I hope you can help me settle something once and for all. I firmly believe in eternal security, but someone I know insists we can lose our salvation. She says the Bible does not say eternal “security” but says eternal “life”. I have given her plenty of evidence from God’s word and still she falls back on this. Eternal life and eternal security are the same to me. She’s looking for the specific word, “security”. How can I answer this particular point ?
The doctrine of Eternal Security comes from verses like Ephesians 1:13-14 and 2 Cor. 1:21-22, which say when we become a believer we are given the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. The Greek word translated “deposit” also means “an earnest”. It tells us the Holy Spirit was given as a pledge or down payment guaranteeing that our full inheritance will subsequently be received. Eternal life is the believer’s inheritance. Since it’s guaranteed by the Holy Spirit from the moment of our salvation we have eternal security that we’ll inherit eternal life. So while eternal security and eternal life are technically different, one is our assurance that we’ll receive the other.