Can I Lose My Salvation? (Crucial Questions)

by R.C. Sproul

Thus, someone commits the unforgivable sin when he knows for certain through the illumination of the Spirit that Christ is the Son of God, but he comes to the conclusion and makes the statement verbally that Christ was demonic.

And the purpose of the Spirit’s work of convicting us of sin is to lead us to repentance to the end that we may be forgiven and restored to the fullness of fellowship with God. To people who fear that they may have committed the unforgivable sin, I often say that had they actually committed it, in all likelihood they would not be disturbed by it. Their hearts would have already become so recalcitrant and hardened that they would not be struggling and wrestling with it. People who commit such sin don’t care about it, and the very fact that these people are wrestling with the fear that perhaps they have offended God in this way gives significant evidence to the reality that they are not in such a state.

And one who has repented falsely once could do so again. But in that case, the author would not speak of being restored again unto repentance, because the first repentance was false. It must be that the author is referring to true repentance, and he is saying that it is impossible for a truly regenerate person, one who has truly repented, to be restored again to repentance if he falls away, because in his falling away he crucifies again the Son of God and holds Him up to contempt. The author is saying that if you do this, you’re finished. There is no possibility of restoration if you fall away to this degree. The argument here is a form of argumentation found throughout the New Testament epistles called the argumentum ad absurdum. This means that you take the premises of your opponent and show how, if they are true, they eventually lead to a conclusion that is absurd. Therefore, the premises are to be rejected. Paul uses this argument in 1 Corinthians 15 when speaking of the resurrection of Christ. When it comes to the Judaizing heresy, the issue turns on the keeping of the law. If the Christian who has embraced the gospel of justification by faith alone now turns back to trying to justify himself through the works of the law—circumcision, keeping the festivals, observing the food laws, etc.—that person cannot be saved, because he has crucified Christ anew. But what does it mean to crucify Christ anew? Christ obviously has only been crucified once. When He was crucified, C...

The doctrine of eternal security should not lead us to take it easy and stop pressing into the kingdom of God; it should, rather, lead us to live out our faith with greater confidence and zeal.

The whole point of Jesus’ prayer is that none whom the Father has given to the Son are lost. No one, He said, can snatch them out of His hand (John 10:28). We persevere because we are preserved, and we are preserved because of the intercession of our Great High Priest. This is our greatest consolation and our greatest source of confidence that we will persevere in the Christian life.