The words backslide, backsliding, and backslider are all familiar terms for Christians. What does it mean for a Christian to backslide or to become a backslider?
Turning Away From God
To backslide means to fall away or to turn away from God and the Christian faith after you have known the way of righteousness. A person who has been born again, becomes a Christian, and then chooses to return to their former sinful lifestyle would be considered a backslider. Does this person lose their salvation? The short answer, yes. Check out our link, “Once Saved, Always Saved?” for more on the doctrine that you can’t lose your salvation.
We are told that many will turn away from the faith (Mathew 24:10). While we are praying for those that backslide, we would be wise to guard against sin and unbelief in our own hearts that could turn us away from God (Hebrews 3:12). The great Apostle Paul himself knew he wasn’t immune to backsliding. In his own words he said, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)
If You Backslide It Won’t Be Pretty
The Bible gives us a description of what backsliding looks like for a New Testament believer. It isn’t a pretty picture.
(2 Peter 2:20-22) If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
Backsliding In The Old Testament
Backsliding is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament. It is nothing new and certainly doesn’t apply to just New Testament believers. The Bible records the many times that the people of God would draw near to him and then turn away from him. As the Scripture says, his people were bent on backsliding from him (Hosea 11:7). The question is asked in (Jeremiah 8:5), “Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding?”
As it is for a Christian backslider today, it did not always end well for those who turned away from God in the Bible. (Jeremiah 5:6) says, “Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.
Hope For The Backslider
If we are willing to confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). God invites those who have turned away from him to repent and return to him. (Jeremiah 3:22) “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.”
The Parable of the Prodigal Son tells the story of a son who leaves home with his inheritance, waste all of his fortune, becomes destitute, and then returns home to his father. The last thing the son expected was for his father to welcome him back with open arms, but this is exactly what happened. A backslider can take comfort in knowing God will welcome you back with open arms!
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