Episode 2: Once Saved, Always Saved?

Summary

Question from John 10: 27-28. Those who hear His voice and follow Him will never perish and no one will be able to snatch them out of His hand. Does this mean once saved, always saved? How does John 10 reconcile with verses that warn about falling away?

The doctrine of once saved, always saved goes back to John Calvin’s “P” in TULIP, which stands for perseverance of the saints, meaning you can’t be lost. The basic foundation of Calvinism is an individual can’t choose to be saved in the first place, therefore he can’t choose to be lost. This concept runs counter to the Scripture.

Acts 2:36-38,40 Peter’s response to what shall we do? If immersion is necessary for salvation, then salvation includes a choice. Peter goes on in verse 40 to say literally, “save yourselves” from this perverse generation. Throughout the book of Acts, the apostles are preaching, reasoning, and persuading. The point is that the individual can comprehend the words that are said and can make an informed decision about his eternity. Salvation involves a choice from the beginning, therefore there is a tremendous amount of warnings in the New Testament Scriptures about falling away.

Hebrews 6:4-6 Clearly talking about Christians here who are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. The idea is that you made a choice to follow Christ to start with, and you make a choice to continue to follow Christ from that point on.

Revelation 2:10 Be faithful until death and I will give you a crown of life.

Hebrews 3:12 The encouragement is to keep going because you can fall away.

Galatians 5:4 The battle in Galatians is whether is person is going to follow the faith of Christ or the law of Moses. The Scriptures are clear that these people were in Christ. You can’t be severed from Christ unless you were first in Christ. You can’t fall from grace unless you were first in grace. Going back under the system of law cuts you off from Christ. The “once saved, always saved” people say you can’t fall from grace and the apostle Paul says you can… who should we believe?

John 10:24-30 The truth seeker/sheep is going to hear the words of Jesus (what is written in the Scripture), believe it, and follow. Once a person is committed to Christ, there is no external force that can remove that individual from fellowship with Christ (Romans 8:38-39). The Christian can remove himself from fellowship with God as exhibited in these other Scriptures. So there’s no contradiction, the individual is still in the process of making a choice every step of the way. The call of the gospel goes out through the written word, the individual hears the call of the gospel, believes it, obeys it, and then he is saved. He is saved as long as he chooses to stay saved. If he chooses to turn away, that’s when he steps out of the Father’s hand.