Recently I received a comment in regards to an article I wrote explaining why I disagree with the concept of once saved always saved. In which I showed that while you can’t lose your salvation you can give it up by returning to your old life. If you haven’t yet read that article I recommend you take a moment to read it here. You can also read the comment I am addressing fully by following that link.
My goal in sharing this comment and my response is not to shame the commenter. Nor is it to seem as though I have all the answers. I simply believe that the points made in my reply could be beneficial to others who are struggling with this subject. My hope is that this article will help you in some way. While also adhering to the call of scripture to answer those who oppose you gently and humbly.
2 Timothy 2:25 (ESV)
25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
Sunny, thank you for taking the time to read and reply to this article. I greatly appreciate your kindness and desire to share your experience as well as your position with me. I hope I can be clear and concise as I match some of the objections to my position you have laid out from other sources. My position being that you cannot lose your salvation or have it stolen from you. But by turning your back on the Lord and returning to a lifestyle of sin you can give up your salvation.
First and foremost I must take issue with you using a dream or vision as the foundation of your belief. As an Apostolic Pentecostal, I believe that the gifts of the spirit are still for today as it seems you do. Meaning that I do believe that God can speak to His people through dreams, visions, and prophecy. That being said though such things are not what we build doctrine off of because the enemy can and will use such things to lead Christians astray. The Bible makes it clear that the devil disguises himself as an angel of light. He will make false truth look righteous in order to lead many astray.
2 Corinthians 11:14 (ESV)
14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
For the very same reason we are told not to sway from the faith received first from the Apostles. Regardless of where the new idea came from. Only the scripture itself should be used to form belief and doctrine. Personal extra-biblical revelation is not what our beliefs should be founded on. That being said I do understand that you are also digging into the scripture. But I want to emphasize that we must be careful not to use our preconceived notions to shape how we see the scripture. Scripture should be what shapes our beliefs not the other way around.
Galatians 1:8–9 (ESV)
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
2 Corinthians 11:3–4 (ESV)
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
Jude 8 (ESV)
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I do not disagree with much of the information stated in your comment. The five points sourced from one of biblesforamerica.org’s article’s are all biblically accurate. Nothing we have done or ever will do earned us salvation. It is the free gift of a loving merciful God. God’s love is eternal and surpasses all that we understand. Nothing can separate us from God’s love and even those whose lives result in an eternity in hell are still loved by God. No matter what we do or don’t do it will never change the fact that God loves us. We have been made members of the family of God and truly are held in His hands.
All that is truth directly from scripture. But I must take issue with the conclusions they and you draw from this information. None of the verses quoted or the points made are able to explain away all the scriptures that show you can lose your salvation. In the biggest picture, you must ask yourself why we have any of the letters written to the churches in our BIbles today. If the life lived after salvation doesn’t matter because you cant lose salvation then why try to correct sin issues in the church?
Why does Paul write to the Galatian church that had already received salvation and warn them that those who live sinful lifestyles won’t inherit the Kingdom of God? Why does he tell them of the need to rescue other believers from sin? While also warning them to be careful they don’t give in to the same sin? Or why did he say to the Romans to be careful because if God didn’t spare the natural branches he won’t spare them either? Why does John in his first letter make it clear that those who keep living in sin don’t know God?
Galatians 5:19–21 (ESV)
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 6:1 (ESV)
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Romans 11:19 (ESV)
19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
1 John 1:6 (ESV)
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1 John 3:8 (ESV)
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
The answer is very simple those passages and many more are in our Bibles to warn us. To make it clear that in order to receive salvation we must continue to live a God-focused life. In order to see the glory that is in Heaven, we must stay on the narrow path and not return to the wide path of sinful living. We must not turn away from God and back to the world that He saved us from. Because by doing so we don’t lose our salvation but we do throw it away as worthless. Making it of no effect.
Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Does that mean if we mess up and walk away from God that we can’t come back and still be saved? Of course not! As we have both made clear we serve a loving, merciful, and grace-filled God. One who is always happy to accept us back with open arms if we will only turn back to Him. The very same illustration made with the prodigal son.
To be honest the articles you reference contradict themselves. Effectively making my case for me by stating multiple times the need to confess the sins you have committed after salvation. That is the key to deconstructing the whole argument of once saved always saved. Because if you are forever saved and nothing can change that then you only need to confess your sins once. Anything after that would be taken care of and you would have no need to confess again. But that isn’t what we are taught in the Bible
2 Corinthians 7:9 (ESV)
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
Revelation 2:5 (ESV)
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Revelation 3:19 (ESV)
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Repentance is not a one time act but a continued act. When we sin even after receiving salvation we must repent for those actions. Not doing so shows a lack of respect towards God and is the first step back into a lifestyle of sin with no remorse. Which as we have seen makes us ineligible for Heaven.
Now if we lost our salvation because we messed up or fell to sin once after being saved Heaven would be empty. Because we are all to human and will at times give in to temptation. But as John said the goal is to not sin. Yet, if we do sin we know we have an advocate with the Father and can be forgiven again.
1 John 2:1–2 (ESV)
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Salvation is dependent upon a lifestyle of repentance and faith towards God. If either of those two things are missing then we cannot believe we will be saved. Regardless of what we have done in our past in terms of the plan of salvation.
If one day I turn my back on the faith and begin to live a sinful lifestyle I cannot expect to still be saved. If I live in sin but still claim to know God I cannot expect to be saved. Or if I decide everything I believe is a lie and no longer hold to the faith but remain sin free I still can’t expect to be saved. Because in any of those situations I am not living in accordance to the way God has called us to live. In the only way that results in Heaven. Only those who place their faith in Him and who continually repent of their sins will receive salvation.
Once saved always saved sounds great but is the very kind of deceitful teaching we are warned about in the Bible. Pleasing to the ears but bad for the soul. As it tricks people into believing something that sounds nice but simply isn’t true. Ultimately leading them farther away from the truth, God, and salvation. The very same dangerous teaching that causes people to believe they know God but ultimately hear depart from me I never knew you on the judgment day.
2 Timothy 4:3 (ESV)
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
I truly hope you are able to better understand my point in saying that you can give up your salvation. Moving from the saved to the unsaved is a decision made by the individual. No one can take away your salvation and you can’t lose it. But you surely can choose to give it up by returning to sin. By walking away from the God who first saved you.
Please continue to pray over this issue and spend time in the Bible. Don’t simply take the word of any article on such a serious subject of faith whether mine or someone else’s. Instead, search the scriptures on your own asking God for the wisdom needed to see the truth. Follow the righteous example of the Berean church who didn’t even take the Apostle Paul at his word. But first searched the scripture to see if all he claimed was true.
Acts 17:11 (ESV)
11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
The simple truth is that issues such as this are far too large to fully break down in one simple article. The articles you referenced leave out any scriptures that contradict their point. Failing to explain passages that clearly state those who live sinful lifestyles won’t be saved. Regardless of their past time spent living for God. At the same time, I am unable to share every scripture that proves my point. Or address all those that may seem like they contradict my position.
As Christians, we must make it our goal to find the truth from the scripture firsthand and not rely fully on others. Articles like mine are meant to guide others and explain tough subjects. But they are not meant to form the beliefs of others without personal time spent in prayer and study. So again take the time to fully search this out for yourself in God’s word. All the while not leaning on your own understanding. Instead, do so praying for His wisdom and guidance to lead you.
Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
I hope this has helped you to better understand the issues with the concept of once saved always saved. If you have any questions about this feel free to leave a comment. Or send us an email at [email protected]. Have a great day and God Bless!
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