A common objection to the doctrine of eternal security is the claim that it violates human free will. The argument typically goes as follows: if a person cannot choose to return the “gift” of eternal life or remove themselves from God’s preserving power, then that person no longer possesses free will.
This objection, however, is both illogical and unbiblical.
First, free will does not mean the ability to do anything imaginable. It does not grant the power to undo objective realities or overturn irreversible acts. Rather, free will is the capacity to make real, meaningful choices within the boundaries of one’s nature and circumstances.
For example, though I have free will, I cannot choose to:
- cease being a human being,
- undo my birth,
- erase my past, or
- make a square circle.
These limitations do not negate my free will; they simply acknowledge that true freedom operates within reality.
Think about it another way, my children possess free will, yet they cannot cease being my children. There is no act of disobedience or moral failure by which they can forfeit their sonship. Does this reality negate their free will? Of course not.
Scripture speaks of salvation in precisely these terms.
Galatians 3:26 declares,
“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
Likewise, John 1:12 states,
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
Just as there is no sin a child can commit that nullifies their biological sonship, there is no sin a child of God can commit that forfeits biblical sonship. In other words, once a son, always a son.
This truth in no way contradicts human free will.
Jesus Himself affirms the permanence of salvation in John 10:28–29:
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
To argue that a believer can remove himself from the Father’s hand is to suggest that he possesses a power greater than God’s. It implies that when Christ said “no man is able,” He spoke to the exclusion of the believer himself. Such an interpretation is indefensible.
The apostle Paul reinforces this truth in Romans 8:38–39:
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Are we to believe that when Paul said “nor any other creature,” he excluded himself? The notion is absurd. If no created thing can separate us from God’s love, then the believer, who is himself a creature, is certainly included in that statement.
I readily affirm that my love for my children is unconditional. Yet how much greater is God’s love for His children? How much greater is His faithfulness?
The language of God’s Word is abundantly clear: those who believe in Christ are eternally secure and cannot lose their salvation. The promise of “everlasting life” to “whosoever believeth” is just that—life that lasts forever. The Lord did not promise probationary life, conditioned upon performance and perseverance, but eternal life without end. Therefore, let us rest by faith in the promises of God, who cannot lie.