CAN YOU LOSE YOUR SALVATION IF YOU DON’T ‘Hold Firmly’?

[Open7]

I have came across some verses in the new testament that make it sound like you can lose your salvation. Here in Hebrews 3 verses 6 and 14 below (there are other verses that give this same vibe but I can’t recall them)

“But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”

“We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.”

It says ‘if indeed we hold firmly’. I know you can say you have given your life to God, but many will not hold fast, but what if they did give their life to God but never went very far with it. I figured that when your saved your saved, that’s it, but these verses concern me a little for some people I know.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

[BK1110]

It's more like if they don't hold firmly then it proves they never actually gave their life to Christ in the first place.

"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, do you wash my feet?' Jesus answered him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.' Peter said to him, 'You shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.' Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!' Jesus said to him, 'The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.' For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, 'Not all of you are clean.'" -- John 13:1-11

So the Christian life requires continual washing of the feet (cleansing of sin) even though the body has been washed (salvation) or we have no share with Jesus, and we are like Judas.

[johnthebaptist]

6 hours ago, Open7 said:

I have came across some verses in the new testament that make it sound like you can lose your salvation. Here in Hebrews 3 verses 6 and 14 below (there are other verses that give this same vibe but I can’t recall them)

“But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”

“We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.”

It says ‘if indeed we hold firmly’. I know you can say you have given your life to God, but many will not hold fast, but what if they did give their life to God but never went very far with it. I figured that when your saved your saved, that’s it, but these verses concern me a little for some people I know.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

People argue this over and over and over again. It is my opinion that salvation isn't the issue, not in the sense of whether or not we spend eternity in hell. I don't think we are going to spend eternity in hell. But God's discipline can be very harsh, if we stubbornly persist in our sin.

[AnOrangeCat]

9 hours ago, Open7 said:

It says ‘if indeed we hold firmly’. I know you can say you have given your life to God, but many will not hold fast, but what if they did give their life to God but never went very far with it. I figured that when your saved your saved, that’s it, but these verses concern me a little for some people I know.

Good question. The parable of the sower is worth a look here. It deals with similar material and speaks of people who seem to embrace Christ for a while but fall away for various reasons. As with a lot of points of doctrine people have debated this matter since long before any of us were born. By all means educate yourself on the topic, but also be aware that it's a contentious matter that's caused many heated debates. It might pay to look at some other relevant scriptures that aren't directly related to your question but do pertain to the situation. For example, in I Thessalonians 5:11 there's a call to encourage and build up other believers. Elsewhere in the Bible we're told to correct a fellow believer in error. If you feel others have slipped in their walk with God then by all means build them up. Encourage them to grow closer to God. Just do it carefully and after time spent in prayer about it.

[Who me]

17 hours ago, Open7 said:

Can anyone help

It is very simple.

 

Do you believe that salvation is a gift from God or is something that one works for, earns and deserves?

 

If it is a gift of a right to one how can one loose it?

 

Don't get me wrong there will be many who may be saved but will not hear Jesus say " Well done. " Because of how they have lived.

The Christian life is not passive, but active so we must hold firmly to what we believe and show it by how we live.

Jesus said if you Love me, you/we will obey his commands.

[Adstar]

19 hours ago, Open7 said:

I have came across some verses in the new testament that make it sound like you can lose your salvation. Here in Hebrews 3 verses 6 and 14 below (there are other verses that give this same vibe but I can’t recall them)

“But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”

“We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.”

It says ‘if indeed we hold firmly’. I know you can say you have given your life to God, but many will not hold fast, but what if they did give their life to God but never went very far with it. I figured that when your saved your saved, that’s it, but these verses concern me a little for some people I know.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

Continue believing Jesus and continue trusting in the Atonement He secured on the cross to atone for your transgressions against His will.. If you keep believing and Trusting then you will be holding firmly to salvation..

Salvation is a loving gift from God.. It has to be accepted and it has to be kept..

Salvation is by Belief and Trust.. Not by our works .

[Justin Adams]

19 hours ago, Open7 said:

Can anyone help?

It is really quite simple. The gift of Salvation is ours to keep. However, like your citizenship, you may renounce it at any time.

Why? Because we are free beings created in the IMAGE of the Lord High God. Why would any reasonable being want someone around that hates them. It is not a coherent thought.

Read Hebrews very carefully. If they were to turn back to their old ways of the sacrificial system, then what is left to save them? Do NOT listen to people misusing Hebrews out of its context in order to browbeat believers. The letter is addressed to Hebrews and the Judaizers that pressured them to return to the old ways.

[Don19]

Anyone who says that you can lose your salvation (even voluntarily, if you wanted to give it up) speaks against the Holy Spirit, and you know what Jesus says about those who speak against or blaspheme the Holy Spirit. When you're born again, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph 1:13-14). This sealing or earnest of the Spirit is specifically in your heart (2 Cor 1:21-22). Get that? This is the circumcision of the heart. Sealed. Shut up, enclosed. You are cut off from your body of sin, just as He was cut off (Isaiah 53:8). You are crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20).

Daniel 12:9: "And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end."

Song 4:12: "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

Neh 3:3: "But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof."

Philemon 1:1: "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,"

Heb 13:3: "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."

Col 4:18: "The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen."

Job 14:5: "Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;"

Rev 3:7:" And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;"

Exodus 21:1-16:

"1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

² If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

³ If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴ If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.

⁵ And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

⁶ Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever."

 

You're not your own but a purchased possession. You're a slave of a loving Master. You are a prisoner of Jesus Christ. So, no, you absolutely cannot lose your salvation for any reason whatsoever. If you are His, He owns you, and He is never letting you go! His name is Jealous.

[Justin Adams]

18 minutes ago, Don19 said:

Anyone who says that you can lose your salvation (even voluntarily, if you wanted to give it up) speaks against the Holy Spirit

That is a very foolish statement. Read and understand Hebrews to get it right. Do NOT mislead other believers with a wall of words.

[Alive]

2 hours ago, Justin Adams said:

It is really quite simple. The gift of Salvation is ours to keep. However, like your citizenship, you may renounce it at any time.

Why? Because we are free beings created in the IMAGE of the Lord High God. Why would any reasonable being want someone around that hates them. It is not a coherent thought.

Read Hebrews very carefully. If they were to turn back to their old ways of the sacrificial system, then what is left to save them? Do NOT listen to people misusing Hebrews out of its context in order to browbeat believers. The letter is addressed to Hebrews and the Judaizers that pressured them to return to the old ways.

Have you ever met an individual that has been regenerated and given the life of Christ to have then hated their redeemer?

I sure haven't. I have known and do know folks who due to life circumstances have become disillusioned. Our Lord still loves them as much as always and does not abandon them. To understand the Cross, Resurrection and Ascension makes what you assert of 'free will'  untenable. Please read, the Links in my signature.

All rendering of scripture must bow to the reality and historicity of the Cross, etc.