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Personal Responsibilities
Salvation is an individual responsibility. Philippians 2:12 says to "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling". What is there to work out if you are eternally unconditionally saved? The Greek word for fear is phobos (fob'-os); from a primary phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright: We can see by this definition that we are to work out our salvation with a healthy fear that will cause us to live right. We surely are not to live with constant fear in our lives! But if temptation comes to us, we need to have fear of the results of falling into that sin and possibly dying in that sin, so that we may resist it without considering giving in to it. We will have to take the personal responsibility to abide in Christ and continue in obedience to His commands.
John 15:9 says "As the father hath loved me, so have I loved you; Continue in my love". Although Christ loves us, we must continue in his love. Nothing can separate us from His love, but we must continue in it. In John 15:1-8 Jesus said that he is the vine and we are the branches. He goes on to say that if we do not abide in him, which is to “stay or continue” in him, we will become unfruitful. He then says that those branches that do not abide in Him will be cast forth, gathered, and then burned. For individuals to bear fruit, they must grow spiritually in the things of God. And in verse 8, He says that it is those who bear fruit who are His disciples, which are learners and followers of Christ, which we are to be. Those branches that are cast forth and burned are those which were in the vine, part of Christ and the church, but had been distracted, fell away and became unfruitful in their spiritual lives. Fruit trees will bear fruit every season! If they stop bearing fruit they are of no use to a man. In the same way we must bear fruit in our season, which is given by God. Otherwise we will be of no use to Gods kingdom, if we have rejected fruitfulness ourselves through sin, disobedience, or the ways of the world. If someone goes to Church and professes to be a Christian, but has never been truly converted and saved, then they are not part of the vine, nor have they ever been. To be a member of a Church does not make a person a member of the body of Christ. Jesus is warning those who are part of the vine, who are true Christians. Jesus directed all that He was saying in this chapter to his disciples. Nobody else was present, and there was no discussion other than the relationship between Jesus and his followers. Again, this is not a lack of grace on Gods part, but rather a result of the choices people make on their own after giving in to the lies and temptations of Satan. So if we do not abide in him, then we will cast forth and burned with all other sinners.
Jude 20-21 “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Here Jude is saying that we must keep ourselves in God’s love. Although God will always love us, we have a responsibility to abide in his love and remain there, meaning that we can leave that place if we so choose. In such a case nothing will have separated us from God’s love, but we simply would not have kept ourselves in His love. And He then says as we remain in His love, we must also look for mercy unto “eternal life”. Eternal life is given to those who will keep themselves in His love and continually seek God in His love, grace and mercy, and endure until the end. Jesus said, “Seek me and you will find me”. If we do not seek for Him, look for His mercy and grace, then we will not find Him in His love or any of the above.
Hebrews 5:9 “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” Eternal life is given unto all those who obey Him. This is again a present tense use of the word. It is not obeying just once, but continually, unto the end! Matthew 24:13 “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” But for those who obey for a season, but then at some point begin to disobey Him: they do not have eternal life any longer.
Revelation 2:10-11 “…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” Calvinists will say that this scripture is not talking about salvation, but about a reward when we get to heaven. But there are two important subjects in this scripture: life and death. The reward for being faithful unto death, which Jesus called a “Crown of Life”, is not a literal crown, but Eternal Life, which is the reward for faithfulness. And the one who does not overcome will enter into the Second Death. The reward we seek is life, not a crown. But Jesus uses this term to describe our final end to this life and receiving our reward for being faithful unto the end, which is eternal life, or our damnation if we are not saved or are unfaithful. Being “unfaithful” cannot mean that they will only lose a reward, but not salvation. For if they lose the reward of the “Crown of Life”, they have also lost eternal life. Therefore they will enter into the second death, because they did not overcome and abide in Christ. Jesus would not have instructed this Church to remain faithful in order to receive this crown and to escape the second death unless it were possible for them to fall away from salvation.
Revelation 2:5 “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” He speaks to the Ephesus Church here, telling them that they must repent, return to the works they used to do and overcome, or else He will come and remove the candlestick from them. The candlestick is symbolizing preciousness and sacredness and incorruptibility. The Ephesians had fallen from good works through true faith in Christ, to dead works unto dead faith. The candlestick was the only flicker of God’s righteousness left with them, which they were about to lose, unless they repent. As Christians, we are either growing or we are dying. As with the Church of Ephesus, there is a choice we must all make, whether we will grow or return to where we might have once been, or to die spiritually, falling from grace. Calvinist teacher Charles Swindoll said that to “fall away” does not mean to “lose faith”, but it only means to “shrink back”. But lets look at the two scriptures that talk about “Falling away”. First in Luke 8:13 “They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.” Jesus is explaining the parable of the seeds that fell on rocky ground. The Greek word for “fall away” here is aphistemi (af-is'-tay-mee); to remove, i.e. (actively) instigate to revolt; usually (reflexively) to desist, desert, etc. This definition indicates a removing of ones self from the truth. This is the falling away of newer believers who did not have any rooting in the things of God. They lacked understanding, faith, and are therefore easily tempted by sin. Then the second scripture is in Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” These are those who were not newer Christians at all, but were rooted and grounded in the Word at one time. These had a complete experience with Christ and salvation, but turned away through rebellious sin. The Greek word for “fall away” here is parapipto (par-ap-ip'-to); to fall aside, i.e. (figuratively) to apostatize: Neither of these definitions ever meant to “Shrink back” as Calvinists would like it to mean. This definition conveniently fits their doctrine! But these words always mean what they say, to fall away: as to fall away from Christ and from salvation. Certainly if this would happen to a person they would have to have lost their faith! It is faith that will keep us from falling. If faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains into the sea, then surely it can keep us from falling! After all, our faith is not in ourselves, but it is in the only One who is able to keep us from falling. Jude 24 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” He is “able” because we have put our faith in Him. But if we lose faith, He is no longer able, because God always responds to faith and will not respond when it is not present. He always has the ability to do whatever He wishes, because He is God; but He will not act against our will, just as He will not save a sinner that does not wish to serve Him. It is faith that moves God and pleases Him. But those who lose their faith will certainly fall away or at least fall for a short period. But those who fall will usually get back up and return to a place of faith in Christ. There are a few different Greek words used for the English word “fall”. All of them mean to “fall among”, “to fall into”, or to “fall on” something, such as temptation or condemnation. The word “fall” is not used very often to describe falling away from salvation, as the words for “fall away” are always used that way. Although a fall will certainly lead to a falling away, if that person does not return to faith in Christ: they are not fallen beyond the possibility of repentance. But in order to be saved, they do have the responsibility to have faith, to maintain holiness, and to have a heart of repentance. Otherwise, they cannot please Him, will not see Him, and will be judged for their sin.
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Calvinism