God promises that we shall never lose the Holy Spirit after we have accepted Him as our Father via faith. At that point, we receive the Holy Spirit.
It appears that we can lose the Holy Spirit according to certain Bible verses. Hebrews 6:4-6 states that it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who have previously been enlightened, experienced the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, and tasted the goodness of God’s word and the powers of the age to come, since they are once again crucifying God’s Son to their own harm and holding Him in contempt.
However, we must contrast that with other biblical verses. Paul, for instance, makes it very evident in Romans 8:29–30 that salvation is entirely God’s doing, operating from beginning to end like a golden chain extending forever:
For those whom God knew in advance, He also predestined to imitate His Son in order for Him to be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And He called those He predestined, He justified those He called, and He glorified those He justified. To the glory of God, believers are also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who serves as a guardian of our inheritance until we actually obtain it (Ephesians 1:13–14).
Nothing can separate us
Because of this, a Christian is able to declare, “For I am convinced that nothing in all of creation—not even death or life, angels or demons, the present or the future, powers, height or depth, or anything else—will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38. And the Holy Spirit is a possession of every follower of Jesus! According to 2 Corinthians 1:21-22,
Departing doesn’t mean losing
In the Old Testament, we read of people who have experienced the “departing of the Spirit of the LORD.” To be more specific, in the Old Testament we read of kings being anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill their God-given calling, and some of them lost this empowerment later on. Some people might think that when “the LORD departed” from someone like Saul (see 1 Samuel 16:14), the Holy Spirit left him entirely. But that is not true. The point is this: Saul was called to be king over the house of Israel and for this purpose he was anointed. In other words, Saul was appointed by God to govern the Israelites by the empowering of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of the LORD departed from him, the empowerment by the Holy Spirit for his government was taken away. We don’t read Saul lost his salvation. Those two things should be distinguished. In 1 Samuel 15:22-25 we read,
“And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.“”
Because Saul disobeyed the Lord’s command, “the Spirit of the LORD departed from him.” However, losing the Holy Spirit’s empowerment does not mean losing the Spirit Himself.
Every Christian is anointed
We also read of an anointing in the New Testament. 1 John 2:26–27 states that the apostle John informs us, saying, “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.” However, you already possess his anointing, so you don’t require instruction from anyone. However, abide in him while his anointing teaches you everything, for it is true and contains no lies.
All Christians have received anointing. How was this anointing given to the true believer? via reliance on the Gospel of the Anointed One (also known as the Blessed Messiah).
At this point, let’s be crystal clear: being anointed does not make you any more unique than other Christians in the eyes of God. John wishes to emphasize that the Holy Spirit teaches all believers that Jesus is the Christ. The Messiah is none other than Jesus. We call this “the anointing.” However, there is no mention of some saints being “more anointed” than others in the New Testament. Anointed is everyone who accepts Jesus as the Christ of God via the work of the Holy Spirit.
Saved, sealed and secured
Can a Christian [fall from grace]? No, is the response. Is he capable of sin? Indeed. A Christian’s sin won’t cause him to lose the Holy Spirit. Still, it might not be appropriate to let him go unchecked. There are repercussions for sin. A leader may need to take a backseat. Has his leadership diminished? Indeed. Is he no longer saved, though? No. In the gospel truth, because he is anointed by the Holy Spirit. Forever rescued, sealed, and secured is the Christian! However, God will punish the believer when they sin. Furthermore, the absence of discipline indicates that there was never an anointing in the first place. As a loving parent would, God will draw you back to Himself.
