Originally Posted by Atwood
If does not mean "if and only if."
Since eternal security implies that Christians are secure in their salvation forever, then they continue in the faith.
Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will
bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Show me in that epistle where Paul is referring to you who he doesn't know, but to these [SUP]5 [/SUP]
For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;...[SUP]7 [/SUP]
Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds,
and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
Later on he states [SUP]10 [/SUP]That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.
How would Paul know if God started any good work in you or me?
The Lord Jesus quoted individual verses to prove his points -- see Mat 4. You have the Bible; you are certainly encouraged to check the context of anything I quote to you.
[SUP]6 [/SUP]Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
There is nothing in the context to nullify the plain implication of this verse; and on the contrary, there are many passages that confirm it.
Are you denying, one must continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard,for Christ, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Stop contradicting the gospel hindering persons from dependence on the Savior. Nothing is bent. You are urged actually to trust the Lord Jesus with your future -- place yourself totally in His hands as a wretched sinner, unable to keep yourself -- but He is able. I could quote all of Romans, but let this suffice for the moment:
That is what you did when you accepted him as Lord and Saviour. Have you not grown?
[h=3]2 Peter 1:2-11[/h]King James Version (KJV)
[SUP]2 [/SUP]Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
[SUP]3 [/SUP]According as his
divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
[SUP]5 [/SUP]And beside this,
giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue; and to virtue
knowledge;
[SUP]6 [/SUP]And to knowledge
temperance; and to temperance
patience; and to patience
godliness;
[SUP]7 [/SUP]And to godliness
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness
charity.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]For
if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[SUP]9 [/SUP]But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
[SUP]10 [/SUP]Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
[SUP]11 [/SUP]For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
End of Rom 8:
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good,
even to them that are called according to
his purpose. For whom
he foreknew,
he also foreordained
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom
he foreordained, them
he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom
he justified, them
he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God
is for us, who
is against us?
3He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written,
For thy sake we are killed all the day long;
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.