The WCG has traditionally preached that if people die not having heard the gospel, that God will give them an opportunity to accept or reject it in the resurrection. Do we still teach this?
It is the position of the church that God will make fair and just provision for people who do not hear the gospel in this life.
We retain the essence of our historical teaching. However, we do not teach any dogmatic timing of when or how God will do this (such as at a second resurrection or 100 year period).
We believe that those who die in this life without knowing the gospel will be presented with the gospel when they come face to face with the risen Lord at their resurrection.
They will be judged on the same basis as we are--on whether they give their allegiance and faith to Jesus Christ.
As our Statement of Beliefs says, "Unrepentant sinners are those who deliberately and ultimately reject the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.''
We base our belief on the verses that explain that God is not willing that any perish (we see this as God's desire that none perish eternally) but that all come to repentance (though we understand that not everyone will conform to God's desire.) We do not believe that God has decreed before all time who will and will not be lost.
Does the church understand grace to be a permanent condition (once saved always saved) or is it possible for apostasy to happen? Some scriptures appear to back up the always saved position while some seem to point to the possibility of voluntary rejection.
That's right, and that's why we are not coming down on either side of this issue as a test of fellowship or a required belief for members.
Our position is this:
1) The biblical teaching on this issue can be interpreted more than one way. Bible-believing Christians have debated this for centuries without reaching consensus. It is doubtful that dogmatism on either side of the issue is productive.
2) One thing is sure: We are saved only by God's grace through faith in Christ.
3) If a person has faith in Christ, nothing can take him or her out of his hand. They are secure.
4) If a person does not have faith in Christ, he or she is lost.
5) Whether a person can lose faith after having it is probably academic more than practical. Salvation comes by faith in Christ. Period. If people think their faith is lost, they need to come to God for renewal.
6) If people voluntarily reject Christ, then they would not be saved, since salvation comes only by faith in Christ.
The question would be, have they really rejected Christ, or are they only battling a storm of doubt? Or, if they persist in unbelief, perhaps they never really had faith to start with. Either way, see point 7.
7) The real issue is this: Salvation is by grace through faith. If you don't have faith, go to God and ask for it.
This subject is similar to the already and not yet aspect of the kingdom and of salvation. We are secure, yet in the fight. If we could see with God's perspective, it would all make sense. But from our human viewpoint, it seems like a paradox.
The comforting thing is: We do not have to go around worrying: "What if I fail? What if I fail?'' We have already failed. Jesus is the one who saves us, and he doesn't fail.
Can we fail to accept him? Yes, but we haven't failed to accept him. Once we accept him, the Holy Spirit lives in us, conforming us to his image. We have joy, not fear. We have peace, not anxiety.
When we believe in Jesus Christ, we stop worrying about whether we will make it. He made it for us. We rest in him. We quit worrying. We have faith and trust in him, not in ourselves.
So the question of whether we can lose our salvation no longer bothers us. Why? Because we believe Jesus' work on the cross and his resurrection are all we need.
God doesn't need our perfection. We need his, and he has given it to us as his free gift through faith in Christ. We won't fail, because it doesn't depend on us.
Hebrews 10:26-31 are some of the most important verses that should be addressed on any discussion of the subject:
"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
"Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
"For we know him who said, `It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, `The Lord will judge his people.' It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
These verses, as well as other verses in Hebrews, raise the issue. The question is how to interpret them--who is the author of Hebrews talking to, what is the nature of their belief and what have they accepted?
The point of the whole book is belief in Christ as the totally sufficient sacrifice for sins. No competitors exist. Faith must rest in him alone.
The solution to the questions raised by these verses is in the last verse of the chapter: "We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have belief and are saved."
What does the church teach about eternal security?
Our position is that no one can snatch those God gives to Christ out of his hand. In other words, if your faith is in Christ, you cannot be lost.
The question is: can a person lose his or her faith in Christ? Hebrews indicates some people who have at least an initial faith can be in danger of losing it. But that is just the point. The only way to lose salvation is to discard the only Way to salvation: faith in Jesus Christ.
Hebrews is primarily about the sin of unbelief in God's redemptive work in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2; 2:1-4; 3:12, 14, 3:19-4:3; 4:14). Hebrews 10 gets into it dramatically with verse 19, saying that we have confidence and full assurance through Jesus Christ.
Verse 23 exhorts us to hold fast to our confession. As long as we hold fast the confession of our hope--our faith in Christ's atonement for our sin and our hope of new life in him, our allegiance to him, we are fully secure.
Why? Because Christ is faithful.
So we are warned not to spurn the Son of God (verse 29). Verse 39 then encourages us, "But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and are saved.'' Some shrink back and are lost, but those who remain in Christ cannot be lost.
Often, those who use the slogan once saved always saved are not clear about what they mean. It does not mean that a person can say a few words about Christ and then go live a life committed to sin and still be guaranteed salvation.
Real faith means allegiance to Christ, and that means we no longer live for self, but for the Savior. A person who lives a life committed to sin is demonstrating that he or she does not have faith in Christ.
The bottom line is, we are safe in Christ (Hebrews 10:19-23). We have full assurance of faith in him, because it is he who saves us.
We don't have to worry, "Am I going to make it?'' In Christ we have assurance--we are his and are saved, and nothing can snatch us out of his hand.
The only way we could be lost is to spurn his blood, deciding we really don't need him after all and that we are sufficient to ourselves--and if we did that, we wouldn't really care about being saved anyway. As long as we remain faithful in Christ, we have assurance that he will complete the work he has begun in us.
July 22, 1997, WN, page 4
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