Can We Turn Away?

Q

To demonstrate my belief in OSAS I quoted John 10:27-30 on my Facebook page. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father`s hand. I and My Father are one.”

In response someone wrote, “No one can snatch us away, but we can turn away. 2 Peter 2:20” How would you reply to that?

A

All of 2 Peter 2 is about false teachers. By their actions it’s clear that although they knew the truth they weren’t converted by it. Speaking of these false teachers, John wrote, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 John 2:19).

Believers have the Holy Spirit within us as a guarantee of our inheritance (Ephes 1:13-14). God has placed His seal of ownership on us (2 Cor. 1:21-22), and Jesus promised never to lose any of us (John 6:39). No where does the Bible describe this guarantee being revoked or reversed. In fact in the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus describes going after us to bring us back if we wander away (Luke 15:1-6).