The loop hole in semantics that conditional salvationist use. It is not true because of Ephesians 1:13 & 14.
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
God seals His Holy Spirit in us. If we leave it means one of two things:
i. When you leave you are still saved, because you cannot unseal the Holy Spirit and make Him leave. The deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession. The Holy Spirit will bring you back.
ii. When you leave, you were never saved, because you do not have the Holy Spirit sealed in you so there is no being drawn back by the Holy Spirit,
But in his commentary on this text he says:
God has purchased you. After you believed in Jesus, after you have trusted Him. And He went one step further, He put on me His seal of ownership. I'll tell you, that makes you feel secure. That God has sealed me. I am His; I belong to God. I have got the seal of God upon my life, His Holy Spirit which He has given to me is God's seal of ownership.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_Eph/Eph_001.cfm
What is Pastor Smith's real position...he uses double speak:
The issue of eternal security is debatable at best. There are Scriptures on both sides.
Bible response:
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. John 6:39
There is no wiggle room in Jesus' words and this ends conditional security side of the debate.
I tell people that, of course, I believe in eternal security. As long as I abide in Christ, I’m eternally secure. As long as I abide in Him, He’s going to keep me from falling and present me faultless before His glorious presence. I believe that and I experience God’s security.
Notice the condition Pastor Smith gives "As long as >>I << abide in Him."
But abiding also includes Christ abiding in us:
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. New King James Version
John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. New International Version
MENO* - Part 3 - εχηγεομαι (Strong's #1834)
To remain, to abide, to stay
The use of this word in the Greek New Testament is important in describing the relationship between every believer and Christ; in that the permanence of the believer in Christ and of Christ in him/her is elucidated through an understanding of μὲνω.
In John 15, Jesus continues His presentation of abiding. Comprehension of this passage comes from understanding the phrase "abide in Me." Jesus says that as the branch of the vine does not have the capacity to produce fruit from itself alone, neither are they (believers) able to produce fruit unless they abide or remain in the Lord. The branch abiding in the vine is presented as having the life of the vine flowing through it, which causes the production of fruit; but the unproductive branch, which might be attached to the vine, is described as not "abiding" in the vine.
Based upon the truth presented in verse 4, Jesus says that the "The one abiding in Me" is
producing much fruit. The word "abiding" is the present participial form of μὲνω, which expresses a continuous condition. The phrase "The One abiding" represents a person who is permanently and continuously abiding in the Lord. The Lord then states a fact: this person who is continuously abiding in the Lord "is producing much fruit." Jesus did not say, "Should be producing much fruit;" He said, "is producing much fruit." Next He gives the reason why this is so: because separate from the Lord, a believer is not able to do one thing. It is the life of Christ "abiding" within a believer that produces fruit. This corresponds to Paul's teaching on the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. These texts make it very clear that the fruit of the Spirit is produced by the Spirit of God, not by human effort; and this fruit is being produced in the life of every believer because the Spirit of God is abiding in them. This fruit, which cannot be produced by human effort, is presented as evidence that a person belongs to Christ.
https://www.studylight.org/language-studies/greek-thoughts.html?article=137?article=137
Our security is to the vine that we draw life from to produce fruit. No branch on the vine by its own volition can choose not to remain on vine because the branch cannot cut itself off from receiving life that the vine provides.
Like every other student in Bible college, I wrestled with this issue. When reading through Arthur W. Pink’s “The Sovereignty of God”, stating that man has no choice in the issue of salvation and that it is all up to God, I got so confused that I finally threw the paperback across the room. I felt like Martin Luther throwing an inkwell at the Devil, and I said, “God, I can’t understand it!” Then the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “I didn’t ask you to understand it; I only asked you to believe My Word.”Bible reponse:
John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[c]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”Our assurance is on the truths of God's word, not from what a Christian author wrote.
Pastor Chuck Smith: Striking the Balance—Pt 2
Jul 6
Written By Calvary Chapel Magazine
https://calvarychapelmagazine.org/articles/pastor-chuck-smith
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