We are saved, are being saved, and one day will be fully saved, just as if you were sick and took a vaccine. You were healed, are being healed as it works through your system, and one day will have full healing. If you live in sin after salvation, you either were not saved (I John3:9) or you are on a dangerous path that leads to faithlessness and then damnation (Heb6:6 and 10:29). God is faithful to forgive our sin, but we can disown Him if we continually follow sin (II Tim2:11-13). While no one can take us from His hand (John 10:28) and we cannot lose our salvation haphazardly, we can chose to continue in sin and thereby reject our salvation.
First of all, I would argue that this issue ultimately comes down to whether you believe that God chose us first or you believe that we have to choose God first (essentially the issue of predestination). If indeed God chose us first, then I believe that the names of those he chose are written in the book of life and cannot simply be crossed out. One verse that might back this up would be:
Revelation 13:8 “And all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”
I think that if you are chosen by God to be one of his elect, then at the time of your death you will believe in God.
You might offer up the counterargument of someone like Joshua Harris who seemingly believed in God for a good chunk of his life and yet recently fell away, but in those types of examples I am inclined to believe that one of three things is happening. 1) The never truly believed in God in the first place. 2) They will choose to believe in God again before they die. 3) Deep down they still recognize that there is a creator who died for our sins.
Finally, if you believe that God chose us first, then those he chose are a part of God’s elect which by definition are saved and cannot lose their salvation. Several verses to back this up would be:
John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
Ephesians 1:4-5 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”
Ephesians 1:11 “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will”
Romans 8:29-30 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
We are saved, are being saved, and one day will be fully saved, just as if you were sick and took a vaccine. You were healed, are being healed as it works through your system, and one day will have full healing. If you live in sin after salvation, you either were not saved (I John3:9) or you are on a dangerous path that leads to faithlessness and then damnation (Heb6:6 and 10:29). God is faithful to forgive our sin, but we can disown Him if we continually follow sin (II Tim2:11-13). While no one can take us from His hand (John 10:28) and we cannot lose our salvation haphazardly, we can chose to continue in sin and thereby reject our salvation.
First of all, I would argue that this issue ultimately comes down to whether you believe that God chose us first or you believe that we have to choose God first (essentially the issue of predestination). If indeed God chose us first, then I believe that the names of those he chose are written in the book of life and cannot simply be crossed out. One verse that might back this up would be:
Revelation 13:8 “And all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”
I think that if you are chosen by God to be one of his elect, then at the time of your death you will believe in God.
You might offer up the counterargument of someone like Joshua Harris who seemingly believed in God for a good chunk of his life and yet recently fell away, but in those types of examples I am inclined to believe that one of three things is happening. 1) The never truly believed in God in the first place. 2) They will choose to believe in God again before they die. 3) Deep down they still recognize that there is a creator who died for our sins.
Finally, if you believe that God chose us first, then those he chose are a part of God’s elect which by definition are saved and cannot lose their salvation. Several verses to back this up would be:
John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
Ephesians 1:4-5 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”
Ephesians 1:11 “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will”
Romans 8:29-30 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”