August 4, 2025
Consider this article a reminder of the conditional nature of our salvation in Christ. For those of you who mistakenly believe there are no conditions to your salvation, please consider the following.
“Jesus tells those Jews who believed in him, ‘If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth, shall make you free.” John 8:31-32 KJV, emphasis added.
Many modern evangelicals and dispensationalists do distinguish between being a disciple and being saved. They argue that you can be saved without being a disciple. However, this interpretation is not supported by Scripture or early Christian teachings, and it is often used to justify a shallow, disobedient distortion of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Continuing in Christ’s word means obedience, abiding, and holding fast to His teachings and commandments. When Jesus says ‘Ye are my disciples indeed,’ He is distinguishing between superficial faith and genuine faith, as well as between real and nominal Christians.
Many carnal Christians believe we can be saved but not be disciples. Jesus can be our savior without being our Lord, and we can still go to heaven despite that. This view completely overlooks what the Bible says about the essential role and requirement of repentance from sin. It also misses what the Bible teaches about discipleship. The early church never separated salvation from discipleship, unlike what most evangelicals do today.
Other Scripture Passages Showing Salvation Is Conditional
Colossians 1:21-23 – If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel…
Hebrews 3:14 – For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.
Hebrews 10:26-27 – If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins…
John 15:5-6 – If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered…
John 2:24 – If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
Matthew 10:22 – But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 24:13 – But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Hebrews 6:4-6 – If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance…
Peter 2:20-21 – If they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Revelation 2:10 – Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Revelation 3:5 – He that overcometh… I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.
Romans 11:22 – If thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
This list is not comprehensive, but it shows that removing the word “if” from the Bible changes everything. This powerful word introduces a condition or uncertainty, something that must be true or happen for something else to follow. “If” as a conjunction introduces conditional clauses that depend on something else. In the case of salvation, if the conditions are not met, God is not obligated to fulfill His promises.
Commentary from the Early Church Fathers
Justin Martyr (First Apology, ch. 16) – Each man will be saved or condemned according to how he has lived. Faith must be joined with obedience.
Irenaeus (Against Heresies, IV.27.2) – Christ does not save those who do not follow Him. Only those who persevere in obedience and faith are saved.
Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, Book VI) – Salvation belongs to those who continue in good works and faith to the end.
Origen (Against Celsus, Book III) – Souls are judged according to their deeds. It is not enough to begin the journey of faith; one must finish it.
Tertullian (On Repentance, ch. 7) – Let us not trust in faith alone but also in continued repentance and obedience, lest we fall from grace.
Cyprian of Carthage (Treatise I) – He who does not abide in Christ and His Church loses salvation.
Continuing in faithful obedience is essential. Salvation depends on meeting conditions; therefore, if the conditions are not fulfilled, salvation will not be granted.
Scripture consistently teaches that salvation is not a one-time event but a covenantal relationship that requires faithfulness, endurance, and abiding in Christ. The early Church affirmed this, rejecting doctrines that implied a person could be saved without continuing obedience. The clear message is: ‘Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life’ (Revelation 2:10).
Let us look more closely at a couple of passages. Mike’s write-up continued.
“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 1 John 2:24 KJV, emphasis added.
The verse teaches that we determine whether what we have heard from the beginning stays in us and remains active. And only if it does, do we continue in the Son and the Father. Is there any other way to honestly interpret that passage?
“In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Colossians 1:22-23 KJV, emphasis added.
Christians are to be presented to the Father as “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight, if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled.” This is not a borrowed and imputed virtue but a real one. It is based on our continuing in the faith. How do we do that? We remain in Christ and obey His commandments. All of this is conditional. We must stay in Christ and His word. The word continue or abide in Greek means: remain, endure, dwell, hold, be continually kept.
“Quoting a few cherry-picked passages that seem to imply salvation is eternal and unconditional, against the entire weight of Scripture, is an infantile attempt to escape responsibility and foster an attitude of complacency. The people who do so are usually hard-core dogmatic indoctrinated minions parroting their favorite dark-light Pundit, who handles the Scriptures deceitfully to deceive the hearts of simple-minded people,” according to Mike DeSario.
Anyone who comes into the faith through true repentance clearly understands that abiding in Christ depends on ongoing faithfulness. This is because his faith is founded on obeying the truth from the beginning, not on the idea that Christ’s finished work covers him in his unrighteousness. A person who has repented has already shown deeds or works worthy of repentance. We are instructed to strive to enter the Narrow Gate. We are told to count the cost, take up the cross, and put our hand to the plow without looking back. That is true repentance. For the repentant, there’s no doubt that following Christ relies on our continual faithfulness and endurance to the end, regardless of what so-called theologians and pastors tell most evangelical Christians.
Mike reminds us that “The aorist, active, subjunctive, verb is used over 500 times in the New Testament, expressing the possibility and potentiality of an action commanded that is always dependent on whether or not it is carried out and obeyed. Comments such as ‘repent, strive to enter, take up your cross, sin no more, if you keep my word are all expressed with the imperative of an absolute command that requires complete obedience on the part of all hearers. It’s not an invitation or a gift, as many imply, it’s a command, contingent on your free will choice or decision to obey it or not. Our “desire” or “willingness” to do it or obey is not the fulfillment of the condition. Doing what is commanded is the fulfillment of the condition. Trusting that Christ did it for you is not the gospel. Do it now or perish is the gospel.”
The opposite of Subjunctive (conditional possibilities) is the Indicative, which is a statement of facts. For instance, ‘Christ died on the Cross for our sins’. When we inflate this expression to imply ‘because Christ died on the cross for our sins’ (a fact), to the idea that our reconciliation with God has already taken place without our forsaking of our sins, we greatly err. And if we take this fact of Christ’s death for our sins to include the forgiveness of not just past sins but future sins as well, we multiply our error. There can be no forgiveness without repentance.
Then, when we mistakenly assume that the ungodly (including Christians) are justified and saved despite their ongoing sins, we distort the Gospel message from an active call to obey and continue to a false gospel of receiving and trusting in the finished work of Christ. This is what most of evangelical theology has done. It cherry-picks specific passages that state facts and ignores the subjunctive (conditional) nature of the facts stated. See also Romans 5:10, 2 Corinthians 5:19.
‘Christ reconciled the world to Himself,’ and that is a fact. Christ’s death on the cross has provided all that is necessary for mankind’s reconciliation. However, there is an “if” before that fact applies to sinful people. They tend to ignore these conditions, which are that we must still be reconciled through repentance and faith. See 2 Corinthians 5:20. It’s not a “Done Deal” just because Christ died on the cross, and we trust in that work and are saved even if we never repent of our sins. It’s subjunctive, meaning it may or may not happen, depending on circumstances and whether we repent and continue to follow and abide in Christ.
If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that most evangelical pastors teach this about salvation. They say sin is forgiven in advance and that we are saved by faith alone, even if that faith has no works or fruit. They claim that Christ’s virtue is imputed to us and that we can’t be virtuous because of our sinful nature. They also say that Jesus did everything for us, and His finished work guarantees our outcome. They insist there are no strings attached, meaning nothing we do or don’t do affects our final destination. These lies won’t save the world but will destroy it. However, Scripture repeatedly tells us to: ‘Work out our salvation, make our calling and election sure, run the race with endurance, strive to enter, let no one deceive you, guard and keep yourself pure, abstain from every form of evil, fight the good fight, continue in His love, abide in Him, and finish the race.’ All these specific conditions are incorrectly understood to relate to final rewards, not salvation itself. Yet, God’s word clearly states that the responsibility for this rests solely on our faithfulness from start to finish. The gift is the remission of past sin, Romans 3:25, not future sins. The outcome of our salvation remains to be realized in the age to come, always dependent on our faithfulness to the end. Titus 3:7, Galatians 6:9-10, 1 Peter 1:9.
The gift is eternal life. See Romans 6:23. It is the reward given to those who remain faithful to the end of their life. What many evangelicals have done is to remove the imperative of “continuing in the faith” to receive the prize of eternal life. See 2 Timothy 4:7, Philippians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 9:24. There is only one prize or crown, not many rewards, as the false teachers like to imply. John refers to this in his second Epistle, 2 John 8, ‘Look to yourselves, that we do not LOSE those things we worked for, but that we have received a full reward.’ The reward is eternal life. Where do they get various levels of rewards out of this?
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie”. Revelation 22:12-15
Does this not point to the final judgment? God will reward everyone according to their actions (sowing and reaping). Yet most evangelicals do not believe this, thinking they will sow in sin and reap in blessedness. They believe that if they live in sin all their lives and do some good, they will be rewarded by God for the good they do, with more jewels in their crown, a bigger mansion, or a higher rank in heaven, or something similar. They are mistaken and deceived.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:7-8, KJV.
Sowing to the flesh means unlawfully gratifying the lusts and passions of the flesh. God created us with these natural tendencies that are good in themselves. Our indulging in those appetites unlawfully is what the apostle refers to as sowing to the flesh. The result is corruption and damnation. But if we are led by the Spirit, we will reap eternal life. That is our reward, crown, and prize.
If we continue in the faith, we will receive this reward of eternal life. If we do not, the promise and the hope of eternal life are not ours. Choose you this day, who you will serve.
