I was raised in the Baptist church, even attending a Baptist college for a short time as a teenager. I was the organist for a Baptist church in my youth in Lexington, Kentucky. One doctrine I heard preached and taught almost continuously during those years of my youth was the doctrine of “once saved, always saved,” also known as “once in grace, always in grace.” I believed it wholeheartedly. I know by heart every scripture and every argument used by those who embrace that doctrine as their “proof” that the Bible teaches the same. Years ago I quoted those scriptures and used those arguments to defend what I was certain the Bible clearly taught as truth. I now know, and have known for years that if there was ever a doctrine that one can honestly call “a doctrine of demons,” it is the devil’s lie of “once saved, always saved!!” I also know that the majority of those who hold to that teaching, even striving diligently to get others to accept the same as scripture truth, will never let that doctrine go, but will embrace it till their dying day, turning a deaf ear to any and all scriptures that reveal this teaching to be one of the cleverest lies Satan ever palmed off on unsuspecting men and women, boys and girls.
The chief reason I call this belief a doctrine of demons is because it is the mother of billions and billions of sins. Why strive diligently to root sin out of one’s life if such sin can in no way jeopardize your salvation? Why not go ahead and give in to that temptation to do evil. The worst it can cost you is a few rewards in heaven, so they believe? In fact, if you sin enough God will end your earthly journey and take you to heaven early, thereby rewarding your sins as the worst place in heaven has to be better than the best place or life on earth! How is that for satanically warped thinking?? Literally DOZENS of plain, clear, easy-to-understand scriptures have to be overlooked in order for someone to embrace the doctrine of “once saved, always saved.”
This doctrine has had a lot of help in being accepted by unsuspecting professing Christians by big-name radio and television preachers who have proclaimed it as the Bible’s teaching, thundering their warped messages over the air waves for decades. Men will turn a deaf ear to scripture while gleefully quoting the satanic lies spread by the McGee’s, Roloff’s, and Stanley’s of the world. These men preach a great deal of truth but interwoven in that truth is this devil’s lie and that’s what makes it so believable to so many. They think, “These great men of God cannot be wrong in this matter.” Unwittingly they assign them the attribute of infallibility in this matter. The teachers of this false doctrine will have to answer to Jesus Christ as to why they taught as gospel truth what can easily be shown to be a devilish lie. They argue one can’t be unborn once they are born, and one cannot be unborn once born again. Or, they will say, even though your child is disobedient he, or she, still remains your child. They fail to realize that what is true in the physical realm is not necessarily true in the spiritual realm. They have no scripture to support these statements, yet they will use this argument as their main “proof” that one cannot lose their salvation.
The one who buys into the “once saved, always saved” fiction has to pointedly ignore literally dozens of plain, clear Bible texts. Those who embrace this sin-spawning doctrine ignore the IF’s in scripture. Let me give you a few from just one chapter alone, Hebrews 3. Note: “But Christ (performs faithfully) as a Son over his own house (household, the body of Christ, the congregation of true believers), whose house are we IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope (the blessed hope, the resurrection to eternal life) firm unto the end (the end of our lives, or the end of the age, whichever comes first). Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, ‘Today, IF you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts…” (See verses 6 through 8).
A believer can harden their heart against the truth, against the ministering of the Holy Spirit, against God!! Many prideful Bible students do just that when shown they are in error on some point of doctrine. Instead of humbly accepting the fact that Satan has deceived them in some area, they will stubbornly hold on to their false doctrine, thus, hardening their hearts against the movement of the Holy Spirit upon their minds. And, brother, that is a bad, bad sign, because Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I (then) give unto them eternal life…” (See John 10:27-28 once again). To follow Jesus Christ is to turn away from sin and error consistently and continually.
The “once saved, always saved” error is a sin-spawning doctrine of demons. Many of those who embrace this doctrine do NOT strive diligently and continually to root all sin out of their lives. They can easily become racists, tell a lie, lose their temper, harbor evil thoughts, and a host of other sins. After all they see themselves impervious to the effects of sin. They see the other guy’s sin instantly and point it out to others quite readily. They are totally blind to their own condition. Returning to Hebrews 3: “Take heed, BRETHREN, lest there be in any of you (yes, you brethren) an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (verse 12). Yes, though NOTHING can force a believer out of fellowship with God, a believer can of their own free will and volition depart from God. One shouldn’t need the scriptures to convince him this can happen. If you have lived long enough and known enough believers, you probably know a few who departed from fellowship with God long ago and never returned! “For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end (the end of our lives or the end of the age, whichever comes first)” (verse 14). There’s that big “IF” again, the word totally ignored by the “once in grace, always in grace” teachers.
What do these folks do with Paul’s admission in 2 Timothy 1:15, “This thou knowest that ALL THEY WHICH ARE IN ASIA be turned away from me…” (verse 15). And WHO was in Asia? The congregations of Ephesus, Laodicea and Colossians to name a few. Since Paul represented Jesus Christ, was the ambassador of the Lord, in turning away from Paul it doesn’t take a mental giant to figure out that they also turned away from Jesus Christ! Don’t you have some vague recollection of both Paul and Peter warning about a coming “falling away”? God help us to understand and accept His truth
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The term “sinner” is used dozens of times in the scriptures and always clearly refers to an unsaved person! “Once saved, always saved” is as much a doctrine of demons as the Muslim teaching that God has no Son. A doctrine of demons can be taught by highly respected and popular preachers. A person once saved, or justified, can still forfeit their place in the kingdom: Matt. 10:33; Luke 8:13; Romans 8:13; 11:20-22; Gal. 5:19-21; 6:8; James 5:19-20; Rev. 22:19, etc. Once in grace, always in grace hides from the disobedient the startling fact that they are in peril of forfeiting eternal life!
I noticed a long time ago that those who believe in and teach the doctrine of “once saved, always saved,” or “once in grace, always in grace,” generally do not cite scripture to back up their argument, but instead use human arguments to support their belief, saying things like “Just because your son misbehaves he is still your son.” They forget that what is true in the physical realm is not always true in the spiritual realm. A human child is brought forth, or created, by the sexual union of a man and woman. Such is not true of a spirit child, or a child of God. There are many tremendous differences between what is factual and true in the human family and what is true and factual in the family of God.
It is stated quite clearly in John 10, verses 28 and 29, how that Jesus said that nothing or no one has the ability to FORCE us out of God’s hand of safekeeping. No believer need ever worry that anyone or anything (human or spirit) has the capacity to forcibly wrench us away from fellowship with Jesus Christ or God the Father. It can’t happen. But can that relationship be broken through our own desire to depart and go our own way, the way of the flesh and the world? Ah, that’s a different question altogether, and one the Bible addresses in depth.
In Romans 8, verses 38 and 39, Paul writes: “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor ANY OTHER CREATURE shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Only YOU can separate yourself from God. No OTHER creature can, neither spirit or flesh. Notice that nothing SINFUL is mentioned in that long list given in Romans 8. Why not? Because Paul well knew and taught that sin can and will separate us from God. It always has!
Paul said he believed “all things which are written in the law and in the prophets” (See Acts 24:14). That would include Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2, which read: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear, BUT YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOD, AND YOUR SINS HAVE HID HIS FACE FROM YOU THAT HE WILL NOT HEAR.” Paul well knew that sin will separate us from God. Any sin will bring temporary separation. Continued sin, sin one refuses to abandon, will bring permanent separation!
Right before listing the many things that can NOT separate us from God, Paul had already WARNED, “Therefore, BRETHREN, we are debtors NOT to the flesh, to live after the flesh, for if you (you believers, you brethren) live after the flesh (continue in sin), YOU SHALL DIE, but if you through the Spirit (through submission to the Spirit, through following the Spirit’s leading) do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, you shall live” (See Romans 8:12-13). And when Paul says, “you shall die,” he is talking about the second death, for ALL die the first death, the godly and the ungodly. The only ones who will escape the first death are those believers who happen to be alive when Christ returns. (See I Thessalonians 4:14-17 with I Corinthians 15:51-52).
Paul, in writing the believers in Galatia, listed for them many sinful, fleshly acts such as adultery, fornication, idolatry, hatred, murder and drunkenness. He then warned “that they which do such things shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God” (See Galatians 5:19-21). He had just written “if a son, then an heir” (See Galatians 4:7). Therefore, if we are not heirs of the kingdom, we are no longer sons! We have been cut off, disinherited, our spiritual adoption made null and void. Paul wrote Timothy, “It is a faithful saying, ‘For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him.'” (2 Timothy 2:11). Yes, IF we be dead with Him – dead to the sinful pulls and attractions of this world on our flesh – THEN we shall live eternally. Notice, it is A CONDITION to our inheriting eternal life.
God is no one’s patsy, no one’s chump! Those who think they are “locked in” to salvation regardless of how they live will be in for a rude awakening at the judgment. I trust none of my readers will be so rudely awakened. In Romans 11, Paul speaks of how God cut off His own chosen people, the Jews, due to their sins and unbelief. He then WARNS the believers at Rome, “Take heed lest He also spare not thee,” urging them to live godly lives, “otherwise thou also SHALT BE CUT OFF!” (See Romans 11:21-22). To be continued….
Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley