Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 1 Tim 1:19
We don't see the specific words, "lost salvation" in the context of 1 Timothy 1:19. "On the surface" there are verses in the Bible that may "appear" to teach this, but I'm looking for "definitive" terms. Also, in 1 Timothy 1:20, we read - Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have
handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. Where have we heard that before?
In 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, we read about a man who has committed sexual immorality by having his father's wife (does that sound like shipwrecked faith? Was it permanent?), yet verse 5 says
deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. If Hymenaeus and Alexander were truly saved, then how do we know the outcome was not the same for them as it was the adulterer in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 who later repented in 2 Corinthians chapter 2? Nothing is mentioned about him "losing his salvation."
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
1 Cor 15:2
1 Corinthians 15:1,2 - Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--
unless you believed in vain. To believe in vain is to
believe without cause or without effect, to no purpose. If, as some are saying in Corinth, there is no resurrection, then
faith is vain and worthless (vs. 14). The people who fail to hold fast to the word (the gospel) that Paul preached in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, demonstrated that they
"believed in vain" (did not truly believe).
When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
1 Cor 11:32 Paul believes the Lord takes His own, so that they might be spared being condemned with the world.
1 Corinthians 11:29 - For he who eats and drinks,
eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason
many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are
disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. Paul knows that the judgment of God can take on the form of
physical illness and even physical death. The word
"sleep" when referring to death, refers to the
physical death of believers, not spiritual death (John 11:11-12; Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 15:6,18,20,51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 2 Peter 3:4).
Peter talks of those who know the way of righteousness, yet destroy it
It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
2 Peter 2:21
Those who are truly born of God have received a
new nature, a divine nature, and have new appetites and desires. They have been transformed from pigs and dogs into sheep. The change is more than merely cosmetic, as in 2 Peter 2:20. *These cleaned up on the outside dogs and pigs were
never sheep.
Compare 2 Peter 1:4 -
"partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption - Strongs #5356 that is in the world through lust with 2 Peter 2:20 - with they
escaped the pollutions - Strongs #3356 (different Greek word) of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, yet they are again entangled therein, and overcome. Notice that 2 Peter 2:20
did not mention them being "partakers of the divine nature."
Corruption (Strongs #5356) (to shrivel or wither, spoil , ruin , deprave, corrupt , defile, to destroy by means of corrupting, to spoil as does milk). Corruption - describes decomposition or rotting of an organism and the accompanying stench. The utter depravity of the fallen flesh and the resultant moral decomposition of the world opposed to God is driven by it sinful lusts or evil desires.
Internal corruption.
Pollutions/Defilements (Strongs #3393) ("pollutions", "filthy things", "contaminations", "world's filth") describes the state of being tainted or stained by evil and refers to impurity, impure, tainted, defilement, foulness or pollution. Pollutions/Defilement refers to what is on the
outside (2 Peter 2:20). *But genuine believers have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4).
Corruption is deeper than pollutions/defilements on the outside: it is decay on the inside.
Having the knowledge of Jesus Christ does not save a person if there is
no heart submission to that knowledge. The latter end is worse than the beginning for these men because rejecting this knowledge will make them more accountable at the judgment. Judas Iscariot is a good example.
The Lord will preserve what He can, but is not bound by it.
So the Lord only preserves those who preserve themselves?
Psalm 37:28 - For the Lord loves justice, And
does not forsake His saints; They are
preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. How long is
forever?
Jude 1:1 - Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are
called, sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ.
In Hebrews 10:10, we read -
"..sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" and in verse 14, we read,
"perfected for all time those who are sanctified."
In Romans 8:30, we read - Moreover whom He predestined, these He also
called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. *ALL of them.