Eternal Security Is Not What You Think It Is

(I am using the ESV, unless otherwise specified, in this post's Scripture references for clarity.)

* Matthew 23:9 forbids calling anyone on earth your "father".  Obviously, I struggle with this.  How else am I to address Douglas Crawshaw Sr. with honor?

 I grew up American Baptist.  My d*d, Douglas Crawshaw Sr. is an American Baptist pastor.  He, and many other people, not just of the American Baptist faith, believe in a "kind" of eternal security, emphasizing that once you're in Christ, you can NEVER lose Christ (The general teaching is also known as "once saved, always saved" or OSAS).  I once overheard Doug Sr.* say that he will take this teaching to his grave.  One of the main proof texts of OSAS is the following:

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

(Eph 1:13-14)

In one sermon, I overheard Doug Sr* say that there is no "unforgivable sin" that will keep you out of Christ.  In another, he suggests that John 15:2 (which partially says: "every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away,...") does not mean being cut off from Christ, but is simply "lifted up", using the Greek word for "takes away" to mean that fruitless Christians need worked on.  (In the April 28 retelling of the John 15:2 sermon, he did at least acknowledge that "airo" can also mean to "take away")

This sounds a lot like perversion of Scripture.  While indeed, followers of Christ will never perish (John 10:28 for example), we are still warned against falling away.  

Hebrews 10:26-31 makes it clear:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

(Heb 10:26-31)

The writer of Hebrews included himself in this passage ("we").  Himself, a fellow believer!  There must be a reason that a believer, on the road to eternal life, is warning his listeners, including himself, about going to Hell, for those who have no sacrifice for sins as a credit indeed go to Hell!

Yet, John 10:28 and Ephesians 1:13-14 suggest that believers are locked in to Paradise.  

However, there IS a way to reconcile all of it.  You see, true believers, true followers of Christ, WILL endure to the end, and they will NOT intentionally live a life of sin after knowing the Truth.  Look at this passage from I John:

1Jn 3:9  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 

So, not only does the Holy Spirit, God's seed, seal the believer, but He also keeps the believer from practicing sin!  Ain't that neat? 

As for enduring to the end, the Book of Hebrews has a bunch of verses talking about that:

Heb 3:14  For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 

Heb 3:6  but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. 

Even Jesus said:

Mat 10:22  and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 

Paul also made a suggestion of endurance:

Act 14:22  strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 

(the NIV gives this rendering: "We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God", this puzzled me in the past, for this rendering suggests that eternal life is conditional.  I now know that eternal life is on the condition of our faith, which does involve endurance of many hardships, as the road to life is a narrow one)

Then, there is this passage:

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

(Heb 6:4-6)

Wait, hasn't this apostate once shared in the same Holy Spirit that sealed Him and kept Him from falling away?  Am I missing something here?  Is the presence of the Holy Spirit temporary?  John 14:16 suggests not:

Joh 14:16  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 

However, I have found another way to reconcile this.  Jesus wasn't lying when He said that believers get the Holy Spirit forever.  Is it also possible for the Holy Spirit to dwell in temporary believers, for the permanent residence of the Holy Spirit is for the destined and enduring?   Correct me if I'm wrong!

Despite all of this, there is a conclusion that I am rock solid on when it comes to eternal security.  Faith in Christ is not a one-time event, and then you're done.  We must continue in the faith until the end, otherwise we go to Hell.  Those who are eternally secure, will indeed continue in the faith.  There are no former Christians in Heaven.

* Matthew 23:9 forbids calling anyone on earth your "father".  Obviously, I struggle with this.  How else am I to address Douglas Crawshaw Sr. with honor?