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Does salvation depend on continuing in the faith, or is it settled once for all?

Contested

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

The text is genuinely divided: Jesus' own words both promise that the Father will lose none of those given to him (John 6:39) and warn that branches in him that do not remain are cut off and burned (John 15:6). Same speaker, same tier, pulling in opposite directions, this is a real contest the text does not resolve in one place.

Two sets of Tier 2 statements (Jesus' own words) address the same subject from opposite angles, and no single passage states which governs the other. That is the textual definition of CONTESTED.

The unresolved tension: The text does not state which set of Jesus' own teachings governs the other: the keeping promises of John 6 and 10, or the remaining-or-cut-off warning of John 15. It also does not define the precise relationship between God's electing will and the believer's ongoing response, whether perseverance is the evidence of election or its condition.

Key texts:
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 10:27-29Tier 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 15:1-6Tier 2 · Jesus
““I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already prun…”

…and 12 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.

See the full analysis in SAM →

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