Unconditional Eternal Security?

By Dan Lirette

Some say you’re eternally secure in Christ no matter what while others say you’re
eternally secure in Christ based on the condition of remaining in Him, or walking in
obedience to His Word, ie, Holiness.

The Doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security is a dangerous Doctrine, as it states,

just as the title implies, that Salvation is unconditional, which Scripture nowhere
teaches.

Unconditional Eternal Security, if taken to it’s logical conclusion, does not require that
you walk in Holiness.

Unconditional eternal security, due to it’s being “unconditional”, doesn’t require

Holiness of Heart and Lifestyle, yet Scripture teaches:

Hebrews 12:14-17 ” Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root
of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any
fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For
ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected:
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. “

This is where I want to start and finish, with Holiness, because this is “where it’s at”, so
to speak.

Apart from all of the other problems with the doctrine of unconditional eternal security,
this is the most problematic of them all.

Advocates of this Doctrine are quick to say, “A true Believer will persevere in Holiness
otherwise they were never truly saved.”

That argument sounds good to some, but it’s nonetheless false, because the doctrine is
unconditional eternal security.

I must then ask, “Why do you believe in Holiness when your doctrine allows for un-
Holiness?”

Unconditional is unconditional, no matter how you cut the cake, so exhorting Believers
to walk in Holiness is nothing more than a noble suggestion with this Doctrine, because
 whether or not your heart-lifestyle is one of Holiness and Purity, you’re still saved,
according to this doctrine, which is simply not validated, but, on the contrary, invalidated,
by Scripture.

Eternal security is not unconditional but it’s 100% conditional on your love and
obedience to Jesus Christ and His Word.

If one does not maintain a lifestyle of Holiness, which comes through the enabling Power
of the Holy Spirit, then one will no longer be secure in Christ:

John 15:1-6 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me
that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are
the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and
is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

I don’t see the doctrine of unconditional eternal security taught here, nor in scores of
other Scriptural references on the topic of Abiding in Christ.

All through Scripture we find warning after warning against falling away, turning from
Christ, going back into the world, etc etc.

Why?

The answer is because your eternal life is conditioned on your love for Christ and
obedience to His Word.

You may be a branch in Christ today, yet if you choose, by an act of your own will, to
turn from God and His Son, the Lord Jesus, you’ll be a branch cut off from the Lord
Jesus and cast into the fire; Christ Himself said do in the Scripture we just read.

“But”, you say, “A true Believer will never deny Christ/turn from Christ.”

That’s not so.

King Saul of the Old Testament was a Believer and he turned from God:

1 Samuel 19:9 “And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house
with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.”

Now remember, King Saul was God’s Chosen Man at one time!
 Saul decided one day that he’d break the Commandment of the Lord, knowing full well
that what he was doing was an abomination in the sight of God; yet he did so nonetheless.

He went from God’s Chosen Man to God’s enemy!

His Salvation was not unconditional.

“But that’s Old Testament!” you say.

True enough; it is.

If the Old Testament is a shadow of the New, how much sorer shall be the punishment of
those who turn from God in this day of Grace?

Take a look at the Book of Jude, New Testament, where Jude speaks of those who are
twice dead…. twice dead, meaning they were spiritually dead and then became spiritually
dead again.

This can only happen if they became alive in Christ at one point:

Jude 1:11-13 “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are
spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear:
clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth,
without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out
their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for
ever.”

In order to be twice dead you must previously have been alive, and without Christ, all are
dead, once, not twice; hence we see that being twice dead necessitates a previous
experience of Repenting and being Born Again and then forfeiting that Salvation.

There’s no possibility of being twice dead unless you were previously alive in Christ.

Now, if Salvation is unconditional, how is it that Scripture speaks of being twice dead?

If Salvation is unconditional, how is it that the writer of the Book of Hebrews speaks of
falling away and never being able to be restored to repentance again?

Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted
the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to
renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame.”
 I don’t see unconditional eternal security here either, Beloved. I see a warning, a stern
warning, to live in Fear and Trembling before a Holy God; I see a warning against
backsliding, as the writer here states that a point will come when restoration is not
possible.

Again, the writer of the Book of Hebrews warns the Church earlier in the Book:

Hebrews 3:7-19 “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I
was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they
have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of
you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if
we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if
ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they
had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom
was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in
the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to
them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Notice here: “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our
confidence stedfast unto the end

If it’s not possible to forfeit one’s Salvation, why was this entire Chapter written?

If it’s not possible to forfeit one’s Salvation, why does the writer warn us over and over
again?

Once again, let’s take one more look at a Scriptural warning given to us by the writer of
Hebrews:

Hebrews 10:26-27 “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”

Note the writer says “if we sin”.

Who’s the “we” in that verse?

You and I and the writer, of course.

If I were to say to you, “We should go to such and such a place”, I’d be referring to
myself and to you.
 The writer was referring to himself and his readers.

Now, what does he say, under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will happen to those who
sin wilfully (deliberately and consistently)?

He tells us that there remains no more sacrifice for sins and only judgment and fiery
indignation which will devour us!

That’s not the definition of Biblical Salvation, Beloved; that’s the definition of
damnation.

Unconditional eternal security is not Scriptural and is contrary to Holiness.

I understand that some won’t like this writing, and yet I also believe that Scripture is
clear on the issue and that we shouldn’t shrink back from declaring what we know to be
the truth; here I write and stand and I can do no other.

Do I believe in eternal security? Absolutely!

I believe, however, as the Scripture teaches, that it is conditioned on our love for Jesus
Christ and obedience to His Word, as Scripture clearly teaches.

May the Lord grant understanding on this issue to those who believe that Eternal Security
is unconditional.