SCRIPTURE John 16:1 “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended”

COMMENTARY Context indicates that Jesus was warning His faithful eleven disciples about the persecution they would undergo after His departure, so that they would not abandon their faith.  Most versions of the Bible, based on the underlying Greek, render the latter part of this verse as “so you will not fall away” and the Greek word skandalizō meaning “to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away,” and in the passive, to fall away.  Clearly, if Jesus is warning the faithful eleven disciples that they could fall (that is they no longer trusted Jesus), so can any of us.  The 12th disciple, Judas, did fall even after being chosen by Jesus.  The doctrine of guaranteed, unconditional eternal security says that abandoning the faith does not matter, because we are already saved, once again contradicting the words of Jesus.