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God will be the one to make sure we are presented “unblameable”. 1 Corinthians 1:8 “ Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

First, contextually in light of the entire Colossian book we need to establish our position in Christ and then our experience of daily living our faith out of this reality. If we take a look throughout the book of Colossians we see the following:

1. Our positional reality

   Paul shows us our positional security in Christ. These are irreversible things. Circumcision removes something that can’t be put back. You can’t be un-reconciled, un-delievered, un-baptised, un-risen or un-dead:

   1. Colossians 1:21 he says we are reconciled “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”

   2. Colossians 1:13 “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”

   3. Colossians 2:11 “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”

   4. Colossians 2:20 “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,”

   5. Colossians 2:12 “ Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”

2. The command to walk in this reality

   Paul shows us the experiential daily life predicated on our choices should match the positional standing:

   1. Colossians 1:10 above “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

   2. Colossians 2:6-7 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

   3. Colossians 3:2 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

   4. Colossians 3:8-9 “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;”

   5. Colossians 3:12 “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;”

Paul makes it clear, believers positionally have a state change and now on top of this, our daily life must match this, we need to walk worthy of the Lord (Colossians 1:10) and His great sacrifice for us. We can then conclude that this verse cannot mean someone can lose their salvation.

This leads us to the only possible interpretation of this verse. We must always remember, that the New Testament authors can't see hearts, nor can hearers always discern their own, so conditional 'if' warnings act as loving wake-up calls: no continuance makes it manifest there was no true salvation to begin, as John states (1 Jn 2:19), prompting self-examination (2 Cor 13:5):

1. John, just like Paul similar tells his audience the same thing, he doesn’t konw until they leave and don’t continue:

   1 John 2:19, 24 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us...If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son”

2. Paul tells the sinful Corinths to make sure they are saved

   2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates"

3. If saved now (made paratakers is the Greek perfect tense, completed in the past with a continuing state), it shows at the end of your life:

   Hebrews 3:14 “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;”

4. God will not let you fall away (the confirm here means make sure or establish) and He will make it so you are blameless once He returns:

   1 Corinthians 1:8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Additionally, the “if ye continue” is not something we must do in order to be saved. It is not some self willed action on our behalf for salvation is not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:4, Philipians 3:9). It is rather something that will happen naturally if one is saved. In John 10:27, Jesus says if you are His sheep, you will follow Him because God gives you a new heart with new desires (Ezekiel 36:26-27, 1 John 5:3). Therefore, if you are a sheep then you will continue in the faith.