Debunking Once Saved Always Saved - Part 1
This is one of those hotly debated topics within the various circles of Christianity. Some say the doctrine of OSAS is false, some say it’s true. But, what does the Bible say? In this study will be explained what the Bible says on this topic. Once Saved, Always Saved is a false doctrine. But why? And why do so many people defend it tooth and nail? I believe, it is largely because it is a doctrine that, as with any other false doctrine, makes people feel comfortable in their sins.
This false doctrine is built on a few major tenets. These are as follows:
Salvation is a one-time event, not a process
Once a person confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in Him, they are forever saved.
Key verses used:
Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth…you will be saved.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 – “By grace you have been saved through faith…”
God’s gifts are irrevocable
Once God grants eternal life, He won’t take it back.
Key verse:
Romans 11:29 – “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
Jesus secures salvation eternally
Nothing can steal believers from the hand of Jesus
Key verses:
John 10:28-29 – “No one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Hebrews 10:14 – “By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit
The Spirit is seen as a permanent seal guaranteeing salvation.
Key verse:
Ephesians 1:13-14 – “…you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit…”
We will examine each of these, along with the accompanying Scriptures, comparing them with what the rest of the Bible has to say.
SALVATION IS A PROCESS
A couple of Scriptures used to support eternal security are found in Romans 10:9 and Ephesians 2:8-9. Read them below:
Romans 10:9 KJV — That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV — For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Let’s state the obvious: when we look at these verses, nothing in them or the surrounding context shows that the process of salvation can never end. They simply explains how salvation begins.
Let’s turn to John 3:16.
John 3:16 KJV — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The word for believe in this verse is a particle. This is the class of words ending in “ing” typically, and signifying on going action. In other words, believe is not some thing that happens and has no further progress. It is a lifelong process.
And to this the fact that the apostle Paul so clearly debunks the doctrine of OSAS.
1 Corinthians 9:27 KJV — But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Another translation says it slightly better:
1 Corinthians 9:27 NIV — No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Paul recognized that even though he had been serving Jesus for quite a long time by this point, it was still possible for him to give up the fight and still choose to be lost.
But some will say some variation of, “Well, if they left or can be lost then they were never saved to begin with!”
However, you will never find any Scriptures that says such a thing. Not a single one. But what we do find, is more of where Paul says the same thing as he did in the above Scriptures.
Notice in Philippians:
Philippians 2:12-13 KJV — Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Now, Paul is not here saying to legalistically work out your salvation. But he’s letting us know, it’s not a one time deal. “Work out your own salvation,” meaning, this is a process to be accomplished through out your life. And he plainly lets us know, it is God who gives us the grace and power for this to happen.
How, Paul in Hebrews lets us know further this same deal.
Hebrews 3:13-15 KJV — But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Notice the language he is using here. He commands us to exhort each other, why? “Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” At the time of the writing of Hebrews 3, were they hardened in sin? The verse shows us that no, they were not. But it also shows us that it was still very much possible for them to return to sin and be hardened in it.
This Scripture also lets us know that we must “hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end…” Why? Because as was already mentioned, it was possible for them to still fall away. It doesn’t mean they weren’t then walking in a saving relationship with Jesus. It just means exactly what it says. Say alert, stay with Jesus.
And speaking of Jesus, the Ultimate Authority, notice what He Himself said on this same topic.
Matthew 24:13 KJV — But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Endure to when? To the end. And the word for “saved” is the same word used in Matthew 1:21 when the Bible says Jesus will saved His people from their sins.
But let’s move on to the second point.
GOD’S GIFTS ARE NOT IRREVOCABLE
Commonly claimed is the idea that once God grants salvation, that He will never take it back. Even if you don’t want to be saved any longer, there’s nothing you can do about it. Really stinks for you, eh? But the Bible doesn’t teach that.
Connected with this same thought is also the claim that either God is not all powerful, or that God is lying in the Bible. But, again, these ideas are not Biblical either.
One Scripture used to support this claim that God won’t take His gifts back is as follows:
Romans 11:29 KJV — For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
But in order to make this verse mean that, you have to ignore the context. In the surrounding context, Paul speaks of Israel, and how they were cut off. Notice:
Romans 11:22-23 KJV — 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. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
When we look at the history of Israel, they went back and forth for centuries between faithfulness and rebellion. For a time, they would be faithful. And the Bible lets us know that when they were faithful in the desert, God didn’t allow any of their things to wear out, and He did not allow any of them to get sick. But, when they went back to sin, He didn’t do those things for them.
And why is that? Isaiah 59:1-2 plainly states that when when are cherishing sin, God does not hear us. And it’s not because He doesn’t want to. It’s because when we have chosen sin, we have, by default, chosen Satan. And God respects that choice. He will still try and save us again, but He will never force us to be in Heaven when we don’t want to be there.
SAVED ETERNALLY?
John 10:28-29 is often used to support OSAS because it says “no one will snatch them out of my hand.” But does this mean that we ourselves can not remove ourselves from companionship with Jesus?
Let’s take a look:
John 10:28-29 KJV — And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Hebrews 10:14 KJV — For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
But again, in order to use these to support OSAS, you have to ignore the context and supporting Scriptures that show the opposite of OSAS.
Further on in Hebrews 10, the Bible lets us know that we still choose to be lost. Notice below:
Hebrews 10:26 KJV — For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
It is true that once we accept Jesus, He won’t cast us off. John 6:37 is one of my favorite Scriptures on what Jesus does for us when we come to Him. But He won’t stop us from leaving Him if that is what we want.
Notice what Peter says:
2 Peter 2:20-22 KJV — For if after they have escaped the pollutions 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. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Pay attention to what Peter says here. He is using an If/Then statement, where he is speaking of people who have escaped the grasp of satan, but then have returned to the service of the first apostate. And when that happens, the result is far worse than if they had never heard the Truth to begin with.
Notice what Jesus Himself says:
John 15:6-7 KJV — If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
What does Jesus say is the condition of receiving what we ask of Him? We must continue to abide in Him. We must remain with Him. And the word for abide here in the Greek means to stay, remain, or to endure.
Let us look also at a few other Scriptures below:
Hebrews 6:4-6 KJV — 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.
1 Timothy 4:1 KJV — 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;
Galatians 5:4 KJV — Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
What is the common theme of these three Scriptures? Paul is speaking in each one of people who were once walking in a saving relationship with Jesus, but then chose to fall away.
Paul also says this:
2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV — Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
He prophesies that there is coming a time when there will be a great falling away. Many who once knew Jesus have some test come to them, that they then fail, and fall away from grace.
Now, some will point to 1 John 2:19. It reads:
1 John 2:19 KJV — They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Some seize on the first part of the statement that reads: “They went out from us, but they were not of us…” The problem is that they stop there, and fail to look at the surrounding Scriptures.
But again, if we look at the context, the Bible shows what it is actually saying. Notice what the verse before it says:
1 John 2:15-18 KJV — Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
Verse 19 is not even speaking about salvation, but about false teachers, in whom, John says, is the spirit of antichrist. When we look more at the context, John warns us not to love the world, because those who love the world, the love of the Father isn’t in them. Who is he talking to here? He is speaking to those who are already Christians, and yet he is warning them not to love the world. Why would he command them to avoid loving the world if it was not possible for them to return to sin?
STAMPED ≠ ETERNAL SECURITY
Many people will point to Ephesians, because there Paul says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. However, they misinterpret it to say that the Holy Spirit IS the seal. Let’s take a look.
Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30 — In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory…And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Notice the word used in conjunction with the name of the Holy Spirit: with, and whereby. Nowhere in this Scripture, its context, or any other Scripture in the Bible does it say the Holy Spirit is the Seal itself. No, the Holy Spirit is who seals us. But, what does this word for seal mean? It means to stamp, with a signet or private mark.
And what does the Bible say the seal, or sign actually is? Well, that’s a separate study, but for now, look up Isaiah 8:16, Exodus 31:16-17, and Ezekiel 20:12, 20.
Also, notice what Ephesians 4:30 also says: “and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God…” Why? Because while He is not the seal, He is who seals us.
Notice what Hebrews also says:
Hebrews 10:26-29 KJV — For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
You see, the Bible is clear: you can leave Jesus after you’ve accepted Him. Yes, salvation is by grace and believers can have the assurance that they are walking in a saving relationship with Jesus. See 1 John 5:11-13, and John 3. However, to say that we cannot lose salvation or that we cannot leave God after having experienced His goodness is to ignore a great very many Scriptures.
Study to show yourself approved, not to validate erroneous opinions.
