Q. Some people say that even though you are saved, you don’t have eternal life until judgment day. The way I understand them is that you can be saved, but some kind of sin that is not repented of (to cease doing) that comes into your life before you die will cause you to lose your salvation on judgment day. They really are confusing me. Can you clear this up for me?

A. There are several problems with this one. In the first place the only judgment believers will face happens after the rapture and doesn’t have anything to do with salvation. It has to do with the rewards we’ll have earned during our life on Earth as believers. (1 Cor. 3:10-15)

Second, if you follow this idea to its logical conclusion it doesn’t make any sense because it infers that only those people who have stopped sinning altogether will be saved.

Part of the problem is their misunderstanding of the word “repent”. It doesn’t mean to stop doing something, it means to change your mind about something. When John the Baptist said “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matt. 3:2) he wasn’t telling people to stop sinning so they could become good enough to enter the kingdom. He was telling them to change their minds and admit they needed a Savior.

And third, several Scripture passages clearly explain that the Lord has guaranteed our eternal destiny and has promised never to lose even one of us (Ephesians 1:13-14, John 6:39-40).

Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”