Hello doves, I haven’t written in a looooong time and heard
from my friend Reva a while ago that she missed seeing me post
so first of all shout out to my sister Reva (1 Corinthians
10:31) It takes something important for me to get active
on the keyboard lately and a post by Craig Opal was important
enough for discussion that I thought I had to offer my
thoughts.
I wanted to reply, not
to debate you or try to change your mind but to give you
some food for thought because I have wrestled with the same
things you described in your letter but came out on the
other side of it with a different opinion.
So you make a good point
about the angels who seemed to “lose” their salvation by
choice and so if we are strictly looking at choice - the
question has to be asked why can’t we do the same?
There are many
scriptures that seem to indicate that we can do just that,
and I won’t go into all of them becasue any one who is
convinced that salvation can be lost if we do not maintain
it will already know them.
But I found in my own
personal study that it is the Holy Spirit and specifically
whether or not an individual is filled and sealed with the
Holy Spirit that makes all the difference - so I would think
it is more accurate instead of saying “Once saved always
saved” to rather say “Once SEALED always saved” since that
will help us understand the dynamic that is going on
spiritually - let me explain what I am talking about.
Ephesians 4:30 clearly
says that we should not grieve the Holy Spirit with whom we
are sealed until the day of redemption. So the question I
had to ask of myself is this - when I was born again was I
filled with the Holy Spirit?
If the answer is no,
then none of this matters, there is no argument, if the
answer is no then I do not belong to Christ and am not saved
anyway - but if the answer is yes then we have to ask a
whole other set of questions.
If the answer is yes,
and anyone is truly born again and filled with the Spirit
and is, as Ephesians 4:30 tells us, now sealed with the
Spirit - then here is the question we need to ask- when we
sin and we grieve the Holy Spirit does He leave us and move
out and break the seal He has put on us?
So in other words is the
Holy Spirit in a constant state of moving in and moving out
because we grieve Him with our sin? If He moves out
does He break the seal or “unseal” us? That would not at all
be something described as a seal, since a sealing indicates
ownership, and something more permanent, not some temporary
thing and most Christians agree, that once the Holy Spirit
moves in He does not leave you or forsake you .
So then if the Holy
Spirit does not leave us how then would we lose our
salvation?
This is where I wanted
to give you food for thought - consider - losing your
salvation might have been possible under the Mosaic law, but
how can it be possible after the Holy Spirit is given?
Consider, you had mentioned and used as your example
the angels which willingly chose to sin and lose their
salvation - However this really cannot be compared to us for
2 reasons.
First, the angels were
never “saved” since in thier original state in that they had
nothing to be “saved from”. They were created in a
state of perfection which some chose to willingly vacate,
whereas we were born into a fallen state of sin and
imperfection that we did not choose, and that we needed to
be saved from.
Yes, the angels were
eternally secure, and as long as they maintained their state
of perfection they had eternal security. And it was the
choice of some to leave that state but we can’t technically
call them saved at any point, since they do not have that
state available to them. Our two states are either
saved or lost, while the only two states available to the
angels are either perfect or lost.
God does not offer them
salvation, I suspect because they entered the state of
damnation with full knowledge, willingly, knowing what they
were leaving - whereas we were born into a cursed state, not
knowing why or having made the choice to reject God - it is
our default becasue of our first parents so I suppose God
draws a distinction there and takes greater mercy on us than
the angels who became sinners willfully with knowledge. (You
might argue that our first parents Adam and Eve were also in
a state of perfection at one time and this is true - but
their condition was slightly different in that they were
deceived from without and tempted to leave their state of
perfection whereas Lucifer was tempted from within as were
all of the other fallen angels who had no reason to not
believe God since they lived constantly in His presence)
But secondly and more
importantly - ask yourself this - were any of the fallen
angels ever filled with God’s Holy Spirit?
Consider, none of the
angels are filled with the Holy Spirit becasue they simply
don’t need it, they were created perfect without the Holy
Spirit in dwelling them and the fallen angels chose to leave
this state of perfection for a lie from Satan that they
could be like God, without God (which would include being
like God without His Holy Spirit obviously)
So ask yourself, now in
this hypothetical, if Lucifer himself were ever filled
with God’s Holy Spirit do you think he could have been
capable of rebellion and falling away from God? Or do
you think he would have sinned by wanting to be like God if
he already had God in him in the form of the Holy Spirit?
God’s Spirit is what makes all of the difference - it
was simply not available to the angels, either holy or
fallen, and as a human if you have it you are safe, and if
you don’t have it you are lost.
Satan causes us to doubt
our salvation so as to try to keep us in a works based
salvation mode which is not acceptable to God - He rejects
all of our good works for salvation. We cannot work
our way to salvation and once we are saved we cannot work to
keep our salvation, otherwise it would not be the grace and
glory of God to save us, it would be our own works.
However that gives rise to the next lie of Satan.
Now, this idea (greasy
grace becasue of the confidence in OSAS) also is twisted by
Satan, and I sensed this at the end of your letter, because
you are correct, God does very much expect good works out of
us after we are saved, but not to keep us saved, rather
these good works become the evidence of a changed heart and
life and at this point the result of these works is reward
and authority in heaven, not to maintain salvation which we
never could attain by works and certainly cannot keep by
works.
So anyway, I hope I have
offered some food for thought without being divisive,
argumentative or obnoxious about it - these are just the
conclusions I have reached in my own struggle trying to
balance some of these ideas - my goal is in love to try to
let my iron sharpen your iron, and I hope it was received as
such.
2 Timothy 1:12 (b)
”……for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He
is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that
Day.“