Bible Study Accepted in the Beloved: Why My Redemption and Adoption is Eternally Secure.

[Tenchi]

Ephesians 1:4-7
4 According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
​

As a long-time discipler of men, I've often heard them say, in the "new believer" stage, something like, "I keep sinning. I ask God for forgiveness, but I think I've asked too many times. I feel like maybe I'm not saved anymore, that God has cast me out of His family. How can He forgive me when I keep falling into sin? Will God take me back even though I keep messing up?"

At the heart of statements like these is a fundamental misunderstanding of the Gospel. As the great hymn "Rock of Ages" declares,

"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace:
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die."
​

No one comes to God with something that He needs, with something they have that He doesn't. God extends Himself to the lost person through the offer of salvation solely because of His loving, merciful, gracious nature. The idea that God sent His Son to die for us because "we were worth it" is deeply false, a lie that appeals to the very thing that keeps us from God: Self. In actuality, God reaches out to the lost individual when they are in a condition rightfully deserving of His wrathful judgment; when, in fact, they are at enmity with Him, rebels shaking their fists in His face, living constantly in defiance of His will and way.

Titus 3:3-6
3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

Colossians 1:21-22
21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

Ephesians 2:1-5
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Of course, the lost person's evil condition doesn't necessarily manifest in overt displays of outrageous wickedness: murder, rape, theft, gross sexual perversity, etc. The average unrepentant sinner is rarely as evil as they could be, constrained by social conventions, laws of the land, and their own conscience. They look over at the Jeffrey Dahmer's, or Adolf Hitler's, or Bin Laden's of the world and comfort themselves that, however immoral they may be, they aren't anywhere as bad as these evil madmen. Under this "I'm not as bad as the worst of us" thinking, it's...difficult to accept what God says about them in the passages above. But if there is any doubt as to God's view of their sin, they need only consider the following passages:

Proverbs 6:16-19
16 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

James 2:10
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

God's standard of righteousness isn't our own. He regards a proud, arrogant look on a person's face as much a moral abomination as murder! The one who lies is as abominable in God's eyes as the murderer. The person who pits people against one another, causing strife among them, is also as abominable to God as any murderer.

In regards to God's view of the lost person the situation is worse still: God's standard for His acceptance of anyone is His own perfectly, holy, righteousness; not the worst moral monster to which we can compare ourselves, by which comparison we think ourselves pretty wonderful. No, God says to us, "Be holy as I am holy," which makes His acceptance of us, on the basis of our conduct, impossible. If we break any one of the "links" of the "chain" of God's Moral Law, we've broken the entire chain and stand as guilty before God as if we'd broken every one of the "links" individually.

So, no one comes to God for salvation having earned His acceptance of them in any measure. As the hymnist wrote, "Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to thy cross I cling."

2 Timothy 1:9
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.


Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

It's only because of the atoning work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary that anyone gains acceptance with God. Having fully, perfectly paid for the penalty of our sin by the sacrifice of himself, Jesus has made a way through himself for us to be reconciled to, and accepted by, God.

John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

1 Timothy 2:5-6
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all...
Isaiah 53:5-6
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

When, by faith, a lost person trusts in Christ as their Savior and yields to him as their Lord (Romans 10:9-10; James 4:6-10), they are placed "in Christ" by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), who comes to live within them giving them new, spiritual life, the life of Jesus, clothing them in his perfect righteousness. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 John 4:13; Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27; Galatians 2:20, etc.)

"Clothed" in Christ, robed in his righteousness, God sees the born-again person in him, made perfect - spiritually-speaking, not literally - in him, and thus are acceptable to God.

Ephesians 1:4-7
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

2 Corinthians 5:17-18
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ...

Only, ever, in and through Christ, is the born-again believer accepted by God as one of His own. God accepts us solely because we are in Christ. Our success in living in a holy manner, our ability to obey God perfectly has nothing to do with why God accepts us and it never has anything to do with His continued acceptance of us. For the moment our obedience, our holiness, becomes in any measure the basis for our acceptance by God, in that same measure we become a co-Savior with Christ, sharing in the means by which we are saved. Scripture, however absolutely denies such an idea:

Galatians 3:1-3 (NASB)
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

1 Corinthians 1:29-31
29 ...no man may boast before God.
30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

There is, then, no fear of being rejected by God under which the new believer need labor as they learn to walk in holiness, faith and love with Him. They are accepted in the Beloved, period. Good news, for the stumbling, struggling new believer who is, in the baby stages of their relationship with God, often falling down, as babies do!

Hebrews 13:5
5 ...for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Just keep believing in the atoning work of Christ.
As long as a person keeps believing they will remain eternally secure in the Father, the Son, and the promise of eternal life.

 

[Tenchi]

Just keep believing in the atoning work of Christ.
As long as a person keeps believing they will remain eternally secure in the Father, the Son, and the promise of eternal life.

So, the belief of the person saves them? How does this not make them their own Savior?

 

[Jethro Bodine]

So, the belief of the person saves them? How does this not make them their own Savior?

Because believing is only the conduit through which one receives the grace of God's forgiveness of sins. Romans 5:1-2

 

[Tenchi]

Because believing is only the conduit through which one receives the grace of God's forgiveness of sins. Romans 5:1-2

Right. But it sounds like you think the person who has believed in Christ must maintain that belief in order to remain saved. Who, then, is saving them? Christ, or themselves? It is, after all, their faith, their keeping it up, that keeps them saved. And what is the necessary level of faith, exactly, to maintain one's salvation? Seems to me that would be a key question to answer if one's faith is the linchpin of one's staying saved.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Right. But it sounds like you think the person who has believed in Christ must maintain that belief in order to remain saved. Who, then, is saving them? Christ, or themselves? It is, after all, their faith, their keeping it up, that keeps them saved. And what is the necessary level of faith, exactly, to maintain one's salvation? Seems to me that would be a key question to answer if one's faith is the linchpin of one's staying saved.

Even in Calvinism it is necessary for the believer to keep believing, or else be found to not really have been saved. So it's not a matter of whether or not the believer has to keep believing. It's a matter of Calvinists saying the true believer will continue to believe, and the non-Calvinist saying the true believer can stop believing.

 

[Tenchi]

Even in Calvinism it is necessary for the believer to keep believing, or else be found to not really have been saved. So it's not a matter of whether or not the believer has to keep believing. It's a matter of Calvinists saying the true believer will continue to believe, and the non-Calvinist saying the true believer can stop believing.

I understand the Calvinist perspective - though not in every minute detail or in the fullness of its spectrum of belief (2-point, 3-point, 5-point, hard, soft, high) - and know that, according to many Calvinists, belief in Christ is ordained of God and imposed upon the believer through their spiritual regeneration prior to their profession of faith. Essentially, the born-again believer is born-again in order that they might believe in Christ their Savior; they are not born-again as a consequence of their belief in him. Consequently, the Calvinist holds that, ordained by God, belief in Christ cannot subside or fail. I'm not of such a view, though I do believe staunchly in OSAS.

The non-Calvinist has a harder time, I think, avoiding making their faith in Christ and their persistence in believing in him salvific. That is to say, they have difficulty answering the questions I've put to you: How much faith is sufficient for salvation? How does persistence in believing not equate to saving oneself?

In any case, the new believer has no need to fear for their salvation since it doesn't hang on them, on their performance, or intensity of faith, or strength of will. Christ is the believer's salvation; in him, because of him - and only him - they are accepted by God. And because God's always fully accepts Christ, those in Christ are always fully accepted by God, too.

 

[jasonc]

How did we go from eternal security to another reformed thread .?

Honestly we can't even love our spouses perfectly ,if it was on us to be keepers of our faith .
Who here hasn't gone astray and not attended church for sometime ,gone out and sinned a season or maybe not that far and ignored that calling to repent of sin and then one day you do come back .

That's God keeping you .

Honestly I struggle being in church around normal people as most aren't vets and can't relate to the battle I have .

Yet examining myself in God's word I find that much of PTSD I may case is bad thought patterns and I need to give those to God.

No it is not good to be anti social .yes people are rude ,crude and mean but so was I .God call us to teach those .

the world is evil but the Hope of the Cross is greater . The vanity of war and it's grasp upon me isn't the final say
Yes christians can be shallow ,but we'll my hobbies often were or are as shallow too

 

[Jethro Bodine]

know that, according to many Calvinists, belief in Christ is ordained of God and imposed upon the believer through their spiritual regeneration prior to their profession of faith. Essentially, the born-again believer is born-again in order that they might believe in Christ their Savior; they are not born-again as a consequence of their belief in him.

I don't think that's the original teaching of Calvinism. But if you can provide an official Calvinistic creed that says it is I will certainly understand it as being an original Calvinist teaching.

I understand the official teaching of Calvinism to be that the elect are people purposely chosen by God to be created with 'soil' that will respond to the Gospel message with faith and will, as a result, be saved and born again through that faith. And so the surety and permance of salvation lies in the fact that God deliberately created them with the capacity to believe and always believe when exposed to the Gospel. God having made believing an inherent attribute of the elect that will invariably arise in them as a matter of being created that way, while those not created with the potential to believe die in their unconverted state unable to do the believing they must do in order to be saved because God did not create them with that potential.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

The non-Calvinist has a harder time, I think, avoiding making their faith in Christ and their persistence in believing in him salvific.

No, it's not hard at all because we understand that the actual Biblical argument is that justification is accomplished through the forgiveness of sin vs. the merit of doing righteous work. Faith is simply the conduit through which the grace of God in the forgiveness of sin is imputed to a person. There's no work involved to get forgiven. You simply receive it by faith. But somehow Calvinism put faith over on the side of works in Paul's works vs. faith argument. I don't see that in scripture. I see works and faith being contrasted with other as to what does and doesn't justify. Calvinism equates them and makes believing a work that can not justify when the Bible says it clearly does justify.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

How did we go from eternal security to another reformed thread .?

Because the phrase 'eternal security', which is not owned by Reformed theology, is always instantly equated with Reformed doctrines OSAS teaching.

 

[jasonc]

Because the phrase 'eternal security' is not owned by Reformed theology but is always instantly equated with Reformed doctrines OSAS teaching.

They call it perseverance of the saints not eternal security.and it's not exactly the same . Subtle difference.
If God predestined and elected you to salvation he will keep you .

 

[Tenchi]

I don't think that's the original teaching of Calvinism. But if you can provide an official Calvinistic creed that says it is I will certainly understand it as being an original Calvinist teaching.

I'm assuming by this response that you are yourself a Calvinist/Reformed believer? As I noted, Calvinism spans a spectrum of beliefs in which spectrum many Calvinists often take refuge saying, "That's not what I believe! Or that's not official Calvinism." John Piper's ordo salutis has faith preceding regeneration. R.C. Sproul held the same view. I assume these prominent Calvinists don't represent your brand of Calvinism?

(https://soteriology101.com/2016/03/09/does-regeneration-precede-faith/#_ftn1)

And so the surety and permance of salvation lies in the fact that God deliberately created them with the capacity to believe and always believe when exposed to the Gospel.

This just seems like a longer version of what I wrote: God sovereignly ordains the saving faith of His children and so they cannot not believe the Gospel.

God having made believing an inherent attribute of the elect that will invariably arise in them as a matter of being created that way, while those not created with the potential to believe die in their unconverted state unable to do the believing they must do in order to be saved because God did not create them with that potential.

Kinda' wacky, eh?

No, it's not hard at all because we understand that the actual Biblical argument is that justification is accomplished through the forgiveness of sin vs. the merit of doing righteous work. Faith is simply the conduit through which the grace of God in the forgiveness of sin is imputed to a person. There's no work involved to get forgiven. You simply receive it by faith. But somehow Calvinism put faith over on the side of works in Paul's works vs. faith argument. I don't see that in scripture. I see works and faith being contrasted with other as to what does and doesn't justify. Calvinism equates them and makes believing a work that can not justify when the Bible says it clearly does justify.

I like the brain surgeon removing a person's brain tumor analogy in explication of the role of faith in salvation. The patient believes the surgeon can remove his tumor and so agrees to be operated upon, but the actual removal of the tumor is not something in which the patient can at all participate. He simply lays on the operating table and receives the saving work of the surgeon - just like a person who trusts in the Great Physician to save them from their sin-sickness.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

If God predestined and elected you to salvation he will keep you .

Well, we can't keep ourselves. So the question is, is it incumbent on the believer to stay in the surety and assurance of God's keeping? Calvinism says, no, because that fate was determined for you and so you'll always believe. Non- Calvy says, yes, you are to stay in God's keeping power through continued faith in Him (1 Peter 1:5).

 

[jasonc]

Well, we can't keep ourselves. So the question is, is it incumbent on the believer to stay in the surety and assurance of God's keeping? Calvinism says, no, because that fate was determined for you and so you'll always believe. Non- Calvy says, yes, you are to stay in God's keeping power through continued faith in Him (1 Peter 1:5).

It depends on how they word it.

My elders would say .
At times we stray and God let's us so that curses come upon us to break us if rebellion .

Wcf chapter five on God's providence .

Imagine going astray in your thought and dying .lost forever because no sin is simply just allowed in that to be ignored.

We sin daily. Do we always confesses all of it daily ,honestly we also love those secret sins and are quite stubborn .

Now God has warned me of this page not necessarily this thread or that theology debates are a sin only that incessant I gotcha arguing is and can be a detriment to ones walk .

One can pick apart any theology .ie my church is having a st Patty's day fellowship dinner ,I bet it will be green ( gasp the papist side ) and not orange the reformed side .

I could get all uppity on that or just enjoy the silkyness of it and friends in the faith . I will of course poke my pastor on it and tell him I am of the clan o' Rourke that once had a county and is on the border of northern Ireland and some scott .

Green is for Ireland ,orange was the brotons .see where we go with such trivial things .it's ok to have opinions but giving online we often get so narrow minded we ignore the main point .ie major in the minors and minor in the major

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Imagine going astray in your thought and dying .lost forever because no sin is simply just allowed in that to be ignored.

No, you don't lose your salvation in non-Calvy doctrine because of sin. You lose it because of UNBELIEF.

You can sin as a believer and remain saved.
What you can't do is go back to unbelief and remain saved.
Unbelief is what will cause you to forfeit your salvation, not sinning. Sinning is covered by the blood of Jesus that the believing person believes in.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I'm assuming by this response that you are yourself a Calvinist/Reformed believer? As I noted, Calvinism spans a spectrum of beliefs in which spectrum many Calvinists often take refuge saying, "That's not what I believe! Or that's not official Calvinism." John Piper's ordo salutis has faith preceding regeneration. R.C. Sproul held the same view. I assume these prominent Calvinists don't represent your brand of Calvinism?

No, I'm not a Calvinist on any spectrum of Calvinist thought.

I have always understood the Calvinist argument to be that faith precedes regeneration. This new idea that the elect are born again and then have faith is what I consider one of the weird twists Calvinism has taken. Even as overthought and complicated as the original Calvinist doctrines are, these new twists on it are even more overthought and complicated.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

This just seems like a longer version of what I wrote: God sovereignly ordains the saving faith of His children and so they cannot not believe the Gospel.

If God can just wave the magic wand of election over people then Christ died for nothing. If I was Jesus I'd be upset that I was persecuted and died a horrible, painful, humiliating death for people who God made saved anyway apart from any consideration of the gospel and my (Jesus') work of the cross.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Kinda' wacky, eh?

No, a lot wacky!