Scripture is so clear on the matter already, and you still don't see it. Let's face it. You are NOT fully persuaded that God is able to save you to the uttermost. You are not convinced that He will perform what He began in you. You do not believe that He is faithful and will do it. You might want to examine yourself...whether you be in the faith.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
There is assurance and power for all whose heart is to continue with him. These scriptures affirm that He will also work in us to bring us home. However they do not address the case of a person who is in rebellion or who is rejecting the faith.
Paul's views on ultimate salvation are explained in
Colossians 1:21-22.
First Paul identifies those he is writing to those who were unbelievers
in the past
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds
Then he describes their
present state as believers
22 he has now
reconciled in his body of flesh by his death,
Next he lays out God's purpose and plan for them in the
future:
22...in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
If the passage stopped here the doctrine of OSAS would remain intact but Paul adds
conditions which must be met if they are to receive the promised reward:
23
IF indeed you
continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the
hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Paul says that in order to reach the promised reward we must continue in the faith. Let us look at the opposite choice. What if instead of meeting this condition we
abandon our faith and
deny the truth of the gospel? What happens then? Well, according to this verse we will NOT be among those who will be presented before him holy and unblamable, prepared for eternal fellowship.
Paul’s teaching about salvation plainly disagrees with the OSAS axiom that everyone who starts with Christ will inevitably continue to the end.
Also, despite MAD’s claims that Paul's teaching was different from that of the other Apostles we see here that John and Paul are in perfect agreement over the crucial issue of how people are to be saved and walk with God.
In his first letter John writes the following.
... If what you have
heard from the beginning (the gospel)
remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He Himself made to us:
eternal life (1 John 2:24-25)
"IF" indicates that the consequent reward will ONLY happen if the condition is met.
The word John uses "remain" is the Greek word
meno which means
abide, remain continue. The reward of eternal life will only be enjoyed by those who
remain in Him and
continue in the truth of the Gospel.
Whereas John uses the word
meno Paul uses the compound form of the same word
EPI (upon)
meno. Adding the EPI has the effect of intensifying
meno so that it means
continue on with persistence
http://biblehub.com/greek/1961.htm
Paul is saying that continuing in the faith requires us to make choices. It is a narrow road and persistence is needed to travel on it. This is not to say his way is burdensome. “His yoke” is light. However we must
remain yoked to him in order to reach the end and fulfill our purpose. The Holy Spirit is always there to give any willing believer the grace to do so.