One area of disagreement among Christians concerns falling away
from the faith, also known as apostasy. Some say that God will never allow a
born-again believer to apostatize and finally end up in hell. Others say that
this does sometimes happen.
A KEY BIBLICAL TEXT
One passage that is relevant for this topic is Romans 8:29-30.
Here the apostle Paul states:
“29 For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
(Scripture quotations in this article are from the English
Standard Version.)
Those who claim that God never allows Christians to fall away
often cite these words as a proof text for their view. This passage, it is
said, shows clearly that everyone who is justified when they first receive salvation
will also be glorified in heaven, and that there can be no exceptions to this.
THINGS ARE NOT
NECESSARILY QUITE SO SIMPLE
I agree that this passage does most naturally suggest that genuine
Christians never fall away from the faith. However, I think the passage falls
short of proving this. I don’t think
it is quite as watertight as many claim.
In my view, there are two ways in which this passage could allow
for some genuine Christians to apostatize. I agree that neither of these
options is, on the face of it, a natural interpretation. But I don’t think that
either of them is impossible.
Let’s look at these in turn.
THE TIMING OF THE
GLORIFICATION
At the end of v. 30, as we have seen, Paul says:
“. . . those whom he justified he also glorified.”
The Greek verb, edoxasen, translated here by “he glorified,” is in
the aorist tense, which is a past tense.
Those who say that this passage proves that genuine Christians
never fall away understand “he glorified” to refer, in part at least, to
glorification that will take place after Christians die or the Lord Jesus
returns to earth.
Potential ways of
understanding “he glorified”
There are potentially three ways in which the timing of “he
glorified” could be understood.
(1) It could refer to being glorified upon death or the return of
the Lord.
(2) It could refer to being glorified upon becoming a Christian,
and there could be an implication that the state of being glorified will necessarily
continue beyond death or the return of the Lord.
(3) It could refer to being glorified upon becoming a Christian,
without any implication that the state of being glorified will necessarily continue
beyond death or the return of the Lord.
We need to consider how likely or unlikely each of these options
is.
Paul refers to
glorification of Christians before and after death
To begin with, we should note that in his letters Paul connects
glory with the lives of Christians both before death and in the final state in
heaven. He refers to glory before death in 2 Corinthians 3:18 ; 2 Thessalonians 1:12 ; and probably 1
Thessalonians 2:12 , and by implication
elsewhere too. And he refers to glory in heaven in many places, such as in
Romans 2:7, 10; 5:2; 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Corinthians 4:17.
So each of the three options above would fit well with Paul’s general
references to glory in his letters.
The fact that the verb
is a past tense
The fact that the verb edoxasen, “he glorified,” is in a past
tense would also fit well with all of the above options.
It is true that when Paul wrote Romans, most people who had become
Christians up to that point would not yet have died. So for most, the
experience of heavenly glory would still have been future. Someone might want
to argue, then, that, at the time of writing, a past tense would have been
inappropriate as a reference to the heavenly glory of Christians in general.
However, all the other Greek finite verbs in the sequence in these
verses are in the past tense – those translated as “he foreknew,” “he
predestined,” “he called” and “he justified.” So Paul could have decided to
make his reference to Christians being glorified match these other verbs grammatically,
even if the glorification he had in mind was only the final glorification in
heaven.
Besides, “he called” and “he justified” are both past tenses, yet
Paul would surely have believed that some of the calling and justifying was
still future from his time of writing, as people became Christians after that
time. So, since “he called” and “he justified” involve a future reference,
there is all the more reason for thinking that “he glorified” could potentially
be referring only to final glory in heaven.
The fact that “he glorified” is a past tense, then, would easily allow
for all of the three potential options listed above.
Other references to
glory in Romans 8
Earlier in the same chapter, at Romans 8:18 , Paul had already
written:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
In this verse Paul is referring to glory that Christians will experience
after death or the Lord’s return. And Romans 8:17 , 21 similarly focus,
at least primarily, on glory that is not yet the experience of Christians.
In view of the references to future glory in these verses of chap.
8, it would make most sense if the reference to glory in Romans 8:30 also
refers, in part at least, to the glory that Christians experience after death
or the Lord’s return.
Of the three options that I listed above, options (1) and (2)
involve a reference to glory after death or the Lord’s return, but option (3)
does not. The references to glory in Romans 8:17 , 18, 21 therefore fit
much better with options (1) and (2) than with option (3).
Conclusion
Let’s sum up what we have found regarding our three options for
understanding the timing of “he glorified” in Romans 8:30.
First, we saw that the way Paul refers to glory generally in his
letters fits well with each option. Second, we saw that the past tense “he
glorified” fits well with each option. Third, we saw that the references to
glory in Romans 8:17 , 18, 21 fit much
better with options (1) and (2) than with option (3).
All things considered, then, options (1) and (2) are much more
natural than option (3). In other words, it seems much more natural to
understand “he glorified” in Romans 8:30 as a reference either only to glory in
heaven (option (1)) or to glory in heaven and before death (option (2)). It
seems much less natural to understand it as a reference only to glory before
death (option (3)).
If option (3) is
correct
So I admit that option (3) is by far the least likely of the three
options. However, I don’t think it is impossible that it could be the right one.
It is just possible that when Paul wrote edoxasen, “he glorified,” he was
referring to being glorified upon becoming a Christian, without implying that
the state of being glorified would necessarily continue beyond death or the
Lord’s return.
And if Paul was referring in v. 30 only to this kind of glorification,
it could potentially allow for the possibility of born-again Christians apostatizing.
Every single Christian would be foreknown, predestined, called, justified and
glorified. But it might be possible that God would then allow some who are
glorified to later fall away and lose salvation before they die.
This is the first way in which Romans 8:29-30 could be reconciled
with the view that God does at times allow born-again Christians to fall away from
the faith and lose salvation.
ALLOWING FOR EXCEPTIONS
To refresh the reader’s memory, here is the text of our passage again:
“29 For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Those who say that this passage proves that genuine Christians
never fall away always claim that it shows that being justified is necessarily
followed by being glorified. They claim that the passage teaches that every
single person who is justified when they first receive salvation will also be
glorified in heaven.
Exceptions to the rule
There is a second way of understanding Romans 8:29-30 that could
allow the possibility of Christians falling away from the faith and losing
salvation.
In this second way, it is agreed that when Paul says “he also glorified,”
he is referring in part at least to final glorification in heaven. So in this
argument there is no attempt to claim that Paul is thinking only about
glorification before death or before the Lord returns.
Instead, this argument is based on the possibility of allowing
exceptions to the rule. The argument says that when Paul states, “those whom he
justified he also glorified,” he isn’t insisting that every single person who
is justified is also glorified. Rather, he is saying that those who are
justified at conversion typically go on to be glorified in heaven, but that
there are exceptional cases where justification doesn’t in fact lead to
glorification.
We could compare this idea to a group of students. Suppose I were
to say this about a group of science students:
Last year a group of students began a degree course. First, they
did a class in chemistry, which was followed immediately by a class in physics.
Then they took a break. After that, they began a class in biology, which is
still in progress. When this finishes, they will begin a class in engineering.
In the previous paragraph the students are considered as a group. I
said that they did various things in the past, are currently doing something
else, and will do something further in the future. What I didn’t bother to
mention, however, was that a few of the students who began the course have
since dropped out. My focus was on what the group studied, not on whether every
student who started as part of the group has continued to the present or will
continue in the future.
Similarly, under the interpretation of Romans 8:29 -30 that we are considering in this section, the focus
would not be on whether every Christian whom God foreknows etc. will reach the
stage of being glorified in heaven. Instead, the focus would simply be on the
stages that typically apply to Christians. Typically, God foreknows, predestines,
calls, justifies and glorifies Christians. But that is not to say that every
Christian will necessarily complete this process.
Under this interpretation, Paul would not be promising that God
will not allow Christians to fall away. Rather, he would be encouraging his
readers that if they keep going in the faith, God will bring them to the stage
of being glorified.
A difficulty with this
interpretation
I admit that on the face of it this way of taking the text is more
than a little difficult.
The difficulty is not that we have to allow for unexpressed exceptions
to what Paul says. The Bible often allows for unexpressed exceptions to things,
far more than we are used to in modern Western culture.
The problem is that this interpretation has to allow for exceptions
to the stage “those whom he justified he also glorified,” yet there can be no
exceptions to any of the other stages mentioned in these verses.
In other words, there can be no doubt that the passage is teaching
that every single Christian whom God foreknows He also predestines, every
single Christian whom He predestines He also calls, and every single Christian
whom He calls He also justifies. It is not possible to allow for any exceptions
in these things. So it does look strange then to say, as in this interpretation,
that not every single Christian whom He justifies He also glorifies.
This interpretation, then, seems very difficult. Nevertheless, I
don’t think it is impossible. I think it is just possible that when Paul said,
“those whom he justified he also glorified,” he could have believed that some
of those justified might not in fact go on to be glorified.
SUMMING UP
We have seen that there are two possible ways of taking Romans
8:29-30 which allow for some born-again, saved Christians to apostatize and
lose salvation.
First, we could argue that when Paul says, “he also glorified,” he
is referring only to glorification that happens before death or the Lord
returns. If we do this, it might be possible that some Christians who are
glorified would later fall away from the faith.
Second, we could argue instead that when Paul says, “those he
justified he also glorified,” he is just referring to what typically happens to
Christians. If we do this, we could potentially allow for exceptional cases
where being justified does not in fact lead to being glorified in heaven.
I freely admit that neither of these interpretations seems to be a
natural one, for the reasons I have given above. But I don’t think that either
of them is impossible. In other words, I think this passage falls short of proving that God never allows born-again
Christians to fall away and lose salvation.
Of course, when we are using the Bible to form views on something,
it is important that we take all the passages on that topic into account. As
regards the subject of falling away from the faith, there are dozens of texts
that need to be allowed to speak. Romans 8:29-30 is therefore just one small
part of this issue.
For a wider-ranging discussion of this topic, see my article: Does
God Ever Allow Born-Again Christians to Fall Away and Lose Salvation?
See also: