To help you in your own search and pondering here is a list of the classic verses on the issue of Once Save Always Saved. I figure it is best to see what the Bible itself has to say about the matter. I have arranged them according to Pro and Con. Yes it is clear to you I am sure that there is tension in you because there is tension in the Bible. These two opposing views are held in the tension in the Biblical text.
I suspect I will not continue this discussion beyond this point. There have been no further responses to the issue of Once Save Always Saved so clearly it is not something that sparks you into action. I see no reason therefore in me trying to “resurrect a dead horse”.
Next Gem we will move on with 1 Corinthians 10.
PRO
- “. . . and, lo, I am with you ALWAYS, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:20
- “Jesus said to him, Truly truly, I say unto thee, Except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVES in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
- “He that BELIEVES on the Son has everlasting life:. . .” John 3:36 “Truly truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, HAS EVERLASTING LIFE,. . .” John 5:24
- “. . . him that comes to me I WILL NEVER CAST OUT.” John 6:37
- “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:29
- “. . . the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of ADOPTION, whereby we cry, Abba, FATHER.” Romans 8:15
- “And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” Romans 8:30
- “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Romans 8:33-34
- “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38
- “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: BUT HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED; yet so as by fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:11-15
- “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. . .To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit MAY BE SAVED in the day of the Lord Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 5:1,5
- “. . .after that ye believed, YE WERE SEALED with that holy Spirit of promise,”Ephesians 1:13
- “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9
- “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby YE ARE SEALED unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30 “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF.” 2 Timothy 2:13
- ” NOT BY WORKS of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,. . .” Titus 3:5 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the UTTERMOST that come unto God by him,. . .” Hebrews 7:25
- “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL. . . For by one offering he hath PERFECTED FOR EVER them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:10,14
- “. . .for he hath said, I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5 “Who are KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5 “Being BORN AGAIN, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” 1 Peter 1:23
- “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE,. . .” 1 John 5:13 “Now unto him that is able TO KEEP YOU from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” Jude 24
- The Holy Spirit indwells all believers (John 14:17; Romans 8:9) and baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). For a believer to become unsaved, he would have to be “un-indwelt” and detached from the Body of Christ.
Here is a useful summary of the Pro side of the argument: http://www.cnview.com/on_line_resources/once_saved.htm
CON
- If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. John 15:6
- “For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:7-8
- But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Rom 8:9
- “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Romans 11:22
- Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1st Cor 6:9-10
- “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Cor. 9:26-27
- “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Cor. 10:12
- “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:10
- For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Eph 5:5
- “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philip. 2:12
- Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. 1Tim 4:1
- They profess that they know God; but in WORKS they DENY Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good WORK reprobate. Titus 1:16
- Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Heb 3:12
- “For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened.” Hebrews 4:2
- “For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the holy Spirit and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to bring them to repentance again, since they are recrucifying the Son of God for themselves and holding him up to contempt.” Hebrews 6:4-6
- “Therefore, since it remains that some will enter into it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, he once more set a day, “today,” when long afterwards he spoke through David, as already quoted: “Oh, that today you would hear his voice: ‘Harden not your hearts.’ ” Hebrews 4:6-7
- “If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. Anyone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant-blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit of grace?” Hebrews 10:26-29
- “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards. Besides this, we have had our earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not (then) submit all the more to the Father of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a short time as seemed right to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we may share his holiness. At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.” Hebrews 12:4-13
- Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Heb 12:15
- “For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of (our) Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them.” 2 Peter 2:20-21
- But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. 2Peter 2:22
- “If we say, “We have fellowship with `Jesus’,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie & do not act in truth. 1st John 1:6
- We do know that we know him, IF we keep His commandments. If you say you abide in Him you ought to WALK in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:3-4
- If anyone loves sensual lust, enticements of the eyes, or a pretentious life, the love of God the Father is not in him. 1st John 2:15 & 16
- Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 1John 2:24
- Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 1 John 3:6-10
- “No one begotten by God commits sin”, & “that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him”. 1st John 3:9 & 15
- And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us. 1 John 3:24
- We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 1 John 5:18
- For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4
- Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Rev 2:5
- And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Rev 22:19
And here too are some good comments of the Con side of the argument:http://www.pfrs.org/osas/index.html
These verses I have given you are not a comprehensive, exhaustive list. There are many more. Interestingly there are far more verses aligned on the Con side than there are on the Pro.
If you are a friend only to people you completely agree with then you’ll have NO friends.
Rick Warren
Is your heart big enough to include and love someone who disagrees with you?
Jeffrey Rachmat
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.
Erica Jong
Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.
M.C. Crowley