How Do You Answer Arminian Claims That Believers Can Lose Their Salvation?

Question: There are Arminians who say to me that in the Bible we find proofs that a person who is saved can lose salvation. For example in Luke 8,13 they say to me that there are people who believe only for a time: “for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away”. They say to me that these people believe and after a time leave the faith and lose that salvation. This is confirmed by 1 Timothy 4,1 where we read: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith”. Since we can depart from the faith, we can lose that salvation we previously have with that faith.

Another “proof” they point me to is 1 Samuel 10,6. They say that Saul received the Holy Spirit and was turned into another man, he was converted to God. But despite being turned into another man by the Holy Spirit, towards the end of his life he disobeyed God and was no longer converted to God but had the ability to rebel against God.

They also teach that Calvinists are wrong when they teach we are surely saved only by election because the apostle Paul was not sure to be saved at all: in 1 Corinthians 15,2 Paul says: “By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” Here Paul was not saying we are certainly saved by election but that we are saved if we do something. It is an illusion to believe we are saved because we must pay attention since our salvation is not sure: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10,12)

They say to me that certainly we can lose our salvation since, ” if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Hebrew 10:38. If we are saved and always saved why we can draw back?

They believe we can return to sin after we are saved: For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (2 Peter 2,20-21).

At the end the Arminians terribly distressed me with this final reasoning: Paul had a collaborator named Demas (Colossians 4,14). Paul said that his collaborators had their name written in the book of life, this means they are saved. (Philippians 4,3). So Demas was saved with his name written in the book of life. But Demas left Paul because He loved the world, so he was no more a believer. (2 Timothy 4,10) This is proof that his name was blotted out from the book of life and he lost his salvation.

Answer: First of all, let me present the case for eternal security and perseverance of the saints. Biblical support is as follows:

John 6:44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (ESV) Jesus says no one is able to “come” to him (the term Jesus uses here for believing in him) unless the Father draws this person. The basic inability of humans to come to Jesus, to believe in him, is overcome by the Father’s drawing action. But could it be that this drawing action can be resisted? Apparently not. Jesus says that the person so drawn to him will be raised up by him on the last day.

John 10:25–30, Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (ESV)  Jesus acknowledges that there are people who cannot believe because they are not among his sheep, that is, they have not been selected to believe and become his flock. Those who have been selected for his flock hear his voice and respond to it by following him. AND they will NEVER PERISH! He gives them eternal life and no one (not even themselves, I would argue) can snatch them from his or his Father’s hand. They are eternally secure.

Romans 8:28–39, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)  Paul describes an unbreakable chain: whoever is predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ is called, whoever is called is justified (declared righteous before God by the merit of Jesus’ righteousness and sacrifice), whoever is justified is (or we would say, will be) glorified (resurrected and eternally perfected). If God is for the believer in this way, then nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. That is eternal security.

1 Corinthians 1:4–9, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (ESV)  For those Corinthians who were responsive to the testimony about Christ and enriched, therefore, in all speech gifts and knowledge gifts, Paul gives assurance that they will be sustained by Jesus Christ to the end and presented guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus. God’s faithfulness assures this.

Ephesians 1:13–14, In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)  For those who have believed, Paul gives the assurance that they were sealed with the Holy Spirit, i.e., marked as belonging to God. And that Holy Spirit in our lives is the guarantee that we will acquire our inheritance from God.

Philippians 1:6, And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)  Paul sees the evidence of salvation in the lives of the Philippians, most notably in their financial support for him from the very beginning, so he is convinced that God has begun a good work in them, the work of salvation, and he knows that what God begins He finishes.

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (ESV)  God will surely sanctify the spirit, soul and body of the true believer.

Matthew 24:22–24, And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (ESV)  Jesus is giving his disciples the signs of the end of the age. He describes a time of great tribulation that will come with many false christs proclaiming themselves, and will sound very convincing, but it is not possible to lead the elect astray.

Romans 6:1–7, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. (ESV)  We who have died to sin with Jesus Christ cannot continue to live in sin. So, if we have been united with him in his death (saved) we will also be united with him in his resurrection. There is no chance that we will pull away from him and lose our salvation. We’ve been set free from the dominance of sin over our lives.

Romans 8:5–11, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (ESV)  Those who live by the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit, and you are in the Spirit in this way if the Spirit dwells in you. If the Spirit does not dwell within you then you do not belong to Christ. But we know that the Spirit dwells within every true believer (see Ephesians 1:13,14 above, and 1 Corinthians 12:12,13).

1 Corinthians 6:9–11, Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (ESV)  The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom, but believers will not continue in unrighteousness. Believers have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit. They will inherit the kingdom. By implication, those who do continue in unrighteousness were not saved to begin with.

1 John 2:18–20, Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. (ESV)  There were people in the church at Ephesus who embraced the false teaching John is writing about. John says they would not have left the faith if they had been “of us,” that is, if they were true believers who have the anointing by the Holy One so that they have all knowledge and do not get swayed by false teaching. True believers persevere in the faith.

Theological support is from two standpoints:
A. From the nature of salvation

1. We are not saved on the basis of works. How could we lose our salvation on that basis?
2. If we have been justified (declared righteous by God), not on the basis of works or personal righteousness, that judicial pronouncement made on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed to our account cannot be overturned by anything we do.
3. If we have to pay for any sin of ours, past, present, or future, we must pay with our lives eternally. Unless Christ’s death paid for every sin I ever committed or will commit, I can never be justified in His sight, but if all are paid for, I can never be punished for anything I do wrong.(Romans 8:1-4)
4. If we were reconciled when we were enemies, why, once friends, would we ever be subject to God’s wrath again? (Romans 5:9-11)

B. From the standpoint of God’s election, how, if He chose us to be saved, not based on anything in ourselves, would He then unchoose us because of something in ourselves (a repudiation of faith)?

1. Romans 8:29; 9:22-24, What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— ; 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
2. Ephesians1:4-12; 2:4-10 (1:4,5, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. – 2:4-10, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)
3. Philippians 2:12,13 God causes to both will and do His good pleasure
4. Hebrews12:7-11, God disciplines true believers resulting in sharing His holiness
5. 2 Peter 1:5-11, walking in righteousness confirms your calling and election

Now let me respond to the passages offered by your Arminian friends.

Luke 8:13, And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. (ESV)  There is genuine belief and there is temporary belief. Of Simon the sorcerer/magician in Acts 8:13 it is said, “Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip“. But Peter tells him, after he offers to pay Peter to have the ability to confer the Holy Spirit upon people, “I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” In other words, Simon is not saved. Jesus is speaking here about that temporary kind of faith that does not save anyone. True believers persevere through times of testing.

1 Timothy 4:1, Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, (ESV)  Those who depart from the faith, that is, from the teaching which we are to believe, not from faith itself, were not true believers to begin with, like those John describes in 1 John 2, who went out from the church with a false teaching about Jesus, and whom John says were not actually “of” us.

1 Samuel 10:10–11, When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 1 Samuel 16:14. Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. (ESV)  The giving of the Holy Spirit to anointed kings in Israel was not the giving of the Spirit for salvation but for carrying out their responsibilities as king. The removing of His Spirit was the removing of the man as king. Whether Saul was saved or not is not a matter of whether he had the Spirit to lead as king, but whether he had truly believed in Yahweh. If giving of the Spirit to Saul was for salvation then he wasn’t saved until he met these prophets, but that is patently not what meeting the prophets is all about.

1 Corinthians 15:1–2, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (ESV)  True believers hold fast the word of the gospel to the end. They persevere in the faith, unlike those who left the church in Ephesus about whom John the apostle said, “they were not of us” (1 John 2:18-20). Paul’s remark about the Corinthians believing in vain is related to their rejection of bodily resurrection, which, if true, would mean we are not any of us saved at all (15:12-19).

Hebrews 10:35–39 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (ESV)  The writer to the Hebrews is wrestling with some Jewish believers who are being tempted to give up Christianity and returning to Judaism. He tells them in chapter 6 (see my article on it) that someone who does that cannot be renewed to repentance. In essence, they have committed the unpardonable sin. But the writer says there the same thing he says here, that “we are convinced of better things concerning you, things pertaining to salvation” (6:9). “We,” the author says here of himself and his readers, “are not of those (unbelievers) who shrink back (whose faith is only temporary, not saving) and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls,” that is, those who persevere in faith, as true believers do.

2 Peter 2:1–3, 20-22, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (ESV)  This might be the most difficult passage to explain. It is clear that these false teachers are not now saved. But were they saved before this. They are denying the Master who bought them. Did He actually buy them, redeem them, or is this speaking from the perspective of what they claimed. They escaped from the defilements of the world, like those who had no root that Jesus mentioned (Luke 8). But was this genuine salvation or a temporary turning from unrighteousness that they could not maintain? They know the way of righteousness but do not actually believe it, teaching instead a false doctrine so they can engage in unrighteousness. They are dogs returning to their vomit. They never became sheep. I suggest that my interpretation that they were never saved is preferable to overturning all the clear passages I shared above that clearly teach eternal security and perseverance of the saints.

Colossians 4:14, Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. (ESV) 2 Timothy 4:9–11. Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. (ESV)  Paul does not say that Demas has his name written in the book of life. But even if he had, Paul is not saying that Demas has lost his salvation. He is saying that Demas deserted him. John Mark, Barnabas’ cousin, also at one time deserted Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:13) and Paul refused to take him on the next journey because of this. But now Mark is serving with Paul and Paul asks him to come join him in Rome, where Paul is in prison. As far as we know, Paul still considers Demas a saved person, just not a faithful co-worker.

So, when you look at all the Scriptures and are careful in your analysis of them, you see that indeed there is a promise of eternal security for all who truly believe. True believers also persevere in their faith and in godliness. They may have lapses, but they ultimately persevere.

Jesus said, in his sermon on the mount: Matthew 7:21–23. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (ESV). It is not the case that they knew him and he knew them and that therefore they were saved, and that somehow they turned from the truth, though they still claimed to be living it, and lost their salvation. Jesus says, “I never knew you.” They were never saved to begin with.
Here are some articles I have written on this

https://askthepastors.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/can-brain-damage-make-me-lose-my-salvation/
https://askthepastors.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/would-jesus-forsake-a-believer-who-worships-other-gods/
https://askthepastors.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/what-is-the-unpardonable-sin/
https://askthepastors.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/can-backsliding-cause-me-to-lose-my-salvation/
https://askthepastors.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/can-a-christian-fall-from-grace/
https://askthepastors.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/does-suicide-keep-me-from-heaven/
https://thimblefulloftheology.com/category/perseverance-of-the-saints/