With a Subtitle: Part 2 of 2… Biblically defending losing one's salvation .

A brief Excerpt: The article examines the possibility of losing salvation, presenting scriptural evidence suggesting believers must endure in their faith. However, the author believes in the irrevocability of salvation.

The Author is: Jeff Hilles

Part 1 of this two-part series offered the view of “once saved, always saved.” Below is the counter to that view (Part 2) … that one can reject God after being saved. My personal belief is that salvation is an irrevocable one-sided covenant with God, and once the Holy Spirit rests in the heart of the believer, He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30) but not rejected (Philippians 1:6, John 10:28-29, 1 Peter 1:5). However, I certainly could be wrong.

The issue of whether an individual can forfeit their salvation has been extensively discussed in Christianity. There exists considerable scriptural evidence indicating that authentic believers must endure in their faith and that apostasy, or “falling away” from the Lord, represents a genuine and grave possibility.

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. - Hebrews 6:4-6

These people were “enlightened,” “shared in the Holy Spirit,” and “tasted the goodness of the word of God.” These descriptions go far beyond a casual attraction or a one-time emotional experience. Yet they “fall away.” The warning seems to make sense only if it’s possible to stop a true saving relationship with God, through Christ, i.e., salvation.
In the same way, further in Hebrews …

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries ... How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? - Hebrews 10:26-29

The author includes himself in the warning when he says, “if we go on sinning deliberately …” If someone who once had “the knowledge of the truth” continues to purposely rebel, these verses suggest a “worse punishment” awaits.

Jesus Himself told believers who no longer followed Him …

If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. - John 15:6

The picture is not of outsiders of His ministry, but of branches that are “in” the vine that don’t stay. Abiding is not something that happens automatically; it is a state that lasts. Not staying in fellowship leads to judgment (“thrown into the fire”).

Paul also cautioned Gentile believers in Romans using similar imagery …

They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. - Romans 11:20-22

Finally, Peter’s concerns could also be taken as a warning on losing one’s salvation.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. - 2 Peter 2:20-21

The only way to “escape” the sin of this world is to be saved. And yet, Peter suggests that position could be reversed into a worse state than before they were saved.

When you put these passages together, they stress the importance of not giving up. The New Testament consistently teaches that saving faith is living and enduring, even though salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). Colossians 1:22–23 says that Christ will present believers holy and blameless, “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast.”

So, these verses suggest that the Bible doesn’t see salvation as a one-time event but more of a “working out of salvation” (Philippians 2:12-13) that tests ongoing faith and a covenant relationship that requires perseverance.