final salvation is not guaranteed by an initial experience of saving faith and grace, this is clearly shown in Rom. 13:11, where we read, "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
Believing brings temporal salvation. Continuing to believe insures final salvation.
In I Pet. 1:5, 9, and 13, the writer speaks of a salvation which is not a present possession of
believers here and now:
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time... Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls . . .
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be
brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Paul speaks of his labors to insure the continuance of his numerous charges:
"Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with Eternal glory. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we
suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us" (II Tim. 2:10-12).
Final salvation, "the end of your faith" (I Per. 1:9), is "when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (I Pet. 5:4).
The promises of final salvation are to the overcomer:
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his
name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels" (Rev.
3:5).
if anyone might have presumed that his present salvation inevitably guaranteed his final salvation, it would have been the Apostle Paul.
But notice what Paul said I Cor. 9:27, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." adokimos
Those of you who teach false security must have difficulty with this verse!
Please notice that Paul uses the very same word here translated "castaway" (adokimos) Rom. 1:28, where it is translated "reprobate"; adokimos
II Cor. 13:5, "Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates"; adokimos
II Tim. 3:8, where he speaks of false prophets as "men of corrupt
minds, reprobate concerning the faith"; adokimos
Titus 1:16, "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate"? adokimos
In each case the word denotes those who are lost.
I know it is convenient to ignore the otherwise accepted usage of a word, and blithely say it means much less. But at least I can say that I tried
1
