What conditions must be met for someone to maintain or preserve their salvation once they have been saved? Is it through good works or by being a good Christian?

Absolutely not!

To say that Salvation is a work dependent on how faithful believers are in their walk with God is to effectively say that believers must protect what Christ began by His divine power with their human strength.

The Apostle Paul to counter such presumptions and consequent hopelessness  offered these comforting words to the Ephesian church:

Ephesians 1:18-20 (NKJV)

18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

Paul’s prayer beautifully highlights the immense power of God at work in the lives of believers. He prayed that believers’ hearts would be enlightened, so that they would grasp the hope of their calling and the riches of God’s glorious inheritance. But Paul didn’t stop at their calling or inheritance. He emphasized the “exceeding greatness of His power” toward believers—power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of God.

This is the very same power that preserves us in our salvation. Our security in Christ does not rest on our weak and fragile efforts but on the overwhelming strength of God, the same strength that overcame death itself. If God’s power was sufficient to raise Christ from the dead, it is certainly sufficient to sustain and keep us in the salvation He has freely given. Our confidence is not in our ability to remain faithful, but in the mighty power of God, who has begun a good work in us and will surely complete it.

Paul again in His letter to the Romans says the following;

Romans 5:2 (NKJV)

through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The Greek word translated “stand” (histemi) carries the idea of permanence (standing firm and immovable).

While faith is required for salvation, God’s grace, not the believer’s faith, has the power to save and keep the believer in Christ.

In other words, we are not saved by divine grace and then maintained by human effort. That would be a mockery of God’s grace, to teach that what God begins in us He is unwilling or unable to preserve and complete the sanctifying work.

As Paul unequivocally told believers at Philippi,

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

In addition, Jude emphasized the same sublime truth by referring to Christ who is able to keep us from stumbling;

Jude 24 (NKJV)

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

In Galatians, Paul reprimands the believers teaching them that we do not start in the Spirit and become perfected by the flesh.

Galatians 3:3 (NKJV)

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

It is inevitable for believers to fall into sin, but our sin is not stronger than God’s grace. In fact, if no sin committed before conversion is beyond the reach of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, then surely no sin committed after conversion is too great to be covered by His ongoing grace and the sufficiency of His finished work on the cross.

Romans 5:10 (NKJV)

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life

As Paul reasons above, if a dying Savior brought us to God’s grace, surely a living Savior can keep us in His grace.

Having redeemed us in the first place, how much more does God remain able and willing to keep us redeemed? We are not only delivered from sin and its judgment, but also from uncertainty and doubt about this deliverance. Since God has already rescued us from sin, death, and future judgment, how can our present spiritual lives possibly be in danger?

How can a Christian, whose salvation is secured both now and in the future, be at risk between the two? Since sin was not a barrier to the beginning of our redemption, how can it stand in the way of God completing it? How can sin, which in its greatest degree was unable to prevent us from becoming reconciled, prevent us from remaining reconciled?

Secured by oath from God

Hebrews 6:13 (NKJV)

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

Hebrews 6:16-18 (NKJV)

16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 

17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 

18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

Think of the believer resting securely in Jesus’ hands, which in turn are tightly held by the Father’s. There’s no better position than that! There are, however, some who suggest we may leap or fall out of the grasp of the heavenly hand, regardless of how tightly God holds us. This is not true. In fact God actually took an oath to protect and preserve His people.

According to Hebrews 6:13, 16–18, God swore by Himself because there is no one greater than Himself. In making an oath, God promised His will and purpose to those who sought refuge in Him, encouraging them to hold on to the hope they had in Him.

Making an oath on something or someone greater than oneself was common in New Testament times. In the Jewish tradition, a man would swear in front of the altar in the temple, by the high priest, or even by God Himself. As soon as the oath was made, the argument was over. Those who made such serious oaths were assumed to be determined to keep them.

Obviously, God does not need to swear an oath. His word is just as good without an oath as ours should be (cf. Matt. 5:33–37). Nevertheless, God made an oath of His promise to provide His children with a future hope to accommodate the weak faith of mere men and women. Since there is no one greater than God, He vowed by Himself (Heb. 6:13). Although God’s word is sufficient as a guarantee, He swore out of kindness to affirm that what He said would be fulfilled.

As believers, we should run to the God who is our refuge when we are in need of comfort.

What practical means do we have to run to Him? By laying “hold of the hope set before us” (Heb. 6:18). What is that hope? It is Christ Himself (1 Tim. 1:1), as well as the gospel he brought (Col. 1:5). The only way to have strong confidence and steadfast hope is by seeking refuge in God and embracing Jesus Christ, the only way to salvation.