I don’t see how any soul can be saved until after they breathe their last and die, so for me there is no such thing as “once saved always saved”.
I realize it is common among evangelicals who have committed themselves to Christ to believe or declare at some point that they have been saved. This is a great and touching display of faith. But it is highly presumptuous to speak for Christ in this manner.
We can hope, we can believe, but we can’t actually declare our souls saved.
Since we can’t know when Christ saves a soul, it is very presumptuous to declare your soul saved at any point in your life, let alone to believe it as if you are speaking for Christ.
As such, you are not and can’t be “saved” at any point in your living life. Not that you know of. This shatters the premise of “once saved always saved”.
Of course, my opinion won’t stop the millions of evangelicals from believing they are already saved, at age 60, or 37, or 9. They believe they are irrevocably saved from their commitment to Christ.
I confess I envy those people, just as I envy those who don’t believe in works or believe in the doctrine of “faith only”. You are lucky to have peace of mind I don’t allow myself.
1 John 5:11-13 King James Version (KJV)
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
I realize it is common among evangelicals who have committed themselves to Christ to believe or declare at some point that they have been saved. This is a great and touching display of faith. But it is highly presumptuous to speak for Christ in this manner.We can hope, we can believe, but we can’t actually declare our souls saved.
Not only is it common among evangelicals to believe our souls are saved and to declare it to be so, though we are not bragging in light of the cost of the gift of salvation, it was common among the Apostles!
Romans 10:13
for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
ACTS 2:37-41
Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 8:34-39 (NASB)
34The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37[And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
Amen. And very well-stated! God bless you!