Once saved Always saved?

 Once saved Always saved?

A rather hot button issue that Christians hold when it comes to soteriology is the doctrine known as “eternal security” or “once saved always saved.” Key positions include:

1. Eternal Security ("Once Saved, Always Saved")

View: Calvinism holds to the belief that salvation is eternal, a once and for all work of God’s mercy, the minute that a person trusts in Jesus Christ. Those people who stake their argument on this side of the fence assert that once an individual experiences the grace, nothing can bar him from fellowship with God.

Scriptural Basis: Scriptures associated with this belief are:

• John 10:28-29 ‘This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ whom thou hast anointed. I have built thee Andrew and Simon Peter and Philip; he who hath seen me hath seen the father; I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one shall snatch them out of my hand.’ My Father that hath given them to me is greater than all; and none is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
• Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that nothing can separate the spirit of man from the love of God, that is within Christ Jesus our Lord: not death, nor life, angels, principalities, things present, things to come, nor any other power.
• Philippians 1:6 “This conviction I have concerning this matter: He who has begun in you the good work will complete it to the day of Christ Jesus.”
• Ephesians 1:13-14 “And when you believed, you were sealed in him as a firstborn son, marked with the Spirit of the promise, the Spirit of commitment, who is issued as our guarantee. Gale Hezekiah So to with those who are God’s possession until the redemption that comes with the appearing of Jesus Christ out of heaven.”
• 1 Peter 1:3-5 “[God] has blessed us with spiritual blessings–in the heavenly realms–[which include] … the promise of an inheritance that is ‘imbued with the glory,’ an inheritance of eternal, untainted, unspoiled, and imperishable character.” It is received in Heaven which is reserved for you…”
• Hebrews 10:14 "For by one offering he hath perfected for evermore them that are sanctified.”
• 2 Timothy 1:12 “I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Theological Reasoning: This view insist that salvation is a gracious act of God, and not a reward for people’s merit. Because God loves His people, His power is known as able to preserve them and that includes when one has sinned.

Reflection on This View: This interpretation applies to those who are really ‘born again,’ the saved soul who has met the call towards righteousness. From this point of view, real believers are enabled not to sin as a habit, which means that the tenet of ‘eternal security’, those saved once can never be lost, does not apply to those who turn back to sin by their own choice.

2. Conditional Security (Salvation Can Be Forfeited)

View: This view affirmatively believes in the indefatigable preaching of Salvation through the grace of God but follows it up with the assertion that faith is necessary and should lead to obedience. In this perspective, people that believe in God can decide to opt out of salvation and be lost instead.

Scriptural Basis: Some personal observations that afford support to this view include the following verses of the scriptures.

• Hebrews 6:4-6 And for those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance.
• 2 Peter 2:20-22 “If they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are again entangled and overcome, then they are worse off”
• Hebrews 10:26-27 If we continue to sin deliberately, we having received the knowledge of the truth have no further sacrifice which can take away sins but horrific expectation of judicial proceeding.
• Galatians 5:4 “Having been justified in the law, you are cut off from Christ; you have slipped away from grace.”
• 1 Corinthians 9:27 “I punish my body and bring it under rigor, lest, preaching to others, I myself should be rejected.”
• Matthew 24:13 “And he that stood take, I will also save.”
• Colossians 1:22-23 He has reconciled you to himself… and if indeed you have been reaffirmed in faith, you were established in the Gospel and remain firm in it, you will not be shifted from the hope of the Gospel.
• Revelation 3:5 ‘The one who is victorious will be dressed in white the same way.’ He said unto them it is easier for him to blot out the names of those people from the book of life.

Theological Reasoning: Critics claim the Lord loves freedom even in matters of belief, so one can either persevere in faith or give it up. Just as salvation is received through faith, it must be sustained by abiding in Christ (cf. John 15:5-6).

Reflection on This View: This position stresses that salvation depends on certain conditions that might be lost back by individuals who sins or ceases to trust. It says that the state of a person who has fallen away maybe worse than before thus the need to be steadfast.

3. Assurance of Perseverance (True Believers Will Endure)

View: This position is moderate claiming that although God provides an assurance of salvation, the genuine believers shall not fall away. Those who end up falling away in accordance with this perspective were never saved to begin with.

Scriptural Basis: Scriptures supporting this view are:

• 1 John 2:19 “Having departed from us they were not of our number; for if they were of our number, they would not have left.”
• Philippians 1:6 “...knowing that he who hath begun in you the good work will complete it unto the day of Christ Jesus.”
• Romans 8:30 “He who has called, also justified; and who has justified, he also glorified.”
• Matthew 7:21-23 “Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, did we not cast out demons in Your name, did we not perform miraculous signs in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you! Depart from me! He who does the will of My Father in heaven. I never knew you."
• Hebrews 3:14 “For he who said, “You shall be my people, and I shall be your God” has spoken so that you might obtain a share in Christ Jesus, if you hold on to the beginning of your commitment firm till the end.”
• John 15:4-6 ‘Stay in me, as I will stay in you… If you don’t stay in me, you don’t bear fruit and are cut off and thrown away…”
• Jude 1:24-25 “He will also preserve you from evil and bring you to final sanctification and joy without having to go through the process of stumbling again.”
• Romans 11:22 Therefore, he says: “Consider the kindness and sternness of God: Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God” provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.”

Theological Reasoning: This perspective affirms that genuine saving faith leads to sustain fruit and an abiding association with Jesus Christ. Real believers will endure tribulation because the Roman believers are grounded in the grace of God.

Summing Up

If one compares the two perspectives, each different parts of salvation and perseverance are emphasized. Thus, eternal life is promised to believers who stay faithful to the Lord, but the Lord respects the freedom of a person, so one can leave. John 1:12 for example says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” here everything is an invitation and not a dictate.

Final Reflection on Hebrews 6:4-6 and 2 Peter 2:20-22

Both of these passages teach that it is worse for a person to fall away and turn their back when they know Christ than when they were ignorant of Him. This throws emphasis on the gravity of the decision to turn away from salvation and brings out the gravity of the error of denying oneself eternal life.