Losing our salvation
Many Christians believe the doctrine of “once saved, always saved” – that once we’re born again, we can never lose our salvation. I know as confessional Lutherans we believe Christians can forfeit their salvation, as 1 Corinthians 10:12 warns. But others contend that really the Corinthians had just fallen out of fellowship with God, but they hadn't lost their salvation. They argue: Can someone who is born, become unborn? My question is, can a person who has truly been born again, become spiritually unborn?
People who have been born can die. People who have been born again can die again. The Bible speaks often of people who have fallen from faith. The Bible says both that people can fall from faith and that God will keep us safe. We have to let both of these truths stand.
Among the many passages about this are Galatians 5:4 and Matthew 13:18-22. These passages do not say that the people who fall are just out of fellowship for a while, it says they have fallen from grace. We have to remain with what the Bible says, not with what our theory requires. See also Hebrews 6:4-6.
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