Of course, we've all encountered people who are "former Christians". What do people who adhere to this doctrine make of such people? The standard solution is to say, retroactively, that the person was never a true, regenerate Christian at all. He may have believed himself to be one, but he was self-deceived.
The weirdest thing about this doctrine is how it is arrived at by those who believe in it. There is scant evidence in the New Testament for this doctrine. I've reviewed a couple passages which are used to support it [here].
So how DO people arrive at this belief? And are there passage which contradict it? Let's dive in.
How this Doctrine is Arrived At:
As I said above this passage is not arrived at directly by appealing to passages which say "Regenerate Christians cannot lose their status." Rather, it is inferred as a secondary effect of Martin Luther's and John Calvin's teaching.
Luther's Route:
As I covered in a previous post, Luther's big idea was that while our justification affects our moral behavior, the opposite is never the case. Our moral behavior cannot affect our justification. That lead him to say to his buddy Philip Melanchthon
"No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day." - Luther’s Letter to Melanchthon on the Feast of Saint Peter, 1521Now, Luther still did think salvation could be lost. But this could only happen if a person abandoned the faith. A believer could sink into any level of moral depravity and still be saved.
Calvin's Route:
If Luther left open the possibility of losing salvation through apostasy, John Calvin closed off that avenue. Calvin had a conception of divine sovereignty which mandated that human free-will could not be involved in a person's salvation.
So if a person was brought into a saving relationship with Jesus, then there's no choice the person could make which would change the final verdict. Even if the person left the faith, God would inevitably draw the person back. All the while, his status as a regenerate, justified Christian would not change.
In Summary:
So the way a person arrives at Once-Saved-Always-Saved is by first adopting Luther's and Calvin's understanding of divine sovereignty and saving faith, and then it is inferred as a secondary effect.
Those primary conclusions (that Luther and Calvin are right) are taken as so certain that literally nothing can dissuade a person from the idea that salvation cannot be lost. Not even the words of Scripture.
And that's a problem, because the idea that we can lose our salvation is taught all over the New Testament. It is more frequently taught than the divinity of Christ. It is more frequently taught than Monotheism.
So now let's go through 23 times the New Testament teaches that salvation can be lost.
Warnings to Persevere in Belief / Faith:
1. Matthew 10:32-33 - I will deny you...
"So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."Matthew's Gospel records Jesus issuing this warning to His disciples. He says they will be persecuted on account of Him. Jesus warns that those who deny the faith due to these trials will be disowned at the final judgement.
2. 2Timothy 2:12 - If we disown Christ, He disowns us.
"If we endure, we will also reign with Him, if we deny Him, He also will deny us."In Paul's second letter to Timothy, Paul references a Christian hymn which mentions the possibility of being disowned by Christ. This hymn is likely based on Jesus preaching in Matthew 10.
3. Matt 24:9-13 - Endure to the End
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved."Pretty simple here, and similar to the previous two. Jesus stipulates that only those who endure to the end will be saved. That leaves the possibility that there will be those who are disciples, but won't endure.
That leads to the next one...
4. Luke 8:11-14 – Parable of Sewer and Seeds.
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature."Luke's Gospel records Jesus' parable of the sewer and the seeds. In this parable he lists four types of soil:
Soil on the path are those who hear the Gospel and never accept it. The good soil represents those who hear the Gospel and become lifelong, fruit-bearing disciples.
But in the middle you have two other types of soil. First you have the rocky soil. That represents a person who receives the Gospel and his metaphorical plant begins budding. In other words, the person sprouts life from the Word; eternal life. Jesus says these people "believe for a time". They were believers, they had life from the Word, but then they fall away and lose their eternal life.
Then you have the soil among thorns, which suffers basically the same fate.
This middle category clearly shows two ways in which a person can be a believer with eternal life, but not persist in it.
5. 1Corinthians 15:1-2 - Possible to have “believed in vain.”
"Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain."In 1st Corinthians 15, Paul has to deal with some doubts the community was entertaining about the resurrection of the body at the end of history. As a preface to his remarks on the matter, Paul reiterates that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is central to the Gospel which he preached.
He says this gospel will save them, but conditions that upon them continuing to hold it firmly. If they don't - that is, if they walk away from the Gospel - then their initial period of belief would have been in vain. In other words, despite having believed in the past... they wouldn't be saved in the end.
6. Colossians: 1:21-23 – ….If you continue in the faith.
"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."Very similar to the previous one. Paul describes the Gospel which he preached, which is capable of saving. Then he says his audience will be saved if they don't stray away from it. The fact that Paul felt the need to mention this possibility indicates the Apostle thought it was a possibility.
7. Hebrews 3:14 – ... If you continue in your original confidence.
"Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end."Same as the previous one.
8. Galatians 5:4 - You have fallen from grace
"You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."In the letter to the Galatians, Paul had to confront a community which is buying into the idea that one must be circumcised and obey certain ritual prescriptions of the Law of Moses to be saved. Paul's main counter-thesis is that these laws were to prepare the Jews to be a distinct people who would be prepared to receive the Gospel. To think these laws were still mandatory, therefore, amounted to a denial of Jesus' saving mission and the sufficiency of the Gospel.
Paul directs this condemnation for those who were taken away by this error... they had become alienated from Christ and had fallen from grace. That is, they were once in fellowship with Christ (in grace) and now they are not.
9. Hebrews 6:4-6 - It is impossible to get a person back after apostasy.
"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt."This one is a classic passage about the possibility of leaving the faith. The writer of Hebrews describes a person who has:
- Repented
- Tasted of the heavenly gift
- Shared in the Holy Spirit
- Tasted the goodness of the word
- Tasted the powers of the age to come
10. James 5:19-20 - Brothers falling away in danger of death...
"My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins."James' letter closes with an admonition about the value of community. He notes that if one sees "someone among you" who has wandered from the truth, we have a duty to save that person from "death". That would, of course, refer to a fellow Christian being in danger of spiritual death. If it wasn't possible to lose one's salvation, that passage would make no sense.
Warnings Against Mortal Sin:
11. Luke 15:11-32 - The Parable of the Lost Son
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate."The parable of the prodigal son features two sons and a father. At the beginning of the parable, both sons are in the father’s house and are called "alive". Then the younger son chooses to break off his relationship with his father and leave the house. At that point the father describes his status as "dead". [verse 24]
Later on, the son repents and returns to his father. At that point the father says his son is alive again. This parable shows it is possible to be with God and be spiritually alive, then reject God and become spiritually dead, then repent and receive spiritual life once more.
12. John 15:1-6 - The vine must bear fruit or be cut off
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."In this passage, Jesus compares himself to a vine and his disciples to the branches. He says that those branches which do not bear fruit will be removed and thrown into the fire. So a person can be part of the vine of Christ, but later be removed from that vine for not bearing fruit.
13. Romans 11:20-22 - You too will be cut off.
"Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off."One of the main themes of Saint Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome was the tensions between the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians. In Romans 11, Paul is discussing why God would allow many of the Jews in Jerusalem to reject the messiah. He says that the Christian Covenant family vine is by nature Jewish vine, but many Jews have been broken off because of they rejected the Messiah.
Then Paul turns his attention to the Gentile audience. He acknowledges that they have been grafted into the vine of Christ by faith. However, Paul commands the Gentiles to be humble about this because if they don't continue on in God's kindness, they might end up the same way. In other words, Paul acknowledges that the Gentile converts were Christians who had been taken into the body of Christ. However, he warns them of the real possibility of being broken off from Christ.
14. Matthew 5:30 - If your hand causes you to sin…
"If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."During the sermon on the mount Jesus warns that if we don't cut sin out of our lives, we could wind up in hell. What can we say? This teaching of Jesus applies to Christians.
15. Romans 6:11-16 - Do not become slaves to sin, this leads to death
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"In the 6th chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, Paul exhorts his audience to not return to a life of sin. He notes that doing so will result in "death" - or spiritual death.
16. Romans 8:12-13 - Paul tells Christian's they'll die if they return to sin.
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."Same deal as the previous one. Why make this warning to a Christian audience if it wasn't a possibility?
17. Romans 14:15 - The possibility of destroying a brother
"If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died."This is a really interesting one. Romans 14 discusses a controversy within the Christian community about whether they can eat meat which was used in pagan rituals. Paul's answer is that it's no problem to eat the meat.
HOWEVER, there's one caveat. He's aware that some people are convinced that eating such meat would be gravely offensive to God. In that instance, Paul warns Christians not to tempt such people to eat the meat. Because regardless of the truth of the matter, no one should do anything which they believe to be gravely offensive to God.
Doing so would place the Christian in mortal sin. And in doing so, in the words of Paul, would destroy someone for whom Christ died. Keep in mind that in Calvinist theology, Christ only died for the people who will wind up being saved. So Paul would be describing an impossible circumstance.
18. 1Corinthians 6:8-10, 15 – Do these and be damned...
"Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who bed men, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."
"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!"
Paul's letters to the Corinthians confront a community which was indulging in various kinds of immorality. In chapter six he gives them a specific warning; the people who are practicing immorality will not inherit the kingdom of God.
This warning gets more specific later on in the chapter. He notes that the people doing these things - like visiting prostitutes - are Christians. Members of Christ's body.
19. Ephesians 5:3-6 - Do these and be damned, the sequel...
“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.”Basically the same as the previous one.
20. 1Timothy 5:7-8 - If anyone does not provide for his relatives…
"Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."Similar to the last two, only this time the sin is not supporting one's family members in their time of need.
21. Hebrews 10:19-39 - Don't Return to Sin...
“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.”This is one of the most explicit and detailed passages about how we can lose our salvation. Let's review what this passage does:
- 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. So there's no denying he's talking to regenerate Christians.
- He says if they go back to sinning, their fate would be with the fires which consume God's adversaries. Namely, hell.
- 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. Namely, hell.
- In verse 38 he speaks of a hypothetical righteous person shrinking back and God taking no pleasure in Him. (Resulting in hell)
- In verse 39, he encourages the audience by saying they (by contrast) will preserve their souls. So we are talking about the fate of our souls.
22. 2Peter 2:20-22 - His last state is worse than the first.
"For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: 'The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.'”In his second letter, Saint Peter says it is possible for a person to know the way of righteousness and escape the defilement of the world, yet still be overcome and fall away. He even says that person’s state is even worse than a person who had never been a Christian at all.
23. 1Corinthians 9:27 - I discipline my body, lest I be disqualified
"So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."After spending the first half of his letter rebuking the Corinthians, Paul uses the ninth chapter to reflect on his ministry. He says he has tried to be an example for everyone he meets. He concludes that thought by saying he has to be a good example, because he wouldn’t want to lose his salvation after preaching to so many people.
Note what he doesn't say: He doesn't say that falling away would prove he was never saved at all, or that he was always reprobate. He uses the Greek word "γένωμαι" which carries a context of changing from one status to another. Of "becoming" something. Namely, becoming a Christian who has disinherited his salvation.
Wrapping Up:
To reiterate: The doctrine of Once-Saved-Always-Saved or Perseverance of the Saints is not something a person pulls directly from Scripture.
Rather, a person takes the philosophy of Luther and Calvin to be the most certainly true part of his/her Christian worldview. And from that starting point the person then concludes that a true Christian cannot lose salvation.
That certainty is often so strong that none of the previous 23 passages will make a dent, because admitting that the New Testament teaches the possibility of losing salvation means admitting Luther and Calvin had missed the mark.
And that's precisely the conclusion one should reach.
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Addendum: I just wanted to add a good quote from Augustine on the subject:
"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. What then is this distinction? God's books lie open, let us not turn away our view; the divine Scripture cries aloud, let us give it a hearing. They were not of them, because they had not been called according to the purpose; they had not been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world; they had not gained a lot in Him; they had not been predestinated according to His purpose who works all things. For if they had been this, they would have been of them, and without doubt they would have continued with them." - Augustine, On the Predestination of the Saints, Book II, Chapter 21
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