The following article is an excerpt from "A Book of Bible Study"
by Joseph F. Harwood.
To download the entire book in PDF format, visit our home page at https://www.abookofbiblestudy.net/
In Romans 8:29-30, Paul teaches about the eternal certainty and security of God’s salvation, which comes through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. In these verses Paul described a definite sequence, or order of salvation, beginning with those whom God foreknew (Consider also Ephesians 1:4-5). Paul taught that those whom God foreknew have all been predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. In His time, God calls those whom He foreknew to faith in His Son. Paul then said further that those who are called are also justified. And finally in this sequence or order of salvation, Paul said clearly, succinctly, and with no added conditions whatsoever, that those who are justified are also glorified (verse 30).
In this passage Paul taught that all of those who are called by God to faith in His Son Jesus Christ are justified, and all of those who are justified are ultimately glorified. The certainty of the sequence of events is clear in Paul’s language. None fall away, and again, Paul makes no mention of man’s performance or actions as having any effect in this process whatsoever.
The entirety of the actions in effecting the salvation of God’s elect described in this passage are God’s actions, and only His actions. Nowhere is any condition regarding man’s performance made mention of at all, either before or after he has been saved.
A believer’s performance or obedience to God’s word definitely has an effect on his eternal reward, as Paul taught in his letter to the Corinthians: “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
The “foundation” that Paul mentioned here is Jesus Christ Himself, and the salvation that God has provided for His people through the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary’s cross. Paul then taught that the quality of each believer’s work will be tested by fire. If his work withstands this test, he will receive a reward from God.
Now let us notice what Paul taught in verse 15. He said that if the believer’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but “he himself will be saved”, only as one escaping through the fire. Here Paul again emphasized that disobedience and failure to obey God will not affect the salvation of the believer, that salvation being eternally secure. However, disobedience will result in a loss of rewards that one may have received if he had been obedient, and his work had withstood the test of fire. Regardless of a believer’s failings in life, even after he is saved, his salvation itself is eternally secure.
Paul also taught in Romans: “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29). God does not change His mind concerning those whom He calls to faith in His Son.
Paul taught again in his letter to the Romans of the eternal certainty and security of our salvation when he said there is no power in all of creation that is able to separate us as believers from the love of God. Paul wrote:
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:35-39)
No power in all of creation, including demonic power, is able to separate us from the love of God that has been given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And this includes our own minuscule power to disobey, or to rail angrily against God for the troubles that come upon us during the course of our lives. Though we may fail miserably, God’s word does not fail.
Once again, we consider the words of Jesus Himself when He said: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” (John 6:37, emphasis added). No one who has come to Christ will ever be driven away from Him. None of God’s elect will ever be cast out from His presence; our salvation is eternally secure and certain. The One whose name is “Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11) has Himself said it.
We are not saved by grace, and then kept in this state of grace by our own good works; rather we are kept by the power God. Peter wrote in his first epistle: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
In this passage, Peter taught us that we as believers have “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away”, and he taught that we are protected or kept safe by the power of God until the time when we are finally together with the Lord in Heaven. Though our future reward in Heaven depends upon our obedience to God’s word, our salvation itself is eternally secure, and entirely God’s own doing from beginning to end.
If our salvation in any way whatsoever depended on our own works, even on making a “right decision” to accept Christ, then we would be able to boast that we made that “right decision” when others did not. However, the Scriptures teach that no man can boast that he had anything to do with his salvation. Paul wrote: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, emphasis added). (Consider also Romans 9:16).
Our faith in Christ is a gift that was given to us by God; it did not come about through any work of our own whatsoever. And through this gift of faith, we are protected not by our own power, but we are “protected by the power of God” until our salvation is revealed (1 Peter 1:5).
Paul also emphasized that we are kept by God’s power and not our own, when he wrote to the Corinthians teaching that it is God Himself who “will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:8-9).
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians with this same message regarding the eternal certainty and security of our salvation when he said: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, emphasis added). So Paul emphasized yet again that God has called us into fellowship with His Son, and God is faithful; He will preserve us and keep us blameless all the way through to the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul also wrote to the Philippians with the same message when he said: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6). The Scriptures teach us that God Himself began the work of salvation in us, and He is the One who will carry our salvation through to completion.