Bible Questions with Andrew Farley Dunham Podcast Network

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).