Murphey- I’m not going to go over all the contentious verses in te bible- I d believe we’ve had discussions on this before even- about different verses that seemed to indicate folks could lose their salvation, but which also were taken out of context, or not considered with the original Greek or Hebrew words- which is essential to understanding God’s word-
Briefly on the branches- the section is talkign about the Jews- as mentioned in my last post- it is talking aobut unsaved Jews being cast away and burned- Jews who claimed to be ‘religious’; but who never accepted Christ- It is proven by the verse you posted below which says there will be those who say “Lord Lord” who will go to hell- or be burned up- Those are hte ones Christ spoke of who when i nheaven say “Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?” and Christ says to them “Depart from Me I never knew you”
Note carefully- He said he “NEVER” knew them- in otherwords, they claimed to be Christians, but they Never accepted Him as Savior- they were CINO’s, Christians in name only- ie unsaved- always-
The bible has a great many verses to prove once saved always saved- and therefore any verses that Seem to indicate otherwise Need to be carefully read because God is infallible and can not lie- When He says that Christ will Never lose ANY of those that God gives to Him- He means just that- a Saved person can Never be lost- Ever=- otherwise God is a liar- If a person can go their whole life saved, then make commit a terrible sin and die doing so- and that person is lost- then Gold’s word is false- Man will Always sin- and even one small sin is enough for a man to lose their salvation IF it is possible ot lose salvation because All sin is grievous to God- not just ‘the big sins’ - All sin sent Christ ot the cross- not just ‘the major sins’
My bible tells me that when a person is saved, —NO— man can pluck that person out of God’s hands- and that includes the man or woman themselves- My bible tells me that —NO— soul given to Christ by God will be lost- None- The verses you cited talk about people Christ —NEVER— Knew, not even briefly- when He said Never, He meant Never- they were never saved- and that is who He was speaking to- the unsaved Jews who were ‘religious’ i n their own minds, but were infact worthless branches in need of pruning and burning-
[[And not the one the Holy Spirit has guided since the beginning.]]
You are giving an opinion and frankly a wrong opinion- My bible is full of assurance of Salvation verses-
[[Do you really think St. PAUL was intentionally speaking gibberish about “working out his salvation...”?]]
Wow- ok- just briefly- again- working out does not mean ‘working for’- it means working out the gifts which are given the CHristian - IF we have to maintain our salvation, then God’s gift of salvation is no longer a FREE gift, but an earned reward- and the bible tells us many times that salvation is never earned- it is given freely- Lest any man should boast- IF we have to maintain our own salvatio n through diligent Christian works and deeds- then we have occasion to boast that WE are keeping our own salvation, and those that don’t lose their salvation (again, making God out ot be a liar when He said NONE woudl be lost.
In John 10:28-30, Jesus says: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”)
IF we have to work for our salvation, then again- even one small sin is enough to break our relationship with God and results in al oss of salvation-
IF we have to work to keep our salvation then what are the lines for keeping it? Not committing 5 sins a day? 10? 1? 20? The man who says he is sinless is a liar- ALL sin is serious- No matter how inconsequential it may seem to someone- ALL sin separates us from God (Remember our talk about being separated but not cut off- a son can separate himself from his parents, but he is always that person’s son- no matter what- by blood- By blood we are Christ’s sons and daughters too- just in a little different manner blood-wise- But We still truly become His sons and daughters complete with all the rights of a bloodline son or daughter)
For more o nthe ‘work out your salvation’ verse- look here:
“If “once saved, always saved” is not true, then by necessity we are saved both by our faith and our works. If we can do sinful things, or not do good things (James 4:17) and lose our security, then our good deeds are a part of our salvation.”
It is simply encouraging them to ‘work out’ what is in them- ie good works, gifts of the Spirit- etc-
“”With fear and trembling” does not imply that if the people do not work out their salvation just right they can lose their salvation. It means that they should work out their salvation with reverential humility and respect for the God whom they serve. Since they are now responsible on their own, they should be careful not to offend God through disobedience. The truly reverent and humble person cares greatly what God thinks of them.”
https://www.authenticlifeidentity.com/daily-devotions/work-out-your-salvation
Note- we should always keep ourselves with fear and trembling because God is a Holy Righteous God, and it should grieve us terribly to disappoint Him- liek hte passage above states-
[[without the many cautioning damnation passages...]]
All of which when carefully scrutinized IN Context, and scrutinized by carefully reading the original words- etc- show that one is not capable of losing their salvation, but rather one should work out what is in them- not to earn or maintain their salvation, but because God has graciously saved us and we should respond with holy reverence to that fact-
Paul spoke to a couple of churches that were severely back-slidden- severely carnal, Like committing ‘really big sins’ as a way of life- He spoke to them NOT as ‘Former brothers and sisters in Christ” but as “Fellow Brothers and sisters in Christ”- They were not working to maintain their salvation, nor did Paul expect them to- He did warn them that they were in danger of chastisement if they didn’t start to obey God- and he did encourage them to remember their first love and get back to it- He spoke to them as Saved people- not as unsaved people who had lost their salvation- That fact too can not be over looked
Again- I’m not going to go over all the controversial verses in the bible- if you don’t wish to believe that Christ will never lose any of His own that are given to Him, then i don’;t know what to tell you- other than do a serious study on ‘assurances of salvation in the bible’ with commentary on the verses-
We never ever earn salvation by our obedience- it is always a free gift of righteousness from Christ- He imparts His righteousness onto us- our own ‘righteousness’ or ‘righteous acts’ is always stained with sin- Christ’s is not, and His perfection is what saves us- not our works- lest any man should boast- That much is very clear from God’s word-
in order to be in heaven where no sin can be, we MUST be cleansed completely clean by the only one who was ever sinless- Christ- IF we are to have any part in our own salvation, We mar it terribly by our very sin nature which is always sinning- always- Our righteous acts are as filthy rags the bible tells us= and our filthy rags stained with sin can never save us or make us pure as is needed for us to live in heaven where no sin can dwell- We can never turn so completely from sin that we are ‘righteous enough by our own efforts” to save or even maintain our own salvation
Thank God that it is not up to us to be saved or to maintain our salvation because noone woudl ever be saved if that were the case-
IF a person could save themselves, or maintain their salvation through their own righteous living, sin stained as it is, then that is a braggadocios act that declares that that person has earned his way into heaven by his own ‘good deeds’ (which again, remember the bible tells us are filthy rags)
Where God is no sin can be- That is why he had to kick Satan and his followers out- God’s righteousness can not dwell with unrighteous- and the bible tells us that there is not one righteous person- none- ONLY Christ’s righteousness imputed to us makes us whole and pure and able to stand i n the presence of God=- Forgiven and pure and sinless- Again, if it were up to us, there is no way we could stand in His presence because of our sin nature which is always sinning- Christ’s blood covers ALL of our sins- it has to- because our ‘good deeds’ can never cover our sins- not even a tiny portion of them-
We stand blameless before God precisely because Christ covered ALL of our sins, past present and future- otherwise no man could ever make it to heaven because not only do we sin by committing acts, but we also sin in ways we don’t even realize, and Any sin in a person can not be brought into heaven- when a person dies with sin i n their life- either realized or unrealized, they would be bringing that sin into heaven with them IF IT WERE NOT for the covering blood of Christ which makes us white as snow- Pure, Sinless in terms of Salvation through Christ (that does not mean we can’t sin as humans, but our eternal destination is sealed by Christ’s Saving purifying blood)