I once was listening to a radio talk-show (unwillingly, the foreman dictated what got played) where the host was taking callers on a perceived moral issue (what it was I cannot recall). The one caller professed his viewpoint, attributed it to his evangelical profession, and stated he wasn't worried at all about fall-out as he was a "shoe-in" to get into Heaven.
That gave me pause and not a little uneasiness on the caller's behalf.
Many Christian confessions espouse a doctrine called "Eternal Assurance," which is the teaching that once you make your initial confession, make your prayer, accept Jesus as your Lord, then you are "saved" and guaranteed a place at God's right hand for all eternity. It has served as a comfort for generations in those confessions, and a source of their strength.
It is also an unscriptural heresy. A very dangerous one.
While many proof-texts are given to support the idea of an eternal assurance, the weight of the witness of both Gospels and the Epistles, the Law and the Prophets, make mention that salvation is a two way street. Without God's deliverance, we are like the Israelites whom God proclaims deliverance in today's Old Testament reading for the Mass.[1] As St. Paul wrote extensively, this salvation is God's gift, a product of faith which He alone gives.[2] However, the gift requires active participation. St. Paul is very clear that with our salvation comes a great responsibility not to fall back into error. In today's Epistle reading at Mass,[3] St. Paul cautions the members of the Church in Corinth not to fall away as the Israelites, saved from slavery in Egypt, did; his words are very telling, "So, if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall."[4] Elsewhere, St. Paul notes that, "...if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you."[5] The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews is very stern in this warning: "How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?"[6]
Even our Lord weighs in on this. In today's Gospel[7] He had harsh words for the children of Israel that spurned His warnings and ignored His message. "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”[8] He then relates a parable illustrating the relation of God to His people as a landowner regarding an unproductive fig tree. The first impulse is to remove it, but the gardener asks leave to tend it for a while. So it is with us. In our sins, we are the unproductive fig tree, cut off from the source of Life. In His mercy, God grants us opportunity to turn around. The fruitfulness in the allegory is the evidence of our true repentence, of turning our backs on our sins, of not taking God's mercy for granted, realizing that true Life in Him requires upholding the expectation. St. Paul in today's Epistle is clear, there are certain behaviours that do not affirm life, but only serve to separate us further from God. There are certain other affirming behaviours as Our Lord reminds us, the "Weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith."[9]
Thanks be to God that we have salvation in Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we can turn our lives around and live our lives in hope. The warning is clear, however. We can never take this for granted and use our "acceptance prayer" or our baptism as a license for further sin. That way leads to true separation from God, a separation that God sent His Son to undo, if only we turn to Him. Grace is not cheap, and no one is a "shoe-in." All is not hopeless, however. More on that in the weeks to come.
[1] Ex. 3:1-15
[2] Eph. 2.8, Rom. 3.23-24
[3] 1 Cor. 10.1-13
[4] 1 Cor. 10.12
[5] Rom. 11.21
[6] Heb. 10.29
[7] Lk. 13.1-9
[8] Lk 13.5
[9] Mt. 23.23