If we take a moment and think through this false doctrine, we will see that it is absurd. It is not only unscriptural, as we have shown; it’s irrational. We give a few examples:
1) God would have to take back the new life
If a believer were to lose his salvation, God would have to take back the new life that He imparted to the person when he was born again. But then what would God do with that divine life? What would happen to it? It can’t be destroyed, for it is divine and eternal. The absurdity of this doctrine leaves God in an awful predicament.
2) It will encourage him to live carelessly
We are told that if we teach a believer that he is eternally secure, it will lead him to go out and live like the devil. It will encourage him to live carelessly because he knows that he will end up in heaven anyway.
This is human reasoning. It does not account for the power of the grace of God to transform lives. The same grace that saves souls from hell, transforms them. The Bible teaches that “the grace of God” will work in the heart of the believer so that he will not want to live in sin and grieve the Lord. It will touch his heart in such a profound way that he will deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts” and live “soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11-1211For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (Titus 2:11‑12)). When the believer reflects on the great price that the Lord Jesus paid on the cross to save him from the judgment of his sins, he is grateful, and he wants to do what he can to please the Lord to show his appreciation. The normal response is not to want to go out and live in sin! God works in every believer, by the Holy Spirit, “both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:1313For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)). The Spirit of God gives him the power to live a holy life (Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)). If a believer walks “in the Spirit,” the Spirit will work in his life so that he will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (Gal. 5:1616This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)).
If a believer trifles with the grace of God and turns to the world to seek the pleasures of sin, he will be miserable. He will bring the discipline of the Father into his life (1 Peter 1:16-1716Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 17And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: (1 Peter 1:16‑17)). He’ll be chastised and taught not to walk in unholiness. If a so-called Christian habitually lives in the pollutions of the world, it’s because he’s a mere professor and is not saved at all.
3) At best he can only hope to be saved
By their own definition, those who hold this false doctrine cannot call themselves saved! Getting to heaven, according to this doctrine, is dependent on how one behaves after he has received Christ. He has to “endure unto the end” of his life before he is “saved” (Matt. 24:1313But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matthew 24:13)). At best, he can only hope to be saved. Think of it; those who would come to us propounding this blasphemy are not even saved by the definition of their own doctrine! Now why would anyone even listen to a person who would teach something that is not Scriptural or rational, and admittedly, didn’t know whether they were going to be in heaven themselves? The whole thing is ludicrous.
Dear friend, if you hold this defiling doctrine, we plead with you to consider the God-dishonouring blasphemies and the irrationalities connected with it, and drop the whole thing immediately. May you be warned by the example of Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom the Apostle Paul “delivered to Satan, that they may be taught by discipline not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:2020Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. (1 Timothy 1:20) – J. N. Darby Trans.). It is a serious doctrinal error that could incur the discipline of God in one’s life! (1 Peter 3:1212For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Peter 3:12)) We pray to God that He “peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:2525In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; (2 Timothy 2:25)). We believe that every honest seeker of truth will do this.