Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. To forgive someone is to release the offending person of any relational debt they might owe you. This happens as you assess the damage (how they made you feel), cancel the debt against them (releasing them from anything they “owe” you, even if they do it again), and then, going forward, counting on the choice you made to forgive them.

No, a believer does not need to ask for forgiveness for each sin they commit. The phrase “ask forgiveness” or “ask for forgiveness” is not found in any New Testament letter, and for good reason. Remember that Jesus announced from the cross: “It is finished.” Christians are not being forgiven progressively when we ask for it (after all, what if you forget a sin?). No, Christians are totally forgiven people for all time (Hebrews 10:14).

No. While some might hold the erroneous view that believers can be deleted from the Book of Life, the point of Revelation 3 is to assure us of the exact opposite: God will never blot us out!

In Matthew 7, Jesus is not addressing Christians who lose their salvation. He is talking about people at the final judgment who never knew Him. They’re seeking entrance into the kingdom because of their religious works instead of by the finished work of Christ. They have missed the Gospel entirely, and they are unbelievers. For this reason, Jesus says to them, “Depart from Me.”

The expression “fallen from grace” does not refer to loss of salvation but loss of perspective when a person (even a believer) shifts away from looking to Jesus for righteousness and seeks to establish their own self righteousness.

“Once saved, always saved” is absolutely biblical. Our sins have been completely forgiven – past, present, and future (Hebrews 10:14). We have received the gift of eternal life, not temporary life. And God has given us many promises assuring us that He will never leave us. For these reasons, we believers are saved completely and forever (Hebrews 7:25).

We know that God is faithful to people in a general sense, but what about to individuals? Will God ever give up on you? No, God never gives up on you. God will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). No one can snatch you out of His hand (John 10:28). Even when you are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). Nothing separates you from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38).

God has promised to never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). But that’s God’s end of the bargain, right? What if you walk away from God? Many Christians worry about this perceived possibility. If you’re the new self with a new heart, then you’re a “slave of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). You have an undying love for Jesus (Ephesians 6:24), and you’ll never want to walk away from God. Even if you thought you could, God goes with you wherever you might go, because Christ lives in you forever (Romans 8:38-39).

The term “backslide” is really an Old Testament concept related to being under the Law. It implies you were climbing, making progress, then your strength failed, and you slipped and started to slide back. Jeremiah 3:6 (KJV) says: “The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, ‘Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done?’” In Jeremiah 8:5 (KJV), it appears as well: “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit; they refuse to return” (Jeremiah. 8:5). Finally, Proverbs says: “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways” (Proverbs 14:14).

Some overstress the importance of water baptism even to the point of believing it to be necessary for salvation. You may even be asking yourself, “Should I be baptized again?” However, baptism is simply a symbolic expression of the salvation that occurred within us when we believed (1 Peter 3:21).

So, if you’ve been baptized and desire to do so again now that you understand the Gospel better, you have the freedom to do so. But baptism does not cause anything new to happen spiritually. So, the pressure is off, and you are free to decide from the heart!