Once Saved, Always Saved?
2002

In early 2002, during one of the early morning bible studies that we had started at the YMCA, somebody asked me a question about the idea of losing our salvation.  Specifically, the question was, "can I lose my salvation?"  At that point in my walk with Jesus I knew that I definitely did not believe I could lose my salvation, but I was at a loss to put any "meat" behind my words.  So I did what any man would do when he finds himself a bit lost and not sure of where to go --- I stopped and asked directions.  LOL.  Seriously, we in the study had a very good discussion about this age-old question but at the end of the day I told them I would ask someone that might know how to answer the question with scriptural references and solid biblical truth behind their answer.  SO I put the question to my pastor and he referred me to a couple of other people.  One of the people that responded to my initial query is a guy that I go to church with.  He is wired in much the same way as I am --- in that he processes information from an analytical perspective.  His response to me struck me so deeply and with such authenticity and genuineness that I have saved it for these past four years.  Even though this is not one of my ramblings, it is one that I solicited and received so I am going to share it with you here.  I hope you enjoy it and find it as rich as I did.  Peace

Ok everybody.  I’m on my lunch so if I can start to try and answer this within an hour, I’ll probably set a new record.

Can you be saved, and then lost? 

First, let me say this.  There are disagreements among very smart people about this, so I’m not going to pretend that everyone that doesn’t think one way or the other is to be thrown out of fellowship.  I hope that if you don’t agree with me, you still will talk to me (unlike the last church I attended where I was ostracized).

The problem doesn’t really start with the “can you be saved and then lost again” question.  That’s the endpoint, not the starting point.  The starting point is “what did you have to do with your own salvation in the first place?”  If you can tell me exactly what you did to get your salvation, then I could see what you could do about giving up your salvation.  I use the words “give up your salvation” very specifically, because we can rule out just about everything else very quickly.

We know that God won’t throw us out.  Christ said “All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and he that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out” (Parable of the good shepherd).  So, God isn’t going to arbitrarily kick us out of the kingdom.  We can rule out a lot of other stuff based on Romans – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor depth, nor height, nor things past nor things present, or anything else in creation can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus” (sorry if that’s not quoted exactly right, but you get the idea).  So pretty much everything in the whole universe is explicitly ruled out as far as affecting your salvation.  The people that believe that you can lose your salvation then say – you, yourself can willfully walk away from it.  To which I respond, are you not part of creation? If you are then you can’t separate yourself.  They don’t like that answer.  Some say that you can sin and loose your salvation, but that’s heresy. I John 1:8-9 makes it clear that we can (and unfortunately do) sin and be forgiven.

Let’s review our condition apart from Christ.  The Bible says we were dead in our trespasses and sins.  It says not only that we did evil, but it says that we were evil.  It says that we were at war with the Spirit.  That’s the total depravity of man.  As a logical person, I have to ask, would that kind of person have the moral ability to make any kind of a good choice about salvation, and if there was some kind of action by the person themselves, wouldn’t it amount to “salvation by works” (no matter how small the “works”).  The popular analogy used by many people is that you are in the ocean, you are drowning, you are going down for the third time, and Christ is in the boat reaching out to you so you reach out and take his hand, crawl in the boat and you are saved.  Only problem is that nowhere in the Bible does it paint any kind of a picture close to that.  If we look at the Bible, a more accurate picture would be – you are dead at the bottom of the ocean. The sharks have eaten your flesh.  You are a skeleton.  Christ puts flesh on your bones, lifts you to the surface breaths His own breath into you for which all you can do is respond by grabbing Him as hard as you can, and He hangs on to you with an iron grip that can’t be broken.

So, basically, I’m saying that you didn’t choose Christ, he chose you.  He had to “thaw you out” spiritually before you could even begin to understand the mystery.  I can find many scriptures telling us that Christ chose us, but nothing (in context) that says we choose Him.  Kind of knocks any arrogance out of it on our part, doesn’t it?  The Bible says - For by grace you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.  So even the faith to believe is given to us.  You want to talk total dependency?  This is it.  If Christ chose you, then it’s His job to make sure you get to the end of the race without falling out or turning back.

We also have other evidence.  We are adopted as sons.  There is no provision to be un-adopted.   It is a one way unilateral action.  Or, we are in a blood relationship.  Can you get un-related to your father?  Heck no – couldn’t if you tried.  What about our old nature?  It was taken away.  If we were to be “lost” again, where would we get that old unregenerate self back?  God did away with it (thanks), and it ain’t gonna be around no more, no more.  Is the Lamb’s book of Life written in erasable ink – I don’t think so.

So if we had nothing to do with our salvation in the first place, then we can’t do anything to give it up.  So, since nothing else in all creation can, and God said he won’t, and since he can’t lie, then we are totally secure.

Trust me; this is a very simplistic picture of the whole argument.  Many books have been penned on the subject, one of the best being “Willing to Believe” by R.C. Sproul. 

There are lots of other peripheral issues here that could be mixed into this discussion, but I’ll try and side step them as best I can, but I will answer a couple of common questions.

What about people that seem to fall away?  First, I would ask you, how do you know they have lost their salvation? (you can’t, you would have to be God to know that, and I know you are not, so lets get that nonsense out of the way right now).  So behavior may be bad, but it doesn’t mean you have lost your salvation.  Christians can (and do) sin, not that its right, but they do it.  Did the sacrifice not cover those sins?  Be careful, or you will head towards legalism or a salvation by works argument.  Second, there are people that do fall into deception by Satan.  What could be better to make Christians ineffective in the world than to deceive them into thinking that they have been lost?  I personally can’t think of much.  Third, there are some people who for reasons of enlightened self interest act like Christians (a form of legalism) but are not saved.  If they stop acting like Christians, then what difference does that make to the argument?  Christ said himself said that not everyone who said unto Him Lord, Lord, would enter the kingdom.

The Galatians 4 passage is not a condemnation that they have lost their salvation, but that they were getting stuck in the bondage of legalism.  Christians can be stuck in bondage just as much as anyone else – except it is far more pathetic.

This is not a new question, by any means.  It goes all the way back to the early church where Augustine debated Pelagius over the Pelagian heresy that was circulating. 

Throughout church history, the dominant position has been “once saved” always saved.  It is only in the 20^th century that the dominance has shifted to the “yes you can loose your salvation”.  I believe that this is one reason why our churches are so ineffective…. But that’s a whole different discussion.

Hope this helps you Dave!