Pastor Glenn’s Weblog

Security and Christmas

I am often asked questions about security issues:  “How do I know for sure I’m saved?” and “Can a Christian lose his/her salvation?”  In answer to the last question, I often point out the tenses used in the NT to describe the salvation of those who trust in Christ.  A scan of the posts in the security and assurance link will reveal some of those thoughts.  Here is another interesting use of tenses in the NT that reveals the security we have, and it’s also a great Christmas season reminder.  In his second letter Paul encourages Timothy not to be ashamed of “the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,” then he adds the positive, “but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.” (2 Tim 1:9 ESV) That’s great encouragement, but the description of what God has done which follows is very instructive.  He “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”  Notice the tense of the verbs, “he saved,” “he called,” and “he gave;” things that are already completed.  But just so you wouldn’t miss the point, Paul tells us it was completed “before the ages began.”  If you trust is Jesus, then you were given grace before the ages began.  You were in God’s plan from eternity, and nothing in time can change that.

The reason this is a great Christmas passage is because of verse 10 that follows.  This grace, which was already given to us, “now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”  Jesus’ coming to earth, his life, death and resurrection (i.e. the gospel), was a revelation in time of God’s eternal grace.  That is why the whole Christmas story is such good news.  God’s grace makes it all worth celebrating!

So I close with my favorite Christmas verse: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”  (2 Cor 8:9 ESV)  Have a merry Christmas, secure in God’s grace.