Homer, I think I have given a full explanation of my position concerning salvation. There is no more to say. However, I will repeat the same things again, if you missed them in my other posts and in the chapter of my booklet which explains in detail.
Being saved or lost is a binary status; sanctification is an ongoing process
No. Salvation is a process and is tantamount to sanctification. It is indicated as ongoing by the verbal forms throughout the New Testament. Only in Ephesians is the phrase "you have been saved" (as a completed fact) used. And in that book, Paul seems to be speaking of the
beginning of the process, the entering the door of salvation, so to speak. Whether or not one has
begun the process has binary status. But for those who are being saved from sin (not from the consequences of sin but from sin itself), the process will be discontinued if the person ceases to submit to Christ, and begins living his life for himself again.
... we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:14 RSV)]
and I question whether anyone becomes perfected in this life, with which you seem to agree.
I am not prepared to say whether anyone becomes perfected in this life or not. Jesus asks us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. He would not ask us to become perfect if it were impossible. Nevertheless, it seems likely that most or all disciples of Christ who stay on the narrow path, will progress toward perfection, and receive the finishing touches when they are raised at the first resurrection. For Paul himself said:
... whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-14)
So if justification is not by faith, a person can never know if or when they are saved or not.
One of the most misunderstood words in the New Testament is "justification". It is assumed that to be justified means "to be counted righteous". The word often means "to be rendered righteous".
This happens as we appropriate by faith the enabling grace of God which is made possible by Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Some of the places where the word is used makes sense only if this meaning is employed. We can know that we have entered the door of salvation. But we cannot know the end of the process, whether or not we will terminate it by taking back our life into our own hands. When I was a Calvinist in my early twenties, a wise man said to me, "You may be saved, but you are not safe."
Jesus at least three times in the Gospel of John (3:36, 5:24, and 6:54) speaks of persons having eternal life in the present tense; He says they possess it now.
As you know, you and I disagree concerning the meaning of "αιωνιος". In your references, Jesus speaks of persons having
lasting life in the present tense. This life is lasting, but it is not necessarily everlasting. If the person ceases submitting to Christ and takes his life back into his own hands, he will lose the life which Christ gives.
... we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:14 RSV)[/i]