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Apologetics 101: Is "Once Saved, Always Saved" in the Bible?
Aleteia ^ | March 24, 2015 | JOHN MARTIGNONI

Posted on 03/24/2015 3:57:42 PM PDT by NYer

Q: I was talking with an Evangelical co-worker and he said the Bible teaches that once we are “saved,” we can never lose our salvation. Is that true?
 
A:  Absolutely not.  In fact, the Bible is full of passages that either directly or indirectly contradict this doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved.”  For example:

Romans 11:17-23, “But if some of the branches were broken off [the Jews], and you, a wild olive shoot [the Gentiles], were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree [Jesus Christ], do not boast over the branches...For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you...Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.” 

Paul is talking about how salvation has come to the Gentiles, while many of the Jews have rejected it. And he makes it very clear that once you have been grafted into Christ, you must “continue in His kindness,” or you can also be cut off.  So, even after you’ve been saved, you can still be cut off from Jesus Christ.

This is further seen in Galatians 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery [sin].” 

If once saved always saved is true, then one cannot “submit again” to a “yoke of slavery,” and Paul’s warning makes no sense. 

But Paul goes on in verse 4 to say, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”  Paul is talking to Gentile Christians who had been wrongly taught by the Judaizers that they have to be circumcised and obey the Mosaic Law in order to be true Christians. Paul tells them that is false, and if they submit to circumcision and to the Old Law, they will be “severed from Christ.” If once saved always saved is true, though, they can’t be severed from Christ and, once again, Paul’s warning is meaningless.

We also have the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke, chapter 15. The Prodigal Son was in his father’s house, and the father here is representative of God the Father. Then, the Prodigal Son leaves his father’s house and goes and lives a sinful life. In the end, though, he repents and returns to his father.  After the Prodigal Son returns, the father says this of him in verse 24: “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” 

In Evangelical terminology, to be dead is to be unsaved, and to be alive is to be saved. Notice very carefully, though, that the father says the son is alive “again.” In other words, the son was alive, or saved, when he was in his father’s house at the beginning of the parable; was “dead,” or unsaved, when he left his father’s house and lived in sin; then was alive again, saved again, when he repented and returned to his father’s house.  Alive, dead, alive again.  Saved, unsaved, saved again. 

Once saved always saved?  I don’t think so.  


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Evangelical Christian; Theology
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John Martignoni is a nationally-known Catholic apologist and Bible scholar. He is the Founder and President of the Bible Christian Society, and host of EWTN’s “Open Line.” He is also Director of the Office of the New Evangelization in the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama.
1 posted on 03/24/2015 3:57:42 PM PDT by NYer
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To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 03/24/2015 3:58:12 PM PDT by NYer (Without justice - what else is the State but a great band of robbers? - St. Augustine)
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To: NYer

Hebrews 10:26 (I believe) adds to the fact that it is not once saved, always saved...


3 posted on 03/24/2015 3:59:13 PM PDT by dware (The GOP is dead. Long live Conservatism.)
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To: NYer

I wasn’t aware that there was any church who declared OSAS as a doctrine that must be believed for salvation.


4 posted on 03/24/2015 4:00:41 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus)
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To: NYer

The OSAS doctrine has been modified of late to something like this: if you fall into habitual, unrepentant sinning, you were never saved to begin with.

Really gives you assurance, doesn’t it?


5 posted on 03/24/2015 4:01:05 PM PDT by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: NYer

Paul talks about his sins all the time. Where do these people get such ideas?


6 posted on 03/24/2015 4:03:00 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: NYer
This is typically taught in Southern Baptist Churches.
7 posted on 03/24/2015 4:07:15 PM PDT by amigatec (The only change you will see in the next four years will be what's in your pocket.)
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To: NYer

But this opposite view is more compelling....

https://www.khouse.org/articles/1997/3/print/


8 posted on 03/24/2015 4:07:57 PM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: NYer

Because you must first instil doubt before you can undermine their faith.


9 posted on 03/24/2015 4:09:33 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Salvation

We’ve all heard of the strawman argument. This is a strawTHREAD.


10 posted on 03/24/2015 4:09:49 PM PDT by Resettozero
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To: NYer
I have seen some competing thoughts on this subject. One train of thought is that once you are saved, nothing you ever do can cause you to lose your salvation. In the extreme, this means that once saved you could continually live a life of sin and still be saved.

Another train of thought is that you can never be sure of your salvation, and that you are not truly "saved" until you are dead. In this thinking, any sin can cause you to lose your salvation, and after a life of living for God, a minor sin like a lie just before you get hit by a truck would send you to hell (or to purgatory, I guess).

And yet another view on this topic is that once you are saved, there is nothing that any man or any demon can do to cause you to lose your salvation - but because you still retain free will, you can choose to walk away. To me, this seems to be the teaching that is most in harmony with the Scripture. There is a big difference between falling in a temptation and choosing to walk away from God. If we are living for Him to the best of our ability and relying on His Spirit to do the rest for us, He is not going to cast us away for falling - but if we decide we like it in our sin and want to stay there, then He will remove His presence from us.

At least, that seems to be what the Bible teaches! YMMV :-)

11 posted on 03/24/2015 4:12:37 PM PDT by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: dware

2Pet2:20-21


12 posted on 03/24/2015 4:13:28 PM PDT by Paul46360 (..)
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To: NYer

It’s a good thing he’s a Catholic, because he would get an F in theology if he were a Biblicist. Every one of those quotes were taken out of context. Example...How exactly does one continue in God’s kindness? Is it God’s kindness or is it my kindness? For goodness sake, NY, read the doggone passages yourself and notice the context. You would scrap that kooky cult in a second.


13 posted on 03/24/2015 4:13:47 PM PDT by Dutchboy88
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To: CA Conservative

Satan was in Heaven before he fell..


14 posted on 03/24/2015 4:15:12 PM PDT by Paul46360 (..)
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To: Paul46360
Satan was in Heaven before he fell..

Yes, and...??? I'm not sure how this relates to what I said.

15 posted on 03/24/2015 4:17:50 PM PDT by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: NYer
Show me in the Scriptures where the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit can be reversed.

I'll save you the trouble ... its not there.

I recall Jesus telling some of his disciples that some demons can only be cast out by prayer and fasting ... yet some people would have you believe that you can cast the Holy Spirit out of yourself ...

Where does one get this power?

Eternal life ... isn't eternal ... if you can loose it.

16 posted on 03/24/2015 4:18:09 PM PDT by dartuser
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To: NYer

So I guess Jesus -kinda- died for our sins. This explains all the last rites mumbo jumbo,,,,
If I formed a church designed to control humans in the here and now, I would make sure they remained in mortal terror that they could lose their salvation on a whim. More better, id make it to where they never really knew for sure.
That would keep ‘em doing anything I said.

Its pretty clear the whole thing is that we are sinners, and Jesus died for our sins. Religious governments really don’t like that.


17 posted on 03/24/2015 4:18:14 PM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: Dutchboy88

I haven’t had a chance to quick context yet, but I used to use 3 verses, taken out of context, to prove if you’re divorced and remarried, when you die you are going to hell.

When the passages are read on context, these are talking about two totally different topics.


18 posted on 03/24/2015 4:18:56 PM PDT by amigatec (The only change you will see in the next four years will be what's in your pocket.)
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To: dartuser
Eternal life ... isn't eternal ... if you can loose it.

But show me where it says you can't give it up voluntarily...

19 posted on 03/24/2015 4:22:28 PM PDT by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: NYer

Is OSAS in the Bible? If we’re talking about a true conversion, then yes, it is.

God is not fickle. You aren’t acceptable at breakfast, lost at lunch, acceptable again at afternoon coffee break, lost again at dinner, and fine at bedtime.

That is a ridiculous view of a capricious God.


20 posted on 03/24/2015 4:23:06 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It -- Those Who Truly Support Our Troops Pray for Their Victory!)
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