Are We Responsible Beings?

I had a brief discussion with a friend yesterday about eternal security and how that works. He asked me what the term meant, and seemed a little bit confused by my answer, so I referred to a mutual friend's position on the matter and that cleared it up for him. I don't know what Biblical position he takes, but the conversation came to an abrupt close, and I didn't pursue it any further.

I've been asked where I stand on the doctrine of eternal security recently by an acquaintance, and I tried the old, "I am secure in Christ," answer, hoping he would let it go. The reason I had hoped my answer would suffice is because it's such an emotional issue for some folks. There are many who believe that because I don't share a belief in the doctrine of eternal security, I have no real security myself. Some even see it as an essential doctrine, and believe that without it I am unsaved. They can think that. That's fine, but I don't understand it, and I sure don't see it in Scripture.

You can argue over this issue until you're blue in the face, but there is one thing that Christians should all agree on; you can't see inside someone else's heart. They can give you painfully honest assessments of their hearts which may even be accurate, but we can't necessarily discern such things about them on our own. I mean, have you ever had a person that you thought you really knew, and who you thought was solid in the Lord do something that just shocked you? Most of us probably have.

That's where the rubber gets down to the road though. Can a person backslide, and be a Christian? Many of those in the eternal security camp would say, "No," and add, "They were obviously never saved in the first place." Why do they say that? My question for my Christian brothers and sisters who think this way is, "Can you tell me when David was saved?" Was he saved as a boy, when he zealously marched out alone against a giant Philistine to do battle? Or was it later in life? Let the Bible provide the answer.

1 Samuel 16:12-1312 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!" 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

So later, when David sinned, committing adultery with Bathsheba, plotting her husband Uriah's death, lying to himself and being filled with self-righteous indignation over the fact that someone else might be guilty of his same crimes, was he back-backslidden? Does this mean he was never saved to begin with? No? Then what does this mean? Does it mean that he just fell into one horrid sin after another? No. He planned these sins, with forethought.

If someone were to say to me, "It was just a season of sinfulness," then I would say, "That's back-sliding." That is where the seriousness of this matter comes into play. The heart can get lukewarm or hardened because we're sinful beings. It is a sinister and shameful process. We should be reading our Bibles. We should be praying. We should have concern in our hearts for others. We should belong to a church. We should be in some sort of active ministry. All of these things are true, and they may even be indicators about our present spiritual state, but none of them makes us a Christian.

Repenting, turning from our sins and placing our trust in King Jesus for our eternal salvation is what makes us a Christian, and while those other things should be happening in our lives, we are going through a process of growth when we become believers. We stumble, and we fall. Only if we appeal to His righteousness do we get up again, because we have none of our own. Even if we say that we are "growing in holiness," which is something we should be doing, it is His holiness we are growing in.

It's just too easy to make a book-cover judgment that someone who is backslidden was never saved. It's up to us to be obedient, isn't it? Because we are saved, we have a responsibility to be obedient, and if we are saved, it should be the most precious responsibility we have. That doesn't mean that we are working our way to heaven, it simply means that there is work to do, and it grows out of our faith, by His grace.