For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.- Heb. 6:4-12

For if after they have escaped the pollution’s of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. - 2Pe.2:20-22

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; - 1Tim.4:1

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. - Jn.6:66

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. - Ro.11:22

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. - Rev.3:5

The doctrine of "Once Saved, Always Saved" states that once salvation has been obtained, it is impossible to lose, no matter what one does from that point on. "Once saved, always saved" is a very appealing doctrine. There are no demands except to acknowledge Jesus Christ as saviour. It is essentially a license to live a sinful life with no provision for accountability. Unfortunately, there are too many scriptures contrary to that premise for it to stand as doctrine. Whenever two or more scriptures are contrary to something that is taught as doctrine, that is an indication that it is not God’s doctrine. 2Cor. 13:1 states "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." God is a God of order where everything is laid out line upon line and precept upon precept. Everything in the word must be taken in the context it is written and order must be maintained. If we perceive something as doctrine, yet the scripture is in conflict, then we must strive to find the order of God’s truth. To understand why the doctrine of "Once Saved, Always Saved" does not withstand the scrutiny of the Word, we need to understand what is encompassed in salvation and eternal life.
Man is an eternal being. Adam and Eve were created to live forever, in that, they were created in God’s image and likeness. God formed man from the dust of the earth (flesh), breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit), and man became a living soul (soul)(Gen.2:7). God imparted the eternal essence of his Spirit into the substance of man’s flesh and man became a unique personality with an eternal existence. Because God imparts his eternal Spirit into everyone at conception, every man and woman who has ever lived has eternal life. If this were not so, then there would be no need for the existence of hell. All those who do not have eternal life would simply cease to exist when they died in the flesh. Man cannot die in the sense of ceasing to exist, but death is a spiritual condition determined by our relationship with God the Father. This relationship determines our eternal destination or place of habitation. We will either live with God forever or live in the Lake of Fire forever separated from God. So, life and death are defined by our relationship with God.
Our relationship with God the Father can be characterized by righteousness and holiness. Righteousness essentially means right standing, and holiness is the awesome perfection only God possesses that sets him above and apart from all his creation. When Adam and Eve were created, they stood in God’s righteousness and in the presence of his holiness. Gen.2:25 says they were both naked and were not ashamed. In other words, their whole being was fully exposed before God and they were without fault. Gen.3:8-9 gives the impression that God had continual fellowship with man in the garden. Luke 3:38 tells us that Adam was a son of God. Therefore, Adam had a family relationship with God that entailed close intimate fellowship.
God took Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden. He gave him responsibility and authority to oversee everything within the garden. To show that Adam was not an authority unto himself, God gave one command to Adam: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." What God was saying was "don’t circumvent my authority and position by deciding on your own what is good or evil. If you do this, you will sever the intimate relationship that we have because of your rebellion against me." This is the Law of Sin and Death. When Adam partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, death began to work in him. It affected his whole being: spirit, soul, and flesh. Spiritual death occurred through the severance of relationship and fellowship with God. He could no longer stand before God in righteousness and holiness. Soulish death occurred because man stopped relying upon God to guide his thinking, but he now relied upon his own views and opinions. His thoughts became separated from God and his personality no longer reflected or represented God (Gen.5:3). Death began in the flesh because the glory of God’s presence departed. His flesh deteriorated until it returned to the dust from whence it came. Man hid from God, as most continue to do today (Gen.3:8). The family relationship was lost and so was eternal life because of disobedience to God’s word.
As we see, eternal life as promised in the scripture has nothing to do with living forever because man is an eternal being. The promise of eternal life has to do with the restoration of relationship with God the Father and residing eternally in his presence as a son or daughter of God. Salvation is God’s plan to restore man’s position and family relationship with God as it was before the fall of Adam. Jesus came to save man from the Law of Sin and Death (Ro.8:2). Sin is rebellion and disobedience to God’s word. Death is separation from God. Jesus came to save man from disobedience and restore him to an eternal family relationship with God the Father. This shows that the work of salvation should cause us to become increasingly subservient and obedient to God, as children to their father.
Now that we have basically defined salvation and eternal life, lets go to the issue of salvation and works. Is salvation dependent upon performance or works? The answer is NO and YES! Salvation is a free gift, unearned, given to us without recompense, even though the circumstances of our life demonstrate that we do not deserve it (Ro.5:1-21, Eph.2:8-9, Tit.3:5). Salvation through Jesus Christ restores family relationship with God the Father (Eph.1:5-7, Gal.4:4-7, 1Jn.3:1-2). We can never stand before God and justify ourselves by our good works, for only the blood of Jesus justifies. So works have nothing to do with receiving salvation. Works are not a tool for self-justification, but are an outward manifestation confirming the truth of our confession that Jesus is the Lord of our life (Lord defined as: Master, Owner, King, and Absolute Ruler). James wrote that faith without works is dead, being alone. Even Abraham was justified by works, for his actions proved his belief and faith toward God (Jas.2:17-26). Faith achieves through action. So then, if there is no performance linked with our faith, it is dead. Eph.2:8-9 states that we are "saved by grace through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." This very plainly states that salvation is not obtained through works, but continue reading the next verse: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." The continuity of thought clearly shows that there is an expectation of performance (works) resulting from the gift of salvation.
When the Word says that we are saved by grace through faith, most people think of faith as just believing. Actually, faith encompasses much more than just the acknowledgment of belief. When we confess our faith toward God, we make a pledge of fidelity, loyalty, trustworthiness, truthfulness, and obedience. Just as in the days of kings, knights, and squires, the pledge of faith entails subservience and obedience to the king’s commandments. How much more should we obey the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? In Lk.7:2-9, Jesus associated faith with submission and obedience to God’s authority. The centurion came to Jesus in submission, acknowledging his Lordship, recognizing his authority and Jesus said, "I have not seen so great faith."
In what way is our salvation dependent upon works? Works are the measuring rod used to gauge the truthfulness of our confession of faith and allegiance to Jesus Christ. In Jn.14:15, Jesus said "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Heb.5:8-9 states that Jesus became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. In Mt.12:50, Jesus said "whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, sister, and mother." With salvation and the resulting family relationship, there is an inherent expectation of obedience (or works) to the Father.
When John the Baptist began to preach at the river Jordan, his first message was to "repent" (Mt.3:1-10). The word repent literally means "to change your way of thinking." The intent was to get religious men to stop relying upon their works for salvation. After calling the religious leaders "vipers", John went on to say "bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" or in other words "bring forth works that truly show a change in your way of thinking." He went on to say that every tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. John was speaking to men who believed in God and professed to serve God. He told them to do works that proved their faith, allegiance, and obedience toward God or else they would end up in hell. In Mt.7:17-20, Jesus used the analogy of fruits (or works) as the determining factor in knowing those that are of God or not. He went on to say "Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven." Once again we see that, with the confession of Lordship, there comes the expectation of obedient performance.
Can a man lose his salvation? The word tells us that it is possible to lose our salvation. 2Pe.2:20-21 says that "if, after escaping the defiling sin of the world through the salvation knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are entangled and overcome by sin again, their final end is worse for them than it would have been before. It is better for them if they had never known of the righteousness that comes through salvation, than, after they have known, to turn back to a life of disobedience and stop living according to the Word of God that was taught to them." The key to losing salvation is the return to a continuing lifestyle of disobedience to God’s Word. Remember, Jesus delivered us from sin, which is disobedience. If we willingly return to the life that God delivered us from, what can he do? The one thing that God will not violate is our free will. Joshua 24:15 says, "you choose this day whom ye will serve." The Apostle Paul wrote in Ro.6:16, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Isa.1:18 says "If you be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." These scriptures were written to and about believers. The point is that we make a free will commitment to serve the Lord. Nobody forces us to make that commitment, not even God. We have the freedom and ability to turn away from the commitment, if we so choose. Jn.6:66 says, "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." Why did these diciples walk away from Jesus? Because they were unwilling to hearken to the words he spoke. Before they walked away, they said "that’s a hard saying, who can hear it." Notice that Jesus did not run after them and beg them to come back, he turned to the twelve and said "Will you also go away?" Peter spoke for them all saying "Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life? We believe and are sure that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This shows the attitude of heart a believer must have toward the word. Willing obedience is not one of many options to choose from to inherent the kingdom, it is the only option. We can choose to do whatever we want, but in the end we are accountable to God.
In the parable of the sower in Mk.4, Jesus says "the sower sows the Word". He describes four conditions of the heart. Three types produce no fruit unto God. The first hears the word but then allows Satan to deceive him and steal the word from his heart. The second has a stoney heart that initially receives the word with gladness, but because of hardness of heart, does not allow the word to take root. Consequently, when affliction and persecution comes his way because of the words sake, he is immediately offended and rejects the word. The third has a heart full of thorns, which represent the lust of the flesh. He hears the word, but because he allows the lusts of other things to enter into his heart, it chokes the word and he bears no fruit. All three types have one thing in common. The word is initially received into their heart but it produces no fruit or performance and they die. The fourth type of heart is described as good ground, such as hear the word, receive it and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred. Jesus continues in verse 25 saying, "he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." There is a spiritual principle here that infers that those who partake of salvation and produce fruit shall continually receive from God, and those who partake of salvation and produce no fruit shall lose the salvation they think they have.
Should we, as born again Christians, worry about losing our salvation? Not so long as we are continuing to grow in our relationship with the Lord and practicing those things we have been taught in the word. In Jn.8:31, Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Paul wrote in Ro.11:22, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Notice in these two scriptures that they are directed toward believers and the emphasis is on continuing in their walk with the Lord. It is when we stop the continuity of walking in the word that we should begin to worry about our salvation. If we, as believers, begin to return to the worldly life and lusts that Jesus delivered us from, we should worry. Paul stated in 2Cor.13:5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" The word "examine" means: to test, assay, or put yourself on trial. To "prove" means: to assay metals, discern, examine, and approve. When a goldsmith assays gold, he tests it to determine it’s purity. What Paul meant here is that we are to check ourselves and measure the purity of our walk with the Lord. How do we do this? By gauging our obedience to the word of God. If a believer does this on a continuing basis and makes corrections in those areas where he is falling short, then there is nothing to worry about. When you stop examining yourself, when you stop caring, when you think that just because you’re a Christian you can live any lifestyle you want and still be saved, then you better start worrying about your salvation.
. Once saved, always saved? Do you want to gamble with your eternity? .   david_redmond@geocities.com . . Homepage This page hosted by  Get your own Free Home Page