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Can a Christian lose their salvation?

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Texts of equal or higher authority genuinely pull both ways — SAM names both sides.

The text genuinely pulls in both directions: Jesus' own words promise that his sheep will never perish and that no one can snatch them away, while Ezekiel 18 (God's direct speech) and several apostolic texts warn that a righteous person who turns to wickedness will die in it — and the text does not resolve which governs.

Same-tier and higher-tier texts pull in opposite directions: Tier 2 (Jesus) promises his sheep will never perish and none given to him will be lost; Tier 1 (God in Ezekiel 18) and Tier 2 (Matthew 24:13) warn that the righteous who turns away will die in it and that endurance is the condition of being saved. The text does not state which principle governs the other.

The unresolved tension: The text is silent on the precise mechanism: whether those who fall away were never genuinely saved (making the warnings hypothetical or diagnostic), or whether genuine salvation can be forfeited. No passage explicitly states which of these is the case.

Key texts:
John 10:27-30Tier 2 · Jesus
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is grea…”
John 6:37-40Tier 2 · Jesus
“All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the…”
John 17:12Tier 2 · Jesus
“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

…and 13 more verses weighed in the full analysis.

This is a summary.

See SAM's complete analysis — every verse it weighs, ranked by who is speaking (God, Jesus, the apostles), with the full step-by-step reasoning and word-for-word verified citations. New accounts get two free questions.

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