Fifth Answer from Affirmative

TurretinFan asks,

"Given your assertion that, "We have to a degree attained salvation through faith, but it's ours probationally, its condition being continuance in Christ; final salvation is not attained until one has endured to the end," what shall we make of verses that suggest salvation is unconditional on works?"


Answer:

Neither remaining in union with Christ nor continuing in the faith are 'works,' otherwise 'justification by faith' would be 'justification by works.' It would be absurd to call continuance in Christ 'works' for being a necessary condition for salvation, as it was even stated from the negative: "[if one] were to lose union with Christ and apostatize, there would be no hope for that person." (Turretinfan's fifth answer). The relationship between abiding in Christ and good works was touched upon in my first answer: good works are an outworking of a relationship with Christ, for one bears good fruit by remaining in the vine. Inversely, because sin proceeds from the heart, unrepentant iniquity denotes that wickedness is overcoming one's heart, which is immiscible with abiding in Christ.

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins...Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26, 29)

Through His word, God is mighty to save and uphold His own, but this doesn't constitute unconditional security, since He only grants such preservation based upon one's relationship with His Son. By faith we stand (2 Corinthians 1:24), but He has no pleasure in anyone who withdraws from it (Hebrews 10:38). A believer who falls into unrepentant sin isn't in danger because Christ "can't forgive sin," but because of the condition of his heart before God and his love towards Christ growing cold. If the sinner turns back to God and acknowledges his wrongdoing, God will gladly forgive him (1 John 1:9); but He rejects one who remains obstinate and proud.

"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6b)

The real peril of a Christian growing proud is underscored in the warning against making elders out of new believers,

...not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. (1 Timothy 3:6)

The fact that salvation isn't by works then doesn't imply that one can remain saved when in willful rebellion against God, as scripture repeatedly states (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:5, Revelation 21:8) -the doom of one who turns from Christ unto wickedness being worse for him than if he'd never known Him:

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. (2 Peter 2:20)

Therefore taking the warnings against being surmounted by sin seriously, and regarding their disastrous consequences as real-world possibilities for believers is not 'works righteousness' as has been erroneously claimed by some.