Resources/Articles
Is It Impossible To Lose Saved People?
Early Christians of the first, second, and third centuries believed continuing in faith and obedience were necessary for salvation. They also understood a saved person could end up lost.
Irenaeus (120-205), evangelist of the church, wrote, “Christ will not die again on behalf of those who now commit sin...therefore we should not be puffed up...But we should beware lest somehow, after (we have come to) the knowledge of Christ, if we do things displeasing to God, we obtain no further forgiveness of sins but rather be shut out from His kingdom (Hebrews 6:4-6) (Against Heresies, Ch. 27, Sec. 2)
Cyprian (200-258), preacher in Carthage, Africa, told his fellow believers, “It is written, ‘He who endures to the end, the same shall be saved’ (Matthew 10:22). So whatever precedes the end is only a step by which we ascend to the summit of salvation. It is not the final point wherein we have already gained the full result of the ascent” (Unity of the Church).
One of the passages of Scripture early Christians frequently cited was Hebrews 10:26: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” “Some preachers today will tell us the writer of Hebrews wasn’t talking about saved persons. If that is the case, the writer certainly didn’t communicate it very effectively to his readers. All Christians understood this passage to be talking about persons who had been saved” (Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up, David W. Bercot, Ch. 6, p. 65). This is something serious upon which to think…
