Can a Christian Lose Salvation?

Can a Christian lose salvation? It’s a question that many have asked, along with Can I be sure I am going to Heaven?

In one of my recent articles, a pastor from the 1600s offered the suffering Christian the encouragement that whatever they are suffering here on earth is “all the hell you shall ever know.” A commentator on that post asked “Can a Christian lose salvation?”

Lets make this personal:

What if I slip up and fall? What if I commit a big sin?

What if I ‘backslide’ on my faith, perhaps even renouncing it?

Can a Christian lose salvation?

Having once followed Jesus can we end up being cast aside?

At risk of being accused of offering a spoiler, I will quote at the outset one of my first blogging buddies, David Wayne, who said:

“It is true that, if you are truly saved, you cannot lose your salvation, but it is equally true that there are many who think they are saved and who aren’t.” David Wayne

There is a vital question we must ask ourselves, therefore, before we get into this subject of losing salvation:

1. Am I really a Christian at all?

Often when we worry about whether we can lose our salvation it really reflects a concern about whether we ever had it in the first place. I wrote a piece a while back now on these dreadful words of Jesus:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

 Matthew 7:21-27