DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY …

‘ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED’?

This phrase ‘once saved, always saved’ does not occur in the Bible, and Christians have varying ideas about the truth of this concept.

There are Christians who deny the possibility of assurance of salvation. This position colours their understanding of the Bible. The result of this is that certain passages are seen to teach that a person with genuine faith and salvation today can lose that faith and their salvation tomorrow, depending on the ability of that person to live up to certain standards of obedience.

There are Christians who maintain 'once saved, always saved' irrespective of their behaviour.

There are Christians who believe that assurance of salvation is part and parcel of salvation; that once a person is truly saved, that person can never return to a state of lostness; that true faith endures and perseveres despite its fluctuations; and that the role of obedience/behaviour is not to gain or to maintain salvation, but the evidence of genuine faith. On this understanding, the passages used by the first group above to teach that salvation can be lost, are seen to teach that people who revert to life of on-going, unrepentant disobedience to God were never saved in the first place, even though for a time they may have appeared (to human observation) to be believers.

There are many statements in the Bible that affirm strongly the permanence and security of the salvation granted freely to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are a few of them:

From Jesus:

John 5:24 – ‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.’

John 6:40 – ‘For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’

John 6:47 – ‘I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.’

John 8:12 – ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

John 10:27-29 – ‘My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.’

From the apostles:

Romans 4:16 – ‘Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.’

Romans 5:9-11 – ‘Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.’

Romans 8:1 – ‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

2Corinthians 1:21,22 – ‘He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.’

Ephesians 2:8,9 – ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith …not by works, so that no one can boast.’

Hebrews 10:10 – ‘And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’

1Peter 1:3-5 – ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.’

1John 4:11,12 – ‘And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.’

Because this is such an important topic, ‘assurance of salvation’ will be the focus of our ‘Thought for the Week’ for several weeks. In the meantime, the two links below will take you to related studies on my site:

This study for a discussion of relevant texts.
This study for an understanding of the debate about this topic.