I'd like to talk about one little word — the word IF. Basically, there are two Greek words used for this word in the New Testament — ἐάν and εἴ. The first word shows a statement is conditional, the other assumes a condition is factual for the sake of argument. Strong's defines them this way:
(Strongs 1437) ἐάν ean - (a conjunction, derived from 1487 /ei, "if" and 302 /án, a particle showing a statement is conditional) – if, referring to a condition extending to its "spin-off" possibilities – i.e. that happens if the condition is actualized or is valid. [used 350 times in the NT]
(Strongs 1487) εἴ ei - (a conditional conjunction) – if. 1487 /ei (followed by any verb) expresses "a condition, thought of as real, or to denote assumptions" (i.e. viewed as factual for the sake of argument) (BAGD). Accordingly, 1487 (ei) should not be translated "since," but rather always "if" – since the assumption may only be portrayed as valid (true, factual). [used 502 times in the NT]
I bring this up because so often I hear or read that believers can lose their salvation.* Pointing to Colossians 1:23 for support, it is explained that those who have trusted Christ as their Savior are saved but that they might become lost again "if" they do not continue in the faith, stable and steadfast...
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, IF indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister (Col 1:19-23).
The thing is, the word "if" in Colossian 1:23 is not the conditional "if" (ἐάν), but rather the factual-for-sake-of-argument "if" (εἴ). I think Stam explains the meaning of this "if" rather well when he says,
"I might illustrate it in this way. Here's a mother, and her son has turned to be 21, and he's bragging: 'I'm 21 now, you know, and I can do what I want' and so on. And the mother says, 'Well, if you're 21, act it.' Now she didn't have any doubt that he was 21, and yet she used the word if. She was challenging him, and Paul used it in this very same way here in Colossians One. Christ died to reconcile you...'Assuming' is the way he uses, 'IF INDEED,' 'assuming that you are still as you were when I saw you.'"
This same "if"(εἴ) is found in Colossians 3:1.:
IF then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3).
We don't usually question whether or not the "if"(εἴ) in this verse is conditional because of where it is in the sentence. But remember, no matter where this "if"(εἴ) is placed, it assumes the statement is a fact.**
*Be on your guard, CS Lewis fans! I like him too BUT in his book Mere Christianity he says this very thing:“The world does not consist of 100 per cent Christians and 100 percent non-Christians. There are people (a great many of them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name; some of them are clergymen. There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so.”
**The same "if" (εἴ) is used in 1 Cor 15:1-2: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, IF you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
(Strongs 1437) ἐάν ean - (a conjunction, derived from 1487 /ei, "if" and 302 /án, a particle showing a statement is conditional) – if, referring to a condition extending to its "spin-off" possibilities – i.e. that happens if the condition is actualized or is valid. [used 350 times in the NT]
(Strongs 1487) εἴ ei - (a conditional conjunction) – if. 1487 /ei (followed by any verb) expresses "a condition, thought of as real, or to denote assumptions" (i.e. viewed as factual for the sake of argument) (BAGD). Accordingly, 1487 (ei) should not be translated "since," but rather always "if" – since the assumption may only be portrayed as valid (true, factual). [used 502 times in the NT]
I bring this up because so often I hear or read that believers can lose their salvation.* Pointing to Colossians 1:23 for support, it is explained that those who have trusted Christ as their Savior are saved but that they might become lost again "if" they do not continue in the faith, stable and steadfast...
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, IF indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister (Col 1:19-23).
The thing is, the word "if" in Colossian 1:23 is not the conditional "if" (ἐάν), but rather the factual-for-sake-of-argument "if" (εἴ). I think Stam explains the meaning of this "if" rather well when he says,
"I might illustrate it in this way. Here's a mother, and her son has turned to be 21, and he's bragging: 'I'm 21 now, you know, and I can do what I want' and so on. And the mother says, 'Well, if you're 21, act it.' Now she didn't have any doubt that he was 21, and yet she used the word if. She was challenging him, and Paul used it in this very same way here in Colossians One. Christ died to reconcile you...'Assuming' is the way he uses, 'IF INDEED,' 'assuming that you are still as you were when I saw you.'"
This same "if"(εἴ) is found in Colossians 3:1.:
IF then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3).
We don't usually question whether or not the "if"(εἴ) in this verse is conditional because of where it is in the sentence. But remember, no matter where this "if"(εἴ) is placed, it assumes the statement is a fact.**
*Be on your guard, CS Lewis fans! I like him too BUT in his book Mere Christianity he says this very thing:“The world does not consist of 100 per cent Christians and 100 percent non-Christians. There are people (a great many of them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name; some of them are clergymen. There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so.”
**The same "if" (εἴ) is used in 1 Cor 15:1-2: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, IF you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
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