The believer’s confidence about possessing eternal life is not grounded in self-effort but in the immutability of Christ’s person and promise. Eternal life is received the moment one believes in Christ, for “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16b). Once received, eternal life becomes the unbreakable possession of all who trust in Jesus as Savior (John 3:16; 5:24). God’s integrity and righteousness are bound up in the keeping of His Word, and even “if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim 2:13). Believers are “sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance” (Eph 1:13–14), guaranteeing their final redemption. This means that eternal life is locked in forever. To doubt the permanence of eternal salvation is to question the reliability of the God who cannot lie (Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18).
Tag: Christology
The Doctrine of the Hypostatic Union
The doctrine of the hypostatic union is one of the most vital truths in Christology. Jesus Christ is one Person with two natures—undiminished deity and true humanity—inseparably united without mixture or loss of identity. Scripture testifies, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), and further declares, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14a). Paul states, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9). These passages establish that the eternal Word, God the Son, took on true humanity in time, becoming the God-Man.
The Suffering of Jesus Christ
When God the Son added perfect humanity to Himself, this enabled Him to experience suffering and death with, and on behalf of, humanity. The suffering of Christ may be viewed in at least two ways: 1) His suffering during His time on earth prior to the cross, and 2) the suffering of the cross. As the God-Man, Jesus was perfectly holy in all His thoughts, words, and actions. Such perfect holiness brought with it a special form of suffering in this world that the rest of us could never know, since we are capable of yielding to the pressures of sinful temptation. When the time of His death was nearing, Jesus told His disciples “that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matt 16:21; cf., Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22).