I believe God saved us by his grace when we believed. And we can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
I also do not believe that the free gift in Eph 2.8-9 is the free gift of God or Jesus's saving faith. I believe the free gift in this verse is salvation. This will be met with resistance by some here, but I do not want it to be a source of contention. I believe saving faith is a form of personal faith.
Since I interpret that a measure of personal saving faith is required to be saved, I also believe that a personal saving faith can be shipwrecked through backsliding, falling out of relationship with Father, falling away due to deception, these are what I believe are by products of failing to abide with Christ and being one with him.
JJesus said in John 17.3-
[SUP]3 [/SUP]This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
That word know means being intimate or to become one with another. It is actually the Greek word for sexual intercourse and it is the same in the Hebrew rendering.
Abiding is very central to the Gospel message and Jesus preached it extensively, abiding is not works we do or practical righteousness. Abiding is resting in what Jesus has done for you, period.
God offers me eternal covenant relationship.
God does not break covenant with me and I do not "lose" my salvation if I do not perform "works" or obey laws or commands, etc"
I stay in eternal covenant relationship with father, because of my love for him based on all that Jesus did for me and he did alone.
God's love keeps me in the relationship, I would never want to leave the love of Father,
God's side of the eternal covenant relationship never fails and is always there.
This is what I define "eternal security" to be.