Re: Can He Reject His Faith? If the only unpardonable sin is rejection of Jesus and his precious gift of salvation, wouldn’t the woman’s husband be committing this sin in his overt rejection of Jesus and his promise even after ostensibly being saved?
The unknowable factor in this equation is whether the man was saved or not. If He wasn’t, then denying the Lord is simply an admission of his true spiritual status. If he was then no matter what he says, he no longer has the ability to deny Him. As I said in my answer he could be saying something he doesn’t believe in a time of extreme circumstances, like Peter did on the night the Lord was arrested.
Here are five reasons why a Christian cannot truly deny the faith that I posted in response to an earlier question. In light of other queries on this matter, I think they bear repeating.
First, Christians are born again, a new creation in Christ (1 Cor. 5:17). How does one go about becoming unborn?
Second, we received the seal of the Holy Spirit when we first believed, as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephes. 1:13-14). I haven’t found any evidence in Scripture to support the notion that we can be unsealed and our guarantee surrendered or revoked.
Third, Jesus said it was His father’s will that He would lose none of those who had been given to Him, and that no one can take us out of His or His father’s hands (John 6:39, John 10:27-30). I believe the word “none” means “not any” and the phrase “no one” includes us.
Fourth, it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ. He has set His seal of ownership on us and put His spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Paul confirmed this, saying we are not our own, but have been bought at a price (1 Cor. 5:19-20). It seems to me God would have to relinquish His claim of ownership in order for us to depart, something Jesus promised never to do (John 6:37).
And finally, 1 John 2:19 says a person’s going out is evidence that he or she never really belonged.
Taken together, I believe these conditions limit a believers agency to exclude departing from the faith.