The following is a collection of verses from across the Bible clearly showing that once a person is saved, they are always saved. The salvation of the believer is eternally secure and will never be taken away under any circumstances, as demonstrated by the following verses.
There are a great many verses which seem to indicate or that could teach, with added explanation, the eternal security of the believer. Below each included verse is an explanation of my reasoning for including it in the list.
*This is by no means an all-inclusive or exhaustive collection of verses demonstrating the point in question. These are merely the verses that stood out to me while quickly skimming through the New Testament and verses that will be added as I continue in my studies. If you know of a verse that fits the pattern of the following, please feel free to share in the comments below and your verse could be added to the list for others to gain from.
Bold and Italicized emphasis added to show the definitiveness of each statement.
Matthew 11:28-29 “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Explanation:
“Rest” throughout the Bible is used to represent two things: First) Rest is, obviously, the opposite of work, so rest is used to represent not working; Second) Rest is used to represent heaven, the promised land, or salvation.
This verse requires a bit of breakdown:
Jesus says “Come to me, all that labor and are heavy laden…” He’s saying this to all those which are working to be saved, these are the people who believe their salvation is earned through works. They are “heavy laden” meaning the work they do is difficult; they’re carrying a lot and are tired of doing so. Working to save yourself, and make yourself righteous in God’s sight, would be very hard, but Jesus does this all for us: we’re made righteous by having faith in his work on the cross according to Romans 3. Thus, Jesus will give them rest when they come to him, since their works won’t be required for righteousness, and in the sense that they will be saved, and will enter heaven.
“Take my yoke upon you,” A yoke is a device which links two or more animals together to do work. When we’re yoked up to Jesus, he graciously bears the weight and allows us to rest from our burden. This article at “GotQuestions.org” does a really great job at explaining this.
Jesus makes the promise here that He WILL give them this rest, both to them and to their souls, showing his clear intention to do so and also expressing the sureness of this.
Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Explanation:
The word “shall” is what’s known as an auxiliary verb, meaning it is used in conjunction with and describes another verb, and is being used in the “Affirmative Form” (Cambridge Dictionary “Shall”) since it comes after the subject and before the verb “be”. This is important, considering that “shall” is “used to express what is inevitable”(Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Jesus is saying that the salvation of those who believe is INEVITABLE. Inevitability, by definition, cannot be avoided.
Luke 3:17 “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”
Explanation:
This is a metaphor used by John the Baptist, who said this after being asked if he was the Christ. His response was to describe the Christ as one who will purge his floor, and that he “will gather the wheat into his garner.”
There are two main things which stand out about this metaphor: First) When one gathers wheat into a garner, or a granary, the wheat is being saved or stored away for safe keeping so it can be used at a later date, it is preserved; Second) He says that the Christ “will gather” the wheat, which is a statement of inevitability, it’s not that Christ might, or possibly is going to, but he will gather the wheat for preservation.
These two things are interesting, because Jesus uses the SAME metaphor in his parable of the tares in Matthew 13: 24-30. In this parable, the wheat are the saved, who are put into the barn, and the tares are the unsaved which are bundled up and burned. What John the Baptist is saying here is that this gathering of the wheat into the barn is not conditional. It will happen. And if you are one of the wheat, the saved, then this is, without a doubt, your future.
I talk about the parables in much more detail in my “Parables” series.
John 3:14-16 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the sone of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not parish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not parish but have eternal life.”
Explanation:
Here it’s said that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) “should” not parish but have eternal life. A common issue with contemporary English is that the word “should” is often taken to mean that a thing is merely being suggested or that it speaks of what is likely to be. This is not the only meaning for the word and it’s not generally the way it is used in the bible. The word “should” is actually the past tense form of the word “shall,” which indicates that this is more of an inevitability than just a possibility.
John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Explanation:
Jesus says that he who believes on Him IS NOT condemned. This is a statement of certainty. If you believe, even if you’ve sinned, you are not condemned.
John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
Explanation:
Just in case the previous verses from the chapter were not clear enough, here is the most strongly worded evidence yet that once you’re saved you can’t loose your salvation.
This verse says that he who believes has everlasting life. This is all in the present tense, meaning it’s happening right NOW, not that it will be true in the future, but instead that it’s true this very moment.
This life that the believer has is EVERLASTING, it’s ETERNAL, meaning it has no end! Now, if someone were to lose their salvation and somehow no longer have everlasting life, then it would be a LIE to call it “everlasting,” since it didn’t last forever.
++John 4:14 “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
John 5:24-25 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when they that hear shall live.”
Explanation:
This is similar to the explanation for John 3:36 above.
First, we have the statement that those who believe “have everlasting life,” which is present tense and entails that the believer has a life in them that will last FOREVER.
Second, Jesus says that they “shall not come into condemnation.” This takes into account both the present and the future, indicating that they will NEVER be condemned.
Third, the believer “is passed from death unto life.” This is another, remarkable, present tense statement about the believer having this everlasting life right now, and not just at some point in the future.
Finally, He says “the hour is coming,” this is the future; “and now is,” this is the present; “when they that hear (Jesus’ word from earlier in the verse) shall live.” This final statement ties together the present and the future with a definitive statement about the sureness of the life of those that believe.
Have you heard his word? Do you believe on him that sent Jesus? (Romans 4:5) If so, then you have everlasting life, you shall not ever be condemned; rejoice for you are passed from death unto life!
++John 6:35 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
++John 6:37 “All that the father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
John 6:44 “No man can come unto me, except the father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:47 “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
John 6:51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
John 6:54 “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 10:9 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.”
++John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give 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 Fathers hand.”
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
++John 20:31 “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
++Romans 1:17 “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.”
++Romans 4:6-8 “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Romans 6:5 “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.”
++Romans 6:22 “But now being made free from sin and become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Romans 8:8-11 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
Romans 8:38 “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, no 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.”
Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
1 Corinthians 1:8 “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
++1 Corinthians 3:14 “If any mans work shall be burned he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
1 Corinthians 6:14 “And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his power.”
2 Corinthians 1:9-10 “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom trust that he will yet deliver us.”
2 Corinthians 4:13-14 “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe, and therefore speak; knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.”
++2 Corinthians 4:16 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man parish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
++2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, and house made not with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Ephesians 1:18-2:1 “The eyes of our understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe. According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And you hath he quickened who were dead in your trespasses and sins.”
Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
++Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing that he which began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
++Philippians 3:20-21 “For our conversation is in heaven: from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
Colossians 1:12-14 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 1:21-22 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”
Colossians 2:12-13 “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”
Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
1 Thessalonians 1:10 “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”
2 Thessalonians 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.”
2 Thessalonians 2:16 “Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, our father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,”
2 Timothy 2:11 “It is a faithful saying: for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.”
Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”
Titus 3:7 “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
++Hebrews 1:3 “Who being the brightness of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of majesty on high.”
Hebrews 4:3 “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
Hebrews 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
++Hebrews 9:15 “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”
++Hebrews 9:28 “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
++Hebrews 10:10 “By the which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Hebrews 10:12 “But his man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down at the right hand of God;”
Hebrews 10:17-18 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.”
Hebrews 10:38-39 “Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them the believe to the saving of the soul.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you , who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
++1 Peter 1:9 “Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls.”
++1 Peter 2:6 “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”
++1 Peter 2:25 “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.”
++1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.”
++1 John 2:12 “I write unto you, little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.”
1 John 2:24 “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”
++1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doeth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
1 John 5:10-13 “He that believeth on the son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.”
++Revelation 2:7 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
++Revelation 2:11 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”
++Revelation 2:17 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it.”
++Revelation 3:5 “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”
++Revelation 3:12 “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall no more go out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”
++Revelation 3:21 “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his throne.”
++Revelation 21:7 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.”