How to Think of Those Who Have Fallen from the Faith

This is a difficult question​ for me because it has implications for my brother, who​, when younger, was a very passionate Christian, but who died after he fell away from the faith. Being raised in a "once saved, always saved" church, my family members too​k​ comfort in ​their doctrine of eternal security.​  It seems that their doctrine is naive because it overlooks Scripture that indicates that perseverance is a condition of final salvation. For example, Colossians 1:21-23 says, "And you ... he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard...." This makes stably and steadfastly continuing in the faith a condition of being presented holy and blameless at the last day.​ Also, Hebrews 3:14 says, "We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." Again, the evidence of having an interest in Christ's blood is holding confidence in him firmly to the end.  At the end of the day, whether a person once had salvation and lost it, or never had it in the first place, is a less important question. The important question is whether the person who has fallen away from the faith currently is in a state of grace.

There is no definitive way to know the answer to this question because we cannot see a person's heart. However, as humans, it is impossible to have conversation or interaction with someone without having preconceptions or making assumptions. So as pastors we have to strive through prayer to have our assumptions informed by objective evidence while at the same time maintaining a willingness to change our assumptions if we uncover new evidence. So, for example, if I am talking to someone who formerly was a passionate Christian but now shows little gracious fruit, I would start from an assumption that he has not yet been experienced the grace of regeneration. If he pointed to his past laurels of praying a sinners prayer or other good works, I would acknowledge them as good thing but focus him back to the present, emphasizing the verses above as well as the things that Murray discussed concerning 1 John on page 101.​ At least in my religious tradition, there is a habit of looking to one's past evidence of grace rather than one's current evidence of grace. In consideration of texts like this one from Ezekiel 18:24, this is really incorrect: "But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die." We need to stress the persevering aspects of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints in order to fight widespread self-deception.