Soli Deo Gloria

Understanding “Once Saved Always Saved”

This term has been misused by folks in thinking that once you pray a prayer or walk an isle you are “in the club” and you quite simply cannot lose your salvation.  The key to understanding this statement is to understand where the term came from.  The early reformers had a series of statements about the doctrines of grace and one of those statements was called “perseverance of the saints”.  This statement affirmed the Biblical truths that someone who is truly saved cannot lose their salvation.  The reason?  The reformers rightly understood that before we are saved we are dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1) and a dead person can no more respond to the gospel than a corpse can talk.  It takes a supernatural work of God to cause a sinner to be born again, or “born from above” in order for that dead person to be able to respond to the gospel call. The Westminster Confession of Faith rightly states, “They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.”   Jesus clearly taught that one must be born again before they can enter the kingdom of heaven.  God causes spiritual rebirth as a gracious, sovereign choice. So the reformers understanding was very Biblical in that they taught that a true believer is kept by God and that believer will persevere because the Holy Spirit will cause that person to continue in the faith even amongst the strongest persecution and temptation.

“Once Saved Always Saved” has been used in the 20th century to promote an idea of “cheap grace” in that you can accept Christ in repeating a prayer then live a life of unrepentant sin all the while on your way to heaven.  Scripture is clear in many areas including the book of 1 John that a true Christian cannot and does not live a life of sin as a pattern.  A true Christian is a new creation and he will now hate sin and seek to obey God.  In essence, he will hate the things he once loved and love the things he once hated. A professing believer who lives a life of unrepentant sin with no obedience to Christ and His word would most likely indicate the person is not truly born again. (1 John 3:16)  This is not to say that Christians do not sin.  They do.  But there is not a pattern of unrepentant sin in the life of a Christian that does not display a level of war with that sin and a holy hatred for sin in their lives and the lives of others.

So as you can see, a correct understanding of the phrase “once saved always saved” brings us to a healthy perspective of truly what Scripture teaches.

What Scripture affirms “perseverance of the saints”?

Actually the entire Bible affirms it.  Because we are sinners and are dead in our sins and transgressions only God can save us.  All glory goes to Him alone.  So how can I lose something that I never gained on my own?  Scripture teaches us that when we are born again, or “born from above” as the literal translation, we are new creatures in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  For us to “lose our salvation”, God would have to undue that new creation and no where is that stated in Scripture.

Among many other verses that teach that it is God who saves and that a true Christian cannot lose their salvation is Romans 8:30.  Here, Paul uses a progression or glorious theological terms to show the progress of salvation or the “order of salvation”.  Notice that those God predestined, He then called, then He justified then He glorified.  Notice that every single action is God doing the action  – from calling us out of death to life to actual glorification when Christ returns with our new bodies like Christ’s.  It’s all of God to His glory!

Scripture also gloriously affirms that absolutely nothing can separate a true Christian from God’s love.  (Romans 8:38-39)  Equally, absolutely nothing can separate a true Christian from Christ’s hand because His hand and the Father’s hand are equal. (John 10:28-29)

Bottom line, how can one lose something they never attained on their own power?  Salvation is of the Lord. (Jonah 2:9)  In addition, God promises to complete that which He started (our salvation) and bring it to perfection. (Philippians 1:6)

Can a true believer lose their salvation?

There are those who believe that a true believer can in fact lose their salvation.  Scripture, however does not teach this at all.  There are several verses that some hold to that they believe teaches that one can lose their salvation.  One in particular is Hebrews 6:4-6.  On a cursory read, without looking at the context of the entire book of Hebrews, one may come to the conclusion that this verse teaches that a true believer can walk away from the faith and be lost.  Let’s consider what this verse truly teaches.

A careful study makes this passage crystal clear.  The elemental teachings (the Law of the Old Testament) discussed in verse 6:1 points us to things that merely point to Christ.  All of the things listed in verse 1b and 2 are things the Pharisees would do – yet they only point to Christ.  Notice verse 1b ends in “faith toward God” – where is Christ in this?  Absent!  (Note Hebrews 7:25 for the only way to come to God as well as a study of Romans where Paul taught that the Jews had a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.)  The warning here is clear – if you hang on to the types and shadows and fail to embrace what they point to: Jesus Christ, there is absolutely no way you can be saved – it is impossible.

So Scripture, while it calls and exhorts us to press on is actually at the same time teaching that true believers, by the grace of God, will do just that – press on. Scripture that warns us in place to cause all professing believers to test themselves to make sure they are in the faith. (2 Cor. 13:5) In the case of someone walking away or denying Christianity John has the ultimate answer in 1 John 2:19.  He quite simply states that if someone denies Christ or walks away after professing belief for a time was never a born again Christian to begin with.  He tells us that they went out from us because they were never of us to begin with.  Simply put, they were never a true believer to begin with and their actions simply illustrate that.  For John to say this means that he clearly believed that a true believer will not (and in fact cannot because of God’s grace) turn away and lose their salvation.

So we conclude that once saved always saved is a very valid, Biblical statement but only one that applies to someone who is truly saved.

Related posts:

1. He Saved Me
2. Saved and Struggling with Sin or Struggling with Sin and Lost?
3. The Vigilance in the Doctrine of Election
4. Grace or Presumption?
5. The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ