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To take care that you are not disqualified from the race after you have preached to others does not, in my understanding, mean that you you just don't get the trophy but you still win.
Paul was not talking about salvation there, He was talking about the race of life. and being able to teach others.. He could lose his light, and his testimony, and lose his ability to teach.. I know many pastors who have done this, because they commited some sins,,
It means you have lost and are disqualified. It's a race of trust.
That means salvation, eternal life, and justification are not gifts, but rewards. and we can save ourselves..
why can you not see this?
You can't throw away the trust that saves you and then say that trust is not necessary. I'm not even sure why you would want to.
People who walk away, as John said, never had trust to begin with. "they were never of us, if they were, they would have stayed" were the words he used.