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Can a Christian lose their salvation?

SHORT ANSWER

No. A person who has truly believed is born of God (John 1:13), sealed (Eph 1:13), and kept by the power of God through faith (1 Pet 1:5). The new birth cannot be un-born.

What the text states

Peter says believers "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Pet 1:5): kept by God's power, not their own. Paul is "confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6). The one who began it finishes it. Nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God" (Rom 8:38-39), and Paul lists death, life, angels, and things to come, and stops at nothing, because the list is meant to be exhausting.

What the other side says

The Reformed answer agrees the truly elect are kept (perseverance of the saints), but grounds it in unconditional individual election; the Arminian answer says the believer can fall. We agree with the Reformed on the outcome (the believer is kept) and differ on the ground: security rests on the sealing of real faith in Christ, not on a decree naming individuals before time.

Go deeper

ETERNAL SECURITY →THE MAN WHO FORGOT HE WAS CLEAN →
VERIFIED

Checked 2026-09-29 by Darren. 59 Scripture citations verified against the KJV rows. 59 quoted fragments table-passed against the verses table. One correction: once-saved-always-saved cited “unto the day of redemption” to Eph 1:13; the phrase is Eph 4:30, corrected to (Eph 1:13, 4:30) to match the convention used in eternal-security-vs-perseverance. 18 exhibit links checked, all resolve.

Sources read in full: public.verses KJV rows.

wsb.bible/answers/can-a-christian-lose-salvation