A Key Difference in Baptist Doctrine: Eternal Security Explained

Although I grew up in a Christian home and was brought up in a Pentecostal church, I only fully understood the gospel when I was about 17 years old (in late 2014).

After watching loads of YouTube videos by Wretched TV, Kent Hovind, William Lane Craig, Ravi Zacharias, and mainstream non-denominational Christian movies like God’s not Dead, Heaven is for Real, and A Thief in the Night, I stumbled upon a YouTube video about the topic of “speaking in tongues” by a charismatic Baptist preacher named Pastor Steven Anderson. His videos helped me connect the dots on a lot of things about the Bible, especially on the doctrine of eternal security, which eventually got me saved.

It has been almost 10 years since then, and my beliefs on Christianity have become more refined. Especially about different denominations and what they believe, church history, bible translations, insights into Christian persecution, how to win souls, and many others.

In a time when many churches are turning non-denominational, and getting rid of the denomination from their names, I would like to provide reasons for why I am a Baptist, and in fact an Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB), instead of just a “Christian” (which is indeed a biblical term).

If you take the average protestant church, they usually believe what Baptists believe, which can be summed up here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_beliefs. However, there is one doctrine that not every church believes in. Let us get right into it!

Most Baptist churches believe in Eternal Security (at least in name)

It is very common for Baptist churches to believe in the doctrine of Eternal Security (aka Once Saved Always Saved) which means that once a person believes the Gospel, they receive eternal life at that moment, and will go to heaven when they die, and there is nothing that can happen for them to end up in hell.

This is in contrast to a commonly held belief amongst Catholics, Orthodox as well as most other Protestant denominations (including Pentecostals) that you can lose your salvation, meaning that there is a possibility for you to believe the Gospel and receive eternal life, but then lose it by either “sinning wilfully” or “walking away from God”. There are also denominations that believe that you would receive a temporary punishment (for eg. purgatory) to be cleansed of the sins that you commit on earth (for eg. Catholics).

However the Bible always describes salvation as a one-time event, and that it is eternally secure, with the vast majority of the verses making it very clear to understand that. Here is a list of some of these verses that I have published on this blog: https://joelkingsleyr.com/2017/04/26/salvation-verses-list/.

Having said this, why is it a big deal for a church to believe in the doctrine of Eternal Security? Aren’t all Christians going to heaven? Nope, not at all.

You need to believe in Eternal Security to be saved

This is very important since there are several passages, one of which is 1 John 5:9-11 KJV, which explains what it means to believe the Gospel:

9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

There is a lot to unpack here, but when talking about the record here, it says that God – hath given – to us – eternal life, – and this life is – in his Son. So it means that one has to believe that God has given to us eternal life and this life is through his Son. Therefore, it is imperative that one believes that salvation is a gift (since it is being given by God), and also that it is eternal life (life that doesn’t end). Hell is referred to as death in the Bible (Eg. Romans 6:23), therefore someone who has never-ending life can never die.

Failing to believe this would mean that you don’t believe God’s record, which based on verse 10 of this passage means you are making God a liar. So if you don’t believe in Eternal Security, you don’t believe the Gospel.

Most other denominations don’t believe this

Many churches however don’t believe that one needs to believe in Eternal Security to be saved, or straight out reject Eternal Security. One of the reasons for the latter is due to a few “difficult” passages in the Bible where it may seem to suggest that you could lose your salvation. For example, it says in Hebrews 10:26-27 KJV:

²⁶For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, ²⁷But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

For someone who hasn’t seen these verses, it might seem like it is saying that if you sin wilfully then you would be punished by God in hell. However, it is saying that Christians with the knowledge of the truth, who sin wilfully, will be punished by God in this life.

There is also James 2 (“Faith without works is dead”), Matthew 7:19 (“Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”), and many such verses that are used to teach that you can lose your salvation. This topic alone could be covered in several blog posts, or even an entire book, so I will not be dealing with it here.

This is a reason why the label “Baptist” in a church matters since it stands for a set of beliefs that sets it apart from other churches that don’t believe in Eternal Security.

You don’t have to call yourself a Baptist to be a “true” Christian

That being said, a person needn’t call themself a “Baptist”, go to a Baptist church, or even know what a “Baptist” is to be a true Christian (someone that is indeed saved and going to heaven). In fact, the term Baptist traces its origins only back to the “Radical Reformation” of the 16th century. There have been, and are today many Christians outside the Baptist movement who believe in the Eternal Security of the believer in addition to other fundamentals of the faith that mainstream evangelistic churches believe in.

Although the term Baptist alone provides a lot of context today, it is still a broad movement, which is why the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) movement has independent churches that hold to conservative (and fundamental) Baptist values. There is also the New Independent Fundamental Baptist (NIFB) movement, which I align with, that has many things in common with the IFB movement, with few doctrinal differences.

Hope this was a good introduction to Baptist doctrine and Eternal Security for you. Until next time!