In Part 1 of
this series, we shared some Scripture passages that our “Once Saved, Always
Saved” (OSAS) friends use to promote their viewpoint. Then after each passage, we made some brief
comments about the verses quoted. You
can find Part 1 here:
Apostasy
The eternal
security verses they use are indeed true and relevant, but their interpretation
must be balanced by all the warning
verses.
The Bible also
speaks of those who have been saved, but can lose, have lost, or are in danger
of losing, their salvation. The
Scriptures speak of the possibility of apostasy
(Acts
21:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:3) and
the very definition of apostasy tells
us that one can indeed lose his safe position in Christ. Otherwise, what would an apostate apostatize from?
The Greek
word for apostasy (“apostasia” - Strong’s #646) means a defection from truth, apostasy, falling away, or forsaking. This word is very closely related to the
Greek word for divorcement (“apostasion” – Strong’s #647). A man would not approach a strange woman and
tell her that he wants a divorce. She
would simply say, “But we were never married!”
To be un-joined, you must have been joined in the first place. In the same way, apostasy indicates that the
person who fell away from Christ was actually at one time joined with Christ beforehand.
I contend
that Christians do have eternal security, but it is conditional, i.e., it
ultimately depends, not upon our works, but on whether we continue in our faith and
keep on trusting Jesus and His work on the cross (Galatians 3:3). Our OSAS brethren will often think that we are
trusting in our works to remain in
Christ. But no one should do that. They’ll say that salvation is all of God’s
work and not our own. That’s true, but
God Himself, in His Holy Scriptures, tells us in very clear terms that the
ultimate destiny of the believer IS conditional on his staying with Him, and continuing
in the faith, as we will soon see.
God has given us many warnings
in the Bible concerning the fate of believers and the possibility of falling
away.
If / Then
In God’s
Word, we have many “if / then” passages about salvation – passages that say if you do “X”, then “Y”
happens. For example:
John 8:31 – “So He said
to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘IF you continue in My word, you are
truly My disciples.’” [BSB]
John 15:5-6 - “I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit… IF anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.” [BSB]
If we
(believers) are the branches, who are “in Him,” and if a particular branch is
thrown away and burned, then how is this not
a former believer ending up in Hell?
Our
OSAS friends like to quote passages about eternal security from John
6 and John 10 (see Part 1), but they rarely mention the two warning passages above, which are given
to us by the same apostle John, in the same gospel. There is a balance.
Romans 11:21-22 - “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He
also spare not thee. Behold therefore
the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward
thee, goodness, IF thou
continue in his goodness:
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” [KJV]
Again,
it is speaking of “good” branches (who bear fruit and don’t fall away), and
“bad” branches (former believers) who must endure the severity of God. Yes,
we are grafted into Christ (Romans 11:17), but we can be
UN-grafted (cut off), as well.
1
Corinthians 15:1-2 - “…brethren, I declare unto you the gospel… by which also
ye are saved, IF you keep in
memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” [KJV]
One
must continuously believe the gospel message, or his once-valid faith will
become ineffective.
Colossians
1:21-23 - “Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds
because of your evil deeds, but now He has reconciled you… IF indeed you continue in your faith…”
[BSB]
2
Timothy 2:12 - “IF we endure, we
will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us.” [NASV]
Hebrews
3:6 - “…
And we are His house, IF we
hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.” [BSB]
Hebrews
3:12-14 - “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, in departing from the living God… lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. For we are
made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the
beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” [KJV]
1 John
2:24 (“…IF what you heard from the beginning abides in
you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” [KJV]
These are
only some of the many “if / then” verses.
There are many more passages that warn believers of losing salvation….
More Warning Passages
Take heed,
fellow believers:
1
Corinthians 10:11-12 - “…Now these things happened to them as examples… as warnings for us…
So the one [the believer] who thinks he is standing firm should be
careful not to fall.” [BSB]
1
Thessalonians 3:5 – “For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to
know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our
labour be in vain.”
Paul
was anxious to know the status of the faith of the believers in Thessalonica
and was concerned as to whether his labor there (getting them saved) had been
in vain. He sent someone to find out
about them, to “know their faith.” But why
would he do that if a person is “Once Saved, Always Saved”?
1
Timothy 1:19 - “…some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their
faith.” [NASV]
1
Timothy 4:1 - “…some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of devils…” [KJV]
1
Timothy 4:16 – “… Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in
them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
[KJV]
Notice
that the apostle Paul is telling a pastor
(Timothy) to take heed concerning himself and his teaching. His admonition to Timothy was to not only
save his hearers (with the gospel), but to also save himself by his continuing in the faith. Surely, Timothy was a believer, but Paul knew
that even a pastor could lose his salvation.
1
Timothy 5:14-15 - “… younger women… For some are already turned aside after Satan.”
[KJV]
1 Timothy 6:10 - “…they have erred from the faith [KJV] – “… wandered away from the faith.” [NASV]
1 Timothy 6:21 - “…gone astray from the faith” [NASV] – “departed from
the faith.” [CSB]
2
Timothy 2:18 - “…have erred” [KJV] – “…have departed from the truth” [NIV]
– “…have
gone astray” [NASV] – “…have abandoned the truth.”
[ISV]
Hebrews
10:26 - “For if we sin willfully after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins,
27-But
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries.
28- He that despised Moses’ Law died without
mercy under two or three witnesses:
29- Of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace?” [KJV]
First
of all, know that the author is speaking to Christians / believers in this
passage. If you go back and check,
you’ll find that before we even get to 10:26, he is addressing the “brethren”
in 10:19, and
speaks of their “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Can the unsaved
do this? Notice the “us” having the “full
assurance of faith” in 10:22, “having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water.” Does this sound like
he’s talking to the lost? Notice in 10:23
the “Let
us hold fast the profession of our faith…,” the “Let
us consider…” in 10:24, and the “assembling of ourselves”
in 10:25.
Getting
to our text, note the “we” in v. 26… this includes the author and his readers! Again, notice also in v. 29, that this person
had been sanctified by the New
Covenant. Who does this describe? There is no question that the author of
Hebrews is directing these warnings to believers,
Christians!
And the
penalty is judgment and fiery indignation which will “devour” (consume) its
target without mercy. For this sin,
there is no more sacrifice or forgiveness.
No one can deny that this is a former believer rejecting Jesus Christ
and ending up in Hell (a “much sorer punishment”), which
again proves that he does not merely “lose rewards.”
James
5:19-20 - “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone
should bring him back, consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of
his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
[BSB]
Again, clearly,
this verse above is not just talking about a loss of rewards, but a loss of
one’s soul. And again, James was talking to fellow
believers, “My brothers…”
2 Peter
1:10 – “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure…” [KJV]
Again,
notice that Peter is speaking to the brethren
(i.e., believers) and he tells them to make their calling and election
sure. But why? Why say this if
they are already guaranteed salvation?
2 Peter
2:15 -
“Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray” [KJV]
2 Peter 2:20 - “For if after they have escaped the
pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse
with them than the beginning.”
21 – “For it had been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they
had known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”
22 – “But it is
happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own
vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” [KJV]
Here, Peter
is warning his readers of people who have come into the church, causing many to
stumble. Notice that they had at one
time escaped the pollutions of the
world and had become untangled from
them through knowing Jesus. In other
words, they were saved at one point. But
if they have become entangled again with
the pollutions of the world, and fell away as to be overcome by them, it will
be worse for them than if they had never got saved to start with! Wow!
If someone never gets saved, he ends up in Hell. But in this case, something even worse than that would happen (i.e., they
went to an even worse place within Hell) all because they had been saved, but willingly
fell into sin, became hardened, fell away and eventually betrayed the One who
so graciously saved them. By the way, once
again, this is absolute proof that they did NOT merely lose rewards. They lost their soul.
Why such a
harsh penalty? Because it is the
betrayal of the only One who could have helped them. Isn’t this fitting that this would apply to someone
who had indeed been a Christian / believer, knew Jesus intimately, AND THEN
REJECTED the person and work of Jesus Christ?
According to Peter, it is better to never have been saved at all
(meriting Hell), than to be saved and fall away from God (meriting a worse place in Hell). The commentator Matthew Henry says concerning
this passage that a state of apostasy is worse than a state of ignorance!
2 Peter
3:17 - “…be
on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless
and fall from your secure position.” [NIV]
Notice
in the verse above that the believer’s position is considered secure unless he is carried away by error.
Revelation 3:16 – Concerning the lukewarm state of
the church of Laodicea, Jesus says, “…I will spue thee out of My mouth.”
[KJV]
This is God threatening to utterly
reject those who had been believers, but grew lukewarm in their faith. Instead of growing in their faith, they were
weakening.
Some have left their first love (Jesus),
as these next two verses indicate:
1 Timothy 5:12 - “Having damnation [or
condemnation, judgment], because they have cast off their first
faith.” [KJV]
Revelation 2:5 - Concerning the church of Ephesus, because they left their first love, Jesus
says,
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen… or else I… will remove thy
candlestick out of its place.” [KJV]
They were in
danger of entering darkness when they were supposed to be the light of the
world.
Scripture
also speaks of God blotting one’s name out of the Book of Life:
Revelation
3:5 – Concerning
the church of Sardis, Jesus says, “And I will never blot out his name from the Book
of Life.”
Only believers have
their names written in the Book of Life.
If God says that He won’t blot someone’s name out of the Book of Life
because of their faithfulness, then there is the possibility that they CAN be
blotted out, if unfaithful, as some indeed were.
Galatians 1:6 - “I marvel that
ye are so soon removed from Him…” [KJV] – “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him…” [NASV]
Galatians 5:4 - “You have been severed from
Christ… you have fallen from grace.” [NASV]
“Severed from Christ…”
This sounds really permanent! If
a man has his arm severed from his body, can anyone say that it was never
really part of his body in the first place?
The “he was never really saved” argument doesn’t work here. And speaking of that…
“They Were Never Really Saved to
Begin With”
When anyone
who confesses Christ appears to have “fallen away,” our OSAS friends insist
that this person was “never saved to begin with.”
There are
indeed many who have “flirted” with Christianity and toyed with the idea of
becoming a Christian. They have made
half-hearted commitments and possibly even made some sort of confession, but
never intended to give their all. They
may have been at the threshold of Christianity, but they never entered in and
surrendered to Christ or made a true commitment to Him, and they end up leaving. These are false conversions. Our OSAS friends can rightly say that these
people may have had an interest in Christ, but were never truly saved. These situations do happen. But as we have shown, this doesn’t apply to everyone who leaves.
I find it
disturbing to often hear an accuser flippantly saying that a particular believer
who fell away from the faith was never saved to start with, a person whom he had
never even known. This accusation is quite
unfair, unless the one who fell away showed evidence beforehand that he was not
saved. Otherwise, the accuser is merely
reading back into his life a condition that he is presupposing. In other words, he is simply speculating,
because there is no biblical evidence that every
single person who turns away from God was never a believer to begin with.
If the
“never saved to begin with” argument is true for everyone who falls away, then
Paul was wrong. Apparently, those who
were “cut off” from the olive tree were never really grafted into the tree in
the first place, right? (Romans 11:17) If everyone who falls away was never saved,
then Jesus must have also been wrong about His parable! Since the unmerciful slave’s huge debt was
reinstated, he must have never really been forgiven of his debt to start with,
was he? (Matthew 18:21-35) Not
only that, Peter must have been wrong when he wrote in his epistle that certain
people who had escaped the pollutions
of the world through salvation had actually
stayed entangled in those
pollutions after all (2 Peter 2:20). Of course, I am purposely being ridiculous by
showing the logical absurdity of this faulty idea of “one was never saved to
begin with” for everyone that falls away.
It doesn’t hold water.
Excuses
It is
impossible to ignore the multitude of passages in Scripture that negate the
idea of “Once Saved, Always Saved.” And
we haven’t even addressed the Old Testament!
These passages are warning believers that they can indeed lose their
salvation by turning away from God by continuing in willful sin.
So what do
our OSAS friends say about these warning passages?
The issue of
these multiple warnings in Scripture is a real problem for our OSAS brothers
and sisters. I have heard well-educated
and highly influential scholars use some very weak arguments when trying to
compensate for these warnings.
They will
often say that these warning verses are simply talking about the loss of rewards rather than the loss of
salvation. But that is demonstrably
false as we have shown. The context is
clear that these particular passages are speaking of losing salvation itself
(i.e., losing one’s soul).
Some say
that these warnings were not addressed to believers only, but to mixed
crowds. Therefore, the warnings don’t
apply to the Christians there. But if a pastor warns his congregation to
avoid killing, stealing and idolatry, is he speaking only to those who may be doing these things? No, he is speaking to all of them, the
warnings are for the whole church, e.g.,
“lest
there be in any of you [believers included] an evil heart of unbelief” (Hebrews
3:12-13). The authors of these
warning passages, in speaking to their audience, repeatedly use terminology
like “brethren,” “holy brethren,” “in Me [Jesus],” “partakers of the Holy
Ghost,” “tasted of the heavenly gift,” “share in the heavenly calling,”
“grafted in,” “enlightened,” members of “His house,” “escaped the corruption of
the world,” having had a “secure position,” “reconciled,” “sanctified,” etc. It is unmistakable
to whom they are referring. With this in
mind, if you want to say that these warnings are only for the lost, the burden
of proof is on you to demonstrate
that. You can’t just casually assume
that these are only to the lost, just because it doesn’t fit your
theology. So, this “speaking only to the
lost” argument does not work.
Some say
that these warnings are just for discipline and chastisement purposes, not for
the believers’ damnation. But there are
too many warnings that include language
about damnation, hellfire, and the loss of souls to make that conclusion.
Some have
said that the warnings were simply to identify apostates or to cause church
members to examine themselves. But if
OSAS is true then there is no such thing as an apostate, anyway – they didn’t fall away, they just stayed away. But that’s not the definition of an
apostate. Concerning the need for
members to examine themselves, I would ask why?
The very fact that believers must daily examine themselves (2
Corinthians 13:5) proves that OSAS can’t be true. You shouldn’t need to examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith if you
can’t lose your salvation.
One very
well known Calvinist scholar said that these warnings are simply stressing the
things that God wants, what He expects from us, that’s all. But this is really not an answer and it leaves
a lot unexplained. So what happens if
these warnings are ignored? Does he automatically assume that there would
be no consequences? Is he saying that
these obvious warnings are not really warnings at all? This same scholar also says that these warnings
are merely DE-scriptive and not PRE-scriptive.
That is, they are simply describing
how a Christian will act – not prescribing
what a Christian needs to do to be ultimately saved. But on what basis does he say this? His “eternal security verses” are not stand
alone passages; they need to be balanced
with other verses, because there are far more “warning verses” that imply or
directly teach the opposite of his understanding
of the eternal security verses. The “if
/ then” context implies that they are indeed prescriptive – they are telling us
how to ultimately be saved. All the warnings are like Jesus’ “endure to
the end” statement (Matthew 24:13). They are
not saying, “All believers will endure to the end.” Rather, all the warning verses are saying, “IF
you endure to the end, you will be saved.”
Again, they are prescriptive. But this scholar is trying to simply dismiss
all the warnings that disturb his view.
I even heard
one OSAS proponent say that these biblical warnings are like a parent raising
his hand to his child when the child is about to do something wrong, but the
parent is never really intending to
strike him, as parents often “fake it.”
It was just a tactic to scare the child.
So, are we to believe that God is only bluffing with these warnings in Holy Scripture? That God is issuing an empty threat? I’m sorry, but
we have no Scriptural reason to think that God doesn’t follow through with His
promises or His threats. I think this just shows the desperation of some
OSAS believers and their inability to explain these warning passages. Again, it is the “elephant in the room” that few
of them want to really deal with. So
these arguments end up being nothing but excuses.
Conclusion
Those of us
who don’t believe in OSAS are easily able to reconcile the “eternal security”
passages with the “warning” passages.
Our view is simple – we do indeed believe in the eternal security of the
believer, as long as we persist in our salvation,
by faith. According to Galatians
3:3, we are saved by
faith, and we continue in faith. I want to stress again that our remaining in Christ is not about trusting
in our works, but simply continuing to trust the person and work of Jesus
Christ on the cross.
But
Calvinists and the OSAS crowd seem to have a very hard time trying to reconcile
the “warning” passages with their “security” passages without either hairsplitting,
re-defining terms, or developing silly, unbiblical, or unnecessarily complicated
arguments in the process. They seem to
be ignoring the balance in
Scripture. Many of them have forsaken
the simplicity of God’s Word, instead of letting it speak for itself. We think that this is a good example of what
happens when one strays from the plain meaning of Scripture and tries to inject
his pet theories into it. Many don’t
take into account the whole of
Scripture. About the best they can do is
to claim that it is a “paradox” or a “mystery.”
There are
many more warning passages we could quote, but I don’t want to be
redundant. In Part 3, we will be sharing
some of the more practical aspects of the effects of OSAS.
