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Can a Christian Perish?

Grace and Responsibility

Published since 05. Dec. 2025

“Yet the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are his; and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19)

“If you live according to flesh, you are about to die; but if, by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

In contemplating the eternally valid salvation of those who had been lost, we are occupied with the grace of God. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus and is justified by this stands in this eternal and unfading grace of God (Rom. 5:1–2). But linked with this position is a responsibility which no one who professes Christ can escape. Everyone who calls Him his Lord has the responsibility to live according to His Word. Living up to this responsibility is not a burden but a joy for the new, divine life that we have received.

We all know from our own experience the general principle that every relationship in which a person is placed entails a responsibility. We need only think of a husband and a wife in marriage, parents and children in the family, and a boss and an employee in professional life. Even as a creature, every human being is in a relationship with God the Creator and bears a corresponding responsibility. The highest relationship that there is for a human being, that of the redeemed to God, is indeed the result of the grace of God, but it brings with it the responsibility to behave as God expects of those who profess to know Him. That is the Christian’s responsibility. Nevertheless, it is not a heavy yoke imposed on us by our Lord, but an easy yoke and a light burden (see Matt. 11:30). The thought of His great love for us will make it easy for us to love Him in return and to obey His Word:

“He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me” (John 14:21).

Love for Him can save us from carelessness and indifference to sin.

Two sides

Both sides of Christianity are clearly and unambiguously specified in 2 Timothy 2:19:

“Yet the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are his; and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity.”

The “firm foundation of God” does not refer to Christ or to the church (cf. Matt. 16:18; 1 Tim. 3:15), but to an unchanging principle which forms the basis of God’s relationship with man. This “foundation of God” remains firm and unshakable, even if everything else collapses or falls apart. The “firm foundation of God” also bears a “seal”, that is, His own final, unalterable confirmation.

One side of the seal – one could say the side facing God – contains the words: “The Lord knows those that are his”. As we have seen, God has foreknown all those who believe in His Son in eternity, and His Son, the Lord Jesus, knows all His sheep by name (John 10:14, 27). There is no room for any doubt here! It may sometimes be difficult or even impossible for people to judge whether someone is really a child of God. It is comforting to know that the Lord knows His own. Anyone who has sincerely confessed his sins and accepted the Lord Jesus in faith as his Saviour can rely on this.

Even if he often feels a ‘failure’ in his practical life of faith – and what Christian does not know this feeling – the fact remains unalterable: “The Lord knows those that are his”. James wrote in his letter: “We all often offend” (Jas. 3:2). But did that make him doubt his salvation? Not at all. He knew that he belonged to those who, according to the will of God, were begotten “by the word of truth”, that he was part of the “first-fruits of his creatures”, and that the Holy Spirit dwelt in him (Jas. 1:18; 4:5).

The divine seal, however, has another inscription which reads: “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”! Here it is obviously about the profession of Christ as Lord, which expresses itself in word and deed. With all the certainty that the believer has, he must not forget that there is a responsibility connected with his profession of Christ. God expects everyone who professes to know Him and His Son to live in obedience to His Word. Every Christian has the sacred duty to refrain from iniquity. “Iniquity” here means any behaviour that is contrary to the thoughts of God. A similar injunction was given to the faithful in Thessalonica:

“Hold aloof from every form of wickedness” (1 Thess. 5:22).

No Christian, therefore, can allow himself to live in sin and thereby lull himself into a supposed security! On the one hand, the Holy Scriptures teach us about the positive fruits of the life of faith, but on the other hand it warns every Christian against sin. This refutes the accusation that the faithful are tempted to be careless in the face of sin when they are told that they cannot lose their security and certainty of salvation.

Let us just take the following Bible passages. James points out the connection between faith and works:

“What is the profit, my brethren, if any one say he have faith but have not works? ... So also faith, if it have not works, is dead by itself” (Jas. 2:14–17).

So if someone says he believes in the Lord Jesus, he has to prove it in his life. Paul also points out the indissoluble connection between faith and joyful confession:

“With the heart is believed to righteousness, and with the mouth confession made to salvation” (Rom. 10:10)1.

And why is this so? Because the Christian has received new, divine life, through faith, and this cannot stay hidden. Paul summarizes this in these words:

“For we are his [God’s] workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

According to the Bible, then, there is no real faith without it also being evident in works and words.

Once again, whoever says that the proclamation of the certainty of salvation leads to carelessness in the face of sin is not standing on the ground of the Word of God! The New Testament gives every believer complete certainty, but at the same time warns against any carelessness in thinking and doing. We will not find a single passage that indicates that a redeemed person can be lost, but neither will we find one that says that a path of sin leads to glory in the end!

When the believers in Philippi are called upon by the apostle Paul to work out their own salvation  with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), this does not mean that they could contribute anything to the salvation of their souls. We have seen that this is impossible and also unnecessary, because God has done everything perfectly for us in Christ. By “salvation” here Paul means the liberation and deliverance from all difficulties and temptations on the way to the end of our path at the coming of the Lord. The Philippians were to keep this goal in mind. Now, when Paul was no longer with them, and they were in some ways left to their own devices, they were reminded that they were in constant danger of falling into sin. However, they were not to have been afraid of getting lost, but rather of the flesh that dwelt within them and its activities. On the other hand, they were given to know:

“For it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

These are encouraging words. Every redeemed person may have the certainty: ‘I am the property of the Lord, my sins are forgiven, I have received eternal life and the Holy Spirit, and God is concerned about me. He is the source of strength that enables me to fulfil my responsibility as a Christian and to stand separate from iniquity.’

If….

This brings us to the point where it is necessary to take a closer look at some Bible passages which are often cited as “proof” that a believer can be lost after all if he does not persevere in faith and live accordingly. These may be called the “if” clauses of the New Testament. But let us remember what we have just established. In the New Testament the Christian is viewed from two sides: from God’s eternal perspective, salvation is certain; but the authenticity of the profession of Christ is tested and recognized by a life in accordance with the Word of God. Some of these “if” clauses (and there are also others besides these) will now be briefly explained.

 “If you live according to flesh, you are about to die; but if, by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

In the letter to the Romans we find the perfection of justification by faith and its wonderful, eternally certain consequences. (See the chapter on Justification). How then could the apostle Paul write such words to the believers in Rome? To show them that salvation ultimately depends on our walk? Surely such a conclusion is wrong. A redeemed person has received new life, which is here called “spirit”, and furthermore the Holy Spirit dwells in him as a Person (v. 9–10).

This enables him to live a life pleasing to God. This is the divine side. There is nothing lacking.

But now comes the human side of responsibility. When someone who professes to be a Christian “lives according to flesh”, that is, practically reveals the characteristics of a person who is not born again, God does not tell him: ‘Don’t worry, you will reach your goal after all!’ On the contrary, it says: “If you live according to flesh, you are about to die”! The end of a path according to the flesh is not only bodily death, but the “second death”, eternal damnation (see Rev. 20:14). Nowhere in God’s Word does one find that a life of sin ends in glory. God not only shows us grace, but He also places us under corresponding responsibility. The following example may illustrate this: A father sees his child carelessly playing on the edge of a dangerous body of water and warns him with the words, ‘If you fall in the water, you will drown!’ But he does not tell him that if he falls in, he will do everything he can to save him!

“...heirs of God, and Christ’s joint heirs; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).

Doesn’t this verse make glory with Christ in heaven dependent on our suffering on earth? No. But rather, we are reminded here of the biblical principle that suffering comes before glory (see verse 18; Acts 14:22; 1 Pet. 5:10). Not only some but all who are redeemed will be glorified with Christ in heaven, but the way there is through suffering. The future glorification of all the redeemed is so certain for God that Paul can write a little later: “...but whom he has justified, these also he has glorified” (v. 30).

“And you ... has [he] reconciled ... to present you holy and unblameable and irreproachable before [him], if indeed you abide in the faith founded and firm, and not moved away from the hope of the glad tidings” (Colossians 1:21–23).

We could not contribute to reconciliation and its consequences, because it is God’s work. (See the chapter on Reconciliation). But in the last part of the sentence we are seen as people responsible before God, and as such we should remain firm and not be moved away from the hope of the gospel. The Lord knows those who are His, but He does not always let us know with certainty who the true believers are among those who profess to belong to Jesus. Hence the warning against letting go of the hope of the gospel. “Faith” here is the good faith, the truth of salvation, in other words what we believe. That means holding on to it. We are not warned here, then, against an ‘apostasy of the faithful’, but are called upon to let our profession of Christ be confirmed by our walk (cf. 1 Cor. 15:2; Heb. 3:6, 14).

“The word is faithful; for if we have died together with him, we will also live together; if we endure, we will also reign together; if we deny, he also will deny us; if we are unfaithful – he abides faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11–13).

Here, in several “if” clauses, very different things are said. The first “if” refers to two facts of salvation that have nothing to do with our practical life as Christians. Everyone who died with Christ in faith will also live with Him eternally (cf. Rom. 6:5, 8). The second “if” indicates (similarly to Romans 8:17, discussed above) the inevitable consequence of perseverance in view of our future reign with Christ. However, the third clause “if we deny“ is a warning to someone who makes it clear through word and deed that he fundamentally does not want anything more to do with Christ; it says that Christ will also deny him. This refers to people who have professed to believe on the Lord but who have never possessed a living relationship with Him, not to someone like Peter – otherwise so faithful – who denied being His disciple but later sincerely repented of this. The last “if” clause, on the other hand, says that our practical failures do not prevent Him from bringing to fruition all thoughts of His love for us. We are dependent on Him, but He is not dependent on us!

The condition set by the “if” never refers to salvation, but always to our behaviour on the way to glory. Only a truly redeemed person can fulfil the condition, but an unbeliever cannot, even if he outwardly professes Christianity. God’s Word, on the other hand, gives us various examples of the restoration of a believer who falls into sin and repents.

There is another group of “if” clauses that contain a profession of faith without the person in question having divine life. The First Epistle of John contains several statements such as this:

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practise the truth” (1 John 1:6, cf 8, 10; 4:20).

In the same vein, James asked:

“What is the profit, my brethren, if any one say he have faith but have not works?” (Jas. 2:14).

In those who speak in this way, there is only an empty profession that contradicts their way of life. Such a pious profession has no value. It leads to eternal ruin.

Kept guarded by the power of God through faith

Reading the previous passages, a fearful child of God might come to the conclusion: ‘I fail so often in my life of faith, falling into the same sins and temptations over and over again, that I wonder whether I am really saved at all.’

We have already quoted James who did not doubt the authenticity of his faith, although he had to confess: “We all often offend.” He knew the confession of sin as a child of God, the Father’s forgiveness, and he also knew of His helping grace. Now let us take a few more encouraging passages from the New Testament on this subject.

Paul writes to the Corinthians:

“Awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall also confirm you to the end, unimpeachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:7–8).

The Lord does not want to make us fearful. On the contrary: He who loved us and gave Himself for us will secure us to the end. He does not demand anything from us for which He does not also give us the ability and the strength to carry out, and He will do so until the end. Without Him we can do nothing, but He comes to our aid in our weakness and protects us so that we may be blameless in that day, when He will appear in glory on earth and we will be revealed with Him (and of course also at His previous coming at the Rapture: 1 Thess. 5:24).

Similarly, in Philippians it says:

“Having confidence of this very thing, that he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day” (Philippians 1:6).

Again, it is not a question of our steadfastness, but of the work of God in our souls. He began this work through new birth, and He will complete it. Although weakness and even sin may occur in our life of faith, He still completes His good work in us!

Also in we are encouraged by looking to our Lord:

“But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and keep you from evil” (2 Thessalonians 3:3).

The Lord Jesus is faithful and true to His Father, to Himself and to us. We are often shaky and unstable, but He will strengthen us and keep us from evil.

“I do not demand that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them out of evil” (John 17:15). [see also 1 Peter 5:10]

There is another encouraging passage:

“... you, who are kept guarded by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:5).

The previous verse speaks of the “incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, reserved in the heavens for you”. Not only is our future heavenly inheritance untouchable, but we ourselves are also preserved by God’s power. The power of God is not revealed visibly, but to our faith. God does not remove all difficulties, but He gives us the strength to overcome them in faith and makes sure that our faith does not fail. The Lord Jesus said to Peter:

“But I have besought for you that your faith fail not” (Luke 22:32).

He will also not allow temptations to exceed our spiritual strength, but will make sure that we can bear them in faith (1 Cor. 10:13). For the sake of completeness, it should be added that “salvation” in 1 Peter 1:5 does not mean the salvation of the soul, as in verse 9, which we already possess (‘carry away’), but the final and complete salvation of body, soul and spirit at the rapture of the believers (see Phil. 3:20f.; 1 Thess. 5:23).

Finally, let us take a look at the concluding words of the Epistle of Jude:

“But to him that is able to keep you without stumbling, and to set you with exultation blameless before his glory, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from before the whole age, and now, and to all the ages. Amen” (Jude v. 24-25).

Jude writes in his letter of terrible attacks on the faithful by the enemy. Yet he does not doubt in the least their eternal safety.  In the first verse he reminds them that they are beloved in God the Father and are preserved in Jesus Christ. He now concludes with the adoration of Him who is able and willing to keep us in faith during our life on earth without stumbling and to present us before Him in glory with unspeakable joy in eternal perfection.

Do these passages not show us that, despite our weakness or our failure in our life of faith, we do not need to doubt that we will reach our goal? The grace of our God is so great that He has not only given us eternal salvation, but He also strengthens and preserves us on the often difficult path to the heavenly goal!

Summary

From all that we have noted so far on the subject of ‘certainty of salvation’, two things emerge.

  • First: Not only the redemptive work of Christ but also the salvation of the sinner based on it is something absolutely perfect. Nothing and no one can snatch the redeemed from His hand on account of the blood of Christ. He will preserve them all until the glorious end.
  • Secondly, everyone who professes Christ, that is, everyone who calls himself a Christian, is under the responsibility of living according to his profession.

A Christian may therefore rest completely in the fact that he is eternally secure by faith in Christ and His work, but the Lord Jesus expects him to live in accordance with it. Nowhere does the Word of God say that a Christian has a licence to sin – on the contrary: if someone claims such a thing, he must seriously doubt his conversion. According to Scripture, a path of sin ends in eternal perdition.

We must never separate the two biblical aspects of the perfect grace of God in the redemption of sinners and personal responsibility in the life of everyone who calls himself a Christian, but we must distinguish between them. We can compare them to the two parallel tracks of a railway line: only when both are properly aligned can the train run on them. So we must always keep the two sides of grace and responsibility in their place if we are to stand on the firm foundation of the Holy Scriptures. Unfortunately, many beloved children of God do not see it that way. In a way, they separate the ‘track of responsibility’ from the ‘track of grace’ and thus come to the conclusion that a redeemed person can miss the goal and be lost forever. But this is impossible.

 

1A confession of Christ which is not the result of faith, on the other hand, has no value whatsoever (see the section “If ...” p. 58).
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