| Chapter 1: Introduction to Eternal Security | | Arminianism and Calvinism | | By Grace Through Faith Alone in Christ Alone | | Christ's Atoning Death for Our Justification | | Regeneration and Eternal Life | | Indwelling and Sealing of the Spirit | | Explicit Promises of Scripture | | Theological Significance, Part I | | Theological Significance, Part II | | Denial of Eternal Security: It's Always About Sex | | Tom's Page | | The "Problem Verses" |
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Christ's Atoning Death
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Our Justification
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The Perfect Atonement
A believer cannot lose his salvation, because when Jesus died on the cross at Calvary, the sin debt of mankind was paid in full. The last thing that the Gospel of John records Jesus as saying before He died on the cross is "tetelasti." (John 19:30) This term is translated "it is finished," in most translations, which is accurate. However, the term was a figure of speech in the time of Christ, which meant that a debt had been PAID IN FULL. (Kittel, Vol. VIII, pg. 57, 60.) When Jesus shouted this as he die, He was indicating that His death had paid in full for the sins of man.
This makes it quite impossible for one who has accepted Jesus Christ to somehow commit a sin that was not paid for at Calvary.
When one trusts Jesus as their Savior, they are not trusting that He paid for some of their sins. They are believing that Jesus paid for all of their sins. His perfect atonement paid for our past, present, and future sins.
Imagine you owed $35,000 on credit cards, and that a friend of yours paid your credit card debt. The result is that, as a matter of law, you no longer owe that money. You are legally discharged from paying your debt. Can you imagine someone paying your debt, and the credit card company calling you and saying, "you still have to contact us every month for the rest of your life to discuss your debt." This is absurd. When a debt has been paid, you are free from the burden of that debt.
Because Jesus paid in full for our sins at Calvary, one who believes that he can lose his salvation through sin has demonstrated an utter failure to grasp, even on the most rudimentary level, the significance of our Lord's atoning death at Calvary. |
Justification
A believer cannot lose his salvation because he has been justified in the tribunal of heaven. Because Jesus paid the debt for your sins, the moment you believe on Christ alone as your Savior, you receive the benefit of his death for your sins. The author of Hebrews describes this as being "sanctified" once for all. (Hebrews 10:10-12, & 10:14). When we accept Him as our Savior, we are not taking an arm or a leg. We are accepting JESUS.
In contrast to the term used in Hebrews, Paul uses the word "justify."
Justification is a legal term, To be justified is to be declared not guilty of one's sins. Because God required a punishment for sin, when Jesus died on the cross, He suffered God's wrath to pay for your sins, thereby satisfying God's legal demands. Because the sin debt has been paid, God is able to declare us "not guilty" of our sins in the tribunal of heaven. Our sins have been paid for. The Christian has not been paroled (guilty, but free to leave prison if we keep on the straight and narrow), he has been pardoned. He has been legally declared "not guilt" of all his sins, past, present and future.
Justification ("dikiao," "dikiasune) is not a process by which God cleans up the life of a lost sinner and conforms the sinner to His image. Rather, justification is a forensic (legal) declaration wherein God declares a lost sinner to be "not guilty" in the supreme tribunal of Heaven. This is why Paul declares that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Because justification is by faith, and not by the works of the law, and because it is a declaration by God that man is no longer guilty of is sins, a denial of the doctrine of eternal security demonstrates an utter failure to grasp, even on the most rudimentary level, the biblical doctrine of justification by faith. |
The doctrines of the atonement and the doctrine of justirfication are of no small significance. The gospel message by which men must be saved is that Christ died for our sins, and arose again from the dead. We are never told to trust Jesus for simply payng our past sins. Jesus paid it all. To deny this is to deny the very gospel itself . . . "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that he rose again on the third day." (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
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Christ's Atoning Death for Our Justification |
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