Can Christians deny Jesus and lose their salvation?


I believe Christians can deny the Lord Jesus; although that would be an end result of other events.

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
(Heb. 3:12-14 NKJ)

According to verse twelve, Christians can depart from the living God. We do this by no longer believing in Christ. This is what the Bible means in verse fourteen (also Col. 1:22-23).

According to verse thirteen, people can come to a place where they can deny the Lord as a result of practicing sin. The longer Christians live a sinful lifestyle, the harder their hearts will become. Eventually, when they least expect it, when they are too weak to do anything about it, their hearts will become too hard, and they will deny the Lord.

That is why we are told to spend time with other Christians and to exhort one another daily. Here is another Scripture that verifies that Christians can deny the Lord and that they would lose their salvation as a result of doing this:

This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
(2 Tim. 2:11-13 NKJ)

If Christians say they don't believe in Jesus any longer and they don't want anything to do with Him, and they really mean it, then these Christians will be denied by the Lord. It is encouraging to read verse thirteen and see that as long as we believe, Jesus will overlook our faithlessness.


Copyright © Bible Answers Foundation
All rights reserved. Used by permission.