There's no shame in changing your perspective on a theological concept. I've done it dozens of times over the years. We all can probably look back at our theology ten years ago, and chuckle a bit.
We see many scriptures that tell us about how God maintains the relationship with us once we are in Christ. God preserves us in a state of salvation. But we also see numerous scriptures that talk about our need to abide in Christ, remain in Christ, hold closely to the teaching we were taught originally. The scriptures give us various statements such as: Do not fall away, avoid a shipwrecked faith, don't drift from what you've been taught, and so on and so forth.
How can we rightly divide the word of truth? I would like to humbly present the case today, that a just weighing of the various scriptures, and properly balancing them would seem to indicate two key truths that must be held together, first, God preserves the relationship once established. Second, falling away is possible after the relationship is established. Let me make the case, and I invite you to draw your own conclusions from the scriptures.
Many have suggested that if someone appears to fall away, that simply means they were never saved in the first place. But is that what the word of God teaches? Particularly in the book of Hebrews, we see how someone can share in the heavenly gift, have the Holy Spirit, and then go back into the world, and be lost completely. The scripture tells us, they are actually worse off than they were before, and cannot be restored to salvation. If they can't be restored, they this implies they were fully saved, and fell away.
As a man once said, one can't fall off a horse unless one is first riding it. You can't fall away from something you didn't have at one point.
Also, let me indicate to you, that Lucifer and one third of the angels were once fully saved, fully pure, in perfect right standing with God. They were flawless. They were preserved by God, faultless. But Lucifer fell away and rebelled against God. And he deceived one third of the angels to do the same thing. And as such, Lucifer and one third of the angels lost their place in heaven. They lost salvation. And we know they can never be restored.
Additionally, Adam and Eve were once innocent in God's sight, in perfect fellowship with God. But as we know, Adam and Eve sinned against God, and lost their innocence and became sinful. Thankfully they did repent and turn back to God, through faith. So one can certainly assume, there are many circumstances in which one has stumbled, but may be restored to a right standing with the Lord.
Did you know that Martin Luther believed a Christian could lose their salvation? Martin Luther wrote in his commentary on 2nd Peter (1523), “Through baptism these people threw out unbelief… and entered into a pure life of faith and love. Now they fall away into unbelief and their own works, and they soil themselves again in filth.” He also discussed this issue in his commentary on Galatians (1531), and The Smalcald Articles (1537).
I've studied numerous near death experiences, from people like Mary K. Baxter, Brian Melvin, Choo Thomas, and others. They all indicate that once saved always saved is a doctrine that leads people to hell. Some even claim to have seen church members crying out in hell, "Pastor you told me I could never lose my salvation!" Truly bone chilling accounts, I'd encourage you to watch some of those accounts on YouTube. Don't despise prophecy, but test it (1 Thessalonians 5:20).
But most importantly I believe is scripture itself. There were seven "I am" statements that Jesus Christ made, that were recorded in the Gospel of John. Each of these "I am" statements taught us something about who Jesus was, and how we interact with Him. He is the bread of life to us, our sustenance. He is the light of the world, he sustains reality. He is the gate for the sheep, through which we must enter. He is the good shepherd. he shepherds us along through life. He is the resurrection and the life, if we believe in Him he will resurrect us after we die. He is the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. Jesus is the road home that we follow. And the 7th I am statement was when Jesus said, "My Father is the gardener and I am the true vine. Anyone who remains in me, will produce much fruit." We are the branches. But any branch that doesn't produce fruit is thrown into the fire and burned. So remain in Christ's love. This is the key teaching we need to understand of the 7 I am statements, we must remain in Christ, and if we don't, we will be cast out and burned. This is from John chapter 15.
I know many of us would prefer the theology of not being able to lose our salvation. I admit I find it comforting. Indeed, I believe that was the primary reason I held close to the doctrine of once saved always saved for so long. I found it intellectually and emotionally appealing. But I realized slowly, theology and scripture isn't about what I want or prefer. It's about what it actually says. I can't cross out scriptures I don't like. Or over-emphasize the feel good verses.
And I think that's why many of us believe in once saved always saved, because we're constantly shown the scriptures that talk about God's preservation of the relationship, I will never leave you or forsake you, I have good plans for your life, nothing could separate us from His love, and so on and so forth. Those are scriptures that are very encouraging, that are preached on constantly. But the scriptures like John 15, Hebrews 6:4-6, 1 Tim 4:1, Revelation 2:4-5, 2 Peter 2:20-22, James 5:19-20, and so on are not preached on as often. But they are just as much the truth as the preservation verses.
I'd just like to give you a very quick argument why it's more expedient to do so:
If I'm correct, and you really can "fall away" and lose your salvation, then it's quite dangerous to teach Christians they can't ever lose it. It could encourage complacency and carnal living.
If you're right, and you can never fall away no matter what you do, but you still teach people that they can lose their salvation, there is no loss. People are just challenged to take their walk with Jesus a bit more seriously.
Do you see how it's safer to teach people that they can fall away and as such must continue to "abide" in Christ?
There's no shame in changing your view on this issue. That's exactly what I did. At first I believed in once saved always saved. But I just couldn't reconcile it with the scriptures. So I quietly changed my perspective. There isn't anything wrong with that. We're all always learning and growing and developing deep theological concepts. It's a lifelong process. And we know we teachers will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). So that's my encouragement to you today. God bless you, and take care.
