Friday, January 20, 2006

Eternal Security

Eternal Security

Perhaps you are a person that from the moment you were saved by faith in Jesus Christ you never doubted your salvation; or maybe you are more like a lot of people I speak to who either are not sure if they are saved or believe they can loose their salvation.
I was recently reading 1 Peter when I came across some verses that immediately struck me as verses that assure us of the security of our genuine salvation. The first is 1 Peter 1:3-4, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." It is according to His abundant mercy, not our words or actions that has "begotten us again". The inheritance we gained through the salvation of Jesus Christ is incorruptible and undefiled. God is not going to write us out of His will. His integrity, His word, His promises prevent it. He will not go back on His promise. He has given us an incorruptible inheritance and it will not be removed. It is a sure thing. Our salvation is rooted in Him not in us.
The second verse is 1 peter 1:23, "...having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." The word 'incorruptible' or in some versions 'imperishable' is the Greek word aphthartos which means "uncorrupted, not liable to corruption or decay, imperishable"1 Our security is in no way rooted in us. We are, after all, corruptible seed. But we have been born again of incorruptible seed, unable to see corruption or decay. The incorruptible seed is through the word of God which "lives and abides forever."
I am so encouraged that the life we were given at the moment of our conversion, and salvation is His life. At that moment Christ gave us His life. Since He had died and rose again He cannot die again. His life is abundant and eternal. It is His life that resides in us unto salvation and since His life cannot die or wane, neither can our salvation. Aren't you glad that our salvation is purchased by, abides in and sustained by Jesus Christ and not us? I am.
Allow you heart to be encouraged today. Perhaps it is just a simple reminder to you or maybe it is a new perspective. Either way, may God be glorified in your life today.

Diane

1Strong, J. 1996. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) . Woodside Bible Fellowship.: Ontario

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