Is Salvation Unconditional?
Support for Those Who Say It Is
John 6:44. The Father calls us, not we ourselves.
Ephesians 1:4-12; Romans 8:28-30. God has predestined His people to be His sons.
Philippians 1:6. God who began a good work in us will complete it.
I Timothy 1:15. Christ came to the world to save sinners, and all have sinned (Romans 3:23).
John 1:29. Christ came to remove the sins of the world.
John 3:16-17. Christ came to this world to save it, not condemn it.
John 4:42. Christ is the Saviour to the world.
Colossians 1:16-20. Christ came to reconcile all things unto Himself.
I Timothy 2:3-6. God willed that all will be saved.
Ezekiel 18:23. God wants the wicked to turn from his evil ways.
Titus 2:11-12. God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
II Peter 3:9. God wills that all will come to repentance.
Romans 11:26. All Israel shall be saved, and Abraham is the father of the faithful, and of Israel (Galatians 3:6-9); the Gentiles are grafted into Israel (Romans 11:13-24). [This actually shows only that Israel, a small portion of all people on earth, will be saved.]
Support for Those Who Say It Is Not
I Corinthians 9:27. Paul realized he could be a castaway (Strong 96, “unapproved, rejected, or worthless”) if he did not “keep his body under” (live God’s ways).
Exodus 19:4-6. Israel would be a nation of kings and priests if they would keep God’s covenant.
Genesis 2:16-17. If Adam would partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die … and only through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice does one have hope of life again (Romans 5:15-19).
Matthew 7:13-14. Broad is the way to destruction, but narrow is the way to life, and few find it.
Matthew 7:15-20. Trees giving bad fruit are cut down and burned.
Matthew 7:21-23. God rejects those who do not do His will.
Romans 6:23. The wages of sin is death.
Matthew 25:41-46. Those that did not aid one’s brothers will go into “everlasting punishment”, i.e., be burned up.
Revelation 20:10-15. Those not found written in the Book of Life were cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 22:14-15. Only the righteous receive eternal life.
Matthew 5:17-20. Whoever does not keep the commandments, and teaches others to break them, will not be in the Kingdom of heaven.
John 5:28-29. A resurrection of damnation (Strong 2920 = krisis, “tribunal, by implication, justice and divine law”) is mentioned.
Matthew 8:10-12. Some will be cast into outer darkness.
Matthew 13:37-43. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, the tares were sown by the devil and will be burned up. See Psalm 58:3, where the wicked are evil from birth.
Romans 9:12-24. Some people are made by God for destruction.
Matthew 13:47-50. There will be a separation at the end of the age, and the wicked will be cast into the fire. Likewise see Matthew 22:12-14 and 24:43-51.
The Resolution of the Two Opposing Views
There is no conflict between the scriptures that seem to support unconditional salvation and those that do not. While it is God’s will that all be saved, He does not force people to obey Him. Salvation begins with repentance of the sinner, and unless the sinner is willing to step forward and admit his guilt there can be no forgiveness of those sins by the Father and consequential salvation. Some individuals simply refuse to repent, to admit that their own self-serving ways are wrong and the Eternal’s ways are right. These include those who are “wicked from the womb”, and are not among those predestined to inherit salvation … for those predestined for salvation will not be lost; they will repent and follow the Father’s calling. They will all be called. God makes no excuses for any person not to acknowledge His supreme power and creation, for these truths are plain and clear throughout the created world.(Romans 1:18-20).
Those who will inherit salvation include all of Israel — those who are truly Israel as far as genetic lineage is measured — and those of non-Israelite nations who are called, chosen, and “grafted in” to the true vine, Jesus Christ. The native branches of the vine are of Israel. Israel includes the lineage of Jacob and of no one else, as far as the scriptures reveal. God is very partial to Israel, they being the descendants of Abraham through the sons of promise, first Isaac and then Jacob … and while all twelve tribes of Israel will inherit the promise of salvation through the promises given to Abraham, the promise of “race” (great national blessings) resides with Joseph and the promise of “grace” (the Messiah) rested upon Judah.
Not everyone will be given eternal life, a new spirit body that will live forever. Some people are made for destruction, and are progeny of Satan, They, like Satan and the demons and the evil sons of God, will refuse to repent of their sins and follow their true heavenly Father. They will be burned up in “everlasting fire”, flames that will burn them to ashes. There will be no everlasting “hell fire” that continues forever to cause indescribable pain and torture to these evil individuals — be they spirit (which will be changed to flesh for burning) or flesh — forever and ever. They will simply be burned up, destroyed, and forgotten. Is there any greater and more horrible fate than to be consumed and destroyed, forever lost to memory, to cease to be? I think not, but that is the future for Satan, the other disobedient spirits, and flesh and blood humans made in God’s image who will not turn to His ways with their whole hearts. Yet, all of Israel have hearts of a nature compliant to their Maker; they will all indeed turn to their true heavenly Father and receive salvation, just as their genetic father Abraham did.
What is the danger of believing in unconditional salvation? It is primarily that one can easily be swept up into thinking that doing evil — sinning — is of no real consequence because one will assuredly receive eternal life no matter what one’s conduct might be. Paul feared that he might lose out on salvation should he not “keep his body under”, or stated in another way, keep God’s laws and commandments within his heart. We must not be of the frame of mind that believes by sinning more we will receive forgiveness more. Such an attitude is utterly condemned in Scripture (Romans 6:1-2), and so must we condemn it.