Two Fisted Salvation

   There are many reasonably reasonable Christians who do not believe in eternal security, perhaps because it sounds too good to be true or because of an inflated view of man's role in his own salvation. But the Bible is clear, salvation begins and ends with God. We are no more capable of maintaining our salvation that of obtaining it in the first place. We recently studied a passage at church that makes this clear--John 10:28, 29.

     "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand."

     Despite those unsure of what the meaning of "is" is, there is not a lot of wiggle room in these verses. Most believers agree that Satan cannot snatch us away from Christ, but some believe Christians can still wriggle themselves out of Jesus' hand like a sinful, slimy fish. One problem with this view is that it would require humans to be stronger than Satan, which is not the case. It would also require eternal to mean temporary, never to mean sometimes and all and no one to mean some and someone. That takes a lot of liberties with the language.
     An even greater problem in this passage is that salvation is two fisted. Even if we managed to squirm between Jesus' fingers, there is another hand holding us--the Father's. No saved sinner is that slippery. Satan cannot sabotage our salvation and neither can we. But he can undermine our testimony when we succumb to temptation and that is his specialty. And one might just remember when we choose to soil our lives with sin, that we are still sitting in our Savior's hand. He may, if He chooses, close that fist uncomfortably tight.