Certainly, one of the most commonly misunderstood passages in the Bible is Rom. 8:38,39, as commonly presented by the
eternal security teachers of our day. These two often-mentioned verses say:
The first thing that needs to be stressed is there is a definite DIFFERENCE between the "LOVE" of God as mentioned in
Rom. 8:38,39 and the "LIFE" of God, according to Scripture! This is easily proven by noting that UNSAVED people are LOVED
by God, even though they are devoid of His LIFE! A clear case in point is the rich, young ruler who was certainly UNSAVED, yet
LOVED by Jesus (Mk. 10:21)!
It must be further noted that this same unsaved man, like all unsaved people, are "separated from the LIFE of God," (Eph.
4:18) but, again, not separated from His LOVE! Since one only has salvation when he has the LIFE of God, Rom. 8:38,39 does
NOT assure an unconditional salvation on the basis of God's infinite love!
Don't let anyone convince you otherwise, even a fluent-speaking, popular TV and/or radio teacher or author! The Apostle
Paul wrote,
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present
nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the LOVE OF GOD that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
In quoting this passage, the eternal security adherents argue that it proves that once we are saved we are always saved; and even though "sin" isn't mentioned in Paul's list, it is understood to be included, hence no sin committed after initial salvation will
condemn a person! "Your Iniquities Have SEPARATED
You From Your God"
Finally, those who read the word "sin" into the list cited by Paul in Rom. 8:38,39 contradict the clear and the plain truth for
Isa. 59:2 states, "But your iniquities have SEPARATED you from your God"! "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God"
(1 Cor. 6:9,10).
To try to limit this listing to only those that never tasted
salvation, as some do, is to deny the basic meaning of these words, according to the dictionary! By this I mean an "adulterer" is
a person, ANY person, who commits adultery. This is factual even if the person was saved BEFORE his act of adultery,
as David clearly was! Hence, the people cited in 1 Cor. 6:9,10, though numerous in our country, will ALL go to the lake of fire
(Rev. 21:8), the only other place to go if one misses the kingdom of God, that is, unless they repent! One can only wonder how
many people described in 1 Cor. 6:9,10 and Rev. 21:8 have no fear of going to Hell because they were DECEIVED by eternal
security teachers!
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