by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The writer of Hebrews talks about “full assurance of faith<\/em>” and warns about developing “an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God<\/em>.” Therefore, a Christian can be assured of their salvation and “make their calling and election sure<\/em>” (II Peter 1:5-12), while acknowledging that they can still fall away and lose their security.<\/p>\n There is a false doctrine of eternal security that says “once-saved-always-saved.” The Bible does not teach this. A person can “fall from grace<\/em>” (Galatians 5:1-4) and be worse than before (II Peter 2:20f). So, there is no automatic security that keeps you covered no matter what you decide to do. But on the other hand, we can do things that “make our calling and election sure<\/em>” and “if you do these things you will never stumble<\/em>” (II Peter 1:5-12).<\/p>\n So, if we want to be sure and secure, we can take steps to maintain our security. We can be afraid to come short of the eternal rest by being diligent to “mix” the word into our faith (Hebrews 4:1-2). If we don’t keep mixing God’s word into our faith, we ought to feel insecure. But combining it into our faith has a way of “building you up and giving you an inheritance<\/em>” (Acts 20:32).<\/p>\n Mixing it into our faith makes us more aware of our duties and keeps us near to God, taking advantage of His exceeding great and precious promises. When we fall into sin, we feel a need to “confess our sins<\/em>” (I John 1:7-9). He is faithful to forgive us, and our assurance level continues to grow.<\/p>\n The word of God is powerful (Hebrews 4:12), and incorporating it into our faith gives us the power of strong conviction and “full assurance of hope<\/em>” (Hebrews 6:11) and “strong consolation<\/em>” (Hebrews 6:18) in God and His promises. The New Covenant of Jesus has “surety” that He “is able to save to the uttermost<\/em>” (Hebrews 7:22,25).<\/p>\n When we know Jesus as our High Priest we can “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith<\/em>” (Hebrews 10:22). With all the benefits available in Christ, we should feel empowered to be “more than conquerors<\/em>” and know we have victory even over death, victory over sin, and victory over doubt and fear.<\/p>\n We can live a life of security and have “boldness in the day of judgment<\/em>” (I John 4:17). We can have confidence in Him (I John 5:14). That is the eternal security that God wants each of us to be diligent to have by daily mixing His word into our faith.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The writer of Hebrews talks about “full assurance of faith” and warns about developing “an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” Therefore, a Christian can be assured of their salvation and “make their calling and election sure” (II Peter 1:5-12), while acknowledging that they can still fall…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[427,58],"class_list":["post-89121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-eternal-security","tag-once-saved-always-saved"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92068,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-election-sure\/","url_meta":{"origin":89121,"position":0},"title":"Is Election Sure?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton I have heard Calvinists make a distinction between \"salvation\" and \"election.\" They say we can lose our salvation but not our election. One is sure and the other is not, according to their perspective. This would mean that all who are temporarily saved from sin are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/once-saved-always-saved-refuted-can-a-christian-fall-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":89121,"position":1},"title":"\u201cOnce Saved, Always Saved\u201d Refuted: Can a Christian Fall Away?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Christians (those truly \"saved to begin with\") can: Depart from the faith (I Timothy 4:1) Wander away from the faith (I Timothy 6:10) Swerve from the faith (I Timothy 6:21) Abandon our faith (I Timothy 5:12) Make a shipwreck of our faith (I Timothy 1:19) Fall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16603,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-paul-say-take-heed-lest-you-fall-and-peter-says-you-shall-never-fall\/","url_meta":{"origin":89121,"position":2},"title":"Why does Paul say, “take heed lest you fall” and Peter says “you shall never fall?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Corinthians 10:12 Paul states: \"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.\" Then in II Peter 1:10 \"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.\" Can you explain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31321,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/theres-no-security-for-the-believer-in-once-saved-always-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":89121,"position":3},"title":"There’s No Security for the Believer in ‘Once Saved, Always Saved’","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Al Diestelkamp via\u00a0Think on These Things, Volume 41, No. 1, Jan-Mar 2010 There is a belief in many Protestant churches, and especially popular among those who would describe themselves as \"evangelicals,\" known as the doctrine of \"The Security of the Believer.\" In Calvinism's TULIP acronym, it is represented by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/insecure.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14991,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-found-your-articles-pertaining-to-eternal-security-to-be-excellent\/","url_meta":{"origin":89121,"position":4},"title":"I found your articles pertaining to eternal security to be excellent","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read some of your excellent\u00a0articles pertaining to eternal security\u00a0on your web site. It is unfortunate that more people do no share your discernment. Even though I was raised with this teaching, I have never been able to make peace with it. Answer: Thank you for your kind words.","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90732,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-really-lose-your-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":89121,"position":5},"title":"Can You Really Lose Your Salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clay Gentry You've no doubt heard the saying, \"Once saved, always saved.\" It's a slogan, rooted in Calvinism, meant to express an assurance of eternal security. But then, you've no doubt heard the counterargument: \"No, you can lose your salvation.\" While the latter is said with good intentions, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}