Testament saints who displayed amazing faith and won great victories because of it. Notice this, though: none of these were people who did it perfectly. Abraham is commended for following God's call to a new land, even though he didn't know where he was going, and for offering up Isaac as a sacrifice on God's command. He is not, however, downgraded in this chapter for lacking the faith to be honest that Sarah was his wife when he faced King Abimelech (Genesis 20). Sarah is credited with faith to believe she'd conceive a child (Hebrews 11:11), but there's no mention here that her first reaction had been to laugh at the very idea. By faith, verse 29 says, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, but we know from the very same book of the Bible (Hebrews 3:19) that they didn't enter God's rest because of their unbelief! What does all this mean? It means we can do it too. These were people like us. In our wavering, mustard-seed, growing, but imperfect faith, we can do it, too.

How? Well, there's a very good hint in verse 1. I'll quote it from the Amplified:

"Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality--faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]"

The King James uses the word "substance" instead of "assurance," and I like this word as well. That faith can turn a future hope into a present substance, even more, IS that present substance, is an exciting and powerful idea. And faith as evidence means faith comprehends as fact the hoped-for things that are yet future.

Hope, though.

Our ability to grasp this verse depends on our understanding of what hope is. The world perceives hope as a wishing or desiring for something to happen that may or may not in fact happen. If we carry that meaning of the word "hope" into our reading of this verse, we will decide faith is much harder than it actually is--perhaps even unreachable or senseless. But then what are "hoped-for things," according to the amplified meaning of the verse? They're not things we wish would come to pass but can't be sure of. They are divinely guaranteed things. I mean, what is a surer thing than a divinely guaranteed thing? These hoped-for things are the promises of God. When we, in response, extend our faith to say, "Yes, God, I believe You are Who You say You are, and Your promises are true," then His promises become our reality. Just as when we put our faith in Christ, He becomes ours. 

Faith grows in confidence when we realize true hopes are divinely guaranteed things. 

Let these, and many other, divinely guaranteed things help build your faith today.

 

 

Masqueraders

 The other day I wrote about an idea that struck me while reading 2 Corinthians 10. The same thing happened when I went on to Chapter 11. Sometimes the Holy Spirit underlines a verse or line because you don't remember ever seeing it before, because He has something new to show you in it, or because He simply wants you to think on it in this moment. Let's look at vv. 14-15.

"...Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve" (NIV).

Satan has a good past; he was an archangel. So, though he's no longer an angel of light, he can "play one on TV," so to speak. His servants (and v. 13 reveals that the reference is to false teachers, i.e., human beings), then, won't find it much of a stretch to pose as servants of another kind--servants of righteousness. Of the Lord, in other words. 

This means that people who are actively or unknowingly (being deceived themselves) working for the enemy's dominion are among the church, disguised as servants of the Kingdom. And we're believing most of them. Some will be uncovered, and others we'll see through, but not all will be detected. Who some of them are would astound us. This has always been so, will always be so until the end, and is the reason why exposures in the church shouldn't shake us. Disappoint, yes. Sadden, yes. But not shake the faith of believers or discourage unbelievers away from Jesus. Those who are only pretending to belong to Christ do not lessen the trustworthiness of Christ or the sincerity of those who are truly His. They are being purged, and at times the purging is necessary.  

If they are actual believers who have fallen, then restore them, if they are truly repentant and not prematurely bounced back into ministry. Other Scripture passages address this scenario. But I don't believe these are the people Paul is discussing here. He ends verse 15 with the words, "Their end will be what their actions deserve." These are not believers, in other words. And though they may fool some for a lifetime, or their own lifetime, in the end God is not mocked. We can trust Him on that.  

Writing and Doing

 

The other day, I noticed something interesting in 2 Corinthians, which was maybe especially noticeable to me because I am a writer. Let me quote verses 9-11 here:

"I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. For some say, 'His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.' Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present" (NIV).

The people who were criticizing Paul because his person didn't match his writing didn't understand that a gift of writing is a discrete thing from a gift of speaking or an imposing presence, and vice versa. Why should it be unnatural to be gifted in one of these areas and not the other(s)? If Paul's writing was stronger and more authoritative than his some of his in-person interactions and presentations, it doesn't mean he was hiding behind his writing or using it to inflate himself. It's actually more likely that a gifted writer might be less impressive or articulate in person than their audience might wish. This is because the better one is at public presentation in its broadest sense, the less patience or desire they may have for the amount of sitting alone in a room that writing requires. 

Paul has it right when he adds, "What we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present" (v. 11b NIV, emphasis mine). If what Paul does agrees with his letters, this is his demonstration of integrity. Our writing and our speech, even if unequally skilled, are extensions of each other, so when we say that our words and actions should line up, the words referred to are both written and spoken. Paul is saying, "Never mind what I look or sound like; rather, look to my integrity." Just as God performs His word, and we are to be doers of the word, Paul reminds us here, in writing, to become those doers more and more as we walk with the Lord. 

Thoughts for Today

 If you would go higher in purpose, you must go deeper in Christ.

There's a saying out there that life is not a dress rehearsal. Except that's pretty much what it is.

Possibly the darkest thing about the world today is something we don't consider: that all of life has become almost completely reliant on something way, way too unreliable. 

Uh-Oh, I Don't Like What the Scripture Says

 

You're reading your Bible and have come across something that makes you go, "What? This must mean something other than what it sounds like." To be fair, that may be true. When we run into such passages, it's a good idea to pray for enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, compare several translations, find the meaning of key Greek or Hebrew words in Strong's concordance, and look at a variety of commentaries and study notes. Online teachings can help, too, but be careful here. Anything they teach should harmonize with the Scripture as a whole, and we need to always be aware that there are people willing and waiting to tell us just what we want to hear about any particular passage. Casting around until we find someone to tickle our ears (2 Timothy 4:3) on the subject isn't the wise way to go. 

Okay, you've done all that and you still don't like a certain difficult or troublesome passage. The first thing to realize is this is normal. Why is it normal? Because until we go to heaven, some aspects of our fleshly nature are still going to be operating. Walking with Jesus and allowing Him to change us into His likeness is a lifelong process. We never reach perfection, in the sense of flawlessness, on this side of eternity. It's what's left of our flesh, even if only scraps, that won't like the pure word of God. So if you don't like something in the Scripture, don't beat yourself up. This is actually useful information. It shows you where you still need to grow and adjust to full truth. The Holy Spirit is merciful and will help. 

Another point to consider is that not liking certain truths may be part of the cost of discipleship. "But people will cancel me if I say..." Friend of the world, are you? James 4:4 says friendship with the world is enmity with God. Jesus said, as recorded in Luke 14, that family, possessions, and life itself cannot come before Him in the disciple's life. So how can something as piddling as our opinions come before Him? In America, we mostly don't pay the cost of discipleship in the form of beheadings, but unless we aren't disciples after all, we do pay it. Maybe, for example, in the form of acknowledging and adhering to Scripture that doesn't please the aspects of ourselves that aren't conformed to Him. 

We can perhaps accept that liking a passage or principle and bowing to it are not the same. For the sake of our Lord, we can do the latter without the former, meanwhile praying to truly receive the former as another way of drawing closer to Him.