Can a True Believer be Lost?

The apostle Paul has some most remarkable things to say to us in this passage, set against the background of his words to a group of people, who he describes in the previous chapter as “dull of hearing”, and in need of being taught again the “first principles of the oracles of God”.

He deals with a question that has troubled many Christians over the years, namely ‘can a true believer be lost'? Many Christians over the years have struggled to understand verses 4 through 6, which some have interpreted as implying that Christians can ‘fall away' and lose their salvation. Is this true, what does it mean to ‘fall away'? Has this matter ever troubled you, and caused you to question whether you are saved.

Whilst it is true to say that some people might be ‘nearly believers', those who have truly embraced Christ as Saviour and Lord, we learn cannot fall away. They might ‘wobble' occasionally, but like the Prodigal Son, will return, humbled and chastened. As the saying goes, “once in Christ, in Christ forever”. True Christians cannot be lost. They are kept, held by the power of God, and eternally secure.