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.
Ping!
Hebrews 10:26 (I believe) adds to the fact that it is not once saved, always saved...
I wasn’t aware that there was any church who declared OSAS as a doctrine that must be believed for salvation.
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?
Paul talks about his sins all the time. Where do these people get such ideas?
Because you must first instil doubt before you can undermine their faith.
We’ve all heard of the strawman argument. This is a strawTHREAD.
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 :-)
2Pet2:20-21
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.
Satan was in Heaven before he fell..
Yes, and...??? I'm not sure how this relates to what I said.
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.
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.
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.
But show me where it says you can't give it up voluntarily...
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.
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