How to Interpret the Bible (part 16) - Once Saved, Are We Always Saved?
Introduction. Another doctrine creating controversy and division among “disciples” has a variety of names. John Calvin called it “the perseverance of the saints”, others have called it “eternal security”, or summarizing the doctrine: “once saved always saved.” Some disciples preach this boldly while others dismiss it as error. With Jesus' prayer for unity and Paul’s command to speak the same thing, we must search the Scriptures for the truth. This one is easier to see through than most since it emphasizes God’s side of His covenant and minimizes our own.
God’s side of all covenants are absolute. He can’t lie, He swore with an oath, promised, and has absolute power to bring it about. “No one can snatch us” from His hand. When “God justifies,” no one can condemn (Rom. 8:38-39; Heb. 6:13-20; Jn. 10:28-30). What God says He will do is done the moment He says it, even if it takes thousands of years to complete. If we only look at these Scriptures, eternal security and once saved always saved appear to be true. But none of God’s promises and assurances address what occurs if we violate our promises to Him!
As God revealed His covenants to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the nation of Israel, they were always conditional. As there was never any doubt what God would do, the conditions always centered on our choices. Adam could have lived in the Garden of Eden forever if he had not chosen to eat the forbidden fruit. Noah had to choose to build the ark to save his house. Abraham had to choose to leave his country and offer Isaac to receive the promises God was offering.
From the time of Israel’s entrance into the promised land, God promised no one could remove His blessings from them. But it was not an unconditional covenant: “IF you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. blessings shall come upon you.” So if they kept the covenant, God would do these things for them. But if they broke the covenant they would be cursed: “IF you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:” (Deut. 28:1-2, 15). There was never a doubt with God’s side. It was always man’s obedience that brought the blessing or the curse.
If we carefully read God’s warnings to Israel through Ezekiel, we can learn how our individual conduct affects God’s promises. At any moment of any day, any individual who violated God’s covenant would lose all the blessings God’s grace had given to him.
These are powerful words that we must reflect upon. Once we understand them, they will guide us in our relationship with Him. Salvation is only determined in the present moment. After a full life of righteousness, each must understand that this “shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression.” None of God’s promises removed the consequences of choosing to sin. What happened to Adam in the garden will happen to any righteous man in the day he chooses to sin. It can all be lost in that moment of sin.
But the same principles guide God in His mercy. That same righteous man, who has fallen in the day of his transgression, has the same promise of mercy as God gives to all the wicked. No wicked man will “fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness.” Thus salvation and condemnation are determined by our conduct in the present moment. A wicked man will be forgiven in the day he turns from wickedness and the righteous will not “be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.”
God even addressed all the promises He made to the righteous. “When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.” Can God make it any clearer than this? All the promises made in the Old Covenant were lost when he committed iniquity. None of the previous “righteous works shall be remembered.” He will die “because of the iniquity that he has committed.”
God concluded by again explaining that it is what a man has done on that day that will affect him. Sin breaks the covenant and repentance restores it. “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.” There was no eternal security in the first covenant. At any moment the “righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.” Only when this formerly righteous man “turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right,” shall “he shall live because of it.” God’s saints only live in the present moment of their choices. When serving God faithfully, God sees them as righteous. When they sins, God sees them as wicked.
Did something change in the New Covenant? Is this covenant different from all previous covenants and our conduct no longer matters? Can we really believe that the blood of Christ removes the need for us to be faithful? The New Testament Scriptures reveal that nothing has changed in the New Covenant.
Paul warned the Galatians that the teachers they had turned to were accursed and told those who listened to them: “You have been severed from Christ,” and "you have fallen from grace.” When they were “baptized into Christ they put on Christ,” and when they listened to these teachers they were “severed from Christ.” (Gal. 1:6-9; 5:4; 3:27). These words are exactly the same as God told Ezekiel. When one obeys the gospel, God makes them righteous, but on the day of their transgression, “they were severed from Christ.” If they repented and confessed their wickedness, they would be restored again. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn. 1:9-10).
Conclusion. All covenants God made with man were conditional, including the New Covenant. When we look at the blessings and assurances God has made with us through Christ, we have absolute assurance. But none of these promises remove our need for daily consecration and faithfulness. As Jesus said, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev. 2:10). He warned in the parable of the sower of those who fall away in time of tribulation (Mt. 13:21). He warned in the parable of the vine and the branches that branches in Him that are not fruitful will be thrown into the fire (Jn 15:1-8). Paul buffeted his body so he would not be disqualified (1Cor. 9:27). Those who fell in the Old Covenant are used as an example that we too could fall (1Cor. 10:1-13; Heb. 3:1-19). We can sin willfully, shrink back, or stray from the truth (Heb 10:26-39; Jas 5:19-20).
"Eternal security" and "Once Saved Always Saved" are false and very dangerous. They lead to a false security that could destroy us. We have been warned: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pet. 5:8). Will we trust Ezekiel, Jesus, Paul and Peter, or will we trust those who contradict them?
God’s side of all covenants are absolute. He can’t lie, He swore with an oath, promised, and has absolute power to bring it about. “No one can snatch us” from His hand. When “God justifies,” no one can condemn (Rom. 8:38-39; Heb. 6:13-20; Jn. 10:28-30). What God says He will do is done the moment He says it, even if it takes thousands of years to complete. If we only look at these Scriptures, eternal security and once saved always saved appear to be true. But none of God’s promises and assurances address what occurs if we violate our promises to Him!
As God revealed His covenants to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the nation of Israel, they were always conditional. As there was never any doubt what God would do, the conditions always centered on our choices. Adam could have lived in the Garden of Eden forever if he had not chosen to eat the forbidden fruit. Noah had to choose to build the ark to save his house. Abraham had to choose to leave his country and offer Isaac to receive the promises God was offering.
From the time of Israel’s entrance into the promised land, God promised no one could remove His blessings from them. But it was not an unconditional covenant: “IF you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. blessings shall come upon you.” So if they kept the covenant, God would do these things for them. But if they broke the covenant they would be cursed: “IF you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:” (Deut. 28:1-2, 15). There was never a doubt with God’s side. It was always man’s obedience that brought the blessing or the curse.
If we carefully read God’s warnings to Israel through Ezekiel, we can learn how our individual conduct affects God’s promises. At any moment of any day, any individual who violated God’s covenant would lose all the blessings God’s grace had given to him.
- “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’" (Ezek. 33:12-21)
These are powerful words that we must reflect upon. Once we understand them, they will guide us in our relationship with Him. Salvation is only determined in the present moment. After a full life of righteousness, each must understand that this “shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression.” None of God’s promises removed the consequences of choosing to sin. What happened to Adam in the garden will happen to any righteous man in the day he chooses to sin. It can all be lost in that moment of sin.
But the same principles guide God in His mercy. That same righteous man, who has fallen in the day of his transgression, has the same promise of mercy as God gives to all the wicked. No wicked man will “fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness.” Thus salvation and condemnation are determined by our conduct in the present moment. A wicked man will be forgiven in the day he turns from wickedness and the righteous will not “be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.”
God even addressed all the promises He made to the righteous. “When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.” Can God make it any clearer than this? All the promises made in the Old Covenant were lost when he committed iniquity. None of the previous “righteous works shall be remembered.” He will die “because of the iniquity that he has committed.”
God concluded by again explaining that it is what a man has done on that day that will affect him. Sin breaks the covenant and repentance restores it. “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.” There was no eternal security in the first covenant. At any moment the “righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.” Only when this formerly righteous man “turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right,” shall “he shall live because of it.” God’s saints only live in the present moment of their choices. When serving God faithfully, God sees them as righteous. When they sins, God sees them as wicked.
Did something change in the New Covenant? Is this covenant different from all previous covenants and our conduct no longer matters? Can we really believe that the blood of Christ removes the need for us to be faithful? The New Testament Scriptures reveal that nothing has changed in the New Covenant.
Paul warned the Galatians that the teachers they had turned to were accursed and told those who listened to them: “You have been severed from Christ,” and "you have fallen from grace.” When they were “baptized into Christ they put on Christ,” and when they listened to these teachers they were “severed from Christ.” (Gal. 1:6-9; 5:4; 3:27). These words are exactly the same as God told Ezekiel. When one obeys the gospel, God makes them righteous, but on the day of their transgression, “they were severed from Christ.” If they repented and confessed their wickedness, they would be restored again. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn. 1:9-10).
Conclusion. All covenants God made with man were conditional, including the New Covenant. When we look at the blessings and assurances God has made with us through Christ, we have absolute assurance. But none of these promises remove our need for daily consecration and faithfulness. As Jesus said, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev. 2:10). He warned in the parable of the sower of those who fall away in time of tribulation (Mt. 13:21). He warned in the parable of the vine and the branches that branches in Him that are not fruitful will be thrown into the fire (Jn 15:1-8). Paul buffeted his body so he would not be disqualified (1Cor. 9:27). Those who fell in the Old Covenant are used as an example that we too could fall (1Cor. 10:1-13; Heb. 3:1-19). We can sin willfully, shrink back, or stray from the truth (Heb 10:26-39; Jas 5:19-20).
"Eternal security" and "Once Saved Always Saved" are false and very dangerous. They lead to a false security that could destroy us. We have been warned: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pet. 5:8). Will we trust Ezekiel, Jesus, Paul and Peter, or will we trust those who contradict them?