Question: How can we be eternally secure when Paul warns that if we go on sinning, then Jesus won’t save us? Paul says we have to kill the sin in us to be saved:
“So then, brothers, we are obligated not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:12-14).
Answer: That’s a reasonable question, and I’m glad you’re thinking about these issues. Let me start by pointing out that Paul doesn’t say, “if you live according to the flesh, you are going to lose your salvation.” That’s your interpretation of what he means, but it’s not what the text explicitly says. It’s always better to wrestle with what the text says. And what Paul wrote is that living according to the flesh will lead to death. What does that mean? Is he warning that a believer can lose salvation if he doesn’t stop sinning, or is this about something else?
Let’s compare Scripture with Scripture.
What is true of the believer according to Jesus?
“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24, emphasis added).
According to Jesus, you have passed from death into life if you believe. It’s a done deal. The only condition is to believe. There is no mention of also having to stop sinning. If Jesus and Paul were talking about the same kind of eternal death—with Jesus saying we are saved from that through faith and Paul saying we are saved from it by stopping sinning—there would be a contradiction between them.
Furthermore, if eternal death depended on not sinning, that would contradict everything Paul said about justification being by faith apart from works. Paul made clear that God justifies ungodly people (i.e., people who sin!):
But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness (Rom 4:5).
So, a works salvation interpretation of Rom 8:12-14 would contradict both Jesus and Paul on salvation. Since a contradiction is a sign of having one or more false beliefs, let’s start over with fresh eyes.
The issue is identifying what kind of “death” Paul had in mind. We have seen that if he meant “eternal death,” that would lead us into contradiction. Is there another possible meaning?
There is.
All through Romans, Paul refers to death, but in slightly different ways.
For example, he often means physical death. In Romans 1:32, he talks about how certain sinners deserve to die (Rom 1:32). He talks about Jesus’ death on the cross (Rom 5:12). How death spread through Adam (Rom 5:14). And how, in baptism, we are joined to Christ in His death and resurrection (Rom 6:3-5).
But Paul also speaks about death as a power that can be personified. For example, he says that death no longer “rules” over Christ because Jesus will never die again (Rom 6:9). Death is like a king who can hold people under his power.
Paul also talked about death in agricultural terms, saying we can “bear fruit for death” (Rom 7:5).
And finally, Paul could also talk about death as an experience, such as when he was first convicted of his sin under the law and how that resulted in his “death” (Rom 7:10). And he wrote that life under the law produced that experience of death in him (Rom 7:13). Since Paul was physically alive, he must be referring to an experience of death short of dying.
Paul presents the alternative to this experience as life in the Spirit (see Romans 8). You can either set your mind on the flesh or the Spirit, and your experience will differ accordingly. If you set your mind on fleshly things, you’ll reap all the negative consequences that come from it (e.g., divorce, unhappiness, pain, suffering, stress, and conflict). To have the very best experience of life in the Spirit, Paul calls us to set our minds on the Spirit and to mortify sinful deeds of the body.
So there’s no contradiction here. As John Stott explains:
“Having called eternal life a free and undeserved gift (6:23), he is not now making it a reward for self-denial…The rich, abundant, satisfying life, he is saying, can be enjoyed only by those who put their misdeeds to death. Even the pain of mortification is worth while if it opens the door to fullness of life…it is only by putting our evil deeds to death that we experience the full life of God’s children. So we need to redefine both life and death. What the world calls life (a desirable self-indulgence) leads to alienation from God which in reality is death, whereas the putting to death of all perceived evil within us, which the world sees as an undesirable self-abnegation, is in reality the way to authentic life” (Stott, Romans, p. 229-30).
And since it’s always better to have more than one witness, here’s another supporting quote from Michael Eaton:
Paul is not threatening loss of salvation. They will reap death in their experience no matter what they may be in their position, if they do not respond to what he says. He goes on: but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. You will reap the blessings of eternal life (Eaton, Branch Commentary, p. 474).
Don’t settle for anything less than Spirit-focused fullness of life.
Send your questions or comments to Shawn.
