Do people who commit “major” sins after accepting Jesus go to Heaven? [closed]

Question

This question is meant for Protestants. In many mainstream Protestant denominations that I have heard of, it seems to me clear that once you really accept Jesus' free gift on the cross as payment for your sins, you will go to Heaven even if you continue to sin. I understand that the theology explains that you will receive the Holy Spirit who will convict you of your sins, and you will try to sin less. But in any case, no matter what you do, you're going to Heaven.

But what do Christians believe about this? According to Catholics, I think, if you commit a mortal sin and don't confess, then believing Jesus will save you is not enough. So if you are killed in the middle of adultery for example, like Pablo and Francesca in Dante's divine comedy.

More to the point, how do you deal with the following verses:

Galatians 5:19-23

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

1 Corinthians 6:

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Mark 3:28

Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.

Matthew 5:17

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The one I just quoted is interesting because it seems that EVEN IF a person is going to heaven, but teach some people not to follow even the smallest of the Law of Moses (e.g. by saying it is a "ceremonial" law and thus shouldn't be followed) then they would be called Least in the Kingdom of Heaven. So there seem to be degrees of how much of Heaven you can have, and here Jesus is teaching that even after you are assured of going there, you should follow the Law and you will get a bigger Heavenly reward. Indeed James says:

James 2:10

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

But most of all this verse, because it is unambiguously to the point:

2 Peter 2:

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

It seems to say that after you get saved your works still matter. And what I am puzzled by is why the book says "It would have been better for them to not have known the way of righteousness." But the thing called better is basically the condition of the unsaved, so what gives? It seems to me that here is a doctrine about people who at first did become Christians but eventually started to teach crazy things promoting sinning.

So, how do Protestants explain their position that "once saved, a person will never be lost", in the light of the above verses? For example here is CARM:

http://carm.org/what-is-once-saved-always-saved

Answer 1

The answer is provided in one of the passages you quoted:

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NIV)

A person who unrepentantly sins, who desires to offend God and keep their relationship with him broken, will feel the force of God's wrath. Their attempts at autonomy will be answered by his unbreaking authority. But the person who turns to God in repentance, asking him for their forgiveness becomes a new person. Their identity is no longer a sinner, but a redeemed child of God. And while for this life they may live a contradiction, with their flesh warring against the Spirit, that will soon pass as they either die or Jesus returns again.

It's somewhat an open question as to whether some sins are worse than others. While there may be some ways in which sins do differ, they are all alike in that they are expressions of wrongful autonomy against God. The essence of sin is rebellion, and in that way they are all equal.

Answer 2

You are actually asking numerous questions in this question, so I will just summarize the answer and then address each verse you listed.

Summary:

The protestant view does not link works with grace as the Roman Catholics do. Protestants that believe in once saved always saved (arguable the majority) hold to the doctrine of justification by faith apart from works. Under this doctrine a person does not flip back and forth between a state of grace and a state outside of grace, but is always in grace after conversion. Therefore whatever sins a Christian commits he is never in a state of condemnation. The sins that a true believer are capable of committing are quite varied. The most extreme case would seem to be evident in King David's example of orchestrating the murder of the man whose wife he had committed adultery with. Also a person who professes Christ but lives a life of sin has never been outside of a state of condemnation as their faith is not real. What exactly defines a 'life of sin' is more or less that life that people live outside of the Protestant faith. Those that live according to godless beliefs or corrupted Christian beliefs which mix works with grace.

Specific passages:

Galatians 5:19-23

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Those who live according to the flesh, such as those who continually practice sinful things, were never saved and are condemned. This most Protestants believe and therefore warn those who do not rely on the death of Christ for forgiveness of sins 'apart from works' to repent that they might not be consumed in everlasting torments.

1 Corinthians 6:

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

This is the same as the previous answer. People who have never been justified live this way, so they are condemned as they have never believed in Christ.

Mark 3:28

Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.

This is slightly different as it says there is a special case of condemnation upon a sinner who absolutely rejects Christ, even under great conviction of the Spirit. This would be like Judas. Not only did he not believe but he, as a specific curse, shall never believe and could never be forgiven. As an ultimate curse of rejecting Christ under unusual and remarkable proof of the Holy Spirit, convincing him of the truth of the gospel that he was rejecting, he was doomed. This is an unforgivable sin and Christians can never commit this sin.

Matthew 5:17

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Protestant views most religious people outside of faith in grace apart from works as modern day Pharisees therefore the works that religious people boast of are those things that the weakest believer actually surpasses. Therefore, to be honest most Protestants think the weakest genuine believer might live a holier life in actuality then even some of those declared to be saints by other churches, because they have genuine humility and faith, whereas not all 'Saints' were necessarily even believers. A person must confess belief in Christ apart from any work to be considered a candidate of a genuine Christian therefore for those religious 'saints' who were unclear in their confession, even if giving all their money to the poor and spending their life doing good deeds, there righteousness is mere hypocrisy and an attempt to replace the glory of the gospel with their vanity. The Protestant thinks generally that every believer's righteousness surpasses this.

Regarding the phrase 'least in the kingdom' this supports the general belief that there are degrees of honor in eternal glory just as there are degrees of suffering in eternal death (Luke 12:47–48).

James 2:10

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

This means that anybody who relies on works of the law to please God is condemned and is not a believer that is justified by faith apart from works of the law. This also seems to include those who would defiantly mix works with grace under the knowledge of the Protestant doctrine that otherwise makes the gospel clear according to the scriptures.

2 Peter 2

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

This is like Judas who for a while appeared as though he had faith but did not. He escaped the 'corruption of the world' externally but not in any inward renewal as a result of faith. The Spirit awakened his mind under extra supernatural conviction that Jesus was the Christ. This externally sanctified his mind and made him free from the delusion of the world and to a degree its corruptions. However, he never had genuine faith so it would have better from him not to have had this conviction and in fact we return to the subject of the unforgivable sin. This was also the case for the generation of Jews under Moses who died on the desert because although they escaped the corruption of the Egyptian world, it was only external and miraculous deliverance that did not become rooted in genuine faith. Most protestants feel that those who hear the gospel of grace apart from works and then return to mixing works and grace are dangerously close to committing this sin and are like swine returning to the mud of self righteousness which will ultimately end in eternal torment in everlasting hell. This will include many religious people who are zealous of works and even boasting in them.

Answer 3

Romans 6:1 asks the question, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace (God's undeserved favor) may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

If a person studies the book of Romans carefully, he will find that question addressed, especially in Romans 6. But the question is a major life question that cannot be answered in a couple of paragraphs. I will try to summarize what I understand from Romans concerning sin.

Romans 1- God's wrath has been and will be poured out to bring justice concerning the sin of mankind. Romans 1:18- For the Wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

Romans 2- Those who judge and condemn others are under condemnation themselves. Their hearts are not right before God.

Romans 3:10-12- "... as it is written, 'THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

Romans 3:21-23- "But now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation (sacrifice which becomes a substitute in our place) in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

The bottom line is this: no one can understand or receive any of this until he places his faith in Jesus Christ. You have to understand:

1. that you as well as all others are sinful and separated from God.

2. Because of our sin we will die eternally without the intervention of a substitute.

3. Jesus Christ came and demonstrated the truth of God to His generation and all generations who read and believe the Word of God and the testimony of others. After He had lived a sinless life, He showed Himself to be the Son of God in power as He gave Himself by taking the punishment for our sin and even having the sins and atrocities of mankind poured out on Himself. (Isaiah 53:6- All we like sheep have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way, but God has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.") And then He rose from the dead, because the powers of death could not hold Him, because He was and is the Son of God, God in the flesh. John 1:14- "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

4. You must be born again! Jesus said to the religious man in John 3:3, "Truly, truly I say unto you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." And then in verse 6, "That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again."

5. How can you be born again? Call out to God. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Ask Him to give you new life through Jesus Christ. He will do it. Read the scriptures- Romans, John, the Psalms, Isaiah.

When a person is given new life through faith in Jesus Christ, the scripture says he is to consider himself to be "dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11)

1. If you read Galatians 5:16-25, you will find that a Christian's life is a battle ground. We must walk by the Spirit. Romans 8:13 says: "...for if you are living according to the flesh you must die (in your prayer life, you must mentally and spiritually put to death the things that are sinful in your life); but if you by the Spirit are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live. For all who are being led of the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God."

2. Yes, Christian people sin and are forgiven. But they must first have a living relationship with the true and living God through Jesus Christ. If a person lives in sinful practices without repentance, it is likely they do not have that relationship.

3. Not everything you hear about churches and their theologies is true. You must experience the truth of God yourself or everything you hear will just be endless debate and controversy. It doesn't really matter what people say. Dig into the Word of God and ask God to lead you to the truth and He will. But realize this: it is a lifetime quest; a lifetime of experiencing God through His Word, through your obedience and experience; through your failure and success; sorrow and pain, joy and exhiliration. Ask Him!

Answer 4

You are equating "being saved" with "inheriting the kingdom." They are not the same thing. Rev. 21:7 tells us that "he who overcomes will inherit all things." "He who overcomes" is speaking of those within the body of Christ. (See this phrase used of those who overcome in the letters to the seven churches in Rev. 2-3 -- it's addressed to believers in the church, not outside of it. Those who don't overcome are warned of receiving negative judgments.) Inheriting the kingdom is about receiving a position of honor before the Lord and ruling with Him. Those who live according to the flesh will be undeserving of this honor.

Paul N. Benware wrote about the judgment of believers in his book, The Believer's Payday: Why standing before Christ should be our greatest moment. J.D. Faust wrote a book on the negative judgment of Christians in The Rod: Will God Spare It? The separation of being saved and inheriting the kingdom is also echoed in Joseph C. Dillow's book, The Reign of the Srevant Kings.

It's my understanding that the verse in Mark 3:28 about blaspheming the Holy Spirit is referring to attributing the Holy Spirit's work to the Devil. The Jews Jesus was speaking to had rejected faith in Jesus; if they continued rejecting the work of the Spirit, which is to convict them of sin and turn them to faith and repentance (John 16:8-9), then salvation simply wouldn't be possible. Hard to think this applies to believers.

1 Cor. 3:9-17 states that believers' works will go through fire at the judgment; unworthy works will be burned up; rewards will be withheld, but the saved will remain.

At this time, we enter the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus. In the next age, when the kingdom has fully come, we will be judged according to our works (Matt. 16:27), and then they will make all the difference. Exactly where the dishonored go is unclear to me (the dire warning of Matt. 18:21-35 is directed at believers), but all such passages indicate a very undesireable place ("The Rod" book discuses this in detail). At the very least, I think, they will not be residing in the heavenly city (Rev. 21:9-23, but outside of it (Rev. 21:8).

Answer 5

From a Wesleyan Arminian perspective:

Summary answer: Not without repentance.

Although the scriptures do teach us about the perseverance of the saints, they do so in a conditional manner, and as such, a formulation such as 'once-saved-always-saved' should be regarded as unbiblical. It is clearly evident that believers can fall from a state of grace from many scriptures and indeed it is a logical inference from the scriptures you have cited (especially 2 Peter 2), but I will limit myself to two proof-texts where it is a little clearer (than the others):

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. - John 15:5-6 ESV

A branch connected to the vine represents the believer in a state of grace - the life of Christ is imparted as the vital connection of faith is maintained. The branches that cease to abide are clearly those that were previously joined to the vine (by saving - present tense - faith) as their withering testifies both to their previous connection to the life of Christ and their subsequent disconnection from it. There is no escaping the fact that it is the former (now apostate) believers themselves that are thrown into the fire - not just their works.

The second is even more important on this topic as it gives further insight to the particular sin that is at issue:

18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. - 1 Timothy 1:18-20 ESV

Here Paul discusses the 'shipwreck of faith' not as a hypothetical, but as a real situation with concrete examples. Here are the words of John Wesley on this passage:

One who is endued with the faith that purifies the heart, that produces a good conscience, may nevertheless so fall from God as to perish everlastingly. For thus saith the inspired apostle: "War a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck" (1 Tim. 1:18,19).

Observe 1st. These men (such as Hymeneus and Alexander) had once the faith that purifies the heart, that produces a good conscience, which they once had, or they could not have "put it away."

Observe 2nd. They made "ship-wreck" of the faith, which necessarily implies the total and final loss of it. For a vessel once wrecked can never be recovered. It is totally and finally lost.

And the Apostle himself, in his Second Epistle to Timothy, mentions one of these two as irrecoverably lost. "Alexander," says he, "did me much evil; the Lord shall reward him according to his works" (2 Tim. 4:14). Therefore, one who is endued with the faith that purifies the heart, that produces a good conscience, may nevertheless so fall from God as to perish everlastingly."

Objection. "But how can this be reconciled with the words of the Lord: 'He that believeth shall be saved'?"

Answer. "Do you think these words mean, 'He that believes' at this moment 'shall be saved,' certainly and inevitably? If this interpretation be good, then, by all the rules of speech, the other part of the sentence must mean, 'He that does not believe at this moment, shall certainly and inevitably be damned.' Therefore that interpretation cannot be good. The plain meaning, then, of the whole sentence is: 'He that believeth (if he continue in faith), shall be saved; he that believeth not (if he continue in unbelief), shall be damned."

Objection. "But does not Christ say elsewhere, 'He that believeth hath everlasting life?' (Jn. 3:36), and 'He that believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life?' " (v. 24).

Answer. "I answer. 1. The love of God is everlasting life. It is, in substance, the life of heaven. Now, everyone that believes, loves God, and therefore, hath everlasting life." 2. Everyone that believes "is" therefore, "passed from (spiritual) death unto life." 3. "Shall not come into condemnation," if he endureth in the faith unto the end; according to our Lord's own words, "He that endureth unto the end shall be saved"; and "Verily I say unto you, if a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death" (Jn. 8:510). (source)

It may be reasonably argued, that repentence is no longer possible if one has made shipwreck of their faith. Most of us however, being neither apostles nor the Lord himself, should be quick to make a judgement on such an issue, as if David - of whom it was said "you have utterly scorned the Lord" - can find repentance and renewed Grace, all who seek it should have hope that it may yet be found.

Answer 6

The theological answer is long and complicated as arguments from the Bible can be found on both sides to support either conditional salvation or eternal security. I personally support eternal salvation because it is more logical. Once you have become a born again Christian, Jesus describes you as being 'born again of the spirit of God' You undergo a spiritual birth, a transition from spiritual death (unbeliever) to spiritual life (believer) As in the physical world one cannot become 'unborn' once they have been born, so it is with those born again of the Holy Spirit.

Another thing I will say is that the doctrine of conditional security is nothing more than works based philosophy re-hashed. The crux of the argument is that if the person persists in the Lord of his own perseverance he will get into heaven and have spiritual bragging rights, so to speak. God promises in his word that he will preserve us to the end, his work in our hearts is never ending and on-going (for example God recently changed my heart from pro-choice to pro-life by the holy spirit and speaks to me through various different mediums.) It is by faith we are saved, through grace, not works, lest any man boast. The only boasting in Heaven will be in Jesus, not in ourselves and our own perseverance

My final argument from my own personal experience is that of my beloved mother. She became born again at 16 and fell away from God at about 20 years old. She committed a string of sexual sins including having me outside of wedlock and probably many more heart sins besides. At the age of 40 roughly, God has spiritually renewed her and is now back in the business of sanctifying her again.