Suicide and Salvation

Many people around the world are praying for Pastor Rick Warren, his family, and the Saddleback Church community as they are coping with the death of Pastor Warren's son.

I ask that we continue to pray for Pastor Warren and his family. 

One of the inevitable questions that results from a tragic death like this is "Can Christians who commit suicide be saved?"

There are some terrible myths and misunderstandings about suicide and salvation.

In the fifth century, Saint Augustine taught that suicide was a violation of the sixth commandment - "You shall not kill."

And later Thomas Aquinas, taught that suicide was the most fatal of all sins because the victim could not repent of it.

So some Christians have taught over the years that those who commit suicide go to hell because they never have the opportunity to repent of their sin.

Let’s get some things straight.

Suicide is a terrible sin against God for only God has the power and authority over life. While suicide is a terrible sin, it is not an unpardonable sin. 

There is only one sin that Jesus says cannot be forgiven. 

Jesus says in Matthew 12:31-32, “Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

• Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit – to deny the works of God by taking God’s works and attributing it to the work of the devil. 
• While suicide is a sin, it is not a sin that God cannot forgive.

But how can God forgive a sin that a person doesn’t have an opportunity to repent for?

This line of question is a misreading of scripture because it doesn’t take seriously the completeness and the totality of the work of God for salvation on the cross of Jesus Christ.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone.

I want to take each of those phrases one at a time. 

Salvation is by grace alone. 

God tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Salvation is always God’s doing. Only God can save. And God saves because He is a gracious God. There is nothing that we can ever do, or not do, or say, or not say, that will merit being saved. It is totally God’s grace. It is totally God’s love that saves.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith,” we are told. While God’s work of salvation is total and complete, it is only through accepting God’s gift of salvation that we are saved.

God tells us in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life.” 

While God offers salvation to all, we must receive God’s gift of life through faith. 

God tells us in John 1:12, “But to all who received him, who believed in His name, He gave the power to become children of God.”

God offers the gift of salvation to all, but only those who receive God’s plan for salvation are saved.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone.

God tells us in Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

And in John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

It is only Jesus who can save. There is no other way to salvation apart from Jesus Christ.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone.

So are Christians who commit suicide saved? 

Absolutely! To those who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior God has forgiven us of all our sins.

In the course of any normal day, we sin many times – thoughts of lust, anger, jealousy, acts of unkindness, etc. And it’s not like God says, I will only forgive you of the sins that you repent of. It’s not like God’s going to say on the day of judgment, “You know James, you lived a pretty decent life, and you asked for forgiveness of all your sins, except for that one time when you lusted after that woman on August 10, 2005.  So, sorry dude, you’re outta here!”

Our salvation doesn't depend on us, but upon what God has already done in Christ. 

God’s work on the cross is complete.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone.

Amen!