Two Passages for Once Saved Always Saved?

I was recently invited to... and promptly expelled from... a Calvinist Bible study on the letter to the Hebrews.  Specifically it was on the latter half of Hebrews 10, a passage which warns Christians about the danger of returning to intentional sin.  That is, the danger of being damned.

When I pointed this out, several in the room were a bit disturbed and pointed to other passages which they think assert the Calvinist doctrine that salvation - once attained - cannot be lost.  Today I'm going to look at two of those passages:  John 10:25-28 and Ephesians 1:4-14.


Where we Started

But first, let's start with the passage that caused all the trouble:

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. [] For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?  [] 

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.’” – Hebrews 10:22-39

After reading the passage as a group, I pointed out the following:

• The writer states that he and his audience are regenerate believers who have had their hearts sprinkled clean and have been sanctified by the Spirit.

• He says if they go back to sinning, their fate would be with the fires which consume God's adversaries.  

• In verses 28-29, he makes a comparison of degrees to indicate that a person who forsakes the New Covenant will suffer a fate worse than death.

• In verse 38 he speaks of a hypothetical righteous person shrinking back and God taking no pleasure in Him.  

• In verse 39, he encourages the audience by saying they (by contrast) will preserve their souls.  

Thus, I concluded he's teaching the possibility of a Christian returning to a life of sin and losing his salvation.

In response, several in the group insisted this passage is unclear (it isn't) and there are other, clearer passages which teach the opposite.

... and a few days later I was asked to not return.

In His Hands:

Onto the "clear" passages which supposedly teach that a regenerate Christian cannot lose his/her salvation.  Let's look at the passage from John's Gospel.

It starts with Jesus showing up in Jerusalem for Hannukah.  The Pharisees confront Him and demand to know if He is the Messiah.  Jesus responds that His miracles should be enough to prove the matter.  That is, if they were willing to heed them.  He says:

“I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” - John 10:25-28

The Assertion: 

Here's how it gets interpreted in Calvinist circles:

"Jesus says no one can snatch a person out of His hand.  So when you get saved, that's it.  You're in His hand, you're secure, and no power can get you out."

But Here's the Thing:

We can look forward to something Jesus said at the Last Supper.  Speaking to the Father about the Apostles, He said:

“While I was with them, in Your name I protected them that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the son of perdition, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.” - John 17:12-13

In this passage Jesus says the son of perdition (Judas) had been given to Him, but was lost.  So if no one can snatch a person away from Christ, how did Judas get lost? 

In John 10, Jesus says no one can “snatch” any person away.  This means no power – either human or angelic – can forcibly wrest a believer out of Jesus’ hands.  But as any shepherd would tell you, even if you keep all the predators at bay, sheep have brains and can still wander off.  Jesus even has a parable about this in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep.

Now lets ask: What is the spiritual condition of those sheep who purposefully wander off?

For this we can avail ourselves to some of Jesus other parables.  Let's look at Jesus' explanation of the the Parable of the Sewer:

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  

But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 

But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” - Luke 8:11-15 

In this parable we see two types of seeds receiving the word (the seed), they believe, they receive life from the word (regeneration), but then they are lured away and die without producing fruit.  This would correspond to a person converting, being regenerate, and then losing that spiritual life.

So the bottom line for the "Unsnatchable Sheep" passage is that Jesus promises no one can snatch souls away from Him.  But He doesn’t say His sheep can’t walk away of their own accord.  Elsewhere He acknowledges they can.  And by His other parables He says they lose their spiritual life in doing so.

Predestined to Adoption:

The second passage was from the opening of Paul's letter to the Ephesians:

“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One whom He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. 

With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  

In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” - Ephesians 1:4-14 

The Assertion: 

Here's how this gets read in Calvinist circles:

"Paul talks about all of his Christian audience being predestined by God before the foundation of the world.  It speaks of being adopted and sealed.  This means true Christians are bound to persevere, or else they wouldn't be among the predestined."

But Here's the Thing:

This passage does indeed talk about predestination.  The question is, predestination to what?

God can predestine us to different things.  God can predestine me to get married to my wife, or go to a certain college, or live in a certain country.  In this case, the gentile audience of Ephesians is being told they were “predestined to adoption”.  And this adoption would, of course, be when we are regenerated and brought into Christ’s covenant. 

But if you're predestined to be adopted as a son/daughter, does that mean you're guaranteed to remain in a saving relationship with Christ?  Isn't it also possible for an adopted son to run away from home?

For that answer, we again turn to another of Jesus' parables.

In Luke 15 we have the parable of the lost son.  In this parable we start with a man who is a son of the father, residing in the father’s house, and “alive”.  Then spurns his father and leaves.  At this point, the father indicates his son's status is “dead”:

“Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” – Luke 15:31-32

So in this parable, which clearly relates to our spiritual lives, the son is with the father and alive.  Then he is away from the father and dead.

We can do the same. Those received into adoption have a guarantee of receiving an inheritance as children of God, but this comes with the condition that we don’t abandon Christ.

We can do that either by walking away from the faith or by returning to a life of sin.  That's why in the very same letter (Ephesians) Paul would later warn his Christian audience:

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” – Ephesians 5:3-6

While a person may be predestined to adoption, that doesn't guarantee that he is predestined to salvation on the Last Day.  The great Saint Augustine reflected on this, saying:

“But of two pious men, why to the one should be given perseverance unto the end, and to the other it should not be given, God's judgments are even more unsearchable. Yet to believers it ought to be a most certain fact that the former is of the predestinated, the latter is not. For if they had been of us, says one of the predestinated, who had drunk this secret from the breast of the Lord, certainly they would have continued with us. What, I ask, is the meaning of, ‘They were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would certainly have continued with us?’ Were not both created by God— both born of Adam — both made from the earth, and given from Him who said, I have created all breath, souls of one and the same nature? Lastly, had not both been called, and followed Him that called them? And had not both become, from wicked men, justified men, and both been renewed by the laver of regeneration? But if he were to hear this who beyond all doubt knew what he was saying, he might answer and say: ‘These things are true. In respect of all these things, they were of us. Nevertheless, in respect of a certain other distinction, they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they certainly would have continued with us.’” – On the Gift of Perseverance, Book II, Chapter 21

That is why the Church, following Scripture and Christian history, rejects the empty assurances that a person - once regenerated - cannot lose his salvation.