‘Once Saved Always Saved’?

Every day on social media someone posts a comment such as ‘once saved always saved is a lie’, or a similar comment. If one bothers to reach through the comments, people post verses about ‘falling away’, or Paul suggesting he may be ‘disqualified from winning the prize’, or ‘not being moved from the hope of the gospel’.

It soon becomes very obvious that many people do not understand how various words are used in Scripture, words such as justified, saved, born again, believe, etc. What is even more obvious is that many, if not most Christians, have little or no idea about the differences between the old and new covenants and especially the role of the Holy Spirit, and this is where we need to begin in this discussion.

So…what do we mean by ‘saved’ and is there a difference in how we use this word under the old and new covenants. Fundamentally, the only consistent criteria for salvation from Genesis to revelation is faith, that is, in trusting God and proving that trust through active faith. Just believing in the existence of God is not faith, indeed it is just one step above being a total fool for the ‘fool says in his heart there is no God’ (Psalm 14:1). 

Hebrews 11 gives us many examples of the active faith of people who lived both before the Law given through Moses, and under the Law. Noah trusted God and built the ark, Abraham was called and left his home and others were persecuted and martyred for trusting the Lord. Jews under the Law took their sacrifices to the temple in faith that their obedience saved them and tried to obey the Law with sincere hearts. Of course the Lord knows the hearts of all people and no doubt some just did rituals in order to comply and had no love for the Lord or His standards revealed in the Law.

During this time the Holy Spirit was upon specific individuals such as kings and prophets but He could not permanently indwell any human soul until that soul had been purified by a perfect sacrifice. God dwelt in the temple in the Holy of Holies and only the high priest could approach Him once a year after a very specific ritual of blood, or face certain death. The last verses of the 11th chapter of Hebrews tells us that these Old Testament saints were;

 ‘…All commended for their faith, yet none of them received what was promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect’ (Hebrews 11:39-40). 

What then is that ‘something better’? It is the new covenant, it is becoming partakers of the Divine Nature. Peter specifically mentions this promise in Acts 2:38-39, the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Jesus made it clear that the Holy Spirit would not be sent until He returned to the Father (John 16:7). He also told the disciples that the Holy Spirit was ‘with them’ and would be ‘in them’ (John 14:16-17). The new covenant began on the Day of Pentecost and the first people were born again. Yes, there were many ‘saved’ people before Pentecost, indeed Scripture calls the 3,000 who were born again at Pentecost devout or God-fearing Jews who were in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice at the temple (Acts 2:5).

We can conclude at this point that there were people who were ‘saved’ under the old covenant, but not ‘born again’. So what of today? Are there some who are ‘saved’ but not ‘born again’? I would put the children of Christians in this category, and, if one bothers to study this topic, they will find that in the New Testament children are actually commanded to obey the old covenant law in both Ephesians and Colossians. 

Recall Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus which leads us to the summary statement of John 3:16. Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council (John 3:1) and the man who publicly took Jesus body down from the cross, and with Joseph of Arimathea, who was a secret disciple of Jesus (Luke 23:50-51, John 19: 38-42), anointed and buried Jesus. 

I believe it is almost without doubt that both Joseph and Nicodemus were amongst those gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost and born again along with the other 3,000 god-fearing Jews who were born again that day. (Acts 2:5, 41).

Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a person is ‘born from above’ he is not able to see the kingdom of God’. The literal Greek reads, ‘not he is able to see’. ‘He is able’ is the Greek ‘dynatai’ which is in the present indicative tense, and ‘see’ is the word ‘idein’ which means to discern clearly and experience as a reality. Jesus was not speaking of experiencing the kingdom of God only in the future, but in the present, in this life, an existential taste of what is to come. This is why He preached ‘repent, the kingdom of God is near’. Being born again is not some metaphor, but the kingdom of God within us, the reality of becoming partakers of the Divine Nature, having the joy, love and power to walk in a world which both hates us and may persecute us while we wait to leave this world. 

I don’t like the term ‘once saved always saved’ because the real issue is what we mean by saved? Some folk love summary formulas such as John 3:16, that ‘whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life’, but what do we mean by ‘believe’ for ‘even the demons believe and tremble’. Some give put a list of 4-5 things you need to do to be ‘saved’. 

1. Recognize you are a sinner.

2. Ask God’s forgiveness.

3. Believe that Jesus died to save you from your sins.

4. Ask God to help to live for Him.

Others will state that In John 3:16 Jesus never mentioned repentance or baptism, denying self or taking up our cross, so none of these things are necessary. Some tell unbelievers to just ‘invite Jesus into your heart’ or some such phrase, and then wonder why these people just as easily invite Jesus to leave.  

The problem with using formulas is that they do not take into account all of the other things the Bible says about salvation such as counting the cost in Luke 14, or even understanding the root of sin. All sin originates in what we might call the ‘self ruling principle’. This is the root of all sin where the creature demands to rule their own life, their way. Proverbs 14:12 says ‘there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death’.

It is not just about admitting you are immoral, or greedy, arrogant, lustful etc, but understanding that all of these things are rooted in our demand to set our own standards, to rule our own life. It is this self-rule which must die in order for us to be ‘born again’. In Romans 6:6 Paul speaks of the ‘old self being crucified with Christ’, and in Galatians 2:20 he wrote ‘I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live’. The word I in this verse is ‘ego’. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes that a Christian is a ‘new creation, the new has come and the old is gone ’. Some translations say the old has ‘passed away’ but both mean that the old self has died, it longer exists in the sense of ruling the person’s life. What remains are the habits formed in our old life, and Romans 12:1-2 tells us that we must no longer conform to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, putting on the new self, new godly habits.

If the ‘self’ that ruled you has been crucified with Christ and passed away, then it is gone because people do not remain alive after crucifixion. How, then can this old self which is now dead get up and walk away? Dead men don’t walk.

In Matthew 7:21 Jesus stated that ‘not all who call me Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father’. Friend, if you have been really born again then you have received the divine nature permanently within you and your desire will be to live in the will of the Lord you love. Yes, you may fail on occasions, but you will know that you grieved the Holy Spirit within you and have no peace until you confess that sin to the Lord.

The most important question is this. Who do you belong to? Do you still belong to yourself or do you belong to Christ? Salvation is not just about a change of heart, but a change of ownership.

Romans 8:9 says that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ do not belong to Christ. Ephesians 1:13-14 says that the Holy Spirit is given as a guarantee of our inheritance for those who are ‘God’s own possession’. If you have sincerely denied self and given your life to Christ, then you belong to Christ, you are ‘God’s own possession’. Once God’s own possession, always God’s own possession, once crucified with Christ, always belong to Christ. 

In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul writes these words. 

‘Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is within you – unless, of course, you fail the test’.

How can you test yourself? It is simple: Who is Lord of your life…do you have the desire, love and power to live in God’s will or not? 

I ask again: who do you belong to? Are you still ruling your own life, or is the Lord in charge. The way you answer those questions will determine whether or not you are ‘saved’ and the question of ‘once saved always saved’ will be clear to you.

If you wish to look even deeper into this topic I suggest chapter 10 in my Practical Systematic Theology, or the first two chapters of Running the Race.  

Steve Copland