One of the sayings that often causes debate in the Church is “Once Saved, Always Saved”. Although the exact statement that salvation is eternal is not in the Bible I believe that there is more than enough scriptural evidence to conclude that if your salvation experience is genuine you can never lose it. There are those who argue that to believe that if a person is guaranteed eternal salvation is to give Christians a license to sin. They assume that those who believe in eternal security intend to accept salvation, and then continue to willingly sin. That doesn’t make any sense, because anyone who has been truly saved is a new creature, has been convicted by the Holy Spirit, and wants to live for Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, ⌊he is⌋ a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
John 14:26 (HCSB)26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
1 Thessalonians 4:8 (HCSB)8 Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit.
Galatians 2:19-20 (HCSB)19 For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
It’s likely that this statement, like many others was created for a very particular purpose, but has outgrown that purpose. “Once Saved , Always Saved” is based upon the doctrine of the eternally secure salvation but distorts it by only representing part of it. The saying, by itself, doesn't give enough information to make a real judgement to its truth.
When I talk about eternally secure salvation, I’m not talking about any power or ability of a human being, but about the power of God's redemptive and recreative work through Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace not by anything that we do or don’t do.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (HCSB)8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift--9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
Since what we do has no bearing on our salvation it is God’s decision and His alone to save us and recreate us into the image of His Son. Eternally secure salvation is based on God's faithfulness not ours.
Romans 8:28-29 (HCSB)28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.29 For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, ⌊he is⌋ a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
Philippians 1:6 (HCSB)6 I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, ⌊he is⌋ a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
John 14:26 (HCSB)26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
1 Thessalonians 4:8 (HCSB)8 Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit.
Galatians 2:19-20 (HCSB)19 For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
It’s likely that this statement, like many others was created for a very particular purpose, but has outgrown that purpose. “Once Saved , Always Saved” is based upon the doctrine of the eternally secure salvation but distorts it by only representing part of it. The saying, by itself, doesn't give enough information to make a real judgement to its truth.
When I talk about eternally secure salvation, I’m not talking about any power or ability of a human being, but about the power of God's redemptive and recreative work through Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace not by anything that we do or don’t do.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (HCSB)8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift--9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
Since what we do has no bearing on our salvation it is God’s decision and His alone to save us and recreate us into the image of His Son. Eternally secure salvation is based on God's faithfulness not ours.
Romans 8:28-29 (HCSB)28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.29 For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, ⌊he is⌋ a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
Philippians 1:6 (HCSB)6 I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
You Can Never Lose Your Salvation, and Here's Why!
Excerpted from Twisted Scripture: 45 Lies Christians Have Been Told” by Andrew Farley
Galatians 5:4 (HCSB) You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.
Fallen from grace? That certainly sounds like they’ve lost their salvation. And the way the term is popularly used today doesn’t help, either. When we hear in the news about a celebrity who has “fallen from grace”, it typically describes someone who was behaving well but then suffered a moral failure. Perhaps they were arrested for illegal drugs, cheated on their spouse, or cheated on their taxes.
But in Galatians, falling from grace means something very different: falling away from the message of God’s grace and toward the Law.
Paul wrote Galatians to a variety of people. Some had accepted the Gospel; others were acquainted with the message but hadn’t accepted it. Still others had flirted with the idea of salvation by grace through faith but instead chose to seek rightness with God through keeping the Law.
In Galatians 5, Paul was speaking to those “seeking to be justified by law” and notes that they were planning to “receive circumcision”
Galatians 5:4 NLT For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
Galatians 5:3 NLT I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.
Clearly, this means they were unbelievers who had no clue how to get right with God.
How can we be certain that Paul was not speaking to believers who had lost their salvation? Notice the contrast between “you” and “we” in the passage:
Galatians 5:4-5 NLT For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.
The Greek word for “cut off" here conveys that some of the Galatians were “void of” Christ. In other words, those who seek rightness with God through Law-keeping inevitably cut themselves off from the truth of the Gospel.
This makes it impossible for them to be justified before God.
So this is not a group of believers who have lost salvation. Instead, it’s a group of Galatians influenced and ultimately persuaded by Judaizers to mix Old Testament rule-keeping in with the true salvation message. This is why Paul separates himself and his fellow believers (“we”) as those in Christ who approach rightness with God in a different way—by faith, not by the works of the Law.
God’s Promise of Security
The New Testament is full of evidence that we cannot lose our salvation. Jesus said that the new life we have is eternal, not temporal, and we will never die.
Luke 20:36 NLT And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.
He said that no one can snatch us out of His hand.
John 10:28-29 NLT I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
Paul tells us that we’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and that our calling will never be revoked.
Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Romans 11:29 NLT For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.
God will never leave us and never forsake us.
Hebrews 13:5 NLT Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
We are protected by His power.
1 Peter 1:5 NLT And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
God is able to save us completely because He always lives to intercede for us for any sins imaginable.
Hebrews 7:25 NLT Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
Why did Jesus so confidently say that of everyone the Father has given Him, He will lose no one?
John 6:39 NLT And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.
Because it’s not our dedication, our commitment, or our promise-keeping that maintains our salvation. No, the book of Hebrews actually reveals the polar opposite: it’s God’s promise to Himself that secures our salvation
Hebrews 6:13-20 NLT For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
The author of Hebrews speaks of a promise secured between “two unchangeable things” that anchor our souls. What are these two unchangeable things? God and God.
Hebrews 6:17-19 NLT God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
It is impossible for God (and God!) to lie. So when God promises God, you can count on it. And that’s the whole point–our salvation is anchored to a promise that God made to Himself:
Hebrews 6:13-14 (NLT) 13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”
God Won’t Deny Himself or You!
Some of our most frequent spiritual questions relate to the loss of salvation: But what if I die by suicide? But what if I get a divorce and then remarry? But what if I commit the same sin, willfully, over and over again?
These four words pester us: But what if I . . .? However, God already saw our concerns coming. He dealt with them entirely through the new covenant by anchoring us to a promise that He made to Himself.
We don’t maintain or sustain any part of God’s promise to Himself. As believers who are forever in Christ, the “But what if I . . .?” questions don’t have to plague us. We are not even in the equation!
Instead of asking, “But what if I . . .?” we need to be asking, “But what if God . . .?” And the answer to that question is a resounding yes: God did the very thing He needed to do to secure us forever. He promised Himself that He would never leave us:
2 Timothy 2:13 NLT If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.
God placed His Spirit in us. He cannot disown Himself. So, He will never disown us!
This was all part of God’s perfect plan to secure us forever in Jesus. And it’s this security in Jesus that inspires and motivates us to live uprightly.
Titus 2:11-12 NLT For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,
The New Testament is full of evidence that we cannot lose our salvation. Jesus said that the new life we have is eternal, not temporal, and we will never die.
Luke 20:36 NLT And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.
He said that no one can snatch us out of His hand.
John 10:28-29 NLT I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
Paul tells us that we’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and that our calling will never be revoked.
Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Romans 11:29 NLT For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.
God will never leave us and never forsake us.
Hebrews 13:5 NLT Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
We are protected by His power.
1 Peter 1:5 NLT And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
God is able to save us completely because He always lives to intercede for us for any sins imaginable.
Hebrews 7:25 NLT Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
Why did Jesus so confidently say that of everyone the Father has given Him, He will lose no one?
John 6:39 NLT And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.
Because it’s not our dedication, our commitment, or our promise-keeping that maintains our salvation. No, the book of Hebrews actually reveals the polar opposite: it’s God’s promise to Himself that secures our salvation
Hebrews 6:13-20 NLT For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
The author of Hebrews speaks of a promise secured between “two unchangeable things” that anchor our souls. What are these two unchangeable things? God and God.
Hebrews 6:17-19 NLT God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
It is impossible for God (and God!) to lie. So when God promises God, you can count on it. And that’s the whole point–our salvation is anchored to a promise that God made to Himself:
Hebrews 6:13-14 (NLT) 13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”
God Won’t Deny Himself or You!
Some of our most frequent spiritual questions relate to the loss of salvation: But what if I die by suicide? But what if I get a divorce and then remarry? But what if I commit the same sin, willfully, over and over again?
These four words pester us: But what if I . . .? However, God already saw our concerns coming. He dealt with them entirely through the new covenant by anchoring us to a promise that He made to Himself.
We don’t maintain or sustain any part of God’s promise to Himself. As believers who are forever in Christ, the “But what if I . . .?” questions don’t have to plague us. We are not even in the equation!
Instead of asking, “But what if I . . .?” we need to be asking, “But what if God . . .?” And the answer to that question is a resounding yes: God did the very thing He needed to do to secure us forever. He promised Himself that He would never leave us:
2 Timothy 2:13 NLT If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.
God placed His Spirit in us. He cannot disown Himself. So, He will never disown us!
This was all part of God’s perfect plan to secure us forever in Jesus. And it’s this security in Jesus that inspires and motivates us to live uprightly.
Titus 2:11-12 NLT For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,
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