Eternal Security

This teaching material presents Jesus Christ as the source of eternal salvation through some subheadings like false hopes of salvation, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only Source of salvation, Jesus Christ’s works of salvation, His assurance of salvation, a biblical exposition on the doctrine of eternal salvation (or eternal security), and some lessons for life.

The truth is, it doesn't matter who you know or how        many people you know.  Ultimately, knowing God is the only relationship  that matters for eternity. But what does it mean to know God? 
Questions related to this topic that we intend to discuss include: 
1. What is involved in knowing God? 
2. What do we need to learn and know about God? 
3. Where are the answers found? 
4. Will I know God when I find the answers?
5. What benefits are there from knowing God?

The use and misuse of Christian liberty has been an issue in the church since the time of the apostles. Several early churches were struggling in this area, and Paul, in his epistles, discusses this critical topic in some detail. The goal of this study is to analyze Paul’s statement in Romans 14:15 in regard to the misuse of Christian liberty in the church and its consequences. In this passage Paul warns a so-called “strong” believer that by the insensitive use of his Christian liberty and knowledge he can “destroy” or “ruin” the one who is weak in faith.  The present paper will focus specifically on examining the meaning of the above mentioned admonition and its theological and practical implications.

Prior to engaging interpretive problems in the selected passage it is necessary to address its setting. This step cannot be overlooked since it allows the interpreter to take into account both the broad context of the book and the immediate context of the text under consideration. Hence, after greeting his recipients and introducing the theme of the epistle to the Romans,  which is the gospel of God’s righteousness that can be experienced by faith (1:1-17), Paul delves into rich discussion of the gospel as God’s righteousness by faith (1:18–4:25), as God’s power for salvation (5:1–8:39), the gospel of God’s righteousness in its relation to Israel (9:1–11:36) and its relation to the transformation of life (12:1–15:13), before concluding his letter (15:14–16:27).

Schreiner correctly underscores the importance of remembering the occasional nature of Paul’s letters,  as well as the importance of reconstructing the situation that Paul addressed.  This reconstruction of the problem addressed in the immediate context of the passage in question is not without difficulties. In fact, Cranfield in his commentary lists as many as six suggestions in relation to the problem with which Paul is concerned in this section.  Morris adds, “[t]he arguments are endless, but no one has been able to come up with convincing evidence for any one position.”  Yet, while the exact situation may be impossible to deduce from what is contained in the text, we are not completely ignorant as to what was going on in the church. A careful reading of Romans 14:1-15:13 shows that the two groups of genuine believers in the church, i.e. the “strong” and the “weak,” disagreed on a specific point that falls into a broad category of Christian liberty. The heart of the problem is identified by Paul in 14:2 and can be summarized as “[t]he strong believed that they were permitted to eat anything (meats as well as vegetables); the weak were vegetarians.”  Paul’s attitude toward the two groups was that, first, while he agreed with the strong that nothing (no food) is unclean in itself (14:14, 20; 15:1), he exhorted each to lay aside strife and pursue peace and mutual edification (14:19; 15:2, 3), and, secondly, “he is especially emphatic in denouncing the attitude of some strong people toward the weak (14:14–21), and he admonishes the strong lovingly to bear with the failings of the weak (15:1).”

Now with the background of the passage in mind it is appropriate to consider the problem at hand, namely Paul’s admonition in Romans 14:15, which reads: “Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”  Undoubtedly, the interpretive crux of the matter is the meaning and implications of the Greek term ἀπόλλυμι (“destroy”) in this passage.

To properly understand the apostle John's Epistles (in keeping, indeed, with many expressions of our Lord Jesus Himself as recorded in John's Gospel), it is essential that we grasp their particularly "abstract" nature. The First Epistle of John, especially, "is mainly abstract (i.e., deals with truth in its principles) and [as such] draws a sharp distinction between light and darkness and between the old nature and the new" (RAH), with no shades of gray in such expressions, and generally not stopping to address the mixed condition that believers often find in themselves, who possess both the divine life/new nature and the old lawless nature-with such abstract statements further serving to both encourage and admonish us, stirring us to enter into by faith and realize in daily practice the profound blessings of the new nature and position we have in Christ and to walk accordingly. "It is of great value to view things in this abstract way [that is, according their fundamental nature by which they are characterized before God, without introducing any qualifying clauses related to varying experiential condition], for thereby we are instructed in the true nature of things, and see things as God sees them. Moreover [in the case of the children of God] we are seeing things as they will be displayed in the day to come when God has finished His work with us [in our glorified state]." (FBH) "Needless to say, that when we look into daily conversation [daily walk], there is failure too often. But John is not occupied with the shortcoming as a general rule, but with the principle, and therefore he puts it in all its simplicity as he was entitled to do. .. 'In this are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil.' The apostle regarded the difference as plain enough. He looks as usual at broad, clear, and practical proofs." "John as a rule [with few exceptions] does not occupy himself with the details of fact [as to modifications in the believer's spiritual condition or lapses of unfaithfulness]. He looks at truth in its own proper abstract character apart from passing circumstances; and if you do not read John's writings thus, especially the epistle before us, I am afraid that there is little prospect that you will ever understand them." (WK) "The ascribing to a person what is true only of a nature [the nature by which he is viewed before God], runs through all John's epistle." (JND) Thus, with respect to the believer, while he still has the old nature, the flesh, in him (Rom. 7:18), he is no longer "in the flesh" as to his standing or what characterizes him before God (Rom. 7:5; 8:8-9; Eph. 2:11; Col. 2:11). He is viewed as such all through this First Epistle-according to the new nature which alone characterizes him before God (in contrast with the falsely professing unbeliever whose sole nature, the flesh, characterizes him before God).

For a sampling of such “abstract” expressions of our Lord in John’s Gospel as well, see: 5:28-29; 8:12, 31-32, 34, 36, 42, 47, 51; 10:4-5, 27; 12:25-26; 14:21, 23-24; 15:14; 17:6, 8; etc. Likewise with respect to His characterization of “him that overcomes” in Revelation 2-3 (the real believer, 1 John 5:4-5), also recorded by John. Such may be found, to a lesser extent, in our Lord’s words in each of the other Gospels too, e.g.: Matt. 5:3-11; 7:17-19; 10:32-33, 37-39; 16:24-25; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 6:43-45; 8:21; 9:23-26; 14:26-27. Nor is this type of expression absent elsewhere in the NT, key examples of which may be noted in this striking set of related passages: 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5-8; Col. 3:5-6; Rev. 21:8.

Appendix 1: Know” in First John:  The Occurrences of and Shade of Difference between Ginosko and Oida

Appendix 2: Personal Assurance

Appendix 3: Divine Preservation of Faith in His Own Contrasted with Apostasy of False Professors