Can Salvation Be Taken Away? A Biblical Answer

A well-known passage on salvation, Ephesians 2:8-9, says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." This makes it clear that we cannot do anything to earn our salvation. Since salvation is a gift from God, some people might wonder if it can also be taken away.

To answer this, we need to see if the Bible says there are things that would cause God to take away salvation. The answer is no. There is nowhere in the Holy Scripture that says God would remove our salvation under any circumstances. In fact, the opposite is true. Romans 8 asks, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" It continues by stating the firm belief that nothing "neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord".

Nothing can separate us from God's love once we have received salvation as a gift through faith. Perhaps a better question is have you asked God for the faith that leads to salvation? Consider Matthew 7:21-23 says, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’