faithhopecharity
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so you agree Jn 10:10 refers to grace as it says in Jn 1:16I will answer your questions, but we cannot take verses that speak about abiding, fruit, obedience, hope, and future glory, and use them to cancel the plain words of Christ.
Jesus said:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” ~John 5:24.
That is not temporary life. That is not probation. Jesus says the believer has everlasting life now, shall not come into condemnation, and has passed from death unto life.
On John 15, no, I do not believe a truly saved man loses salvation and is later burned in the fire. That would make Jesus contradict Himself in John 6 and John 10. Jesus said, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” ~John 6:39. He also said, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” ~John 10:28.
So John 15 must be read with those verses, not against them. The fruitless branch is not a saved man who had eternal life and then lost it. It is a branch with outward connection and no fruit, showing no true life. Judas is the clearest example in the same Gospel. He was close to Christ outwardly, but Jesus said, “ye are clean, but not all” because He knew who would betray Him ~John 13:10-11. John later gives the principle plainly: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us” ~1 John 2:19.
How do we abide in Christ? We continue in Him by faith, His Word, and obedience that flows from real life. Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” ~John 8:31. John also says, “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning” ~1 John 2:24. And when John defines God’s commandment, he does not reduce it to law-keeping as the basis of salvation. He says, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment” ~1 John 3:23.
Obedience matters. Fruit matters. But fruit is evidence of life, not the purchase price of life.
On John 10:10, abundant life does not mean “eternal salvation plus extra eternal salvation.” Eternal life is not measured like that. Jesus defines eternal life in John 17:3: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The life Christ gives is real life in fellowship with God, and that life has fullness in Christ. But the believer already has eternal life according to John 5:24 and 1 John 5:11-13.
On Matthew 7:14, the narrow way leads unto life, but that does not mean the believer does not possess eternal life now. Scripture speaks of salvation in more than one way. We have been saved, we are being kept, and we will be brought into the final fullness of salvation at the resurrection. Peter says believers are “begotten again unto a lively hope” and have an inheritance “reserved in heaven,” while they are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” ~1 Peter 1:3-5. That is not insecurity. That is God keeping His own until the end.
On Mark 10:30, when Jesus says “in the world to come eternal life,” He is speaking of the future fullness of what belongs to the believer. That does not erase the present possession of eternal life. John says, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” ~1 John 5:11. Then he says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” ~1 John 5:13.
That is present possession, not maybe later if we do enough.
On Matthew 25:46 and Romans 2:7, yes, the righteous enter life eternal, and those who continue in well doing seek glory and immortality. But Romans 2 cannot be used to overthrow Romans 3 and Romans 4. Paul goes on to say, “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight” ~Romans 3:20. Then he says, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” ~Romans 4:5.
So Romans 2 does not teach that we earn eternal life by works. It shows that God’s judgment is righteous and that a changed life matters. But Romans 3 and 4 make clear that justification is not by works. Works reveal what a man is. They do not purchase eternal life.
On hope, you are treating hope like uncertainty. Biblical hope is not “maybe I will make it.” Biblical hope is confident expectation based on God’s promise. Titus 1:2 says, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” That hope rests on the promise of God who cannot lie, not on my ability to keep myself saved.
The Holy Spirit does not oppose eternal security. He seals the believer. Paul says, “after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” ~Ephesians 1:13-14. Again, he says, “grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” ~Ephesians 4:30.
That is the point. Hope does not fight against security. Hope rests on God’s promise. The Spirit of promise does not make salvation uncertain. He is the earnest, the guarantee, until the day of redemption.
So no, eternal security does not oppose hope. It gives hope its foundation. My hope is not in my grip on Christ. My hope is in Christ’s grip on me.
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
thks