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.
How do you walk away from the Holy Spirit who is sealed inside you???
Or how about if they walked to the front of the church, fell on their knees looking to heaven and saying, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner??? Would that work???
***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.***
I really rip the Campbellites when we get into discussions on this as some have actually said this.
Then here are those NAZERINE Church believers who claim they haven’t sinned in years!
I knew one man who said he had not sinned in twenty years! And that was thirty years ago. We all tried not to spew our coffee and sodas when he said that. We all had a different opinion of him.
I still like the old song BLESSED ASSURANCE because I believe it.
I love St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. He shows how we have been saved, in PAST TENSE.
Yes, sir....it’s a done deal.
What kind of “never leave you nor forsake you” kind of God has you lost and saved twenty eleven times a day?
It’s a caricature god, with zero principles or integrity.
if Jesus’ death did not save the believer, then he died in vain as NO ONE can earn their salvation. All our righteous is as filthy rags before the LORD. How can you ever know if you have done enough or is there still more that needs to be done.
When my mom was on her death bead she cried out to her preachers..”I'm afraid I haven't done enough!”
I wanted to yell, “It's not what you have done, It is what CHRIST has done for you!”
Standing on the promises of God!
It’s either grace or works. Grace is not conditional and works never saved anyone from Hell. More amazing than once saved always saved is salvation to begin with.
“this means that once saved you could continually live a life of sin and still be saved.”
Anyone who is saved does continually live a life of sin.
I’m doomed if salvation is based on what I’ve done. I’m definitely a lawbreaker. I want to rely on grace. The logical, rational me would far rather be accepted based on the love, mercy, and grace of our God, than to wait for a sentence on the bad. I know there was bad. I don’t even want to risk the good outweighing the bad. Who knows how many are hurt by even one sin? The permutations are exponential. How much would that bad weigh? Nope. I want the pardon.
***A Christian cannot lose salvation.***
Yet I also see many which need to...
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Nope because they may come back tomorrow and deny it. They decide faith didn’t get them what they wanted and fall away.
No. You will stumble and fall at times, but if you are saved, you are not going to LIVE a life of sin. There is a big difference.
This man needs to find a Bible study and spend some time in it. Good grief.
Paul of Tarsus, Hey John, The things I want to do, I don’t. The things I don’t want to do I do. Oh wretched man that I am.
John Martignoni, Well Paul it’s fairly simple; you are yoked to the slavery of sin and your branch has been removed. The bible is quite clear on this. // sarcasmoff
I’m talking about “unconditional election,” where, according to strict Calvinism, the elect are born Christians, and they will always be Christians. The difference with OSAS is that people choose to be Christians when they are saved, but after that point it is like Calvinism, they will always be Christians. After the point of conversion, it’s like OSAS Christians become unconditionally elected. They’ve used up all their choice in the matter.
Not being either one, I will leave that debate up to those who care.
It worked for the guy in the book of Luke...I would have thought that was inspired to be written as an example for us...
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.
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