Introduction
Biblical scholars have been arguing this question over the centuries under the alternate title of ‘eternal security’. Two distinct systems of theology, Calvinism and Arminianism, attempt to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in the matter of salvation. How you answer this question will depend on which you adhere to most. A source of contention can be seen in two main passages in the Bible, which seem contradictory on first reading:
• John 3: 16 – For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (NIV 2012).
This is also supported by Jesus’ words to Martha in John 1: 25-26 …and whoever lives by believing in me will never die… (NIV 2012).
On the surface, it appears belief in God is all that is required to be saved, but could it also infer that if you stop believing, your salvation is put into question? What level of unbelief is needed, or what behaviours could imply possible unbelief?
• Paul discusses grace now reigning to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ in Romans 5: 21 (NIV 2012) and then asks the question in Romans 6:1 (NIV 2012), “… Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?”
There is more to this statement, which goes beyond the scope of this essay, but his response in Romans 8: 12-13 (NIV 2012) is critical in this discussion. In these later verses in Romans, Paul encourages believers not to rely on grace, but to reject a sinful lifestyle because their eternal destiny is dependent on their post-conversion lifestyle choice. This indicates one can lose their eternal security.
In this paper I propose that there are good arguments for and against ‘eternal security’ as evidenced in the Bible, where we should find the source of all theology. After describing these arguments, and discussing biblical evidence that both supports and challenges both sides, I will propose my viewpoint. The answer has eternal consequences, so the intention is to give readers enough substance to challenge their own beliefs and consider the way they should live their lives going forward. In particular, can we lower our level of responsibility and just rely on God’s grace to cover over a multitude of our sins? Or should we make every effort to do what is right and holy at all times, and take responsibility for all that we do, knowing that God’s grace is there for us when it is needed, but should never be abused?
The OSAS Argument
In the Bible there are often seemingly contradictory passages, and it behoves us to seek the true meaning through the original translations (Greek and Hebrew). In many cases, we can find the true meaning easily, but where there is a lack of clarity, we should look to what we know to be clear in the first instance. Then we should try to understand the conflicting verse within that context (a hermeneutical principle known as ‘the analogy of faith’). Following this principle, those who believe we can lose our salvation could be seen to be in error as they violate this principle in two ways:
• They base their understanding of the gospel on a few difficult or unclear passages rather than on the many very clear ones;
• They overthrow the correct interpretation of clear passages by understanding them in the light of faulty views of the unclear or more difficult passages of scripture (J. Hampton Keathley 2004).
The major arguments around OSAS seem to be centred around whether or not persistent personal sin after salvation can exclude you from eternal life. A key change that takes place between the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT) is the method of atonement for sin. In Leviticus 16 the Lord tells Moses how Aaron must come before the presence of God once a year (at the Ark of the Covenant) to atone for the sins of the people. In the NT, Jesus died for our sins once and for all, making our atonement for sins complete. If we believe in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. He is the presence of God, and it is this power we now possess that will keep us from sinning. John 3:16 tells us clearly that whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life (NIV 2012).
Many scholars have argued that this last verse is the end of the matter, taking the approach of the French theologian, John Calvin (1509 – 1564) who based his system of theology on the five tenets commonly referred to as “TULIP” (Piper 2015). On the other side of the argument, Arminians espouse the views in the Five Articles of Remonstrance of Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, 1560 – 1609 (Arminius n.d.)
While all the tenets affect this discussion, one of the main arguments between the two views is whether or not:
• God’s grace is irresistible so no one can lose their salvation of their own accord, supporting OSAS, as in Calvinism;
• God allows His desire to save all to be resisted by an individual’s will, that could lead to losing your salvation, as in the Arminian doctrine.
While Calvin and Arminius debated this in the 17th century, some of the central issues could be traced back to Augustine’s disputes with the Pelagian’s much earlier in the 5th century and are ongoing today (Wikipedia, History of the Calvinist-Arminian Debate 2019).
Discussion of the Biblical Evidence
The key verse in support of OSAS is the much-quoted:
John 3: 16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (NIV, 2012).
John Piper drew on the following scriptures to support the understanding of the gift of eternal life (Piper 2015):
Matthew 10:29; Luke 18:29-30; John 3:16, 36; John 5:24, 6:40, 17:2-3; Romans 6:23; Galatians 6:8; 1 Timothy 1:16, 6:12; Titus 1:2, 3:5-7; 1 John 2:24-25, 5:11-13; Jude 1:21 (NIV 2012).
As alluded to earlier, if belief in Jesus is all that is needed to have eternal life, then we must look at ‘belief’ carefully to make sure of our eternal security. A common understanding of belief is trust, faith or confidence in someone or something. In John 3:16, belief is much more than just having an intellectual trust in someone (in this case, the one true God in the person of Jesus), as ‘(e)ven the demons believe that – and shudder’ in James 2:19 (NIV 2012). It requires action in the form of faith that will transform your life to save you from the eternal consequences of sin and demands our total surrender and obedience to God’s word. Belief in Jesus can also imply love of Jesus and following how He lives as shown in these verses: John 14:15, 21; 1 John 2:5-6; 1 John 5:1-3 (NIV 2012).
But can lower levels of belief, or actions that indicate unbelief, affect our salvation? In Calvinism, perseverance of the saints works on the premise that God will enable a believer to persevere once believing in Christ. This supposes there is only belief or disbelief. What if there are levels of belief below true belief? The Arminian view Nixon espouses holds that true belief requires adherence to the expectations of holiness required of believers who claim to follow Christ. It doesn’t mean absolute perfection is required but does mean that persistent sin, if not repented of, can cause you to lose your salvation. Piper draws on these verses that teach sinful behaviour is antithetical to faith:
Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5: 3-7; 1 Timothy 6:9 (NIV 2012).
Since Jesus himself said we need faith to believe, it follows that sinful behaviour is akin to disbelief. To have real faith is to take up our cross and follow Jesus as seen in Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV 2012). Jay Lucas taught his congregation that an outward profession of faith without an inward regeneration meant you never really possessed Christ at all, so they couldn’t lose a salvation they never had. God requires commitment to the process of sanctification to bring salvation to fruition (Lucas n.d.; Nixon 2019, 89). Piper concurred with these thoughts, claiming no sin a believer commits can result in condemnation or loss of salvation, but that believers who live in continued sin are hypocrites, and not really believers at all (Piper 2015).
Piper, while also a proponent of Calvinism, supports the need to continue in one’s faith to be finally saved (Piper 2015). He points out faith and actions must work together as shown in Genesis 22 and reiterated in James 2:22, where Abraham was about to offer Isaac as a sacrifice up the mountain, and God intervened and provided a ram as a replacement, for Abraham’s faithfulness. Other passages in the NT that support the view that salvation is conditional upon faith or that we must protect our faith are:
Colossians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:2; Hebrews 3:6, 14; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 2 John 1:8-9; John 15:5-6 (NIV 2012).
Nixon takes the Arminian view claiming that while the initial justification is based on faith ‘whoever believes in him’, which is your initial commitment, the final judgment is based on faithfulness, which is your post-conversion commitment (Nixon 2019, 96). He stresses the concept of Commitment, which provides a connection with judgment being based on deeds spoken throughout the NT in verses such as:
Matthew 16:27; John 5:29; Romans 2:6-10; 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Galatians 6:7-10; Ephesians 6:8; and 1 Peter 1:14-17 (NIV 2012).
Nixon believes, ‘commitment wends a balanced way between the justification-by-faith passages and the judgment-by deeds passages, giving equal weight to both’ (Nixon 2019, 95). He goes on to say that while Romans 2:6-10 does not suggest ‘sinless perfection’ (Nixon 2019, 94) no amount of good works can erase his disloyalty to God and to God’s way of life (Nixon 2019, 95). Abandoning commitment to God’s lifestyle is tantamount to abandoning one’s faith.
This discussion of the Biblical evidence reinforces why there has been so much debate by so many theologians over this whole issue for a long period of time. It will probably continue long into the future, but is it God’s intention to dwell on these issues? Or would he rather we spent our energy on reaching those that are yet in the position to be able to lose a salvation they haven’t yet received?
Conclusion
It is my belief that Once Saved, Always Saved is a human term that does not clearly reflect the full intent of God’s saving grace and His requirement for us to repent and turn away from our sins in order to follow Jesus and inherit eternal life.
Clearly, some passages in the Bible state we are saved for all eternity, and in others, we can lose our eternity through repeated sin. Logic follows that we should not risk our eternity by knowingly sinning, but if we do err, we should seek forgiveness and turn away from it.
I am not willing to risk being told at the end of my days, “Depart from me”! God’s love for us was so great, giving His only son’s life for us to have eternal life, that I would want to show my appreciation by extending that love back to God. How can I show love, and at the same time sin and just expect it to be covered by God’s immense grace?
I have been saved and accepted through my positional union with Christ and know that no-one can remove me from God’s hand. I am not interested in taking part in the perfect tense argument used by some to support their saved state, or just relying on the expectation of grace to cover my sins.
I don’t consider loving God and keeping His commandments “work”; doing these things doesn’t enter the realm of thinking I am being saved by “works”. I know that I can confess my sins and God is faithful to forgive them. I would rather love God by trying to emulate how Jesus lived on earth as our example. I want to act in a way that the answer to the OSAS question would never need consideration, let alone have to be proved by God, at the end of my days on earth.
References
Arminius, James. n.d. “The Works of James Arminius – Vol.1 Nine thrological questions, Q 7 and 8.” Wesley Centre Online. Accessed October 27, 2019. http://wesley.nnu.edu/arminianism/the-works-of-james-arminius/.
J. Hampton Keathley, III. 2004. “1.4. Assurance of Eternal Security.” Bible.org – ABCs for Christian Growth – Laying the Foundation . 30 June. Accessed October 24, 2019. https://bible.org/seriespage/14-assurance-eternal-security.
Lucas, Jay. n.d. “Is Salvation Forever? The Doctrine of Eternal Security. A position paper prepared for the Grace Community Church.” Accessed October 21, 2019. https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.cloversites.com/c5/c5ee493b-e6ad-4985-bdea-1a4665570f2e/documents/Is_Salvation_Forever.pdf.
NIV. 2012. NIV Faithlife Study Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Nixon, Timothy L. 2019. “Exegesis of Romans 8:12-13: The Epitome of Paul’s Response to the Question of Romans 6:1.” Scholar Works at Harding. Spring. Accessed October 21, 2019. https://scholarworks.harding.edu/hst-etd/12/.
Pawson, Davis. 1996. Once Saved, Always Saved?: A Study in Perseverance and Inheritance. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://books.google.co.nz/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XNJ3BgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&dq=once+saved+always+saved&ots=AjK8zpz0gr&sig=DkaGKAIcsnDBFnG3T5twRzc42UY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=once%20saved%20always%20saved&f=false.
Piper, John. 2015. “Watershed differences between Calvinists and Arminians.” desiringGod.org. 15 August. Accessed October 25, 2019. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/watershed-differences-between-calvinists-and-arminians.
Wikipedia contributors. 2019. John Piper (theologian). 21 September. Accessed 10 27, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Piper_(theologian)&oldid=916990996.
Wikipedia, contributors. 2019. “History of the Calvinist-Arminian Debate.” Wikipedia. 31 October. Accessed November 2, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Calvinist%E2%80%93Arminian_debate#Augustine_and_Pelagius.
| Tenets | Calvinism | Arminianism |
| Total Depravity | Every aspect of humanity is corrupted by sin so humans can’t come to God on their own account | Even though people are depraved and corrupt, they can decide to trust God or not for their salvation |
| Election | Unconditional – God selects His people based on His will and not on anything inherently worthy in the individual | Conditional – Tied in with Pre-destination, God elected those to bring to salvation – those He foresaw would believe and provide their own decisive impetus to maintain their faith |
| Atonement | Limited – Jesus died for all, but it would only be effective for the elect | Unlimited – Jesus died for all, and this would become effective for all who believed through faith. In other words, faith is the human means of obtaining forgiveness of sins that was purchased by the cross |
| Grace | Irresistible – Those called will come to salvation through God’s work of renewal in our hearts | Prevenient – God’s work of renewal in our hearts is in response to our act of saving faith. Grace therefore enables but does not ensure, personal acceptance of the gift of salvation |
| Perseverance of the Saints | People will persevere and will not permanently deny Christ or turn away from him | Conditional – Arminians say God works to preserve His people, but He does not always prevent some who were born again from falling away to destruction |
(Arminius n.d.; Pawson 1996; Piper 2015; Wikipedia, contributors 2019)