At first glance, Hebrews 10:26 seems that you can lose your salvation. The conditional security crowd is very quick to say, “Haven’t you read Hebrews 10:26?” Some of them (such as Dan Corner of Evangelical Outreach) even go as far as to day that you lose your salvation every time you sin. They can go and say something like, “You can’t show me one verse you can fall into sin and still remain saved.” Men like Corner also go as far as to throw the false accusation that men who teach eternal security can’t teach holy living at all.
Since some of these guys use the NIV, I will quote from the NIV which I’ll include verses 27-29 as well:
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
At first, it seems that you can lose your salvation every time you sin. For example, in Catholicism, there’s the teaching that you can lose your salvation if you commit a mortal sin. A mortal sin is defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as follows according to Catholic Answers:
[1855] Mortal Sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God… by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, though it offends and wounds it.
[1861] Mortal sin… results in… the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell…
[1862] One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or complete consent.
[1863] Venial sin weakens charity… and… merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However, venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace, it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently, eternal happiness.”
If that were true then Ephesians 2:8-9 is a lie. There is a difference between true grace and fake grace. Free grace is not cheap grace. Free grace supposedly leads to holy, righteous living in this present world (Titus 2:11-14). Ephesians 2:10 says that all who are saved are equipped unto good works. You can’t show me one verse in the Bible you can be saved and still remain the same or have no improvement at all. I put an question mark on anyone who claims to be a born-again Christian but is living a life of sin.
Dr. John F. MacArthur who often gets falsely accused of teaching works salvation from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary:
For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26-27)
Here is possibly the clearest and most concise scriptural definition of apostasy-receiving knowledge of the truth, that is, the gospel, but willfully remaining in sin. An apostate has seen and heard the truth—he knows it well—but he willfully rejects it.
Apostasy has two major characteristics: knowledge of the truth of the gospel and willful rejection of it.
Every apostate is an unbeliever, but not every unbeliever is an apostate. Many people have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel, even in part. They are sinful and, of course, do not believe in Christ, because they have never heard of Him or of His claims. An apostate, however, is well acquainted with the gospel. He knows more than enough to be saved.
The Greek language has two primary words that can be translated “knowledge.” Gnosis has to do with ordinary knowledge, and in the New Testament is often used for general spiritual knowledge. But epignosis, the word used in verse 26, denotes full knowledge, understanding, and discernment. In other words, the persons described here are those who have much more than a passing acquaintance with the gospel. They know it well. An apostate has all the information. He lacks nothing intellectually. He has epignosis. He is among those who have “once been enlightened, … tasted of the heavenly gift,” and even “been made partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 6:4).
An apostate can be bred only in the brilliant light of proximity to Christ. Apostates are not made in the absence, but in the presence, of Christ. They are bred almost without exception within the church, in the very midst of God’s people. It is possible for a person to read the Bible on his own, to see the gospel clearly, and then reject it—apart from direct association with Christians. But by and large, apostates come from within the church.
Eventually, sometimes even after years of pretense and self-deception, the unbeliever who acts like a believer finally falls away. He gives up, loses interest, and goes his own way. He returns to sinning willfully, with no more regard for the Lord’s way or the Lord’s people. To know God’s way, to study about it and hear about it, to identify with believers, and then turn away is to become apostate. The process of falling away may be gradual, but at some point a conscious decision is made to leave the way of God, and reject the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Willfully (hekousios) carries the idea of deliberate intention that is habitual. The reference here is not to sins of ignorance or weakness, but to those that are planned out, determined, done with forethought. The difference between sins of ignorance and sinning willfully is much like the difference between involuntary manslaughter and first-degree murder. Hekousios is habitual. It not only is deliberate, but is an established way of thinking and believing. It is the permanent renunciation of the gospel, the permanent forsaking of God’s grace.
Apostates have received knowledge of the truth but not applied it. Anybody can hear the Gospel, make a so-called profession of faith, and then stray too far away. One of my favorite contemporary examples is the late George Sodini of Tetelestai Church. Sodini showed several signs of being a false convert. Eventually, he declared an outrageous statement that no truly born-again Christian would make–he would commit murder, end his life, and still go to Heaven. In the Bible, we have Judas Iscariot as my favorite example. Judas Iscariot spent 3 1/2 years in the ministry of Jesus. In short, Judas Iscariot received knowledge of the truth. However, he was willfully sinning by stealing from the treasury, he later betrayed Jesus for money (a huge contrast to Peter’s denial out of self-preservation and fear), and later, he took his own life out of a guilty conscience. The events really show how men like Sodini and Judas Iscariot aren’t saved.
The meaning of willful or deliberate can help us understand the text better. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as, “having or showing a stubborn and determined intention to do as one wants, regardless of the consequences or effects.” In other words, to sin willfully or deliberately as the NIV or ESV spells out is to live in a life of habitual pattern of sin. How can anybody be saved and still be living stubbornly in sin? In short, it’s a mark of false conversion if somebody is really determined to do what they want without consequences. That’s the heresy of Antinomianism. Only fake converts would believe such a horrible lie that they have a license to sin. I mean, come on, show any instance in the Book of Acts that people got saved and indulged in sin after they got saved!
Instead, we see the true mark of salvation. 1 John 2:18 warns about there are many antichrists. Antichrist doesn’t always mean the end-times figure called the Antichrist. An antichrist isn’t always a counterfeit Christ. To be an antichrist also means to teach or uphold any doctrine contrary to Christ. The antichrists are apostates. 1 John 2:19 shows that these men were pretenders. Before, back when I was still growing in the faith, I thought it was possible to eventually lose your salvation by renouncing one’s faith. I mean, you can’t trust Jesus today and go back to trusting your works tomorrow. However, a closer study would show that 1 John 2:19 shows that apostates are just pretenders. Judas Iscariot wasn’t truly saved either.
What about Matthew 24:13 that says only those who endure to the end will be saved? Well, God’s grace is what gives endurance. By God’s grace, I will endure. Philippians 1:7-9 says that God will start a good work and finish it. A true mark of being eternally secure is not just putting one’s faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Also, the mark is that, no matter how imperfect, is that a true follower of Jesus will no longer be able to live like the rest of the world. The lordship salvation distinctive is in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. The saints may fall away but not completely. They will still endure to the end by God’s grace to filter them apart from fake converts.
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