Can I

Lose My
Salvation?

Crucial Questions

R. C. S P R O U L
Can I Lose My Salvation?
 Crucial Questions booklets provide a quick
introduction to definitive Christian truths. This
expanding collection includes titles such as:

Who Is Jesus?

Can I Trust the Bible?

Does Prayer Change Things?

Can I Know God’s Will?

How Should I Live in This World?

What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?

Can I Be Sure I’m Saved?

What Is Faith?

What Can I Do with My Guilt?

What Is the Trinity?

TO BROWSE THE REST OF THE SERIES,

P L E A S E V I S I T: R E F O R M AT I O N T R U S T. C O M / C Q
 CQ

Can I
Lose My
Salvation?

R. C. S P R O U L
Can I Lose My Salvation?
© 2015 by R.C. Sproul
Published by Reformation Trust Publishing
a division of Ligonier Ministries
421 Ligonier Court, Sanford, FL 32771
Ligonier.org ReformationTrust.com
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Cover design: Ligonier Creative
Interior typeset: Katherine Lloyd, The DESK
All Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sproul, R.C. (Robert Charles), 1939-2017
Can I lose my salvation? / by R.C. Sproul. -- First edition.
pages cm. -- (Crucial questions series ; No. 22)
ISBN 978-1-56769-499-4
1. Assurance (Theology) 2. Salvation--Christianity. I. Title.
BT785.S675 2015
234--dc23
2015018384
 Contents

One Stones of Remembrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Two Those Who Fall Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Three The Unforgivable Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Four Impossible to Be Restored Again . . . . . . 29

Five The Gift of Perseverance . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Six The Carnal Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Seven Our Great High Priest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

 Chapter One

Stones of
Remembrance

S oon after I became a Christian in college, a friend of

mine took me to meet an elderly lady who lived alone
in a small trailer. This woman was one of the most radiant
Christian women I have ever met. She was an authentic
prayer warrior; she would pray eight hours every day for
all kinds of concerns. My friend explained to this lady that
I had just recently become a Christian. Delighted, she
looked at me and said, “Young man, what you need to do
is drive a spiritual stake in the ground right now.” I had no

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

idea what she was talking about, but she explained to me

that I needed to make sure that my conversion was forever.
I was to remember this time in my life, the moment of my
conversion, so that when I would come to struggles in the
future, I would look back to that moment.
Her advice was reminiscent of an event in the book of
Joshua, which tells the story of the Israelites’ entering the
Promised Land. The Israelites had gone through the exo-
dus, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the forty years of
wandering in the wilderness. Now, finally, they were pre-
paring to enter Canaan. But this final leg of the journey
wouldn’t be easy, either.
Between them and the Promised Land was the Jordan
River. It was at flood stage; it had overflowed its banks and
was about a mile wide. And of course, on the other side
were the Canaanites, who had heard of Israel’s approach
and were preparing to meet them.
As the people of Israel stood by the river, God gave
Joshua their marching orders: the priests were to advance
to the water carrying the ark of the covenant. As they
stepped into the water, the river rolled back twenty miles
and the riverbed was dry. And so this whole body of people
crossed over the Jordan into the Promised Land.

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 Stones of Remembrance

Then Joshua gave the people an assignment:

When all the nation had finished passing over the

Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Take twelve
men from the people, from each tribe a man, and
command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from
here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very
place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring
them over with you and lay them down in the place
where you lodge tonight.’” Then Joshua called the
twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had
appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to
them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God
into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you
a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number
of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be
a sign among you. When your children ask in time
to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then
you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were
cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the
Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the
people of Israel a memorial forever.” (Josh. 4:1–7)

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

The people were to put a pillar of twelve stones in the

middle of this riverbed as a memorial to this event. Then,
representatives from each tribe were each to take a stone
from the riverbed and set up a memorial at Gilgal, where
they were staying that night.
There are examples of this kind of memorial-making
throughout the Old Testament. Noah built an altar upon
being rescued from the ravages of the flood (Gen. 8:20–
22). Jacob set up a memorial after his vision of the ladder
reaching to heaven (Gen. 28:10–22). David built an altar
at the spot where a plague from the Lord stopped (1 Sam.
24). These monuments marked decisive moments in his-
tory for all future generations so that when the people of
Israel were afraid and needed consolation, they could look
and see this reminder that God was with them. He had
brought them thus far and He had promised to take them
the rest of the way. In other words, these memorials were
to be visible reminders for the people in the midst of their
struggle, in the midst of their doubts, in the midst of their
fears, to look to the God who had delivered them in the
first place.
As my friend impressed upon me, we need this kind
of reminder in an uncertain world. As we struggle through

4
 Stones of Remembrance

the Christian life, we sometimes wrestle with our security

in Christ. We want to be safe, to feel secure, and we need
assurance that our security will last. The key question here
is, “Can a person who is truly and soundly converted to
Christ lose his or her salvation?” Or, more personally, “Can
I lose my salvation?” This gets at the issue of the doctrine of
eternal security, also known as the perseverance of the saints,
which is the P in the famous Calvinist acronym TULIP.
This being such a crucial issue for believers, it has
sparked great controversy through the history of the
church, leading to a variety of answers to the question.
During the sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church
disputed with the Reformers because the Reformers said
that a person can be justified by faith alone, and upon their
justification, they can have an assurance of their present
state of salvation. But the Reformers made a distinction
between assurance of salvation—that is, certainty that one
is currently saved, with no comment on whether one will
remain saved—and perseverance of the saints—certainty
that one will continue to be saved into the eternal future.
Rome denies the doctrine of eternal security and even
denies the doctrine of the assurance of salvation except for
a special, elite group of saints such as the Virgin Mary or

5
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

Francis of Assisi. Because Rome has always taught that one

can commit a mortal sin and thus lose salvific grace, they
opposed the Reformation concept of perseverance or eter-
nal security.
Within the Reformation itself, there was a dispute
between the Lutherans and the Reformed because many
Lutheran theologians took the position that a person can
have a present assurance of salvation, but that saving faith
can be lost, and with it, one’s justification. In the later
development of the Reformed churches, there was a fierce
debate in the Netherlands. A group called the Remon-
strants modified Dutch Calvinism and argued against the
perseverance of the saints, taking the position that salva-
tion can be lost.
In the Bible itself, there are many passages that strongly
suggest that people can indeed lose their salvation (e.g.,
Heb. 6:4–6; 2 Peter 2:20–22). And yet, on the other side,
there are also many passages that seem to be promises that
God will preserve His people to the end. In the latter cat-
egory, for instance, there is Paul’s statement that “he who
began a good work in you will bring it to completion at
the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). Scripture has a unified
message, but it’s difficult at times to reconcile these two

6
 Stones of Remembrance

sets of teachings. And in the final analysis, it is through

looking at Scripture that the question should be resolved.
In the ancient church, the Latin phrase that was used
in connection with this debate was militia christianae. This
phrase has to do with the ongoing struggle of the Chris-
tian life. I think that’s where we live—not in the abstract
environment of philosophical or theological concepts, but
in the midst of a real sense of struggle in our daily lives
as Christians. The idea of militia christianae points to the
struggle of the Christian life, the struggle of the Christian
who is called to endure in the faith.
We remember Jesus’ statement that “the one who
endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13). We think
also of when Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the
plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke
9:62). Jesus warns those who have come out of false beliefs
and embraced the faith not to look back.
Clearly, there are those who seem to make a credible
profession of faith and then later repudiate that profession
of faith. I think that anyone who has been a Christian for
more than a year knows people like that, people who, to
all outward appearances, seem to have been dedicated to
Christianity and then later left the faith or left the church.

7
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

And so we have to ask the question: How is that possible, if

we are to maintain the idea that one who was once in grace
will remain in grace?
This question can get very personal, as well. It’s not
just theoretical. As we experience the ups and downs of
life, those changes that are part of the impermanency of
our daily experience, we are tempted to raise the ultimate
question: If I’m presently in a state of faith, if I’m pres-
ently embracing Christ, will that change? Will the status
that I enjoy in the presence of God change? Can I lose my
salvation?

8
 Chapter Two

Those Who
Fall Away

T here are perhaps few things as complicated as the golf

swing. There are a hundred things to remember, and
keeping track of every little thing can feel overwhelming.
Picking up the game can take hours upon hours of prac-
tice, and it seems that it can never truly be mastered.
Over the course of my playing career, there have been
many times when I’ve learned a swing key—a drill, posi-
tion, or something else to focus on—that I thought would
transform my game. I would be so excited to go out on the

9
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

golf course and try this key, and I would be thrilled as the
key would work in an amazingly productive manner, help-
ing me shoot a great round of golf.
One day, after using a particular swing key, I thought
I had it all figured out. But my golf pro warned me that
there is a junior-grade deity who hangs around golf courses
waiting for golfers to think they’ve got it figured out. Then
he takes it all away.
The phenomenon of the transient usefulness of swing
keys once led me to accept the existence of what I call
“WOOD keys,” meaning “works only one day.” I’ve had
lots of WOOD keys. I repeat the exact same technique that
I used the first time, but on the second day, nothing seems
to be working right. I’ve certainly relied on a few of those
WOOD keys, and my golf game has advanced one day,
only to fall again the next day.
The Bible speaks about this dynamic in the life of some
professing believers. What we’re describing here theo-
logically is called apostasy, a term based on a Greek word
meaning “to stand away from.” To fall into apostasy means
to reach a position but then to abandon it. So, when we
talk about those who have become apostate or who have
committed apostasy, we’re talking about those who have

10
 Those Who Fall Away

fallen from the faith or at least have fallen from their first
profession of faith. This is the exact topic we’re discuss-
ing when we ask questions about the doctrine of eternal
security or the perseverance of the saints. We’re asking: Is it
possible for a Christian who’s truly regenerated, who truly
believes in Christ, to apostatize?
There are many texts in the New Testament that warn
about this presumed possibility. Paul admonishes the
Corinthians, “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take
heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:14). Is Paul merely rebuking a
kind of arrogance whereby a person has a false assurance of
his standing, or is he warning against ever coming to the
conclusion that you are in a state of grace that cannot be
lost? Those who argue against the doctrine of eternal secu-
rity say Paul was here clearly denying such a teaching and
warning against it. Since it hardly seems likely that Paul
would warn against the possibility of such a fall if indeed
such a fall were manifestly impossible, they interpret this
verse to be a denial of the possibility of eternal security.
Another verse that is sometimes regarded as evidence
against the guaranteed perseverance of the saints appears in
Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Near the end of his life and min-
istry, Paul urges his protégé to fight the good fight of faith:

11
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child,

in accordance with the prophecies previously made
about you, that by them you may wage the good
warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By
rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their
faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander,
whom I have handed over to Satan that they may
learn not to blaspheme. (1 Tim. 1:18–20)

Here, Paul gives instructions and admonitions that are

related to the battle or the good fight of the faith, the ongo-
ing struggle of the Christian life. He warns Timothy to
keep the faith and a good conscience and to be reminded
of those who didn’t. He also speaks of particular individu-
als, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who, first of all, made
shipwreck of their faith; and, second of all, were actually
excommunicated by the Apostle (this is what is meant by
having “handed [them] over to Satan that they may learn
not to blaspheme”). So, here we have not just an abstract
warning but a specific, personal warning coupled with con-
crete examples of people who apparently have experienced
a grievous fall away from the purity of their Christian faith.
Elsewhere, Paul himself speaks of pummeling his body

12
 Those Who Fall Away

to subdue it and of being involved in the discipline of the

things of God lest, he says, “I myself should be disquali-
fied” (1 Cor. 9:27). Paul thus sets before the reader, at least
hypothetically, the possibility that he, even as the Apostle
to the Gentiles, might become disqualified. This wording
is similar to that in Jesus’ warnings in the Sermon on the
Mount that many would come to him on the last day, say-
ing, “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 He will say, “I never knew you; depart
from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:22–23).
Of course, the strongest warning against apostasy in all
of Scripture is found in Hebrews 6, which is so important
to this discussion that it receives its own treatment in chap-
ter four of this book.
It is perfectly clear from the text of 1 Timothy 1, as
well as narrative examples that we find in the Scriptures—
for example, the well-known leaders King David and the
Apostle Peter—that it is certainly possible for people who
profess faith in Jesus Christ to fall in some sense of the
word. We noticed in the case of Hymenaeus and Alexan-
der that Paul had excommunicated them for their own
instruction that they might learn not to blaspheme. Several

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

questions remain, however, about the nature of the spiri-

tual crises that are recorded for us in Scripture and of the
egregious occasions when professing believers fall and fall
radically. These questions have to do with whether there
are different degrees of falling and whether falling radically
means that one has irretrievably lost one’s salvation.
The Italian Reformed scholar Girolamo Zanchi once
made the distinction between a serious fall and a total fall.
He argued that the Bible is replete with examples of true
believers who truly fall away, who fall into gross sin and, on
some occasions, protracted periods of impenitence. This is
a serious fall. An example is David, who remained impeni-
tent regarding his sin with Bathsheba for more than a year
before he was brought back to repentance and renewal of
his faith. So, the question is not “Do people fall?” They do
fall. Each and every Christian is subject to the possibility
of a serious fall. But is someone who commits a serious fall
eternally lost—making it a total fall—or is the fall a tem-
porary condition that will be remedied by his restoration?
Church discipline has the aim of restoring those who
have made a profession of faith but then live in great,
impenitent sin. In other words, church discipline attempts
to keep a serious fall from turning into a total fall. There

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 Those Who Fall Away

are stages or steps to church discipline, the final step of

which is excommunication. But when a person is excom-
municated from fellowship in the church and is considered
by the church as being in the same state as an unbeliever,
even that is designed to reclaim and to recover that per-
son, to see him restored to fellowship. Similarly, when Paul
handed Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan, he still
held out hope that through such a disciplinary process they
would come to their senses and be restored once again to
the fellowship of Christ.
While some will return after a serious fall, some will
not, because they never actually had faith. They made a
false profession of faith; they did not possess what they pro-
fessed. When the heat comes, such a person will flee from
his original profession, resulting in a total fall. In cases like
this, the conversion was not genuine in the first place. This
is illustrated in Jesus’ parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1–
9). In that parable, the seed that falls on different kinds
of ground—the hard ground of the path, rocky ground,
ground covered with thorns, and the good soil. In some
cases, the seed germinates initially, but it is withered by the
noonday sun or choked by the thorns. As Jesus explains,
the parable refers to people and how they receive the Word

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

as it comes to them (vv. 18–23). Some receive the Word

and profess faith but do not endure; they fall away.
The Apostle John speaks of those who went out from
the midst of the communion of fellowship. He said: “They
went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had
been of us, they would have continued with us. But they
went out, that it might become plain that they all are not
of us” (1 John 2:19). So John, at least in that particular
incident, does speak clearly under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit about certain people who departed from the
faith, and he says of those people, “they were not of us.” At
least in this particular case, he is describing the apostasy of
people who had made a profession of faith but who were
never really converted.
The challenge, then, is to distinguish between a true
believer in the midst of a serious fall (who will at some
point in the future be restored) and a person who has
made a false profession of faith. We cannot read the hearts
of others, so we do not know, when we see a person who
has made a profession of faith later repudiate that profes-
sion, whether the person may yet be a true convert who
is only temporarily abandoning his profession and will
return to it.

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 Those Who Fall Away

Many of us have known friends or family members

who seemed for all outward appearances to have made a
genuine profession of faith. We thought their profession
was credible. We embraced them as brothers or sisters, only
to find out that they later repudiated that faith. What are
we to do in a situation like that? I recommend at least two
responses: first, pray like crazy, and second, wait. We don’t
know the final outcome of the situation, but God does,
and only God can preserve that soul.

17
 Chapter Three

The
Unforgivable Sin

I frequently receive letters from around the world. People

write in asking questions—sometimes the questions are
more academic, and sometimes they are more personal and
practical. Very often, possibly at least once a month, I get
a letter from someone who is profoundly concerned that
he or she has committed the unforgivable sin spoken of by
Jesus. While this is a biblical and theological issue, it’s not
an abstract one, as these folks are profoundly tormented by
that concern. The question of whether or not we can fall

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

out of God’s good graces touches us at the core of our faith

and our lives.
The warning about the unforgivable sin that comes
from Jesus is contained in each of the Synoptic Gospels.
When considering this issue, it’s important to keep in
mind the context, as without the context, we run the risk
of misunderstanding what Jesus is referring to. To get a
sense of the context, let’s look at Matthew’s account:

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and

mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so
that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were
amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only
by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man
casts out demons.” (Matt. 12:22–24)

The issue of the unforgivable sin arises after Jesus heals

a demon-possessed man, which astonished the people who
observed the healing and immediately inspired the ques-
tion, “Can this be the son of David?” which is to say, “Is
this the Messiah?”
However, the Pharisees, who were in fierce opposition to

20
 The Unforgivable Sin

Jesus, suggested an alternative interpretation of the event.

They weren’t ready to accede that Jesus had performed this
miracle by virtue of His being the Messiah; rather, they
said He was borrowing power from Satan himself. They
said He did these things by the power of the Beelzebul—
“lord of the flies,” a title for Satan.
Notice that neither side denied the reality of the power
that was exhibited on that occasion. The question was the
source of that power and the identity of the person who
was exercising that power. Let’s go on with the text:

Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every

kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no
city or house divided against itself will stand. And if
Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.
How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out
demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast
them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But
if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or
how can someone enter a strong man’s house and
plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong
man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever

does not gather with me scatters.” (vv. 25–30)

Jesus says, in effect, “This isn’t the power of Satan. This

is the power of God and, specifically, the power of God
the Holy Spirit.” This is the context in which the Holy
Spirit is brought into the discussion. Then Jesus gives his
dreadful warning:

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will

be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the
Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a
word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but
whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
(vv. 31–32)

There’s a technical point to be made about calling this

sin the “unforgivable sin.” What do we mean by unforgiv-
able? In the very strictest meaning of the term, it means
“unable to be forgiven.” But, technically speaking, God has
the ability to forgive any sin if He so desires. So, when we
call it the “unforgivable sin,” we mean by that that it is a

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 The Unforgivable Sin

sin that will in fact not be forgiven by God, not because

God can’t do it but God won’t do it. That’s the warning that
Jesus makes to those who are charging Him with doing His
miracles by the power of Satan. He warns them that there
is a sin that God will not forgive either in this world or in
the world to come.
What is more difficult to understand is that Jesus also
says that people can sin against the Son of Man and be
forgiven, but they won’t be forgiven if they sin against the
Holy Spirit. That’s hard to conceptualize for the simple
reason that we believe in the Trinity—one God in three
persons. There’s the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and these three are one God; the “Son of Man” refers to the
second person of the Trinity. Why would sinning against
the second person of the Trinity be forgivable but a par-
ticular sin against the third person not be forgivable?
There is a somewhat simple solution to this dilemma.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t say that it’s any sin against the
Holy Spirit that is unforgivable. We sin against the Holy
Spirit all the time. In fact, every sin that we commit as
Christians is an offense to the Spirit of holiness who dwells
within us to work for our sanctification. And if every sin
against the Holy Spirit were unforgivable, none of us could

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

ever be forgiven. So, Jesus is being very narrow and specific

here about a particular kind of sin, one that He defines as
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
We have to be careful here, because He’s also not say-
ing that any form of blasphemy that has ever committed is
unforgivable. Again, if any blasphemy were unforgivable,
we would never be forgiven. Every time we use the Lord’s
name in vain, it is an act of blasphemy. But the Bible makes
it abundantly clear that on His cross, Christ reconciled
blasphemers to God. Rather than making a blanket state-
ment about blasphemous words, Jesus is defining a sin here
in an extremely specific, particular, narrow sense. Not all
blasphemies are unforgivable, not all sins against the Holy
Spirit are unforgivable, and not all sins against the Son of
Man are unforgivable. So, what is specifically in view here?
This question has been answered in many ways over
the course of church history. Some have assumed that the
unforgivable sin is murder, because the Old Testament pre-
scribes capital punishment for that crime, but that answer
misses the point—murder is not blasphemy. In trying to
understand the nature of this grievous sin, we need to start
with the fact that it’s identified as blasphemy, and blas-
phemy has to do with words. Under normal circumstances,

24
 The Unforgivable Sin

blasphemy is something that comes from the mouth. It has

to do with what we say. We can see this in the verb Jesus
uses: he specifies whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit.
Thus, blasphemy is not a sinful act in general, or even the
sinful act of murder, but rather an action of the tongue.
In biblical ethics, there is a great concern for patterns of
human speech. We’ve seen already that in the first petition
of the Lord’s Prayer, Christ tells us to pray that the name
of God may be hallowed, that it may be considered sacred
and treated with reverence and with respect; anything less
than that is blasphemous. All blasphemy is a serious offense
against God, and the frequency with which it is committed
in this world in no way diminishes the severity of the wicked-
ness of this act. But in this particular case, we’re talking about
a certain type of blasphemy and not blasphemy in general.
Jesus is responding to the Pharisees, who have been
engaged in consistently fierce opposition to Him. They
were the ones who were most knowledgeable in the things
of God, in the law of God, in the theology of the Old Testa-
ment. If any group of people should have been the first ones
to recognize the identity of Christ as the Son of Man and
as the promised Messiah, it was the Pharisees. But, instead,
they were the ones who most fiercely opposed Him.

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

At the same time, there is an acute awareness in the New

Testament of a profound ignorance that veils the eyes of
the Pharisees. We see this at the cross, and then we see it in
1 Corinthians. On the cross, when Jesus prays for the for-
giveness of those who had delivered Him for His execution,
He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do” (Luke 23:34). And in 1 Corinthians, Paul writes,
“None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they
had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1:8).
Jesus’ response appears to be a warning to the Pharisees
that they are coming perilously close to a line past which
there will be no hope for them. Before that line is crossed,
Jesus can pray for their forgiveness on the basis of their
ignorance, but past that point, there is no forgiveness.
During His earthly life, Christ’s glory was veiled. But
once He was raised by the Holy Spirit and had made Him-
self known, through the Holy Spirit, as the Son of God,
then to say that Christ performed His works through the
power of Satan rather than through the power of the Holy
Spirit would be going too far.
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

26
 The Unforgivable Sin

and makes the statement verbally that Christ was demonic.

The book of Hebrews summarizes the issue for us:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving

the knowledge of the truth, there no longer
remains a sacrifice for sins. . . . How much worse
punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the
one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God,
and has profaned the blood of the covenant by
which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit
of grace? (Heb. 10:26, 29)

Therefore, the distinction between blaspheming the

Holy Spirit and blaspheming against Christ falls away once
the person knows who Jesus is.
We know that one of the most important works that is
performed by the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian is
to convict us of sin. 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 fel-
lowship with God.
To people who fear that they may have committed
the unforgivable sin, I often say that had they actually

27
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

committed it, in all likelihood they would not be disturbed

by it. Their hearts would have already become so recalci-
trant 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.

28
 Chapter Four

Impossible to Be
Restored Again

A ny discussion of whether Christians can fall away

and lose their salvation will sooner or later turn to a
treatment of Hebrews 6. Because this text is so central to
discussions about perseverance, we will take a close look at
it. Hebrews 6:1–6 reads as follows:

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine

of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again
a foundation of repentance from dead works and

29
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

of faith toward God, and of instruction about

washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection
of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we
will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the
case of those who have once been enlightened, who
have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the
Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the
word of God and the powers of the age to come,
and then have fallen away, to restore them again to
repentance, since they are crucifying once again the
Son of God to their own harm and holding him up
to contempt.

This text not only speaks of those who fall away, but
it also gives a vivid description of the state of these people
before they fall away. We’re also told in this text that it is
impossible for these people to be restored again to repen-
tance. If there’s any passage in the Bible that speaks about
an unpardonable offense, then it is in this strong admoni-
tion in Hebrews 6.
This is an extremely difficult passage to interpret. Part of
the difficulty has to do with the lack of background infor-
mation, including the identity of the author of the book of

30
 Impossible to Be Restored Again

Hebrews, that would help us understand this teaching in

context. Sometimes knowing the author of a certain work
gives us clues to understanding difficult passages that come
from their pen.
More important, however, is knowing the occasion that
provoked this warning in the first place. We know that the
author is concerned about a very serious error that was
enticing his readers, but we’re not sure exactly what that
error was. There have been several alternatives suggested by
biblical interpreters.
One of the most frequent suggestions is that the author
is writing to people who are facing radical persecution and
who are in danger of denying Christ in the face of such
persecution. He says that in their struggle against sin, his
readers “have not yet resisted to the point of shedding
[their] blood” (12:4).
In the early church, one of the most rigorous disputes
was called the Novatianist Controversy, which arose in the
wake of a round of persecution under the Emperor Decius
in AD 250. After the persecution ended, church leaders
faced the question of what to do with the lapsi—those
who had renounced the faith under duress, but who now
wanted to be readmitted to the church. Many opposed

31
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

their restoration, including the followers of Novatian, a

pretender to the bishopric at Rome. You can understand
the passion that people would have in a situation like that.
If your father, for example, had kept the faith and was
burned at the stake while the next-door neighbor denied
the faith and escaped that kind of torment, and then your
neighbor wanted to come back into the fellowship of the
church after the persecution ended, it is understandable
that the martyr’s family would have a hard time dealing
with that person. The church at large, however, moved for
leniency and forgiveness and opted to restore the lapsi. So,
one possibility is that this passage is speaking of those who
fall away from the visible church in the face of persecution
but then want to associate with the visible church again in
a time of tranquility.
Another frequent suggestion regarding these statements
in Hebrews pertains to one of the most virulent heresies
to attack the first-century church, the Judaizing heresy.
Followers of this view taught that the new covenant com-
munity had to continue the practice of observing Old
Testament practices, especially circumcision. This heresy
is dealt with again and again in the New Testament, most
emphatically in the book of Galatians. Some imagine that

32
 Impossible to Be Restored Again

this passage prohibits Christians from returning to Jewish

practices and makes the argument that to do so is to reject
the value of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Let’s look again at what is said in this passage about
those who cannot be restored. They are described in these
terms: “those who have once been enlightened, who have
tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the
powers of the age to come” (vv. 4–5). What kind of person
can be described in these terms? On the surface, it certainly
sounds as if the author is describing a Christian, a regener-
ate person, one who has been spiritually reborn. If that’s
the case, then the author is saying that it would be impos-
sible for a truly converted person to be restored again to
salvation if he has committed the sin that is in view here.
However, this language doesn’t necessarily have to be
referring to one who is authentically converted. It could
refer to people who have been closely involved in the life
of the church but were never converted in the first place.
As was Old Testament Israel, the New Testament church is
what Augustine called a corpus permixtum, a mixed body,
containing within it what Jesus described as the wheat and
the tares (Matt. 13:24–30)—believers and unbelievers.

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

The tares are those who never were converted, even though
they are members of the covenant community.
The Bible describes three groups of people with respect
to the church, the visible covenant community. Outside
the church, there are unbelievers; inside the church, there
are believers (those who have been truly converted) and
there are also some unbelievers. Can we say of members
of this third group—unbelievers inside the church—that
they have been enlightened? Yes, to the extent that they
have heard the gospel; they have heard the preaching of
the Word. They are not in some remote area where special
revelation has never penetrated. They’ve had the benefit of
light when it comes to hearing the Word of God. To say
that someone has been enlightened is not necessarily to say
that they have been converted.
What about the next description: they’ve tasted the
heavenly gift? It’s possible that the gift here is available not
only to the converted, but to the unconverted as well. For
instance, the gift may be something akin to the manna that
God provided for the people of Israel in the wilderness.
The Israelites tasted of a heavenly gift, yet some of them
remained unconverted. Likewise, looking at a New Testa-
ment practice, unbelievers in the church still come to the

34
 Impossible to Be Restored Again

Lord’s Table. They literally taste the heavenly gift, yet they
are still unconverted. A heavenly gift can be given to both
believers and unbelievers.
What about sharing in the Holy Spirit? That sounds a
little bit more difficult, because we think of sharing in the
Holy Spirit as being an experience that only comes to those
who have been regenerated and filled by the Holy Spirit.
Such an interpretation would be the prima facie reading of
that text. But in a broader sense, anyone who’s in the mid-
dle of the life of the church in a loose sense partakes of the
benefits of the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit,
because the Spirit dwells and works in the church. Such
a person has not necessarily received one specific work of
the Holy Spirit—namely, regeneration—but has tasted the
good Word of God.
Returning to the overall meaning of this passage, some
understand it as referring to people inside the church who
are truly converted but who apostatize and repudiate the
gospel under persecution; these people, then, cannot be
restored. Others see it as referring to the Judaizing heresy.
An interpretation that understands the passage as referring
to the Judaizing heresy is more likely, because there are a
couple of problems with the first view. The first problem

35
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

is that Peter repudiated the gospel in one sense when he

sided with the Judaizers—in that his behavior denied the
sufficiency of the work of Christ for salvation (Gal. 2:11–
14)—but he was restored. He also denied Christ but was
restored by Jesus Himself. So, Peter is an example of one
who was restored after repudiating the gospel. This seems
to illustrate that the passage must mean something else.
Second, the author of Hebrews says “it is impossible
. . . to restore them again to repentance” (vv. 4, 6). The
word “again” strongly indicates that there had been at least
one previous repentance. If we understand repentance as
referring in the New Testament to something that is pro-
voked by the work of the Holy Spirit within us, not just
outside of us, and if we are Reformed in our theology and
see repentance as a fruit of regeneration and not the cause
of regeneration, then we have the tightest difficulty here.
Because those who are Reformed in their theology have to
say that if a person who genuinely repents is regenerate, a
true believer.
Of course, one could argue that there is such a thing as a
false repentance—the author of Hebrews mentions Esau as
an example (12:16–17). And one who has repented falsely
once could do so again. But in that case, the author would

36
 Impossible to Be Restored Again

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 argumen-
tum 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.

37
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

But what does it mean to crucify Christ anew? Christ

obviously has only been crucified once. When He was
crucified, Christ took upon Himself the curse of the old
covenant. When a person turns back to keeping the law as
the primary mode of relating to God, he rejects the work
of Christ, who took on the curse on behalf of others. Hav-
ing repudiated the work of Christ as a vicarious sacrifice,
he in fact condemns Christ as been justifiably killed on the
cross and makes himself complicit in the death of Christ.
Such a person takes the curse upon himself again and can-
not be saved.
Thus, we see how the author of Hebrews uses the
argumentum ad absurdum to demonstrate the folly of his
opponents’ position. Since the Judaizers’ argument that
the law should still be observed leads to the repudiation
of Christ’s work and the loss of salvation, their argument
should be rejected.
The author is likely using this argument hypothetically,
to show what would happen. But this could never actu-
ally happen in the case of someone who has truly been
converted. The author says in v. 9, “Though we speak in
this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better
things—things that belong to salvation.” When he says,

38
 Impossible to Be Restored Again

“we speak in this way,” he is saying that he’s writing in

a manner of speaking, that is, for the sake of argument.
He’s showing how his opponents’ teachings would lead to
someone’s having no grounds for salvation. But, in the case
of true believers, he is certain that they will stand fast: “we
feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.”
Therefore, rather than taking away our confidence in per-
severance, this passage in fact should strengthen it.
The author of Hebrews wraps up this section with an
exhortation: “And we desire each one of you to show the
same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the
end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those
who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (vv.
11–12). This is a call to diligence. The author is reminding
his readers that even though they have a hope for the future
that they can rest in, the hope that God has given them
of the certainty of their salvation should not lead them to
sluggishness in living out their faith. 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.

39
 Chapter Five

The Gift of
Perseverance

T he concept of the perseverance of the saints can be

easily misunderstood. In our everyday speech, we talk
about persevering as something that we accomplish chiefly
through our own concerted efforts. And though the New
Testament calls us to persevere—it frequently uses the word
endure, as in “the one who endures to the end will be saved”
(Matt. 24:13)—placing the accent on persevering can cause
us to miss the chief truth that supports this concept.
The first theologian to offer an extensive explanation

41
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

of the doctrine of perseverance was Augustine of Hippo.

The Latin phrase that he used was donum perseverantiae,
meaning “the gift of perseverance.” By this phrase, Augus-
tine meant that perseverance in the life of the Christian is
not an achievement accomplished solely by human effort,
but a gift. Augustine taught that the only way anyone ever
perseveres to the end after beginning the Christian life is
by virtue of the grace of God. Since that time, perseverance
has been understood as a gift of divine grace.
That’s why, when discussing the perseverance of the
saints, many English-speaking theologians have found it
preferable to speak of the preservation of the saints—that
is, God preserves His own. If I look to myself, I can have
no confidence in my ability to continue on to glory once
I begin my Christian walk because, as we have noted, the
Christian life is a struggle. Paul articulated this in terms
of spiritual warfare: the beginning of the Christian life
involves liberation from the bondage to the flesh, and
we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit; once we become
Christians, we embark upon a whole new life in which
we’re engaged in the pursuit of our sanctification (Rom.
6:17–19). But that life, as Paul said, is marked by an ongo-
ing battle between the new man and the old man, between

42
 The Gif t of Perseverance

the spiritual self and the sinful flesh that still retains power
in our lives (7:13–25). But now we have something added
as a gift, namely, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul calls the Philippian believers to “work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). In
using this phrase, Paul does not mean to say that we earn
our salvation by means of our works, but that our obe-
dience (see his commendation of his readers’ obedience
earlier in the verse) plays a role in our sanctification. In
turn, our sanctification plays a role in our persevering.
This is a clear call to labor, to toil, to put forth effort,
and this effort is not to be casual, light-hearted, or cava-
lier. The phrase “fear and trembling” calls attention to the
sobriety and earnestness with which we are called to press
into the kingdom of God. Jonathan Edwards once said in
a sermon that seeking the kingdom of God should be the
urgent, primary business of the Christian. We are called to
work as hard as we can to persevere.
Note what follows this exhortation: “For it is God
who works in you, both to will and to work for his good
pleasure” (v. 13). Here we see an example of the New Testa-
ment’s description of the Christian struggle for perseverance
as a synergistic work. Synergism refers to a work that is done

43
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

by two or more people. By contrast, monergism means that

only one person is exercising power or effort.
These words have a checkered background within the
history of theology because Reformed scholars and pastors
have insisted over and over again that the first step in our
salvation is a monergistic work of God. That is, Reformed
theologians maintain that the Christian life begins at
regeneration, which is the work of the Holy Spirit in
quickening us and raising us from a state spiritual death to
make us alive in Christ. This is nothing short of a spiritual
resurrection, and it is accomplished by God alone, without
any human effort. Reformed theologians thus use the word
monergism or monergistic to describe the process of regen-
eration. As a result, many people who hear this tend to
think that a Reformed perspective teaches that the whole
Christian life is monergistic.
Have you ever heard the phrase “Let go and let God”?
In one sense, that’s a perfectly good phrase, because some-
times we rely on ourselves so much that we fail to find
rest in God. But the phrase can become a kind of license
for what we call “quietism.” This is a view that says, “If
God wants to change me and if God wants me to grow

44
 The Gif t of Perseverance

spiritually, it’s His job to do it, and I’m only as strong spiri-
tually as God makes me.” A person who thinks this way
rewrites the apostolic admonition: “It is God who works in
me, both to will and to work—so I don’t have to work out
my salvation with fear and trembling.”
This is a distortion—the passage calls us to labor
because God is working in us and with us; thus, the whole
process of persevering is a synergistic action, not a monergis-
tic one. I am called to work, and God is working as well.
In the final analysis, whether my labor becomes fruitful
depends on the donum perseverantiae, that is, on the gift of
perseverance on God’s part to preserve me to the end.
Let’s look for a moment at Paul’s teaching in his letter
to the Philippians:

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,

always in every prayer of mine for you all making
my prayer with joy, because of your partnership
in the gospel from the first day until now. And I
am sure of this, that he who began a good work in
you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus
Christ. (Phil. 1:3–6)

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

Here, Paul speaks of confidence, saying he is “sure of

this.” What is it that provokes this confidence in the Apos-
tle Paul? He doesn’t leave it unnamed. He goes on to say
that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to
completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Therein lies our
confidence and our security: the God who has initiated
a person’s salvation is not going to allow that redemptive
work to be an exercise in futility. God finishes what He
starts in His redemptive work in us by preserving those
whom He redeems. That’s where Paul gains his confidence,
and I think that should also be the primary basis for our
confidence.
Paul fleshes out this basis for our confidence in his
letter to the Ephesians. He says, “In him you also, when
you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy
Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we
acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph.
1:13). The word translated “sealed” referred in the ancient
world to the practice of kings in using signet rings to certify
documents. The king had a particular insignia on his ring
and would press his ring into a wax seal, leaving a perma-
nent impression on the document, which would indicate

46
 The Gif t of Perseverance

the promise and guarantee of the royal decree. Paul uses

the word here to say that God seals every Christian by the
word of His promise so that our confidence rests not in
our own striving, but in the promise of our future redemp-
tion, a promise made to us by God. He seals this promise
by giving us the Holy Spirit, who is the present, personal
indwelling certification of the fullness of redemption that
God has wrought within each believer.
Paul says the Holy Spirit “is the guarantee of our
inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise
of his glory” (v. 14). The word translated “guarantee” is
sometimes rendered “earnest.” When a person is buying a
home, in certain states he may be required to put down a
nonrefundable deposit that is called “earnest money.” This
deposit is the buyer’s guarantee that he is going to make the
final payment and finish the transaction; it shows that he
is “earnest” or “serious” about seeing the process through.
Paul uses this commercial language to say that the Holy
Spirit is the “earnest” or “guarantee” that we will finally
and fully be redeemed. And when the Spirit of truth makes
a pledge for a future promise, it is absolutely guaranteed.
That promise cannot be broken.
One of the most beloved verses in the Bible is Romans

47
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

8:28, which gives us a precious promise from God: “And we

know that for those who love God all things work together
for good, for those who are called according to his pur-
pose.” This is followed by what is often called the “Golden
Chain of salvation”: “For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in
order that he might be the firstborn among many broth-
ers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and
those whom he called he also justified, and those whom
he justified he also glorified” (vv. 29–30). This passage is
an elliptical statement; it assumes a word that is omitted
but understood in context. In this case, the assumed word
is all. All those who are predestined are called, not just
some of them; all who are called are justified; and all who
are justified are glorified. To be glorified means to enter
into the full and final consummation of our salvation. It is
from promises such as these that we gain our confidence in
God’s gift of perseverance.

48
 Chapter Six

The Carnal
Christian

I used to teach the staff and volunteers of a prominent

youth ministry. In those days, these young evangelists
would sometimes use a peculiar expression, one not found
in the pages of learned tomes of systematic theology: “tube
it.” The first time I heard it was when one staff member
came up and asked me, “Dr. Sproul, why is it that so many
of our kids tube it?” I didn’t know what he meant—raft-
ing trips down the river? But he explained that they would
often have young people who would be introduced to the

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

ministry, begin enthusiastically attending their programs,

make a profession of faith in Christ, and then, after a
while, would “tube it,” meaning their faith would go down
the tubes.
People can stand up and make a profession of faith or
walk down an aisle at an evangelistic meeting for all kinds
of reasons apart from having been genuinely converted.
We don’t have the ability to read people’s hearts. We don’t
know whether their professions of faith are sincere and
genuine. We work on the basis of the outward manifes-
tations and evidences, but we don’t know for sure what’s
going on inside their hearts.
Just look at Judas. He was part of Jesus’ inner circle and
an eyewitness of some of the most marvelous acts that were
ever performed by Jesus. He went to Jesus’ “seminary.” He
sat in His classes every day for three years. He was entrusted
as the treasurer of the organization. But Judas tubed it.
Actually, to say that Judas tubed it would be a monumental
understatement. And yet, Jesus speaks about Judas as one
who was actually the son of perdition, one who was really
unconverted from the beginning (John 17:12). Judas’ pro-
fession of faith was spurious. It was not authentic.
This is not just a problem for evangelistic or youth

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 The Carnal Christian

ministries. It’s a problem in the life of the church as a

whole. As a result, we need to be careful about what we
say—while we can affirm that someone has made a profes-
sion of faith, we are unable to confirm whether that person
has been truly converted.
A related development is the emergence of an inno-
vative doctrine in popular Christianity: the idea of the
“carnal Christian.” Historically, this idea was linked to the
theology of dispensationalism. It erupted in the 1980s into
the Lordship Salvation Controversy, an intramural debate
among dispensationalists. One side insisted that it is faith
alone—not faith plus repentance—that saves; therefore, it
is possible to receive Christ as Savior but not as Lord. The
other side argued that faith and repentance are two sides of
the same coin.
Both sides agreed that everyone who comes to faith
should put their trust in Christ as both Savior and Lord,
and every believer should bring forth the fruit of conver-
sion and works of obedience to Christ. The issue turned on
whether it is possible to be saved without embracing Christ
as Lord and therefore exhibiting works of obedience. The
one who is saved without embracing Christ as Lord is one
we might call a “carnal Christian.”

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

The controversy resulted in a distinction among dif-

ferent types of Christians. These types are illustrated in
a popular evangelistic tract used for many years by Cru
(formerly Campus Crusade for Christ). The three distinct
types are defined graphically in terms of three circles dis-
played in a row, with each circle representing a particular
type of person. At the center of each circle is a silhouette of
a chair, which represents the throne of a person’s life, the
seat of authority.
In the first circle, to the far left, on the chair is the letter
S, which stands for “self.” This signifies the egocentricity
of the unconverted person. This is the person who has not
received Christ, who has not submitted to Christ in any
way. And outside the circle is the figure of the cross, which
means that in this person’s life, self—what we would call
“the flesh”—dominates. The fallen human nature is in con-
trol, and Christ is not in that person’s life.
The third circle, to the far right, has Christ, the cross,
on the throne. This is the Spirit-filled life. Jesus Christ is
the central authority in the life of this person. This repre-
sents the mature Christian who has grown up to embrace
Christ not only as Savior but also as Lord.

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 The Carnal Christian

The middle circle portrays a strange little picture. There

is the chair in the middle, with the S for “self,” but below
the chair is the cross. This image represents a person who
has Christ in his life, but He has not ascended to the
throne. The self is still on the throne; the flesh still rules.
Hence, this person is described as the carnal Christian. The
carnal Christian is a person who is a Christian but whose
Christian life is still dominated by carnality.
Where does this idea come from biblically? The biblical
justification for this is that the New Testament does speak
about carnal Christians. In 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle
Paul is rebuking the Corinthian Christians, and he says:

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual

people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not
ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for
you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy
and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and
behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I
follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you
not being merely human? (1 Cor. 3:1–4)

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

Paul is clearly talking about people whom he regards

as believers. He calls them “brothers,” and yet he also
describes them as being “of the flesh,” that is, carnal.
So, what’s wrong with the idea of talking about “carnal
Christians”? Not only does Paul describe the Corinthian
believers as carnal in this case, but he also refers to himself
as “of the flesh” in Romans 7 when he is talking about
his own struggles in sanctification: “I am of the flesh, sold
under sin” (v. 14). All of this seems to suggest that “carnal
Christian” might be a useful, and biblically sound, way of
talking about a certain kind of Christian.
The descriptor “carnal” or “fleshly” also recurs in the
New Testament. Earlier, we saw that Paul speaks of the
struggle of the Christian life as warfare between the flesh
and the spirit. And we also know that that same metaphor
of flesh is used repeatedly in the New Testament to describe
the condition of the unbeliever. The unbeliever is pure
flesh. That’s why Jesus says you have to be born again in
order to see the kingdom of God, because what is born of
the flesh is flesh, and we are by nature fleshly or fallen. The
unregenerate person is not engaged in warfare between the
spirit in the flesh; he is totally in the flesh, totally carnal.
Based on these distinctions, we might assume that in the

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 The Carnal Christian

image from the booklet, the idea is not that the person is
still purely in the flesh, because Christ is in his life. Rather,
it is meant to communicate that there are three kinds of
people: unbelievers, baby believers, and mature believers.
That’s a perfectly legitimate distinction, because that’s what
Paul is doing in 1 Corinthians 3 when he calls the Corin-
thian Christians “of the flesh.” He’s calling them “of the
flesh” because they are still babies and because their behavior
is showing more of the ongoing manifestation of the flesh
than of the maturity that comes from the fruit of the Spirit.
But the idea in the New Testament is that no person in
this life is totally spiritual and no Christian in this world
is totally carnal. So when we speak of carnal Christians, if
by that term we mean baby Christians, everything is well
and good. But if we mean people who have received Christ
as their Savior but not as their Lord, where the self still
dominates and rules the life, who are we describing? We’re
describing the unconverted person, the person who’s in the
church and around the fellowship of Christ, the person
who is professing Jesus Christ, but is really not a Christian
at all. The idea of a carnal Christian in the sense of one who
is totally carnal is an oxymoron. There is no totally carnal
Christian, just as there is no totally spiritual Christian.

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

I wish I could point to an easy way to move from

infancy in the faith to adulthood. The Apostle Paul speaks
of our need to be nourished and nurtured. He also uses the
image of babies as requiring a milk diet because they aren’t
yet ready to eat solid food.
It takes time to reach spiritual maturity. But what’s
scary is when we hear of people who have been in the
faith for ten years or fifteen years and they’re still drinking
milk. That was what was distressing the Apostle here in his
letter to the Corinthians. The time for their infancy was
long past, and he was calling them now to a solid diet of
the things of God, to chewing on the meat of the gospel,
which is part of the whole life of persevering in Christ.

56
 Chapter Seven

Our Great
High Priest

M any of us have taken comfort in the intercessory

prayer of a friend or a pastor. How much more com-
fort, then, can we experience from the full assurance that Jesus
is praying for us? Have you ever had people ask you, “Pray for
me,” and you say, “Sure, I’ll pray for you,” and then you for-
get? I know that in my lifetime, I have told people that I would
pray for them and I forget. If I remember at some point later,
I will stop and pray, but often it’s only out of guilt—so that if
that person asks whether I prayed, I can tell them that I did.

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

Intercessory prayer is comforting, but we humans can’t

always be relied on to follow through with our promises to
pray. This is not so with Christ. The New Testament speaks
of Him as our Great High Priest. As our Great High Priest,
He has offered up the perfect sacrifice—Himself—but His
priestly work did not end on the cross. Every day, in the
presence of the Father, Christ intercedes for His people
(Heb. 7:25). “The prayer of a righteous person has great
power as it is working,” James tells us (5:16), but no prayer
has the same power as the prayers of Christ.
The intercession of our Great High Priest is the founda-
tion for our confidence when it comes to our perseverance.
It also helps us make sense of the accounts of Peter and
Judas, two of Jesus’ disciples who experienced a serious fall.
One disciple’s fall away from Christ is seen as a final and
full work of apostasy, whereas the other disciple’s fall is not
final and full because he is restored. And we see that their
crime against Christ was very similar. Judas betrayed Jesus.
And that same night, Peter denied Christ.
These two men who had been disciples with Jesus dur-
ing his earthly ministry committed treason against Him
in his darkest hour. And there are further similarities in
these two examples in that Jesus predicted both Peter’s

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 Our Great High Priest

and Judas’ diabolical acts. But we recall that when Jesus

said, “One of you will betray me,” the disciples said among
themselves, “Who is it, Lord? Is it I?” When Judas asked,
“Is it I, Rabbi?” Jesus said to him, “You have said so” (Matt.
26:25). Jesus’ final words to Judas were “What you are
going to do, do quickly” (John 13:27). And He dismissed
him from their presence.
When Jesus prophesied that Peter would deny him,
Peter protested profusely. “Though they all fall away
because of you, I will never fall away,” he said (Matt. 26:33).
This brings to mind Paul’s admonition, “Let anyone who
thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12),
because Jesus then turned to Simon and said to him in
loving terms, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to
have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31).
Sifting wheat is not a laborious task that only the strong
can perform. It may take time and it may be tedious, but
it’s not labor intensive. In using this metaphor, Jesus is
cautioning Simon not to rely on his own strength, because
it would be an easy thing for Satan to entice him to fall.
Satan is stronger than Peter, and would have no trouble
overcoming whatever strength Peter thought he had.
Notice, however, that Jesus does not say to Peter, “What

59
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

you are going to do, do quickly.” Our Lord’s words to

Simon Peter were significantly different from what He said
to Judas. He said, “I have prayed for you that your faith
may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen
your brothers” (Luke 22:32).
Notice what Jesus doesn’t say. He doesn’t simply hope
that Peter will be able to resist Satan, or that he will return,
or that he will be able to strengthen the brothers. He
expresses certainty that Peter will do these things. There was
no doubt in Jesus’ mind not only that Peter would fall, and
fall abysmally, but also that Peter would be restored. Indeed,
history testifies that Peter, in spite of this radical and serious
fall, nevertheless endured to the end. He repented, he was
forgiven, he was restored, and he endured to the end.
The rest of the teaching of the New Testament hints at
a causal connection between the words “I have prayed for
you” and “when you turn.” Jesus is our Great High Priest
who, upon His ascension, sat down at the right hand of
God. There, He lives to make intercession for His people.
Our greatest consolation when it comes to our eternal
security comes from the full assurance of the present work
of Christ on our behalf. When Jesus died on the cross, He

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 Our Great High Priest

cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). His atoning death

purchased redemption for His people, but Christ’s redemp-
tive work didn’t end on the cross. After His death, He was
raised for our justification. Then He ascended into heaven,
where He sat down at the right hand of God. There He
rules as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, governing
the universe and ruling over His church. All this comes
under the heading of the finished work of Christ.
We get a glimpse of Christ’s intercession for us in the
Upper Room Discourse in John 13–17, and especially the
High Priestly Prayer in chapter 17. In this discourse, Jesus
instructs and comforts His disciples. As they are approach-
ing their darkest hour, Jesus offers security to combat their
anxiety, saying:

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;

believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I
go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and will take you
to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John
14:1–3)

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 Can I Lose My Salvation?

When the Lord says He will go and prepare a place

for the disciples, He’s talking about something that He is
going to do not in that very moment, but at a certain point
in the future. Instead of talking to them about the cross,
He looks beyond it, to His ascension, where He would
enter into the heavenly tabernacle in order to prepare a
place for His people. And later, He will return again to
gather His people. The New Testament often speaks of the
consummation of the redemption of the bride of Christ,
the true people of God, in terms of a final glorious reunion
between Christ and His people.
Later on in this same discourse, we read Christ’s High
Priestly Prayer:

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up

his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has
come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify
you, since you have given him authority over all
flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given
him. And this is eternal life, that they know you
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished
the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father,

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 Our Great High Priest

glorify me in your own presence with the glory that

I had with you before the world existed.
“I have manifested your name to the people
whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they
were, and you gave them to me, and they have
kept your word. Now they know that everything
that you have given me is from you. For I have
given them the words that you gave me, and they
have received them and have come to know in
truth that I came from you; and they have believed
that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am
not praying for the world but for those whom you
have given me, for they are yours. All mine are
yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in
them. And I am no longer in the world, but they
are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy
Father, keep them in your name, which you have
given me, that they may be one, even as we are
one. While I was with them, I kept them in your
name, which you have given me. I have guarded
them, and not one of them has been lost except
the son of destruction, that the Scripture might
be fulfilled. . . . I do not ask for these only, but

63
 Can I Lose My Salvation?

also for those who will believe in me through their

word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father,
are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in
us, so that the world may believe that you have
sent me.” (John 17:1–12, 20–21)

Jesus begins by recalling the covenant within the God-

head itself to save some, the elect, from among the mass
of humanity. He asks that the Father would glorify Him
upon the completion of His work. He then goes on to pray
for the disciples, and not for the disciples only, but also for
“those who will believe in me through their word” (v. 20),
which includes us.
Jesus acknowledges that one was lost, but as the Scrip-
ture elsewhere declares, it was the one who was the son of
perdition from the beginning. Judas’ fall was final. He was
a true apostate, one who made a profession of faith though
he was never really converted. He was the son of perdition
from the beginning. Peter, on the other hand, was not lost.
He turned again and was restored. Christ’s intercessory
prayers upheld him.
The whole point of Jesus’ prayer is that none whom the
Father has given to the Son are lost. No one, He said, can

64
 Our Great High Priest

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 great-
est consolation and our greatest source of confidence that
we will persevere in the Christian life.

65
 About the Author

Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder of Ligonier Ministries,

founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla.,
first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive
editor of Tabletalk magazine. His radio program, Renewing
Your Mind, is still broadcast daily on hundreds of radio sta-
tions around the world and can also be heard online. He
was author of more than one hundred books, including The
Holiness of God, Chosen by God, and Everyone’s a Theologian.
He was recognized throughout the world for his articulate
defense of the inerrancy of Scripture and the need for God’s
people to stand with conviction upon His Word.
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 Do we have
ASK LIGONIER free will?

Why did God

kill Uzzah?
Is it true that God
controls everything?

A Place to Find Answers

Maybe you’re leading a Bible study tomorrow. Maybe you’re just beginning
to dig deeper. It’s good to know that you can always ask Ligonier. For more
than forty-five years, Christians have been looking to Ligonier Ministries, the
teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul, for clear and helpful answers to biblical and
theological questions. Now you can ask those questions as they arise, confident
that our team will work quickly to provide clear, concise, and trustworthy
answers. When you have questions, just ask Ligonier.

F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T L I G O N I E R . O R G / A S K
Can Christians commit
the unforgivable sin?
Painfully aware of their sin and confronted by the Bible’s warnings about
falling away, people can sometimes be tempted to think that they are no
longer Christians.

In this booklet, Dr. R.C. Sproul looks at the Scriptures to see if a true
Christian can ever fall away from the faith. He addresses topics such as
the unforgivable sin, false converts, and the presence of sin in the lives of
believers in this world. When Christians rely on God’s promise to preserve
them to the end, they gain assurance of their salvation.

The Crucial Questions booklet series by Dr. R.C. Sproul offers succinct
answers to important questions often asked by Christians and thoughtful
inquirers.

Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder of Ligonier Ministries, founding

pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., and first
president of Reformation Bible College. He was author of more
than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God.

RELIGION / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth