The doctrine of eternal security, also known as "Once Saved, Always Saved" or "Perseverance of Saints", is a hotly debated topic in many Christian circles. Some Christians think it means that you can live any way you want to and still be saved, while other Christians believe this doctrine is one of the most beautiful Gospel truths in the Bible. This topic has been debated throughout every century since the inception of the Christian church. What exactly is the doctrine of Eternal Security? According to Wikipedia, Eternal Security is
"the belief that from the moment anyone becomes a Christian, they will be saved from hell and will not lose their salvation"
That is a very simplistic definition of this doctrine, but what does the Bible say concerning this issue? In this blog, I shall be discussing what the Bible says and then I will discuss what happens to one's mental health when they deny this doctrine. I believe that the Eternal Security doctrine is an amazing truth that every Christian must embrace. It means that no matter how you live, your salvation is secure in Christ. Does this mean that you can go on sinning? Well, no, but when you do sin, you are covered by the grace of Christ's atoning work on the cross. God has given you a new heart with new desires so that you can live in a way that glorifies God. I understand that you want me to give the Bible scriptures that support this position right now. The first scripture I'd like to draw your attention to actually comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself. John 10:28 tells us,
"I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand"
As you can see here, Jesus is clearly telling us that anyone who belongs to Him will never perish because no one can snatch us from His hand. Some Christians say that we can choose to leave Christ on our own, but that would imply that we can "snatch" ourselves out of His grasp, but Jesus says that NO MAN can do that. This would include ourselves. When we come to Jesus Christ for salvation, we will never perish because we cannot be snatched from His grasp. We can fall into a season of sin, but the Lord still has us in His grip. Another verse I'd like to draw your attention to comes from 1 Peter 1:3-5. which says,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time"
At the moment of our salvation, we are literally born again in Christ. In the same way that we had no control over our natural birth, we had no control over our new spiritual birth in Christ. It was not up to us, but it was entirely God's decision to make us born again. As a result of us being born again, we now have an inheritance that is undefiled, imperishable, and unfading. This clearly means that we cannot lose our salvation or give it back. If we could lose our salvation or give it back, then that would mean that our salvation was perishable, defiled, and fading, which is contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture. Once we are truly born again in Jesus Christ, we are forever saved and absolutely nothing we do will ever cause us to lose our inheritance. Another verse I'd like to draw your attention to comes from Ephesians 1:3-4. which says.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him"
God chose each of us individually before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him. This means that before God created anything whatsoever, He had each of us in mind. He decided that we individually would be seen as blameless before Him, even though each of us sins every single day. He decided that because of what Christ has done on our behalf He would never hold our sin against us. This is an amazing truth that every Christian needs to grasp. Many Christians still hold onto some legalism and it is destroying their hope in this life because the legalism kills. Does this mean that we can go around living like a devil? Of course not! Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20,
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me"
Our identity is found in Jesus Christ and that means we have been crucified with Him. This means that we are literally dead to sin. How can we ever go on living in sin when we are dead to it? No, if we are truly born again, then we will live a new life that is pleasing and glorifying to God because it is no longer us living, but instead, it is Christ living in us. So, what about people who profess faith in Christ who end up walking away from the faith? 1 John 2:19 tells us,
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; if they had been of us, they would have continued with us"
When someone who professes to be a Christian walks away from the faith, that is evidence that they were never truly saved to begin with. All that they had was a false profession of faith. I know this is a difficult concept to grasp because we all know someone who seemed to be in the faith for thirty years and then walked away. However, the Scriptures are clear about them walking away as evidence that they were never saved to begin with. All they had was a very deceitful work of the flesh that convinced them they were when in fact they never truly were saved.
So, what does all this mean for mental health? I have realized one distinctive way that our mental health is affected once we deny the doctrine of Eternal Security. I will get into this in a moment, but before I do, I'd like to say that this is not the only effect. This is just the only one I would like to focus on for the sake of this blog, but if you can think of more, please let me know in the comments below. Now, it is time for me to explain the three things that happen to your mental health when you deny this doctrine.
Mental Unrest
When you deny this doctrine, you fall into mental unrest. What I mean by this is that you can never find any peace of mind because you are constantly worried about losing your salvation. When you deny this doctrine, you end up constantly worrying about whether or not a certain sin will cause you to fall out of favor with God and damn you to hell. As someone who used to believe this way, I can personally testify to how bad this way of thinking is on one's mental health. When I was younger in the faith, I was fully aware that I would sin every single day and every moment of the day. My conscious was very weak and as a result of this, I would always think that any time I would sin my salvation was lost. It is for this reason that I can identify with Martin Luther so well. Before he converted to the true Gospel, he was constantly plagued with guilt to the point of constantly confessing every little sin to the priest. As a result, his priest will tell him to not come back until he commits some "real sins". When you do not have a proper understanding of God's grace in Christ, you will always be plagued with guilt and be in a state of mental unrest and anxiety.
I hope that this blog helps you to better understand the doctrine of Eternal Security and what it means for your mental health when you deny this doctrine. Grace is amazing when you truly understand once you are born again, you will never lose your salvation no matter what you do in this life because your salvation is dependent on God and not on yourself. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this blog and please share this with someone you think needs to read this. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
"the belief that from the moment anyone becomes a Christian, they will be saved from hell and will not lose their salvation"
That is a very simplistic definition of this doctrine, but what does the Bible say concerning this issue? In this blog, I shall be discussing what the Bible says and then I will discuss what happens to one's mental health when they deny this doctrine. I believe that the Eternal Security doctrine is an amazing truth that every Christian must embrace. It means that no matter how you live, your salvation is secure in Christ. Does this mean that you can go on sinning? Well, no, but when you do sin, you are covered by the grace of Christ's atoning work on the cross. God has given you a new heart with new desires so that you can live in a way that glorifies God. I understand that you want me to give the Bible scriptures that support this position right now. The first scripture I'd like to draw your attention to actually comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself. John 10:28 tells us,
"I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand"
As you can see here, Jesus is clearly telling us that anyone who belongs to Him will never perish because no one can snatch us from His hand. Some Christians say that we can choose to leave Christ on our own, but that would imply that we can "snatch" ourselves out of His grasp, but Jesus says that NO MAN can do that. This would include ourselves. When we come to Jesus Christ for salvation, we will never perish because we cannot be snatched from His grasp. We can fall into a season of sin, but the Lord still has us in His grip. Another verse I'd like to draw your attention to comes from 1 Peter 1:3-5. which says,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time"
At the moment of our salvation, we are literally born again in Christ. In the same way that we had no control over our natural birth, we had no control over our new spiritual birth in Christ. It was not up to us, but it was entirely God's decision to make us born again. As a result of us being born again, we now have an inheritance that is undefiled, imperishable, and unfading. This clearly means that we cannot lose our salvation or give it back. If we could lose our salvation or give it back, then that would mean that our salvation was perishable, defiled, and fading, which is contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture. Once we are truly born again in Jesus Christ, we are forever saved and absolutely nothing we do will ever cause us to lose our inheritance. Another verse I'd like to draw your attention to comes from Ephesians 1:3-4. which says.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him"
God chose each of us individually before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him. This means that before God created anything whatsoever, He had each of us in mind. He decided that we individually would be seen as blameless before Him, even though each of us sins every single day. He decided that because of what Christ has done on our behalf He would never hold our sin against us. This is an amazing truth that every Christian needs to grasp. Many Christians still hold onto some legalism and it is destroying their hope in this life because the legalism kills. Does this mean that we can go around living like a devil? Of course not! Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20,
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me"
Our identity is found in Jesus Christ and that means we have been crucified with Him. This means that we are literally dead to sin. How can we ever go on living in sin when we are dead to it? No, if we are truly born again, then we will live a new life that is pleasing and glorifying to God because it is no longer us living, but instead, it is Christ living in us. So, what about people who profess faith in Christ who end up walking away from the faith? 1 John 2:19 tells us,
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; if they had been of us, they would have continued with us"
When someone who professes to be a Christian walks away from the faith, that is evidence that they were never truly saved to begin with. All that they had was a false profession of faith. I know this is a difficult concept to grasp because we all know someone who seemed to be in the faith for thirty years and then walked away. However, the Scriptures are clear about them walking away as evidence that they were never saved to begin with. All they had was a very deceitful work of the flesh that convinced them they were when in fact they never truly were saved.
So, what does all this mean for mental health? I have realized one distinctive way that our mental health is affected once we deny the doctrine of Eternal Security. I will get into this in a moment, but before I do, I'd like to say that this is not the only effect. This is just the only one I would like to focus on for the sake of this blog, but if you can think of more, please let me know in the comments below. Now, it is time for me to explain the three things that happen to your mental health when you deny this doctrine.
Mental Unrest
When you deny this doctrine, you fall into mental unrest. What I mean by this is that you can never find any peace of mind because you are constantly worried about losing your salvation. When you deny this doctrine, you end up constantly worrying about whether or not a certain sin will cause you to fall out of favor with God and damn you to hell. As someone who used to believe this way, I can personally testify to how bad this way of thinking is on one's mental health. When I was younger in the faith, I was fully aware that I would sin every single day and every moment of the day. My conscious was very weak and as a result of this, I would always think that any time I would sin my salvation was lost. It is for this reason that I can identify with Martin Luther so well. Before he converted to the true Gospel, he was constantly plagued with guilt to the point of constantly confessing every little sin to the priest. As a result, his priest will tell him to not come back until he commits some "real sins". When you do not have a proper understanding of God's grace in Christ, you will always be plagued with guilt and be in a state of mental unrest and anxiety.
I hope that this blog helps you to better understand the doctrine of Eternal Security and what it means for your mental health when you deny this doctrine. Grace is amazing when you truly understand once you are born again, you will never lose your salvation no matter what you do in this life because your salvation is dependent on God and not on yourself. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this blog and please share this with someone you think needs to read this. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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