Discussion
is like the light, it only bothers those who prefer
darkness
We need to be certain of what we believe in regards to keeping or losing our salvation. There are two extremes in regards to losing or maintaining our salvation. Some believe that we can lose it for anything; others think that we will never lose it regardless of the sin. Both are wrong. He, who paid such a high price for our salvation, is not going to take it away for just any sin. But He is not going to allow himself to be stepped upon by those who love their sin more than their Lord, and insist on living in sin, while they “soothe” their conscience forcing themselves to believe that salvation cannot be lost.
In many occasions I have witnessed two friends arguing an important issue, without realizing they both share the same opinion, until a third one comes and helps them see it. This is because neither is certain of what they believe, they have not nailed down their belief system. Therefore let's keep our concepts clear.
Some times our concepts are not clear in our own mind, because we have never answered, categorically, the questions that come up. Normally we have in our minds some preconceived words or phrases with which we try to express an unclear concept. This concept, although not completely established, we want others to understand and accept without proper definition and proof.
What are the main affirmations of those who believe the doctrine that once saved, always saved? There are several variants of this doctrine, but they are all wrong. There are those who think that the human being does not have free will, that he never wanted to be saved, but God forced some to be saved while leaving others abandoned to their horrible destiny.
Others think that the human being does have free will, but once he becomes a Christian loses it, therefore he can't lose that salvation. It is something like a fish, that once it bites the hook, can't get lose even though it fervently wants to.
Others believe the human being has free will before and after conversion, but God doesn't allow salvation for those that will later walk away, thus once a person is saved, will always be saved regardless of how much he sins or how much he will disobey God.
The main affirmation of this doctrine is that he who walks away, who abandons the faith, is because he never had it. That is false, and I will prove it in the present article.
None of the variants of this doctrine can show any Bible passage that will clearly say so. It can't even show a passage that will imply such thing. However, I can show many passages that will clearly and emphatically say the opposite: that once saved, a person can walk away and lose salvation.
God does not force his creatures to love Him if they do not desire to do so. God does not force anyone to be with Him if he does not desire to do so. That “forced salvation” that sadly is so frequently preached, isn't useful but to artificially tame the conscience, of he who, having become a Christian, loves his sin more than Jesus Christ and wants to continue living in it, without loosing salvation.
Throughout Scripture you will not see any reference to once saved always saved, regardless of constantly sinning without repentance; however, you will see many occasions in which it is mentioned that one who is saved can lose his salvation, if he sins and does not want to repent from his sin.
The Lord said: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”. If the Bible writers did not have in their hearts the knowledge that salvation could be lost, they would not have said such things, as we see men like Peter, Paul, James, John, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others talk.
In summary, what this article says and its thesis affirms is that a Christian can lose his salvation if he decides to walk away from the Lord, and does not like the clean lifestyle that the Lord expects. In other words, if the evil “joys” of sin are more attractive to him than the love of Jesus Christ, that person can little by little lose his way to the point of extreme hardening of heart and contempt for the divine, with no way back.
I would like those who believe that once saved always saved, would show me at least three clear passages that say that a person who has been saved can do and undo, sin and sin and sin, and keep his salvation, and not lose it no matter how much he sinned without repentance.
Let's see some Bible writers' opinions on that heresy that claims that once saved, always saved. The Holy Sprit says clearly that it is possible to fall from grace. Those who follow the doctrines of Dutch Catholic Bishop Cornelius Jansen and French reformer John Calvin, insist that a person who comes to Christ, and is therefore in the faith, cannot later abandon the faith and be lost. However, in the next verse, the Holy Spirit says something totally different.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (I Tim 4:1)
As we see in this verse, The Holy Spirit, personally, indicates that some will depart from the faith. In order to depart from the faith, one must first be in the faith. Nobody can abandon a house in which he has not been. Nobody can fall from a ladder on which he has never climbed. And nobody can abandon a faith in which he has never been. Thus, it is evident that the Holy Spirit is saying that those who were in the grace can fall from it, and can abandon the faith.
Well then, by the Holy Spirit's affirmation that some will abandon the faith, makes us see clearly and definitely that the Christian, the human being that is in the faith, the human being that is saved, can abandon the faith, and therefore, not be saved anymore. This shows that the hypothesis of “once saved always saved” is one more heresy in which Christianity has fallen. If the Holy Spirit personally says that some will abandon the faith, who are Jansen and Calvin to deny it? No one can abandon a faith in which he has never been, no one can fall from a ladder on which he has never climbed, or abandon a house in which he has never been in. Therefore, to say that the one who fall from the faith never was in the faith, is false. In the next article I will mention more biblical passages that demonstrate the error of this heresy that say Once Saved Always Saved, even if there is no repentance.