“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you.” 1Peter 3-4
In the Christian life, the assurance of eternal salvation is in the person of Christ whose holy life was validated by His resurrection from the dead. Without Christ men die never to rise again but to be eternally damned because of sinful choices inherited from their first father Adam; union with Christ alone can make a man secure in salvation because Christ alone is incorruptible, undefiled, and fades not away.
In the Garden of Eden Adam failed to obey God because with his freedom to choose he could go either way, which meant he was weak. Christ faced temptation in His human nature, but as God He overcame it by His hatred of sin. God in Christ did not simply overcome sin, but by the fullness of His infinite power He opposed it in every way. All Adam’s offspring are lost as they inherit his sinful nature; Christ’s people are saved by union with Him who is incorruptible, undefiled and eternal. The Christian is one who transfers his/her hope of salvation from self to union with Christ.
The new birth is an act of God and Peter tells us “we are begotten again,” or fathered with intensity, brought forth, conceived a second time. The first time we were lost through Adam, but the second time we are kept by the sacrificial death of Christ, which is validated by His resurrection from the dead. The Christian is saved from sin to good works, which are works covered by Christ’s blood or made clean by His sacrificial death. Our eternal inheritance is assured to us by the holiness of God, which covers our sins even in our good works.
The “incorruptible, and undefiled” work of Christ is imparted to the believer in everything he is and does. Unlike the elements of this world that are continually breaking down (such as fruit on the kitchen table, or governments that begin well but morph into something corrupt) our inheritance, by the grace of God, is perfect and it will stay that way throughout eternity.
Only the person who places his/her hope in the person of Jesus Christ can be eternally assured!