Imperishable Inheritance

I've had a number of conversations recently about eternal security. I often find myself embroiled in a "proof text war" when the issue needs to be discussed much deeper than that. I've found that the question of eternal security goes much deeper than that. The debate centers on our view of God Himself, and the ultimate question is whether God is indeed faithful to His promises. To properly look at the issues we must define what the promise is, and if God is faithful to it.

Our Promise-Oriented God

We must establish what God's promise truly is. In the Old Covenant age God made a conditional covenant at Sinai to which Israel must keep to allow their habitation of the land of Canaan (Exo 19:5). The Old Testament is riddled with the failure of Israel to remain in covenant with God. Israel did receive all the geographical land promised to Abraham (1 Kings 4:20-21; 2 Chr 9:26), but it is important to note that the Old Covenant is full of shadows and the New Covenant full of realities (Col 2:16-17; Heb 8:4-5). We must remember that we are under a different covenant—an unconditional covenant. This covenant is unconditional much like the covenant God made with Abraham, and that is why God put Abraham in a sleep and went down the middle of the sacrifices typifying the fact that He would carry out both sides of the covenant (Gen 15). The Old, Mosaic Covenant was not perfect and therefore God enacted a newer, better covenant.

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, "BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH...When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.
Hebrews 8:6-8, 13

The New Covenant Promise

This covenant's promise isn't about geographical land but a heavenly rest which the Canaan typified (Heb 11:16). This New Covenant is unconditional, because instead of a focus around temporal blessings it is based around eternal, soteriological promises. The New Covenant promise is simple: repent, believe the Gospel, and receive eternal rest. So, now we can apply the question in the title to this promise: Is God faithful to the Gospel promise? The Christian who believes that we can lose our salvation must say "no," because they see the Gospel promise as conditional which couldn't be farther from the truth. Here are few passages that are important to reflect upon:

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5

Was is to be said of this "inheritance?" Is it truly "imperishable" as Peter and Paul make it out to be? If so, then we must look at the salvific promise of God in a new light that being eternal and unconditional. This is the great promise of the New Covenant and the fruit of God's work in unconditional election. That is also why the theology of the subsequent experience of the Spirit (that is, not every Christian immediately receiving the indwelling of the Spirit) is faulty. The Holy Spirit is a pledge of our inheritance as Paul proclaims in Ephesians 1. This is the great truth post-Pentecost (Acts 2) and the inauguration of the newer, better covenant to which those in Christ are members of.

Let us praise our Father who has bought us through His Son and pledged His faithfulness through His Spirit. I challenge those who think we can lose our salvation to think more deeply upon who God is and how faithful He is to His promises.

"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."
The Apostle Peter