ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

‘USED-TO-BE’ CHRISTIANS

For many years, when I read the Parable of the Sower, I believed that the seed that fell among the rocks, represented people who had truly believed in Jesus Christ but later, because of persecution or trouble because of the word, they ‘fell away’. I believed that they had lost their salvation.

But, the more I read the Bible, the more I understood the incredible security of the salvation we have in Christ, the more I also understood that true, God-given faith, does not give in, does not give up, in a final way. It may, and does, fluctuate, but it remains; it endures.

However, the departure of these ‘used-to-be’ believers from belief in Christ seems to deny assurance of salvation. This is because we have assumed that they were genuine believers. But, because of the assurance of salvation taught throughout the New Testament, and the clear presence of fake faith among Jesus' followers (see John 2:23-25; 6:60-71), I have discarded that assumption. 

I have included below comments that a number of respected Bible teachers have made about the people represented by the seed among the rocks.

William Hendriksen: ‘’Immediately, impulsively, gladly, he as it were jumps up to accept the message. He is thrilled and enthused, may even be sufficiently affected to shed a tear. Once the spell has subsided he seems to have forgotten all about it and returns to his former sinful life. As the … twin causes of such defection Jesus speaks of affliction, meaning pressure …and persecution, actual suffering brought about by the enemy, all on account of the message. By devices such as these the fair-weather adherent is led to apostatize. … The erstwhile adherent, never a genuine follower at all, for his confession did not spring from inner conviction, had failed to consider that true discipleship implies self-surrender, self-denial, sacrifice, service, and suffering. [p560,561, The Gospel of Matthew, Baker Book House, 1973]

Leon Morris: ‘… despite the joy and the initial growth the end result of this piece of sowing is tragic. … The lack of root points to the real problem: like seed in a place that lacks depth of soil, this superficial hearer lacks depth. … When trouble … comes to the shallow enthusiast, the pretty bubble is burst and the profession of loyalty is exposed for the sham it is. Immediately, the same word as that used for the joyful reception of the word in verse 20, signifies that the test shows the person up straight-away; he is no more than a fair weather adherent. Most translations say that he “falls away” … but there is something more than falling. He takes offence. That is to say, he comes to regard adherence to Christ as something of a trap; if it means persecution he wants nothing to do with it. He is repelled. The time of trial means the end of this person’s adherence to Christ. [p346-7, The Gospel According to Matthew, IVP, 1992] [Note: The Greek word translated ‘he falls away’ is skandalizetai from which our word ‘scandalize’ is derived.]

John Calvin: ‘We see too many of this class in our own day, who eagerly embrace the Gospel, and shortly afterwards fall off for they have not the lively affection that is necessary to give them firmness and perseverance… Let every one then examine himself thoroughly … for if the word does not fully penetrate the whole heart, and strike its roots deep, faith will want the supply of moisture that is necessary for perseverance. …Such persons, according to Matthew and Mark, are temporary, not only because, having professed, for a time, that they are the disciples of Christ, they afterwards fall away through temptation, but because they imagine that they have true faith. According to Luke, Christ says that they believe for a time; because that honour which they render to the Gospel resembles faith. … In a word, let us learn that none are partakers of true faith, except those who are sealed with the Spirit of adoption, and who sincerely call on God as their Father; and as that Spirit is never extinguished, so it is impossible that the faith, which he has once engraven on the hearts of the godly, shall pass away or be destroyed. [p258-9, Cavin's Commentaries, Volume 7]

Helmut Thielicke: ‘At first when they receive the Word they are enthusiastic. They are not just bare rocks; there is at least a thin layer of soil in which the Word germinates…. These people have been touched; perhaps they even talk about being “converted” … In most such cases it was a kind of emotional Christianity … there is nothing more disintegrating than people who have been merely “brushed” by Christianity, people who have been sown with a thousand seeds but in whose lives there is no depth and no rootage. Therefore, they fall when the first whirlwind comes along. It is the half-Christians who always flop in the face of the first catastrophe that happens, because their dry intellectuality and their superficial emotionalism do not stand the test. So even that which they think they have is taken away from them. This is the wood from which anti-christians too are cut. They are almost always former half-Christians.’ [p57, The Waiting Father, James Clarke, 1960]

© Rosemary Bardsley 2026