Recently I wrote a short article on a question that comes up in the debate over apostasy and eternal security, on whether the biblical warnings addressed to believers about falling away from Christ and the faith become meaningless if it is true that no believer can lose his salvation. See Why The Warnings? In this article I will address another argument by advocates of the possibility of believers losing salvation. This other argument says that the warnings about "falling away from" Christ or "losing" salvation imply that a person has salvation, for how can a person fall from a place he never occupied and lose what he never had?
My reply to this line of argument when in debates with those who believe that genuine salvation can be lost has been to say that many of the warnings about losing salvation are directed towards all who are professors of Christ, towards both genuine and false professors. In the case of true believers the warnings are effectual means Lord God uses to insure their perseverance. In the case of hypocrites, the warnings may serve to wake them up to their lost condition and help them to become true believers. In other cases the warnings are not heeded and the false professor falls away seemingly or apparently, that is, it looks like they have lost what they had, even though they never really possessed Christ and his salvation. I often cited Luke 8: 18 in support of this counter argument. So, let us notice that text. However, let me give an account of the same saying of the Lord given in Mark and Matthew.
"Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (Luke 8: 18 nkjv)
"Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (Mark 4: 24-25 nkjv)
In the case of those who fall away and never return we say that they lose only what they "seemed" to have, not what they really had. It only "appears" from outward circumstances that there has been a loss of possessed salvation.
Another verse that is similar to the above warnings is the following:
"For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." (Luke 19: 26)
In an Internet article titled "How can Jesus take something away from someone who has nothing (Luke 8:18)" by Dr. Bill Mounce (See here), Greek scholar and professor, we have these comments (emphasis mine):
"I found an interesting little example of the synoptic problem and harmonization. In Luke 8:18, Jesus says, "Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have ((ὃς ἂν μὴ ἔχῃ)), even what they think they have (ὃ δοκεῖ ἔχειν) will be taken from them" (NIV).
When I first read this, it felt strange. I spend more time in Mark than in Luke, so I checked out Mark 4:25 (also Matt 13:12; 25:29). "Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have (καὶ ὃ ἔχει) will be taken from them" (NIV).
The Markan version at one level is non-sensical. If a person has nothing, then there is nothing to be taken away. And so at one level, what appears to be a Lukan clarification saves the passage from absurdity: "even what they think they have." The δοκεῖ is the key...Most see Luke as clarifying its meaning."
"While Luke's version is more obvious in meaning, the Markan/Matthean version has more rhetorical punch to it and is the kind of thing Jesus would say given his tendencies toward metaphor and obfuscation. His images have punch and cause one to think. The absurdity of the Markan version, I would guess, is original, and Luke is making explicit the implicit meaning."
I agree with these comments. Luke 8: 18 destroys the argument of those who believe that "those who fall away" must denote those who actually possess salvation. Therefore, when we read of those who have "fallen from grace" (Gal. 5: 4) we may well understand this to be true of those who were mere professors and not real possessors. Also, it may simply denote a moving away from a belief in grace. Also, when we read the following text, we are confronted with this same scenario.
"For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10: 26-29 nkjv)
First of all, "after we have received the knowledge of the truth" may refer 1) to those who have heard the truth and embraced it and become a professed believer or 2) to those who have heard the truth but rejected it outright without believing it. If to the latter, it becomes a warning given to all who hear the word of God and warns of eternal damnation for rejecting the gospel. The word "rejected" is used in the above text about those who rejected the law of Moses, and its parallel is in those who reject the gospel upon hearing it. It does not seem to refer to those who hear the word, receive it in faith, and then reject it.
However, it may indeed describe not only those who have heard and rejected the gospel (never believing it) but those who believed the message. The arguments for that view lies in what is said of these apostates, such as having been "sanctified" by the "blood of the covenant." I have argued that it could well mean "counted the blood of the covenant by which he was SEEMINGLY sanctified." In this case it refers to those hypocritical believers who lose what they thought they had, or what they seemed to have, looking at external appearances.
With those Arminians who believe that Christ died for every man and who also believe in losing salvation, I have argued that the words "by which he was sanctified" does not necessarily, even by their own system, denote possessed salvation, for they believe that when Christ is said to have sanctified all for whom he died at the time he died, they do not say that it means actual salvation. In other words, Christ sanctified all for whom he died even though many will never be saved. So verse 10 of this same chapter says: "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
It seems impossible that anyone who has truly been sanctified by the blood of Christ would esteem that blood of no account, and would "insult" the Holy Spirit. It seems absurd that any true believer would see the blood of Christ as a common thing or trample the Son of God! Such persons in doing this reveal that they never truly possessed what they had only professed to have.
I could give other examples where the new testament writers addressed people based upon their professions, knowing that many of them were not genuine possessors but mere hypocritical professors.
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