First Things First

If you teach high school and college long enough you start to notice a pattern in the questions that kids have as they start to emerge from the cocoon of their upbringing. (And I think the cocoon is very important.)

Two questions invariably arise:
1. Is Jesus the only way to salvation?
2. Can you lose your salvation?

Both have one question that has to be answered first: What do you mean by "salvation?"

I've asked this question in groups before and I get many different answers. Saved from hell. Saved to heaven. Saved from my sins. Eternal life. Communion with God. Rest. Hope. Peace. A new creation. The right to be called a son of God.

While personally I think Isaiah 53:4-6 gives the best definition, I have to agree with these answers. Salvation is all of the above.

So when I'm asked if you can lose your salvation I say, "Yes and no." I personally don't believe we can lose our standing as a son, (sealed with the Spirit in Ephesians 1:13,14) but I do believe we can lose so many of the things listed that are just as important parts of salvation. We can lose communion, victory, peace, rest, usefulness to the Kingdom . . . And if we lose these things we've lost a lot. If anyone has been truly "saved" they would understand that this loss is brutal. It is basically the absence of God - which is the definition of hell.

So yes, you can lose parts of your salvation and reap hell on earth. As for the afterlife? That's a different post for a different day.