ONCE SAVED - ALWAYS SAVED?
Our Topic is ETERNAL SECURITY:
Can One Be GENUINELY 'Born Again' Yet Finally Not Inherit
Eternal Life?
What Do the Scriptures Say?
Avoiding Both Being a Theological Exposition and a 'Cheap Shot' Attack on Opposing Views, This Article Seeks to Chart a Biblical Course Through the Theological Arguments
“Many believe that 'eternal security' is not biblical because (rather like 'predestination'), it has been so inadequately explained, but if I inadequately explained electricity, especially in warning of its dangers, should that mean that one should reject the belief that - wrongly used - electricity can be dangerous?”
It is very disappointing
that so many articles on the 'net' which consider this topic
continue to contribute to the terrible polarity which has
developed on this subject! Many such articles immediately launch
into a tirade against the other 'side' instead of taking a
step back and considering this topic in a purely cool, logical and
fully biblical way!
The first thing to point out is that the question carries a
confusion, or a contradiction; If one could 'lose' one's
salvation, one is attributing 'humaness' to God in a sense which
the Scriptures do not allow! For God grants salvation and where
is the scriptural justification for saying that our God 'loses'
things? To suggest that one might be genuinely saved today but
might get into an unsaved state in a few months or so
seems to indicate that we are attributing capriciousness and
whimsicality to God! In short, we are seeing God as human, rather
than as God. Of course, one could protest, 'I know that God does
not lose things but once He gives something to me, is it not
possible that I should lose it?' But this paints a picture of God
as an irresponsible parent who cannot look after His own
children, it also reveals a view of God as being careless
- but God is not careless with the gifts which He grants.
The first thing one needs to do, therefore, is to not necessarily
answer or discuss this question according to the logic of the
questioner!
Obviously people have tended to fall into two camps on this
question and this is highly regrettable, because both camps are
often partly correct and partly wrong, so we must attempt to
apply a purely scriptural approach in our consideration of
this subject; let us attempt to do that.
A few insist that God does not know whether you or I will finally
inherit Eternal Life because the final outcome to that question
is in the future - I am afraid that we could never have
confidence in such a God who is just hanging around in Heaven
waiting to see how we will 'turn out' because such things are
beyond His sphere of influence!! We should at least all be able
to agree that that concept of God finds no support in the
Scriptures; countless Scriptures (many of which we are going to
look at) uphold quite a different picture.
But this does not mean that God is not 'open' to certain things
which you and I might decide to do, but He is aware of all
the great and major outcomes on this planet because He is God and
not a man. So here is how I answer this:
According to Scriptures such as Isaiah 45:4-13, Isaiah
46:3-5,9-10, Ephesians 1: 3-14, Ephesians 2:8-10
and 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (to quote just a few), it is God who is in charge of
these things, at least in an ultimate sense. Whether or not one
is more inclined toward Arminius or Calvin, I think that one has
to accept God as supremely sovereign.
Then, if one considers Revelation 20: 12-15, we see that the Lamb
has a Book of Life and that those finally saved are entered in
there. Since God knows 'the end from the beginning' - Isaiah
46:9-10 - I think we must accept that those names are already
written there. In fact Revelation 13:8 confirms that those names
were written in this Book '...From the foundation of the
world.'
Now if we consider the parable of the Sower and the Seed in Luke
8: 5-15, we see that we ourselves have a responsibility to
CONTINUE to respond to the truth of the Gospel. The fact that God
is certainly in charge does not negate our personal
responsibility to 'remain on track' as Christians. The Bible also
shows that it is those who 'endure to the end' who shall be
saved. There is personal responsibility in this. If we do that,
this parable seems to say that we are going to be in the Lamb's
Book of Life, we are going to be of the Elect of God - however
one wants to describe it.
But this does not mean that God is not sure how we will turn out,
after all, He knows the end from the beginning. Rather, in some
way which we cannot fully humanly explain, both our personal
decision (which remains completely meaningful), and God's
election come together; that is to say: God really did
choose us rather than we chose Him (John 6:44,65; John 15:16;
Romans 8:30; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Ephesians 1:3-6; Ephesians 2:8-10
), and He did not choose us because
He foresaw that we would be 'good people' - a plainly
unscriptural position, yet we also really do have the
power of choice (Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:15; 1 Kings 18:21;
Acts 3:19). This is the picture which the Scriptures paint and we
should not deviate from it just because it is difficult to
explain.
Another point is that when we say that 'God knows the end from
the beginning' that does not mean that God cannot put that aside
in His everyday dealings with men and women in the historical
present. Neither does it mean that certain people are
"doomed" no matter what they might do. At every stage we
must oppose the Fatalism (a pagan teaching) which has made
serious inroads into 'Hyper- Calvinism.' The Bible
certainly upholds grace - but never 'Fatalism.'
The bottom line is that Jesus rejects nobody who
approaches Him in faith (John 6:37, 47; Acts 16:30-31), while
those who become eternally separated from God were those people
who never wanted God in this life (Luke 16:19-31), or who
shamefully used His name for personal gain or prestige (Matthew
7:21-23); neither does God - in His mercy - expect full doctrinal
comprehension for salvation (Matthew 5:5-12; Matthew 25:31-46).
[Though Christians are certainly encouraged to move foward in
biblical/doctrinal knowledge rather than place a 50-year
'reserved' sign on the first pew which they ever occupate! See
Matthew 25:14-30; Acts 17:11; Hebrews 5:12-14; Hebrews 6:1-3; 2
Peter 3:18].
Now - as you and I know - some do walk away from the Gospel
(although I don't think that many do). According to biblical
teaching, these people never 'had' salvation in the first place;
1 John 2: 19. True believers certainly appear to be sealed - no
one can 'pluck them,' or 'snatch them' out of God's hand ;
John10:27-29. I'm afraid that it is no answer to say - as some do
- that despite being 'sealed' we ourselves can still break that
seal 'from the inside' and decide to walk away; No - that still
presents an impotent God who is incapable of protecting His own
children! We must remember that God is sovereign (supreme in power and dominion): Ephesians presents a picture of
a God who is in control and is sole Elector and Decider. The fact
that certain doctrines are tricky to explain gives us no right to
change them! The problem exists for us as human beings since we
cannot tell by looking at other professing believers, just how
deep their Christianity goes! If a person attended church for a
month - or even 5 years - but then finally and decisively
walks away from their apparent calling, they probably did not have
salvation in the first place; 1 John 2:19 (though we must be very
careful not to equate "church-going" with membership of
God's Eternal Church as written in Heaven). What one
should never do is to claim - right at the beginning of ones
Christian life - that since one is now "saved" it does not matter
what one does, since the saved cannot fall. This is a somewhat
arrogant approach, since only time can test this claim!
1 Corinthians 10: 12 says:
"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he
fall."
Paul was also well aware of the need for continuing
self-discipline,
"...lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become
disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9: 27).
Elect of God or not, there is a very real sense in which we have
to work out our own salvation with 'fear and trembling'
(Philippians 2: 12).
As I say, the 'once saved, always saved' approach cannot be
upheld without very careful explanation. In a real sense, it is
perfectly correct that the Body of Christ are not going to fail
since they are under God's grace. That is looking at the subject
from God's eternal perspective, but we have to form an understanding and respond to what we know within the
'here and now.' Many believe that 'eternal security' is not biblical because (rather like 'predestination'), it has been so inadequately explained, but if I inadequately explained electricity, especially in warning of its dangers, should that mean that one should reject the belief that - wrongly used - electricity can be dangerous?
Ultimately, we - as believers - are expected to endure and to 'grow in grace and knowledge'; that is
OUR responsibility. Of course, even there, we could do nothing
without God. Yet Scripture seems clear that God alone is Elector, Caller and Justifier. See Romans 8 - the entire chapter.
This is the only way that one can answer this question.
But first of all it is usually necessary to address the basic
contradiction in the form which this question usually takes.
If a person says, 'If we are saved now - today - are we saved
forever?' there is an obvious contradiction there, indeed the term could be called an 'oxymoron' (that is: a contradiction within a term). If God has
really saved us, then, He HAS saved us! Are we seriously
suggesting that God might only be interested in "saving" people
for a few weeks or years, depending on what they might decide to
do? That is a God who is NOT in control and a God we could have
no confidence in! Where is the understanding of the grace of God in that? Rather, if one is truly saved, NOBODY and NOTHING can ever
snatch us out of His hand and WE WILL go on to produce fruit! The
confusion enters in because - simply by looking at other
believers -we do not finally know who is in that group.
Scriptures such as Luke 9:62 and 2 Peter 2:20-22 show us that it
is spiritually perilous for one to learn of the truth of
the gospel but then reject it, but a very careful comparison with
John 10:1-29 shows that those verses are not speaking
about those who are genuinely born again (as John 10:27-29 makes
clear).
But what of Hebrews 6:4-6? Does this Scripture show that the
genuinely born again can lose out on Eternal Life as some
claim? This is where we have to understand that all relevant
Scriptures on any doctrine need to be taken into account
before we can understand that doctrine! Certainly - at first
glance - Hebrews 6:4-6 seems to present us with a problem, but we
have to understand that - in many places - the Word of God
establishes that those truly standing under God's grace
cannot fail; just consider John 3:5-6; John 6:35-39,44,
54-56; John 8:42-47; John 10:27-29; John 16:9-11 and Romans
8:1,30-39 for 'starters.' So we must take these (and many other)
Scriptures into account before we can accrue evidence of what the
writer of Hebrews had in mind in chapter 6.
It is odd that the writer of Hebrews says that something is
impossible (for Christians to completely fall away but then
return to a point of repentance a second time) yet some believers
think it a possibility! In fact, the writer is clearly writing
philosophically. Does he say that this has happened to certain
people? On the contrary he says, 'But, beloved, we are
confident of better things concerning you...' (verse 9). But
does the writer infer that it could happen? Yes, he does,
but here he is apparently writing philosophically and as an
encouragement to Christian zeal. I think I can give an
illustration of this: when our children were small I would
sometimes warn them of the apparent eventual consequences
of their misbehaviour, ie., stern, ongoing punishment, even when
I fully knew that there was a strict limit on this because of our
love for them which was not negotiable; ultimately no parent
would reject their own children, how much more is it
impossible for God to reject His very own children (Isaiah
41:8-10; John 15:16; Romans 8:29-30, 38-39; 2 Corinthians
1:20-22; Ephesians 4:30; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter1:2-9).
How about Revelation 22:19? Doesn't this verse say that God is
able to erase names from the Book of Life? It does indeed
say so in the KJV but this is one of the KJV's famous
mistranslations, now corrected in most newer versions. The NIV
translates this accurately:
'And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy,
God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in
the holy city, which are described in this book.' (Revelation
22:19, NIV).
So this verse, when correctly translated, never talks
about taking names out of the Book of Life!
Two Final Powerful Biblical Confirmations of Eternal Security!
1. The apostle Paul obviously penned the entire
8th chapter of Romans in response to some at Rome who had denied
that the salvation of the true believer is truly secure. The
reader of this article is encouraged to read this entire chapter
carefully and painstakingly: Do not Paul's words here make it
entirely clear that he believed that the true Christian
believer could not fall? Paul obviously took out a huge chunk
of Romans (39 consecutive verses), to counter the claims of a few
who believed that, after suffering so much, Christians might
still not inherit Eternal Life.
2. The biblical teaching that the Holy Spirit is 'the earnest of
our inheritance' - which means the 'deposit' or 'down-payment' on
our Eternal Life completely rules out the possibility of the
Christian believer entirely falling away. The Scriptures to consider here are Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Corinthians
1:21-22 and 2 Corinthians 5:5. The reader is encouraged to look
up those Scriptures and also to carefully read This Article which
outlines the precise meaning of 'arrabon.'
Of course, all
Christians may go through spiritually weaker 'backsliding'
phases and the biblical evidence is that God will punish for this yet never remove His grace; just stop and consider that the Lord never removed His grace even from Samson and David. He punished them when they fell short but both men died still under God's bounteous grace!
I am very pleased that several people who had been confused by
this tricky subject or who had fallen into one or other of the
two entrenched camps, have found the explanation which you have
just read, to be very helpful, illuminating and, hopefully,
biblical.
Robin A. Brace
2002, slightly revised 2004 and 2007.
(© This article is Copyright Robin A. Brace 2002, 2004, 2007. If
you want it on your own website please do the honourable thing
and come to us for permission first. It is forbidden to excerpt
this article without our permission)
Go here for a full - and biblical - explanation of predestination:
The FULL FACTS ABOUT PREDESTINATION
(In short, this article reveals that this doctrine - when swept free of unbiblical errors - is one of the most encouraging doctrines of all!)
ETERNAL SECURITY - NOT A VAIN PROMISE
WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN?
(Set your mind at rest right now).
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