Are Apostates Still Saved?

Free grace teachers claim that conviction of sin, turning from sin, repentance from sin, confession of sin, forgiveness for sin, and obedience to Christ are not necessary for salvation. They claim, and I quote, ‘a person can ‘just believe, live any way they like, and go to heaven’. If you teach such things, obviously, the issue of sin will not be preached to unbelievers and you will end up with completely deceived people with a counterfeit form of Christianity, people who neither know Christ nor love Him, a form of religion which saves no one.

But it gets worse, if that were even possible. They also teach that if one of these counterfeit converts decides to change their mind, become an apostate, and utterly deny even the existence of Christ, live in that state until the end of their life, they will still go to heaven. I believe this teaching is utterly false.

Let me make my position clear regarding eternal salvation. If a person has been convicted of sin, turned from sin, confessed their sin and surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they will both know and love the Lord, they will be ‘crucified with Christ’ (Romans 6:6), belong to Christ (Romans 8), be ‘God’s own possession’ (Ephesians 1:14) and produce the fruits of the Spirit as evidence they are a new creation. Such a person can never lose their salvation because their life no longer belongs to them, it belongs to Christ, their first love, the rebellion against God is over. They may fail on occasions and need to repent (1 John 1:8-2:1) but they cannot continue in sinful rebellion to God, a point John makes three times in 1 John 3:4-9. As we shall see, this issue of continual rebellion is central to the issue of apostasy. 

Every true Christian will go through painful tests and trials in order to prove that their faith is genuine (1 Peter 1:6-9). Some of these trials may be emotionally devastating, as when one is caring for a loved one dying of cancer and praying diligently, or the loss of a child, any situation completely outside of our control. At such times our faith will be sorely tempted and in our flesh we may fail, we may question the love of the Lord and even, for an instant, His existence. Remember that our enemy, Satan, is like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, and he whispers blasphemies in our ear in our weakest moments. 

But if we are truly children of God, then the divine nature within us brings us back from the brink and into the loving arms of our Lord and Savior and into a place where we trust Him as we first trusted Him. A person who is truly born again, cannot remain in a state of rebellion and unfaith because that rebellious self was formerly crucified with Christ, the old self has passed away.

In this article/video I want to show that the free-grace teaching that apostates and Christ deniers will enter heaven is absolutely false and fundamentally calls Jesus a liar. I do believe that genuine Christians can be deceived by false doctrine, especially those who are weak in the faith, and can be at least temporarily rendered ineffective in their witness, and there are warnings regarding this in Scripture. But here we are refuting the heresy that those who openly deny Christ are saved.

I will argue that apostates never truly knew Jesus Christ in the first place, and certainly had no real love for Him. By denying Christ they prove they never knew Him, there so-called Christianity was no more than a counterfeit.

So, firstly, the word apostasy comes from the Greek ‘apostasia’ and means rebellion, defection or to abandon. The word is used of someone who claimed to be a ‘christian’ and then completely denies that position. The fundamental question is this:

1. What did Christ say about denying Him, and what exactly did He mean?

In Mathew 10 the Lord is sending out the twelve disciples and gives them a long discourse of instructions. In verses 5-8 He tells them to go only to the lost sheep of Israel and preach that the kingdom of heaven has come near. They are to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and drive out demons. From 9-15 He tells them to live by faith, taking no money, extra clothes etc, and to stay with those who welcome them and bless such people, and that those who reject them will be condemned.

From verses 16-23 onwards Jesus is speaking of the future when they will be persecuted, arrested, flogged and that the Holy Spirit will speak through them and speaks of His return at the end of the age in verse 23. He expands on this teaching in chapter 24 where He states that those who betray true Christians are actually apostates. But notice His words here in verses 21-22.

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:21-22)

These words are generally speaking of unbelievers persecuting Christians, even to death, but the message regarding perseverance to the end is emphatic and implies that those who do not stand firm to the end will be lost.  

From verses 24-31 Jesus states that a student is not above His master, and that He, the master will be accused of being in league with Beelzebul. He tells them not to be afraid but speak what He whispers in their ears, to shout it from the rooftops. Verse 28 states, do not be afraid of those who can kill only the body, but be afraid of the One who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. In verses 29-30 He comforts them by saying that they are precious to the Father and of far greater value than the sparrows which are also under the Father’s care.

This is the context in which we have Jesus’ next words about denial:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33) 

It is obvious that the issue of persecution and death for the sake of Christ is intrinsically tied to Jesus’ words about either disowning, denying Him, and standing firm to the end. His reference to the body and soul being destroyed in Gehenna is a stark warning to those who deny Him.

The word translated as ‘disown’ in the NIV is ‘arnesetai’, also translated as deny. This same word is used of Peter when He denied Christ three times and gives us an insight into how the word is applied. Peter denied that he knew Jesus, he publicly disowned the Lord. However, Peter immediately repented, indeed he was with the other disciples when Jesus resurrected. After he was born again at Pentecost, Peter stood firm to the end and died as a martyr for Christ. But after his denial before Pentecost, Jesus reinstated Peter and asked him three times, ‘do you love me’.

There are powerful lessons to learn from this.

1. In John 17:3 Jesus prayed, ‘now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.’ Salvation is about having a personal existential relationship with God in Christ. Think about how many parables Jesus told in which He says the words, ‘I never knew you’. There are the many who are deceived by false prophets in Matthew 7:22-23, those who call Him Lord and claim to have prophesied, cast out demons and performed miracles in His name. There are the five foolish virgins in Matthew 25 who are shut out of the wedding feast and ask, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us’ and are told, ‘truly I tell you, I don’t know you’, and the goats in the same chapter who call Him Lord throughout the narrative and are sent into hell. Calling Christ ‘Lord’, is no existential proof that He is your Lord and Savior. 

2. Salvation is about knowing Christ personally, and by virtue of knowing Him, loving Him. When Jesus reinstated Peter, He didn’t ask Peter why he denied Him, but if Peter loved Him. In Matthew 24 Jesus again speaks about the last days before His return, explaining in greater detail the words He told the twelve when He sent them out. In verses 9-13 He says this:

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all the nations because of me. At that time many will turn from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:9-13)

Please note the following:

1. A Christian may be persecuted and put to death and hated because of Christ. Here is the challenge…you can avoid hatred, persecution and physical death by simply turning away, betraying and hating true Christians, however, only those who stand firm to the end will be saved. Some claim that the word saved here means to be saved from persecution or just losing your rewards, but this text is simply an amplified version of Matthew 10 about denying Christ and being denied by Christ.

2. The word translated in the NIV as ‘turn from the faith’ comes from the Greek ‘skandalon’ meaning to ‘entice to sin or apostasy’. What kind of ‘faith’ do these people have who can turn to betrayal and hatred of real Christians? The answer ties into Jesus’ words and warning from Matthew 7 about false prophets deceiving many and hearing the words ‘depart from me, I never knew you’. Those who have counterfeit Christianity are easily deceived by false teachers, but these people do not have any real and personal relationship with Him. 

As John said, ‘anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness’ (1 John 2:9). 

3. But the key to understanding their apostasy is in the words, ‘because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold’. In the original it is ‘because of the increase in rebellion, the love of the many will grow cold’. The word translated ‘wickedness’ is ‘anomia’ the word which always describes the very root of sin, that is, rebellion against God. In 1 John 3:4 the apostle states that all sin (harmatia) is rebellion (anomia), and in verse 6 he states that ‘no one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him’. John has already stated that all Christians commit sins in the first chapter, but in chapter three he is stating that no born again person can continually live in rebellion. Why, because the ‘self’ has been crucified with Christ.  Please watch my video entitled ‘cannot continue in sin’ which explains these verses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKi-w6Nl9Ns&t=1s

Again, the message here is that if you are still living in rebellion to God you do not know Him and Christ will deny knowing you. 

4. And what about love? Love for Christ is grounded in gratitude and this is the main issue with free-grace theology. When a person is convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, there is a self-loathing, a hatred for sin, there is godly sorrow and a deep gratitude that Christ has given His life as a punishment for our sins personally. Jesus taught that the depth to which we understand we are forgiven, is the depth to which we will love (Luke 7). But if we do not preach the eternal consequences of sin to unbelievers, there will be no conviction, no turning from sin, no repentance, no godly sorrow, no born again experience, and no love for Christ. Please watch my video entitled ‘no conviction, no godly sorrow, no love’ on this topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySney-ESxY0

One cannot truly love Christ without knowing Christ. And one cannot claim to have been a ‘christian’ and then deny ever having known the Lord. Sadly, there are millions who claim to be ‘christians’ but have never experienced new birth. When testing and trials come they quickly fall away, proving that their so-called ‘faith’ was never genuine. Listen to these words from Peter.

6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perished even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9) 

Please note the following:

1. Trials, suffering, and testing have come to prove the genuineness of our faith. If our faith is real faith, we will pass the tests, we will endure the suffering, not in our own strength, but by the divine nature which dwells within us, the ‘new birth’ Peter mentions in verse 3 of his letter. Those who pass the test receive ‘praise, glory and honor’.

2. Although we don’t see him we love him. It is our genuine love for Christ which produces genuine faith in Christ. Faith and love are two sides of the same coin. If our faith is counterfeit, so will our love be fake, but the proof of the genuineness of both is tested by the fire of suffering, for our true faith and love are the most precious things to the Lord. Peter confirms all of this with the words, ‘you are receiving the end result, the salvation of your souls’. The testing is not just about rewards, as heretics claim, but about our eternal destiny.

In summary I give this warning to free-grace heretics. Instead of telling apostates to repent and experience true salvation, you tell them they are still saved. Instead of telling unbelievers to repent and turn from sin, you tell them to ‘just believe and live any way they like and they will go to heaven’. You deny the words of Jesus Christ and every warning of Scripture, leading thousands blindly into hell. You are false teachers and will stand condemned.

And to others I say this. Do you really know and love Jesus Christ? Will you stand firm to the end and be saved, or fail the tests, despise the suffering and join the camp of apostates? Paul said these words:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:16-17)

If you truly know and love Christ, you will be prepared to share in His sufferings for you live in the reality that He suffered for you. Your faith will be tested to see if it is genuine or counterfeit, and if counterfeit, do not allow false teachers to convince you that you are a child of God, rather, repent and be saved.

I pray this video/article has opened your eyes to the false doctrines of free-grace teachers. You have a choice, to believe these deceivers, or the words of Jesus Christ and the warnings of Scripture. God bless

Steve Copland