Can I commit a sin that is so bad that I cannot be saved? Or can I lose my salvation by committing a terrible sin?
At some point in his or her life, almost every child of God will ask some form of the questions we consider today. Aside from Jesus, no person has lived a perfect life that is entirely free from sin (Romans 3:23). As a result, we all struggle with the feelings of guilt for sin and realization that we cannot stand on our own merits before the righteous Judge. Sadly, the religious world at large offers confusing and contradictory answers to these questions that exacerbate fear rather than glorify the God of grace.
To be absolutely, completely, 100%, totally clear, the scriptural answer is, “No, there is no sin that can separate a child of God from His grace.” I will attempt to briefly demonstrate the scriptural case to support this Primitive Baptist position.
First, we should examine the merits of the question. The question makes one correct assumption that shouldn’t be overlooked: sin is the thing that separates us from God. This is scripturally well supported and can be demonstrated in Isaiah 59:2, Psalm 14, Romans 5:12, Romans 8:5-7, and a multitude of other texts. Building on this fact, the gospel is centered on the message that God has restored His people to Himself by removing their sins from them and justifying them in Jesus Christ: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Other passages to make this clear include Romans 3:24-25, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:13-14, I Timothy 1:15, Hebrews 10:12-14, I John 4:10, and Revelation 1:5.
These truths help us properly frame the question. If 1) sin separates us from God, and 2) God saves people from sin by grace, then the question is reduced to “Whose sins will God put away?” The simple, gracious answer is that God has put away all of the sins of all of His people. The Bible teaches that he chose people before the foundation of the world, loved them, and saved them (Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:4-12, I Thessalonians 1:4, Revelation 5:9). Those people cannot be separated from God (Romans 8:35-39). Although they are exceedingly sinful, God is more exceedingly gracious. The joyful proclamation of the gospel is that “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21). So, if you are a sinner mourning over your sins, you can rejoice that your sin has not, will not, and cannot remove you from the salvation of God because it is established in Jesus Christ, not in you.
I will stop here to acknowledge an objection that frequently arises in response to this teaching. Sometimes, we will be accused of antinomianism, which is the belief that “it doesn’t matter if we sin because grace will save us anyway.” Of course, this is not what we believe at all. First, we do believe that we are obligated to live moral lives and will receive timely chastisement for sinful living (Titus 3:8, Hebrews 12:5-7). Second, and more fundamentally, we believe that God’s people are given a new nature in regeneration that desires to live in a godly way (Titus 3:5, Galatians 5:22, Jeremiah 31:33). In this life, we struggle because we have both a sinful, carnal nature and a holy, spiritual nature. Therefore, in practice, the child of God will not be perfectly satisfied with sin like he was before regeneration. The people sincerely asking our study question are not looking for a license to sin, but rather are people mourning over sin and looking for comfort in the gospel. A firm understanding of this point will silence the objection. However, the quickest way to answer the accusation of antinomianism is to point out that Paul repeatedly faced the very same objection, which means we are aligned with Paul’s understanding of his own writings. For example, he said that some slanderously reported him to say “Let us do evil, that good may come” in Romans 3:8. Romans 6 addresses the same thing, twice: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” And again he says, “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” In Galatians 5:13: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Notice that several of these passages are in the same areas of scripture as some of the citations earlier describing salvation by grace. Clearly, Paul had experienced the same criticism of his understanding of salvation by grace that we now hear from objectors. As this is the case, I rejoice to be slandered the same way Paul was.
As an example, consider the life of David. At times, he was remarkably faithful. His confidence in God was greater than all of Israel when he fought Goliath; He was far more righteous than most people would be when he had the opportunity to kill his enemy, King Saul, but refused for conscience’s sake. However, David also committed sins that amount to adultery and murder with Bathsheba; and he numbered God’s people which had been expressly forbidden. Both of these sins resulted in suffering for David, his family, and Israel. Nonetheless, at the end of his life, David said “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow” (II Samuel 23:5). David admitted that his house was “not so with God.” His house was not orderly, but God’s covenant with him was “ordered in all things and sure.” This is the way God deals with His people. Sin is still the ugly, terrible thing it always has been, but God’s grace is greater than sin. If David still had confidence in God’s salvation after the worst of his sins, we may also have the same.
To conclude, I am happy to once again affirm that we believe there is no sin so great that it can separate God’s people from His grace and salvation.