This verse is NOT about people who were never really saved. Paul says that:
(1) he
had preached the gospel to the Colossians in the past,
(2) they had
received it and
(3) that they had been
standing in it ever since.
(4) Furthermore he says that they were "
being saved" by it
"
Being saved" is the proper translation of the Greek word
sōzesthe which is a
present tense active verb, indicating
ongoing progressive activity rather than a static state.
See this for yourself on this site:
http://biblehub.com/text/1_corinthians/15-2.htm
(5) In the same breath and to this same group Paul uses the conjunction
IF which introduces the idea that their status as
actively saved people was
CONDITIONED upon their
holding fast to the gospel message they had already received and believed.
The KJV has a rather weak translation of this verse or it least it comes across that way in modern English:
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye
keep in memory what I preached unto you
The Greek word for "the highlighted phrase is
katecho. It does not literally mean "remember." There is a different word for that. Instead
katecho means to "
hold fast." As I showed in my last post, both
Thayer's Greek Lexicon and
Strong's Concordance define this word as "
hold fast"
The modern translations reflect this.
New International Version
By this gospel you are saved, if you
hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
New Living Translation
It is this Good News that saves you if you
continue to believe the message I told you--unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
English Standard Version
and by which you are being saved, if you
hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Berean Study Bible
By this gospel you are saved, if you
hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
Berean Literal Bible
by which you are also being saved, if you
hold fast to the word I proclaimed to you; otherwise you have believed in vain.
New American Standard Bible
by which also you are saved, if you
hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
Holman Christian Standard Bible
You are also saved by it, if you
hold to the message I proclaimed to you--unless you believed for no purpose.
International Standard Version
and by which you are also being saved if you
hold firmly to the message I proclaimed to you—unless, of course, your faith was worthless.
NET Bible
and by which you are being saved,] if you
hold firmly to the message I preached to you--unless you believed in vain.
Paul is saying that the Colossians would continue to
walk in salvation IF they
held fast to the word of salvation he had originally proclaimed to them. This indicates that if they turned from the truth they would also be turning from salvation. I do not know how else this verse could be translated without subverting the grammar and ordinary sense of the words. It is not our place to try to insert our presuppositions into a text but to first try and read it as it is written.
The King James Bible which you are using says
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
I suspect that the KJV translators had a somewhat stronger idea of what it meant to "keep something in memory" than just to recall an event because they translated the same word
katecho as"
hold fast" in other verses:
6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we,
if we
hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end (
Hebrews 3:6).
(Notice the similarity of this verse to
1 Corinthians 15:2.)
21 Prove all things;
hold fast that which is good (
1 Thessalonians 5:21)
http://biblehub.com/greek/2722.htm
