I cling to every “Once Saved Always Saved” email you send, but sometimes the thought of having lost my salvation is crippling. What do you say to the meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:2: “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”
Paul explained his point in 1 Cor. 15:3-4 by reminding them of the word he preached to them.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
This is the gospel to which we must hold firm. We must believe that Jesus died for all our sins and rose again on the 3rd day. The reason this is so important is that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself (According to 2 Cor. 5:21 He was made sin for us) and then rose again to be seated at the right hand of God. Nothing sinful can exist in the presence of God, so if any of our sins still remained on Jesus, He couldn’t be seated at God’s right hand. His resurrection is our proof that every one of our sins was paid for at the cross. If we don’t believe that we’ve believed in vain, because there is no other remedy for our sins. Either we believe they were all paid for at the cross or else we’re not saved.