Once Saved, Always Saved – Fact or Fiction
Most Christians today go to one of two extremes regarding their personal salvation. The majority believes “Once saved, always saved, no matter what I do.” They believe once they accept Jesus as their Saviour, there is no way they can be lost. And on the other hand there are those who believe that no one can claim the assurance of salvation. But the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes.
God wants us to rejoice and be able to know for certain that we are on our way to the promised land and be able to sing, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” But at the same time, He wants us to “take heed lest we fall” and be willing to sing, “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way” to arrive at our hoped for destination.
King David struck a good balance when he wrote Psalm 2:11: “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.”
“Once Saved, Always Saved” is really not a bad slogan as long as you put an IF on the end. There is no good reason why we cannot always be saved as long as we always abide in Christ. Once we become connected to the vine (Jesus is the vine, we are the branches), the sap will continually flow to our little branch. But when we willfully sin the sap ceases to flow and immediately our foliage begins to wither because we are no longer vitally connected to the vine.
We must keep one thing in mind; sin is a choice. As Christians it isn’t something we have to do. As free moral agents sin is an option we still have, but it is not the best option. The Bible says no one can pluck us out of the Father’s hand (John 10:29). What a wonderful promise. But it doesn’t say we can’t jump out by ourselves, if we choose to do so. There is nothing to prevent that from happening. Yes, there will be warnings along the way for those who are disobedient, because God loves us too much to just stand back and do nothing. But in the final analysis only we can determine our eternal destiny.
Once Saved, Always Saved If
Let’s take a look at some iffy texts in the Bible, keeping in mind that the word IF is used as a function word to introduce a condition or a stipulation.
2 Chron. 15:1 & 2 – “And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: and he went out to meet Asa and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” Pretty plain, isn’t it? Has God changed? No! {Heb. 13:8; Mal. 3:6} This is a divine principle that runs like a thread through the entire Bible and applies to individuals, churches, and even whole nations.
Ezek. 33:13-16 – “When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.”
John 8:31, 32 – “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Free from what? Free from sin and guilt.
John 15:6, 7 – “If a man abide not in me {to abide means to live, dwell, stay, continue}, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
Rom. 8:13 & 14 – “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Rom. 11:20-23 – “. . . Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches {The Jews}, 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.”
1 Cor. 15:1, 2 – “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”
Col. 1:21-23 – “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.”
Heb. 2:1-3 – “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.”
Heb. 3:6, 14 – “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. . . . For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;”
Heb. 6:4-8 – “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.”
Heb. 10:26-29 – “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins {The righteousness of Christ does not cover us while we are sinning}, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot 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?”
Heb. 12:25 – “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they {Israel} escaped not who refused him {Moses} that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him {Christ} that speaketh from heaven:”
2 Peter 1:9, 10 – “But he that lacketh these things {that ladder of true sanctification spoken of in verses 5-7} is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”
1 John 2:3, 4 – “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. {There will be no one in heaven who does not know God} He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
1 John 4:12 – “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
Salvation Conditional Upon Obedience
The next few verses do not have the word if in them, but they still show clearly that salvation is conditional upon obedience and that once we have been saved we can be lost.
Isa. 1:28 – “And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.” One cannot forsake the Lord unless he has once known Him.
Ezek. 18:26-28 – “When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”
Matt. 12:43-45 – “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” Everyone who does not have the Holy Spirit has an unclean spirit. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man it is forced to leave because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. To have the Holy Spirit of Christ is to have salvation, therefore you can have salvation and lose it, just as this man was rid of the unclean spirit, but afterward took on seven more.
Matt. 24:13 – “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
Luke 9:62 – “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Once we become Christians God will enable us, by choice, to remain Christians. If we leave Christ we are not fit to go to heaven.
1 Cor. 9:27 – “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
1 Cor. 10:12 – “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
2 Cor. 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 {cast away, or rejected}?” You can’t be cast away or rejected unless you have previously had a place with Christ.
1 Tim. 4:1 – “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shalldepart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” You can’t depart from the faith unless you first had the faith?
Heb. 3:12 – “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, indeparting from the living God.”
Heb. 4:11 – “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest {from sin}, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
James 1:12 – “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation {or keeps from yielding to it): for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”
2 Peter 2:20-22 – “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. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.”
1 John 3:8 – “He that committeth sin is of the devil. . .” No matter what their profession.
Exod. 32:31-33 – “And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.”
Rev. 3:5 – “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”
Rev. 20:15 – “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Rev. 22:19 – “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
What determines whether or not our names are blotted out, or retained in the book of life? 1 John 5:12 – “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
Parables Teach Salvation is Conditional
Even the parables of Christ teach that salvation is conditional upon obedience to the truth. The foolish virgins of Matt. 25:1-13 had oil in their lamps at one time, but their lamps were going out. Oil represents the Holy Spirit (Zech. 4:1-6). At one time in their lives the foolish virgins had the Holy Spirit, they had salvation, but they didn’t make preparation for the delay and their lamps went out.
The parable of the sower in Matt. 13:1-9 is another example. The seeds of truth were scattered in various types of ground. Even though some of the seed was cast into the rocks or into an area where there were thorns, it did come up, it did sprout; new life began, but for one reason or another it withered away and died. This parable is a true representation of those who accept Jesus as their Saviour and for whatever reason turn their backs on the truth and lose salvation.
How about the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son in Luke 15? You can’t be a lost sheep unless you once belonged to the shepherd. You can’t be lost unless you have once been found. Salvation can come and go depending upon our own choice.
The Bible also gives examples of others who forfeited salvation. The children of Israel are a case in point. 1 Cor. 10:1-12 “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
King Saul is another good example. In 1 Sam. 10:9, 10, the Bible says, “And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.”
This shows that Saul was in a saved condition at one time but in the end the Lord departed from Saul and became his enemy as recorded in 1 Sam. 28:16, “Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?”
Also in Acts 5:1-11 we have the example of Ananias and Sapphira. They were among those who received the fullness of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, but because of jealousy and covetousness grieved the Holy Spirit and died.
Don’t forget the Promises
As Christians we need to keep the if before us, but at the same time we don’t want to forget the promise after the if. Let’s reread a few of the verses we read earlier, but this time place the emphasis on the promise rather than on the if.
“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” {John 8:31}
“If ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” {2 Peter 1:10}
“. . . We do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” {1 John 2:3}
“If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” {1 John 4:12}
We need to look also at how strong and able God is to take care of us. In Jude 24 God says He “is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”
In 2 Tim. 1:12 it says, “. . . for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day{second coming of Christ}.”
Acts 20:32 “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among them which are sanctified.”
Heb. 7:25 “Wherefore he {Christ} is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
God is Not Handicapped
Now when verses like these are read, most people say, “Oh, I don’t have a problem with God being able. It’s me that I’m worried about. I know God can do it. But what about me.” Well, praise the Lord if you feel that way, because the Bible makes it very plain that God is not handicapped when it comes to working with frail human beings like us. Phil 2:13 says, “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
1 Cor. 10:13 says, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” {Or that we will be able to keep from yielding to the temptation.}
2 Cor. 12:9 “And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Tim. 4:18 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Yes, salvation is conditional, but we can claim it with complete confidence so long as we continue to make Jesus first, and last, and best in everything.
The book Christ’s Object Lessons, page 155 gives the reason for Peter’s denial of Christ as follows: “Peter’s fall was not instantaneous, but gradual. Self-confidence led him to the belief that he was saved, and step after step was taken in the downward path, until he could deny his Master. Never can we safely put confidence in self or feel, this side of heaven, that we are secure against temptation. Those who accept the Saviour, however sincere their conversion, should never be taught to say or to feel that they are saved. This is misleading. Every one should be taught to cherish hope and faith; but even when we give ourselves to Christ and know that He accepts us, we are not beyond the reach of temptation. God’s word declares, ‘Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried.’ Dan. 12:10. . .
“Those who accept Christ, and in their first confidence say, I am saved, are in danger of trusting to themselves. They lose sight of their own weakness and their constant need of divine strength. They are unprepared for Satan’s devices, and under temptation many, like Peter, fall into the very depths of sin. . . .
“It was necessary for Peter to learn his own defects of character, and his need of the power and grace of Christ. The Lord could not save him from trial, but He could have saved him from defeat. Had Peter been willing to receive Christ’s warning, he would have been watching unto prayer. He would have walked with fear and trembling lest his feet should stumble. And he would have received divine help so that Satan could not have gained the victory.”
Once saved always saved if we always trust and obey.