Some denominations of Christianity believe that one can be born-again and thereafter lose his salvation, lose eternal life; I hope to show the error of such thinking in this brief post.
The late Abraham Kuyper, D.D., LL.D, provided an answer to people who hold to that error in his book, The Work of the Holy Spirit, 1900; Erdmans, 1946 (available on Amazon Kindle for $2.99); I will attempt to restate his description of the difference between Adam’s state and the state of all born-again Christians after Christ’s Ascension.
(Kuyper addressed other things in chapter 10 of his book from which I quote below; but I am only focusing on one tiny point for the benefit of those who have an inaccurate conception of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.)
Kuyper stated (pp 48 -51 of the book, not Kindle), that those who hold the above view err in that the state of “rectitude” in which Adam dwelt in paradise differs from the state of “justification” that the born-again Christian receives in the new birth.
How so? Because to the newly born-again Christian, the righteousness of Christ becomes his; Christ’s righteousness was tested, and tried by the consuming fire of God’s wrath. It was therefore, transformed from a righteousness of “original rectitude,” to that of “righteousness vindicated.” That is, in my words, Christ, by his righteous life (having lived in total obedience to God’s laws), earned for us the eternal life that Adam did not earn. And his perfected righteousness is imputed to the born-again Christian.
Therefore, the new convert, having received Christ’s righteousness, occupies the position of Jesus after his resurrection; not of Adam in his state of rectitude wherein he had to work to perfect his righteousness, to earn eternal life.
That is, the new convert cannot lose his salvation, like Adam did, because Christ’s perfect righteousness has been imputed to him: Christ lived a perfect, sinless life, earning the righteousness that Adam never did earn.
In other words, Christ earned the righteousness that Adam could have potentially earned if he had lived a completely sinless life, but we all know he did not.
Consider the following quote:
“For Adam in Paradise there was first work and then the Sabbath of rest; but for the ungodly justified by grace the Sabbath rest comes first, and then the labor which flows from the energies of that Sabbath. In the beginning [Adam] the week closed with the Sabbath; for us the day of the resurrection of Christ opens the week which feeds upon the powers of that resurrection.” (End quote and discussion from the book.)
One additional point that derives from the aforementioned information is an explanation for the Lord’s Day being Sunday, the beginning of the week; not Saturday, then end of the week; because the Saturday Sabbath was the end or the goal of Adam’s week, Adams life; that is, the goal of Sabbath rest was the end result of his potentially having lived a righteous life; which he failed to live.
(Kuyper explains that idea somewhere else in this book; I remember thinking that he is the only one whom I ever heard explain that concept.)
Christ did live that life, which is imputed to us; therefore, we begin in a state wherein Adam could have potentially ended.
If this brief post whet your appetite, then I recommend that you purchase the Kindle book; there are hard copies out there, I found one on Ebay a few years ago.
The book is above me, i.e., it is a very difficult read. I am on my 4th read. It consists of 3-5 page sections of which I read one a day. I hope to be able to communicate one other part wherein Kuyper explains the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; it is somewhat understandable to me. But since it is the best explanation I have ever heard of how the church received the Holy Spirit, I want to communicate it to others. I am hopeful that I will be able to after more prayer on the matter.