How could God give eternal life as a free gift, wholly apart from what sinful man actually deserves? Or in other words: How is it that could God be just (righteous) in justifying ungodly sinners?

Job asked: “… but how should man be just [Heb. sadaq, made right] with God?” Job 9:2 (KJV)

This question is beautifully answered in the Pauline revelation of “the gospel of the grace of God.”

“To declare, I say, at this time his [Jesus’] righteousness: that he [God] might be just, and the justifier of him which BELIEVETH in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)

Every holy, righteous claim that GOD had against the sinner WAS COMPLETELY SATISFIED BY THE DEATH OF HIS SON. Justice has ‘once for all’ been served by Christ’s substitutionary death of the cross for all men, yet applying Only to those who will BELIEVE.

He (God) is therefore perfectly righteous in bestowing Eternal Life upon unworthy sinners who do nothing more than meet the simple terms of His … “gospel of the grace of God” – which is to BELIEVE that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (cf. 1Cor 12:3-4).

Yet, self-Righteous people suppose that they have some righteousness of their own. Many actually hate and despise such a doctrine as eternal security, and in their zeal would consign to hell anyone who would teach such a supposed heresy. This reminds us of Paul’s words of defense before Felix, a procurator of Judea when Paul was on trial.

“But this I [Paul] confess unto thee, that after The Way Which THEY [the lying Pharisees] CALL heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers” (Acts 24:14).

Above, Paul proudly declared his faith in Jesus which the Pharisees called heresy.

Yet, in the minds of some Christians, such as Jimmy Swaggart, they mistake verses such as apply to the six anti-security arguments you will see mentioned in Part 3 as it to mean a genuine believer can lose their salvation, which of course is NOT true.

Then there are some who may say, “All of this sounds very logical, but how about all of those verses in the Bible which seem to teach just the opposite to eternal security?”

Yes, the Scriptures that may seem to teach just the opposite to eternal security, but these are solemn ‘warnings’ for believers as to the consequences of bad choices in their daily living… which do not include loss of salvation. Many of the warnings in Scripture apply to Israel or the lost, not grace believers. To lump these warnings together exhibits very little intelligence in one’s handling of the Word of God in context. As you will see these are warnings that may be classified under the six headings seen in Part 3.

Remember we must be ‘dispensational’ in our study of His word, lest we take for ourselves God’s Biblical mail that belongs to others, such as belongs to Israel only. Thus, Paul tells us to divide the “word of truth” according to the dispensation at hand.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)

Therefore, most Christians do not realize they can be Scriptural and yet be out of the will of God if they are not dispensational. We have our instructions from Paul for today’s “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2), which are quite different than that for Israel under “the Law” dispensation. Scripture that pertains to Israel under “the Law” is not for today’s “dispensation of the grace of God.” We must always be careful to rightly divide that which applies to Israel from… that which applies to us the members of “the body of Christ.” Israel’s relationship with God incorporates “the Law,” but we today live “under grace.”

“…  for ye are NOT under the law, but Under Grace.” (Rom. 6:14b (KJV)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves [not of your doing]: it is the gift of God: ⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)