PS Having understood that salvation is something that God does in the life of the believer, we must now face the difficult subject of Apostasy. Apostasy means to stand in another place - in an opposing position. There are many who think that they are christians when they are not. These people can and often do fall away from their superficial attachment to the church and the gospel. We see this in the case of those who ate of the five loaves and two fish in the lifetime of Christ. Not all who attended the preaching of Christ and who give a superficial acceptance of Christ actually put their faith in him. The letter to the Hebrews is written to a whole group of Jews who rejoiced in Christ at some level, yet they were considering rejecting Christ and returning to Judaism and the Theology of Caiaphas! And then we also have true believers in Christ who sin and fall away from fellowship with him and his people and whom God will restore to himself. True believers are saved and saved for eternity. Sometimes it is very difficult to discern which group a particular person who has fallen away belongs to.
Steve
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