The prodigal son came back. Is coming 'back' a condition for OSAS faith ?

[crossnote]

I know that I didn't exactly address the topic of the prodigal son, but I saw that mindsets and opinions are being spoken about as truth on here that are not and the word of God says we are not to tolerate another gospel.
ALSO "Gods love is conditional. The word never says that His love is unconditional. These warnings are not in scripture for no reason. They are warnings to encourage us to continue to the end. Everywhere in scripture God says if you do this or when you have done this, then I will do this."

Here seems to be a divide.
A gift. Conditional or Unconditional?
Law, Conditional or Unconditional?
Gospel, Conditional or Unconditional?

I contend that the Gospel is what God has done, is doing and will do for us in Christ Jesus.
Law is what we do either to gain merit or we do out of gratitude for what God has already done.
Therefore God's gift of eternal Life in Christ Jesus is free and unconditional because ...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(Joh 3:16)

For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
(Rom 5:17)

And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
(Joh 1:16-17)



You can continue living on the principle of law, but don't confuse it as the Gospel.
Jesus is the unconditional Gift.

 

[loveme1]

Revelation 2

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
[SUP]2 [/SUP]I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
[SUP]3 [/SUP]And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
[SUP]5 [/SUP]Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
[SUP]6 [/SUP]But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
[SUP]9 [/SUP]I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
[SUP]10 [/SUP]Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
[SUP]11 [/SUP]He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
[SUP]12 [/SUP]And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
[SUP]13 [/SUP]I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
[SUP]14 [/SUP]But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
[SUP]16 [/SUP]Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
[SUP]17 [/SUP]He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
[SUP]18 [/SUP]And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
[SUP]19 [/SUP]I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
[SUP]23 [/SUP]And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
[SUP]24 [/SUP]But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
[SUP]25 [/SUP]But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
[SUP]26 [/SUP]And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
[SUP]27 [/SUP]And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
[SUP]28 [/SUP]And I will give him the morning star.
[SUP]29 [/SUP]He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

The Message given seems contrary to the once saved always saved.

Even verse 24 onward to whom will be given no other "burden" they are told to keep working until the end.

I do believe this puts a different light on the idea that some have of the New Covenant.

Adhere to the words of the Messiah and he instructs much.

Above he is reminding us all of this.

 

[loveme1]

Green, forgive me i've posted this in the wrong thread. The one i wanted is down the line.

 

[Katy-follower]

I backslid one time for many years, which was pretty much most of my Christian life (such a waste) but from that experience I realized the world had nothing to offer me. He let me drift into the world for a while, only to call me back 3 times.

Despite my backsliding, God was looking out for me the whole time. I look back and see how He worked in my life, which I'm really grateful to Him for. He stopped me from marrying in a Catholic church, which would've led to me taking various vows. At that time I was ignorant of different religions as I didn't grow at all when I was first saved, and the backsliding began a couple of years after I was saved. Really, I can see how He was setting everything up for my future.

I had one near death experience where a miracle took place, as well as a bad car accident. I believe this was the start of His chastisement, which then led to a third incident in 2011, which also wasn't pleasant, but it finally brought me back. I'm not sure how much worse the chastisement could've gotten if I didn't listen that third time

When you backslide, God doesn't leave you and you never stop being His child. What's more, from my own experience - it was God that called me back! He did it 3 times until I listened. John 10:27-30: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

Hebrews 12:7-11: "If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it"

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you"

He chose us from the foundation of the world, so He knew every mistake we would ever make in the future, including backsliding, but yet He still saved us! Amazing

Satan doesn't want us sharing truth with the world. He will use many weapons to try to stop us from serving God and doing God's will. Though we are eternally secure he knows who the Christians are and will try to get in the way of our work and distract us, because he doesn't want to see us leading others to Christ. We need to put on the full armor of God

 

[PS]

There is always a welcome for us, "He will never leave us or forsake us" but we must return to the Father otherwise we are lost.

 

[mark54]

I backslid one time for many years, which was pretty much most of my Christian life (such a waste) but from that experience I realized the world had nothing to offer me. He let me drift into the world for a while, only to call me back 3 times.

Despite my backsliding, God was looking out for me the whole time. I look back and see how He worked in my life, which I'm really grateful to Him for. He stopped me from marrying in a Catholic church, which would've led to me taking various vows. At that time I was ignorant of different religions as I didn't grow at all when I was first saved, and the backsliding began a couple of years after I was saved. Really, I can see how He was setting everything up for my future.

I had one near death experience where a miracle took place, as well as a bad car accident. I believe this was the start of His chastisement, which then led to a third incident in 2011, which also wasn't pleasant, but it finally brought me back. I'm not sure how much worse the chastisement could've gotten if I didn't listen that third time

When you backslide, God doesn't leave you and you never stop being His child. What's more, from my own experience - it was God that called me back! He did it 3 times until I listened. John 10:27-30: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

Hebrews 12:7-11: "If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it"

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you"

He chose us from the foundation of the world, so He knew every mistake we would ever make in the future, including backsliding, but yet He still saved us! Amazing

Satan doesn't want us sharing truth with the world. He will use many weapons to try to stop us from serving God and doing God's will. Though we are eternally secure he knows who the Christians are and will try to get in the way of our work and distract us, because he doesn't want to see us leading others to Christ. We need to put on the full armor of God

Hi Katy

Wonderful post, thank you for it.
Many believe that when we stray, err, God abandons us, we have wilfully sinned and there is no way back. Not true at all is it. God loves us so much He will chasten us, He will allow situations to develop in our lives that become impossible for us, so that, eventually, however long it takes we will cease our folly and come to Him, chastened and evermore prepared to bow the knee. And while we commit pur folly, there is no peace, therre is no happiness, for their cannot be for the one who has had a true conversion
You said

I'm not sure how much worse the chastisement could've gotten if I didn't listen that third time

It would have got a lot worse, believe me. You may in one sense have wasted those years, but God can even use our folly for His glory, though He so wishes we would learn without being stubborn and have to go through the chastisement.
I never discuss OSAS on these websites, for a certain reason. But I know God will never let you go if you have had a true conversion, not possible. You'd have to disown his son, and though a backslider commits folly and is unfaithful, I do not believe it possible for someone truly born anew of the Spirit to outrightly disown Christ, be a fool yes, but not disown him.
God Bless, I just know God is using your folly for His glory

 

[RickyZ]

The prodigal son was an allegory, he was not real.

He represents children of God. those adopted into his family.

he left. But he never stopped being the son. He was always the son, and knew his dad was real. and still his dad. Although he thought his dad would not still love him the way he always did. He found out when he returned, His dad always loved him the same way.

As for if he did not come back? since he NEVER stopped being the son, if he died for some reason before he returned, he would still be the son.

The moral of the story is Once your Gods son, your always Gods son. If you decide to backslide, or walk away, you are still the fathers son. But you will lose his blessings, and end up hurting yourself and suffer great loss. This loss reminds you of your true father, and causes you to return.

why people want to make this a loss salvation issue I will never understand.

MY SON was lost (his father still considered him his son) Now he has returned.

Ok, I'm going to hijack the thread for a moment because I see a lesson point here. Sorry.

As eternally points out above, the prodigal son remained always a son even though he had gone his own way. His 'sonship' was never in question even tho he had backslid.

Now suppose having left, the prodigal had then renounced his sonship, openly denying his father and family and willingly turning his back on them. His sonship most suredly would have been forfieted, as he had gone apostate.

You dont lose your salvation from being backslidden or prodigal. You WILL lose your salvation from being apostate.

Ok, back at it.

 

[GreenNnice]

Why does The Prodigal Son lesson mention that the son was 'dead' then 'alive,, and, 'lost' and then 'found,' this may be an allegory, eg, but 'parable' is what it was , and, also when Jesus tells a story, isn't it a little like 'E.F. Hutton,' of commercial 'when E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen' fame?

Once a dead son, but then an alive son, this is spiritual awakening is it not. But, I think, since God gives us our own brains, we can choose Him , decide then , after having been born again and, indeed, truly saved, leave for the lusts of the world, and, never come to.our senses.

crossnoted touched on this, and, I will.add, isn't 'coming to.our senses not the Lord's direct doing but our own?

God gave us brains , right? We think, therefore, we am. But, for, come to our senses, most importantly, yes, would be spiritual matter realizations, like the prodigal son fortunately realized, and, yes, it is no.trick quesrion, we learn in ps's rationalization starving for food when could be having it easy, he, indeed, WAS A CHRISTIAN, before departing father and Father's hand.

The point is, we make our own choice, through faith that God 'measured' to us to not just come to our senses but to use our senses-,touch, taste, feel, hear, see--too

 

[Elin]

Didn't the Father welcome back home the son who left him to go after worldly pleasures come back to him.
OSAS (once saved always saved) speaks of the son was going to come back unless he was not one of them , that is, 'them' = true faith.

But, what if the son never had come back?
And, how do we know the son was 'born again' (born of Spirit) .

I know, too, Acts says that 'the Holy Spirit had not fallen on them yet,' but isn't , uh, hmm, didn't once the Spirit of God came/fell upon the disciples---as Peter and Bzrnabus said would happen in Acts 12-- wasn't then the Holy Spirit falling on all men who BELIEVED in Christ.

In other words, the Holy Spirit is WITH the believer the moment they become a Christian ( and, don't say 'true Christian, that's silly) , HAVE the Holy Spirit in their temple. He is there, sealed in you, but then can you leave Him is my next quextion.


Ponder this verse repeated at least a couple times in Scripture:

”Don't you know that your body IS a temple of the Holy Spirit?”

So, my question is this: Did that son who ran away, did so by going AGAINST what his father instilled in him of Christ, was that prodigal.son born again BEFORE he left his father ?

The parable of the prodigal son is the third of three parables in response to the Phairsees and teachers of the law who were angered by the repentance of publicans and heathens (Mt 15:1-2).

The first is the parable of the lost sheep, on God seeking the elect (Jn 6:39).

The second and third parabales, on the lost coin and on the prodigal son, are on spiritual death and rebirth.

The prodigal son represents the publicans and heathens (Gentiles) who were rebels against the Father, but who were repenting of their sin, while the older son represents the Pharisees and teachers of the law who resented sinners receiving the same inheritance from God as they.

In reality, we were all the prodigal, brought to spiritual poverty by our sin.

So the parable is not about faith, and loss of faith.
It's about forgiveness, and being brought back into God's family after Adam's fall disinherited us.

 

[Kate913]

Crossnote, does God's love not apply to all those things? Therefore if His love is conditional, which it is, then for all things he loves us if we continue in Him. Those are not my words, but the word of God. We confuse unconditional with unfailing. God's love is unfailing, but if we choose not to walk in His love and kindness then He does not love us. As the word talks about God has a perfect hatred. A hope and love that all might come to Him, but he hates those who hate Him.

Psalm 11:5
The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.

Jude 1:22-23
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Psalm 139:20-22
20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies

All of the verses that you posted are right and true, but the verses that I have posted must go along with those. They must all work together because they are all Truth. So yes, God will give us eternal life IF we continue in Him. Not that we have already received it, but IF we continue we will.

 

[Kate913]

Katy-follower, thank you for sharing this, I am not saying that we do not face ups and downs in this fight for eternal, though Paul did encourage us to hold unswerving to the Truth, but it is a fight. One that we have not finished yet and therefore have not yet received our crowns. The crown of Life. It is a continual daily battle of dying to ourselves and conforming to Christ.

John 1:12
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

If we receive Him, He gives us the power to become sons of God. We are have not yet been made sons! It is a continual thing. The word of God says that we may know that we have eternal life, but that is only if we are abiding in Him. We are His children if we keep his commands. This is what the word of God says, not me!
I have heard the verse that you used about God's sheep many times for this. That verse is true. He knows who are His sheep and they hear His voice. He will give them eternal life and no one or nothing can snatch them out of His hands.
However, we must be sure and on guard of ourselves that we do not walk out of His hands, because we can. We must continue to be sure that we are His sheep, that we are following Him, because though God knows who will finish the race, we do not. And we cannot say that no matter what, we have already won the prize. It is only if we continue in the race that we win the prize. A runner does not get an award if he doesn't finish the race. Likewise we can choose to give up and not keep running for the prize!

Satan is deceitful, he doesn't just want us to openly say I hate God. He is trying to convince us that we know God and are serving Him when we are really only serving ourselves. Saying that we love God but showing by are actions that we hate him and serve satan.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Yes, the word of God says that He will never forsake us. But it also says that if we forsake Him, then He will forsake us.

 

[Crossfire]

It was his faith in his Father's love which brought him home thus the implications are that he was a believer who found himself in a bad situation because of his disobedience. I think we all can understand what that is like. However, a better question would be "What if the prodigal son never returned home, would he be lost or still saved?"

 

[PS]

It was his faith in his Father's love which brought him home thus the implications are that he was a believer who found himself in a bad situation because of his disobedience. I think we all can understand what that is like. However, a better question would be "What if the prodigal son never returned home, would he be lost or still saved?"

The Father is our Heavenly Father, the Prodigal son is us and seeing as we are a child of God we are saved. However human nature being what it is we sometimes wander away but that is all right for just as our children toddle of, those of us who are parents, we have not split with our children and neither have they with us and you can be sure they will return when they get hungry or want something and of course they are very welcome and we are overjoyed to see them. The problem comes when they don't return out of choice in which case they are lost to us and I dread to think what the outcome will be for anyone who is lost to the Father and for some reason or another does not want to return to Him ever.

 

[eternally-gratefull]

Ok, I'm going to hijack the thread for a moment because I see a lesson point here. Sorry.

As eternally points out above, the prodigal son remained always a son even though he had gone his own way. His 'sonship' was never in question even tho he had backslid.

Now suppose having left, the prodigal had then renounced his sonship, openly denying his father and family and willingly turning his back on them. His sonship most suredly would have been forfieted, as he had gone apostate.

You dont lose your salvation from being backslidden or prodigal. You WILL lose your salvation from being apostate.

Ok, back at it.

I must disagree. Even if he renounced his father, through blood, He still would be his fathers son. You can;t renounce a blood relationship.

In Christ, we were purchased and born by blood. Even if we somehow renounced Christ, if we actually were purchased by his blood and saved by it, the blood purchase would still stand.

However, I think scripture makes it clear. These people would have been part of "us" and thow they denounce Christ, thus they have become antiChrist. John says they were never of us, for if they were, they never would have left.

Eternal life is eternal. If God takes it back, he deny's himself., we can;t earn salvation, thus we can't unearn it.

 

[crossnote]

Crossnote, does God's love not apply to all those things? Therefore if His love is conditional, which it is, then for all things he loves us if we continue in Him. Those are not my words, but the word of God. We confuse unconditional with unfailing. God's love is unfailing, but if we choose not to walk in His love and kindness then He does not love us. As the word talks about God has a perfect hatred. A hope and love that all might come to Him, but he hates those who hate Him.




All of the verses that you posted are right and true, but the verses that I have posted must go along with those. They must all work together because they are all Truth. So yes, God will give us eternal life IF we continue in Him. Not that we have already received it, but IF we continue we will.

If you have received Jesus you have already recceived life eternal...He is the Eternal God.

 

[starfield]

Didn't the Father welcome back home the son who left him to go after worldly pleasures come back to him.
OSAS (once saved always saved) speaks of the son was going to come back unless he was not one of them , that is, 'them' = true faith.

But, what if the son never had come back?
And, how do we know the son was 'born again' (born of Spirit) .

I know, too, Acts says that 'the Holy Spirit had not fallen on them yet,' but isn't , uh, hmm, didn't once the Spirit of God came/fell upon the disciples---as Peter and Bzrnabus said would happen in Acts 12-- wasn't then the Holy Spirit falling on all men who BELIEVED in Christ.

In other words, the Holy Spirit is WITH the believer the moment they become a Christian ( and, don't say 'true Christian, that's silly) , HAVE the Holy Spirit in their temple. He is there, sealed in you, but then can you leave Him is my next quextion.


Ponder this verse repeated at least a couple times in Scripture:

”Don't you know that your body IS a temple of the Holy Spirit?”

So, my question is this: Did that son who ran away, did so by going AGAINST what his father instilled in him of Christ, was that prodigal.son born again BEFORE he left his father ?

I wouldn't say that everyone that departed from the faith was never saved to begin with because there are passages of the scriptures concerning believers backsliding and apostatising. I believe the parable of the prodigal son is a prime example of the possibility of believers backsliding. He was once a son but departed from his father which can be likened to a born again Christian, with the Holy Spirit indwelling them, by their free choice depart from the faith due to trials and persecutions, discouragement, relying on self rather than God's grace, not being well grounded in the faith, etc. In addition, believers are not immune to temptations and so even the strongest believer can be lured by the devil and if careless, yield. While God has promised to keep us from falling, we also are to be on guard by abstaining from all appearances of evil, putting on the whole armor of God, abiding in Him, studying His word (Psalms 119:11), being watchful and prayerful because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Those are some ways in which God enables believers to be victorious (1 Cor 10:13).
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. He is the adversary of God and His followers so he tries to pull them away with various baits but God is able to protect His children.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. They cannot depart from a faith they never once had. This admonition is meaningless if there is no possibility of departing from the faith. Seducing spirits and diabolical doctrines do nothing more than bring doubts and their goal is that believers depart from the faith so we must exercise caution by rejecting them.

Revelation 2:4-5
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Jesus was speaking to people who were once fervent believers but backslid, and what's interesting is that they were oblivious of their backslidden state because they were zealously labouring for the church. They appeared to be doing the right thing but their hearts were far from God hence Jesus was warning them to repent and return otherwise He will remove their candlestick. The lesson behind this is that when the Lord reveals to us our weaknesses, sometimes through His word or other believers, it's important to take heed.

There are ample warnings in the scriptures concerning believers compromising their faith and we should not take them lightly. We should abide in Christ and trust in His sustaining grace that way He will keep us in the faith.

Anyway, the moral of the lost son parable is that prodigals should return with penitent hearts to the merciful God whose arms are always outstretched and ready to receive them. Isaiah 55:7- Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

 

[Kate913]

If you have received Jesus you have already recceived life eternal...He is the Eternal God.

Only if we continue to receive Him.

 

[Kate913]

Eternallygreatful,
The word says that if we deny Him, He will deny us. That means we can renounce it. Yes if a son leaves His father then he is still His son, but if His son dies he is no longer His son and thats what we are talking about here. Spiritual death.

 

[Kate913]

I must disagree. Even if he renounced his father, through blood, He still would be his fathers son. You can;t renounce a blood relationship.

In Christ, we were purchased and born by blood. Even if we somehow renounced Christ, if we actually were purchased by his blood and saved by it, the blood purchase would still stand.

However, I think scripture makes it clear. These people would have been part of "us" and thow they denounce Christ, thus they have become antiChrist. John says they were never of us, for if they were, they never would have left.

Eternal life is eternal. If God takes it back, he deny's himself., we can;t earn salvation, thus we can't unearn it.

Its not earning or unearning your salvation. Its whether we choose to accept it or deny it.

 

[cfultz3]

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”