Introduction

We sometimes hear Christians discussing the question: can you lose your salvation? Some say yes, others say no, sometimes they are talking about different things, and since the question of salvation is inseparable from that of man’s eternal destiny, it is crucial to find solid and certain answers on this subject, based on clear concepts and a sound exegesis of Scripture. Following this line of thought, we come here to the conclusion that the question makes no sense, and that it must be reinterpreted in order to be answered.

1 Appropriate salvation through faith

The notion of “salvation”, a noun from the same root as the verb “to save” (in both French and Greek), is well attested in the New Testament. One of the most explicit texts on this subject is Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

4 But God, who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 having died through our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved); 6 having raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 in order to show to the ages to come the infinite riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.

Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, Chapter 2, verses 4 to 8

The two mentions of the expression “you are saved” are identical (ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι), the term σεσῳσμένοι (“saved”) being a perfect participle (passive) indicating on the one hand that it is something accomplished, on the other that it is not achieved by the one who is saved. In the context, the apostle Paul explicitly links it (in v.5) to the “spiritual” resurrection by which the “saints and faithful” (whom he is addressing here in Chapter 1, verse 1) are “made alive” with Christ, which seems to us to correspond to the reality of the new birth mentioned in John 3 (see What is new birth according to the Bible?).

First of all, let’s note that the apostle Paul speaks of salvation as something accomplished, which must be associated with two elements. The first is that he is addressing “those who are holy and faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1): he is not, therefore, addressing all those who profess to be Christians, but those who are indeed holy and faithful (that is, who are “in the faith”, the two words having the same root). The second is that, in the context of Chapter 2, the apostle insists on the idea that the new life granted to the Christian is God’s alone, man appropriating it only through faith as a means: since the emphasis here is on the divine origin of this life, salvation can be considered as accomplished in the passive, precisely because it is not the work of the man who receives it.

Next, let us note that the means of this salvation is faith: it is precisely in this way that he distinguishes the saints and faithful to whom he is writing. And if men can be saved by faith, it is still necessary to understand what they should be saved from.

2 Salvation as deliverance to come

We often hear the schematic but incomplete and secondary idea that man is saved from his sins. However, it is in his epistle to the Romans that the same apostle Paul develops the element that associates faith on the one hand, and man’s salvation on the other, through the notion of justification (see Salvation in the epistle to the Romans): God declares (rather than makes) man just on the basis of his faith, because of the merits of Christ. By explaining in this way the reasons why man obtains salvation by faith, he defines what man is saved from when he is justified:

6 For while we were still without power, Christ, at the time appointed, gave his life for the ungodly. 7 A righteous man would be put to death with very little effort, and a good man might be put to death with a little effort. 8 But God gives evidence of his love for us, in that while we were still sinners Christ gave his life for us. 9 How much more then, now that we have been made right by his blood, will we be made safe from wrath through him? 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more, being reconciled, will we be made safe by his life?

Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 5, verses 6 to 10

Man’s free justification by means of faith thus enables him to be saved from divine wrath. In fact, this wrath, i.e. the divine retribution that is to come upon the world, is “revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who unjustly hold the truth captive” (Romans 1:18). So the apostle rebukes every unrepentant man (refusing to repent and turn to God) for storing up “a treasure of wrath for the day of wrath and of the manifestation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6). This is the basis of Paul’s exposition of justification, by which man can escape this wrath, be saved from its wrath (Romans 5:10): God himself is the one who can save him from his own retribution to the world. We read here, moreover, that this salvation is announced as in the future tense: justified in the present tense, “we will be saved from wrath by him”. The Greek expression used is the same verb as that used in Ephesians 2:4-8 (σῴζω, previous section), conjugated this time in the future passive: while the passive emphasises that it is always God who will save the justified sinner, the future tense echoes the motive for salvation, since it is from a future event that we must be saved. In this sense, salvation has not yet been achieved, since deliverance has yet to come. 

3 Already saved and not yet

This is undoubtedly why the apostle makes it clear later in the same letter, on the subject of cosmic deliverance, that the Christian possesses salvation only in hope:

22 Now we have knowledge that to this day the whole creation has been in pain, going through the pangs of childbirth. 23 And it is not only she who is in pain, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, are in pain, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we have salvation. But the hope which we see is no longer hope: what we see, can we still hope for? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with all perseverance.

Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 8, verses 22 to 25

Paul insists here without ambiguity on the fact that Christian hope is not yet present, otherwise it would not be hope, which by definition we must wait for; yet he applies this to salvation, which, although acquired in hope, has not yet happened, since it will be manifested with the day of God’s judgement. This reference of Christian salvation, as hope, to a future event, might seem contradictory to the accomplished (perfect) salvation in Ephesians 2:5-8 (cf. below). Either the apostle is talking about two different things, associated in a related way, or he is talking about the same thing. We opt here for the second possibility, and for two reasons:

1. Christian salvation is a central theme in the Apostle Paul’s doctrine, and it seems questionable that in a text in which he sets out the conditions and deep reasons for it (the epistle to the Romans), he should adopt a secondary conception of it, while he puts forward the same condition for salvation as in the epistle to the Ephesians, that is, faith 
2. The verb used in Romans 8:24 is in the present tense (and also in the passive tense): although the nuance with the perfect tense of Ephesians 2:5-8 could be that of a “dynamic” salvation (in contrast with a salvation considered as accomplished in principle), the indication that salvation is “in hope” seems rather to underline a convergence of the two points of view: in principle, salvation is a present achievement, but in reality it is something that remains in the register of hope. 

It is thus possible for the apostle Paul to speak of salvation in the present, while considering that it is a reality yet to come : this dialectic between what is “already here” and what is “not yet here”, a concept that seems to be attributable to the theologian Oscar Cullman, runs throughout the New Testament and has become a commonplace in Protestant theology. There is therefore no contradiction between the idea of a salvation acquired in principle and that of a salvation to come, but since the very object of salvation, deliverance from God’s wrath, is yet to come, it is only possible to say that the Christian is “saved” by anticipation. We must therefore examine under what conditions the salvation that is to come can be considered by the Christian as acquired, which brings us back to his means, i.e. faith.

4 Faith as a condition and the participation of man

When the apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians of the Gospel he preached to them, in its essential principles, he warns them that they will be saved if they keep it as it was preached to them:

1 I remind you, brothers, of the good news which I preached to you, which you received, in which you kept, 2 and by which you have salvation, if you keep it just as I preached it to you; otherwise you would have believed in vain. 3 I taught you first of all, as I also received it, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; 4 that he was buried, and that he was raised again on the third day according to the Scriptures […].

1st epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 1-4

The expression “you are saved” (σῴζεσθε) is here conjugated in the passive voice of the present indicative. There is therefore no question of the future, but the apostle states a condition for obtaining this salvation: to retain the Gospel that has been proclaimed (“the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes […], because in him the righteousness of God is revealed through faith and for faith”, Ro 1:16-17). It is not enough, therefore, to have believed at a given moment in order to obtain the salvation promised by the Gospel: faith must be preserved, and an authentic faith, that is to say one that holds on to God’s revelation, in this case the apostolic Gospel, until the end. This motif of persevering faith as a condition for obtaining salvation is repeated many times in the New Testament and seems difficult to discuss. Thus, if salvation is sometimes presented in the future tense, and sometimes in the present tense by Paul, it must be recorded that it is subject to two clear modalities:

1. As a future reality, salvation is not, in principle, achieved during the Christian’s earthly career. 
2. As a reward, it comes at the end of a race that occupies the whole of Christian life, conditional on perseverance in the faith. 

This notion of salvation as retribution must not be confused with the idea that it is possible to earn it as a reward, which Scripture denounces as a justice “that comes from works” (Ro 3:19-20). The Christian faith is not meritorious, being merely a means by which man can appropriate God’s grace. But this idea of a salvation that has not yet come, and that requires persevering faith, is closely linked with sanctification in Pauline theology, and in particular in the epistle to the Philippians:

12 So, my loved ones, as you have always done, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, not only as you did when I was present, but even more so now that I am not here; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to his good pleasure.

Epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 2, verses 12-13

The apostle Paul, who is always speaking to the saints (Phil 1:2), considers that salvation is a work in progress, and that Christians must work at it. This work does not consist in him or her producing works that make him or her worthy of obtaining it, but it is nevertheless a work, that of faith, by which man participates in his salvation, not on his own initiative, but in the movement of what God himself does in him, “producing the will and the doing” (v.13). In this perseverance of the Christian in faith with a view to obtaining the promised salvation, there is therefore a synergy between the action of God, who warns him through the sanctification of the Spirit, and the efforts he must make to build up this salvation as a hope.

Conclusion

While salvation is in principle achieved for the Christian through faith in the Gospel, as the deliverance to come from the “divine wrath” that is to be manifested, it is in fact only a hope, which the Christian must work towards through faith. This work is that of faith, which holds fast to the Gospel in order to obtain at the end of the race the salvation promised as the price of faith:

3 Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has made us new again to a living hope, through the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead; 4 To an inheritance which can never be made unclean or defiled or withered, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who by the power of God are kept by faith for the salvation which is ready to be made clear in the last time. 6 This is your joy, though now, as it is necessary, you are grieved for a little time by various trials, 7 so that the testing of your faith, which is more precious than gold which is perishable (though it is tested by fire), may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ comes, 8 whom you love but have not seen, in whom you have faith but have not yet seen, rejoicing with joy unspeakable and glorious, 9 because you will have the salvation of your souls as the price of your faith.

1st Epistle of Peter, Chapter 1, verses 3-9

Thus salvation will be “revealed in the last times” and it will be obtained (in the future tense) “for the price of faith”, even if this does not mean that it depends only on man to persevere in this faith, since God’s elect (1 Pet 1:2) are kept by God’s own power (1 Pet 1:5).

If, then, it is “in hope that we are saved”, if we retain the Gospel “as it has been proclaimed”, then salvation cannot be taken for granted. So it doesn’t really make sense to wonder about the possibility of losing it. On the other hand, since persevering faith is a condition of Christian salvation, it is worthwhile to shift the question in this direction: is it possible to lose faith, and thus not attain salvation?