Will Only Some Believers Be Presented Holy and Unblameable?

The Teaching of Zane Hodges and Joseph Dillow
The fruitful believer The partaker or heir The believing believer The overcomer	The barren believer The carnal one (non-heir) The saved person who stops believing The non-overcomer
This is the believer who continues in the faith and because of this he will be presented holy and unblameable and unreproveable. He earns this spotless presentation because he persevered in the faith.	This carnal believer does not persevere and does not continue in the faith. He is saved, but because of his unfaithfulness he will not be presented holy and unblameable and unreproveable in God's sight.

Because of God's so-great salvation which is totally by grace, Colossians 1:22-23 describes something that will be true of every blood-bought believer. It is the same truth that is set forth in Ephesians 5:27— "That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Certainly we do not want to envision half of the church presented faultless and the other half being presented full of faults and blemishes! No, the entire body and bride of Christ will be presented faultless. The most carnal believer who has ever lived will be presented spotless and unblameable before God: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24). Hodges and Dillow divide Christ's beloved body and bride in troubling ways.

Why then does Colossians 1:23 say "IF ye continue in the faith…"? A true believer does not continue in the faith in order to be saved. A true believer continues in the faith because he is saved. Continuance in the faith is not a requirement for salvation but it is the evidence of salvation. Christ prays for those who are saved (as He did for Peter) that their faith will not fail. Hodges and Dillow teach that a true believer may abandon the faith, stop believing, deny Christ, reject the gospel, teach against Christianity and yet still be saved. Their system of theology seeks to make room for unbelieving apostates. Yet the Scriptures teach that if a person does not hold fast to the truth of the gospel, he is not saved: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, IF ye keep in memory [hold fast] what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain" (1 Cor. 15:1-2).