CAN SALVATION BE LOST?
Over the past two decades, there has been a very dangerous teaching circulating within the Church.
The teaching claimed that when a person is saved, he/she can never lose their salvation.In other words, the teaching says: ‘Once saved, always saved’.
To even amplify that idea, many preachers even went on saying that: ‘there is no amount of wrong actions that will make a saved person lose their salvation’. In other words, if Brother X is saved and if he engages himself on a spree of murders and rapes, Brother X will still go to heaven (according to those preachers).
Whenever you hear or read a Bible message from someone, always be like the Bereans who examined the Scriptures to confirm whether Paul’s messages were Scriptural.
Let us examine a statement that many preachers have preached: ‘Once saved,always saved’
That statement is not in the Scriptures.
First of all the statement stating ‘once saved, always saved’ is not in the Scriptures. There are no verses stating such a slogan. Simply because a slogan is popular, it does not mean that it comes from the Bible. Your ultimate truth authority must be the Bible and not an influencer or a hot shot preacher. Very often,popular statements have been the bedrock upon which apostasy and backsliding were built to create a church tolerating sin within the church.
What motivated the spread of the slogan?
There could be a few reasons why the slogan became popular. One of the reasons why preachers have been using that slogan or statements implying such an idea, is because those preachers were more interested in filling their church seats and increasing the amount of offerings in their church baskets. In general and in ministry, it is very unpopular to speak about subjects such as ‘Hell, Holiness, eternal damnation and Judgement Day’. Such subjects often lead flocks to unsubscribe and leave churches. You will notice that the churches that often preach such slogans are packed mega churches.
The second reason why preachers spread that slogan is their dislike of the Scripture. Many of those preachers know the truth regarding salvation but they feed themselves more with motivational books than the Scripture. You will notice that the slogan is often preached in Churches where preachers are constantly preaching inspirational messages from January to December (and they preach nothing else).
The third reason why many preachers love preaching that slogan is because it allows them to avoid speaking about sin in their sermons. The subject of ‘sin’ ranks high among the unpopular and unwanted subjects within the church. The reason why the subject of sin is unpopular is because most Christians don’t like to be confronted with their sins and many Christians love the idea of keeping their sinful lifestyles. In other words, they want to be Christians while not having the need to throw away sinful lifestyles.
The fourth reason why many preachers promote that slogan is because of a lack of courage. In the society where we live, there has been mounting efforts to cancel individuals who would call out sin and worldly modern nonsensical ideology. As a result, many popular preachers caved into pressure to please everyone. Yet, the current cancel culture is not as violent as it was during the early age of the church. During the early age of the Church, ‘cancel culture’ equated to physical death in the form of murder. During the early age of the Church, Christians would get killed for being a witness of Christ or for calling out sin.
Here is a direct question to my fellow preachers: ‘If you are afraid of the current ‘cancel culture’, what are you going to do when the end times persecutions against Christians will start?’
If a preacher is afraid to call out sin in his/her church, it means that the majority of the church members are not real believers. It could also mean that their close circles are made of people who live double lives. I have seen mega churches where leaders flourish while maintaining lifestyles of immorality and the Church leader cannot say anything for fear of losing the flock.
The last reason why preachers promote the slogan that says ‘once saved, always saved’ could be rooted in genuine error and ignorance. Some preachers and influencers are not well vested in the Scriptures. They read more theological books than the Bible. I have heard preachings that made more references to church fathers than the Scriptures. This is something that needs correction.
Now , let us test the slogan through the Scripture.
Peter’s denial story
'Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
(Luke 22:54-62)
In the above passage, we see that Peter denied Jesus when confronted on his affiliations with the Lord. He found himself in a situation where he was about to be ‘deleted or cancelled’ if he acknowledged his affiliation to Jesus. As the text displays, he denied Jesus.
In Matthew 10:33, Jesus said: ‘But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven’
In other words, for a person to disown Jesus, he/she must have had a relationship with Christ. If Jesus disowned someone, it means that He must have had a relationship with that person. This means that there is a possibility for a person to be a saved person and then lose their salvation. Such argument is reinforced by the passage of Mark 16:1-7:
‘When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Notice what the angel in human form tells Mary Magdalene and Mary in verse 7: ‘Go tell His disciples AND Peter…”
Why would the angel dissociate Peter from the disciples?
It is simply because at that moment, Peter was no longer a disciple. This view is reinforced by the following passage in John 21:15-17:
"When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.’
Since Peter was no longer a disciple, Jesus had to reinstate him. The procedure consisted in getting Peter to show his allegiance three times. It needed to be done three times in order to cancel out the three denials Peter committed a few days earlier.Notice that Jesus does not ask these questions to the other disciples because they were still part of Jesus flock but Peter was not.
The concept of ‘name blotting’
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Notice that in verse 5, Jesus said that I will never blot out the name of the person who is victorious. Since the term ‘blot out’ is mentioned, we can also conclude that a person not victorious can have their names removed from the Book of Life.
Jesus can spit somebody out
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
(Revelation 3:14-16)
The above passage clearly shows a person can be in Christ and later, due to their lukewarmness, they can be spitted out by Christ.
The parable of the talents
In Matthew 25:14-30, the Lord Jesus shares a story where three servants were given talents. Notice that the three servants were part of the house of the Master. When the Master returned, He cast out the lazy one into outer darkness.
Beyond just being a story about being productive with our talents, the story also indicates that a member of the master’s house can also be cast out.
If the theory that says ‘once saved, always’ was true, then the lazy servant should have stayed within the house of the Master. Instead, he was cast out.
The rejected servants in Matthew 7:21- 23:
‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
In the above passage, the people making their claims were individuals able to perform miracles and drive out demons in Jesus Name. Some people think that it is possible to cast out a demon in Jesus Name while not being a Christian. The story of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:11-20 shows that it is not possible for a non-Christian to cast out a demon without being saved.
It means that the people in Matthew 7:21-23 were once saved but they kept on committing iniquities in their lives.
The danger of the ‘Once saved, always saved’ message
One of the grave dangers of such belief is in the fact that some people may maintain a lifestyle of iniquity while assuming that there are no sins that could separate them from God. This is why there are many Christians maintaining sinful lifestyles with no intentions to repent nor change. This is why even norms from the world are also creeping within the church. Today we have priests and pastors blessing and supporting sins because they believe that ‘once saved, always saved’.
Where do we draw the line?
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
(Revelation 3:14-16)
The above passage clearly shows a person can be in Christ and later, due to their lukewarmness, they can be spitted out by Christ.
The parable of the talents
In Matthew 25:14-30, the Lord Jesus shares a story where three servants were given talents. Notice that the three servants were part of the house of the Master. When the Master returned, He cast out the lazy one into outer darkness.
Beyond just being a story about being productive with our talents, the story also indicates that a member of the master’s house can also be cast out.
If the theory that says ‘once saved, always’ was true, then the lazy servant should have stayed within the house of the Master. Instead, he was cast out.
The rejected servants in Matthew 7:21- 23:
‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
In the above passage, the people making their claims were individuals able to perform miracles and drive out demons in Jesus Name. Some people think that it is possible to cast out a demon in Jesus Name while not being a Christian. The story of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:11-20 shows that it is not possible for a non-Christian to cast out a demon without being saved.
It means that the people in Matthew 7:21-23 were once saved but they kept on committing iniquities in their lives.
The danger of the ‘Once saved, always saved’ message
One of the grave dangers of such belief is in the fact that some people may maintain a lifestyle of iniquity while assuming that there are no sins that could separate them from God. This is why there are many Christians maintaining sinful lifestyles with no intentions to repent nor change. This is why even norms from the world are also creeping within the church. Today we have priests and pastors blessing and supporting sins because they believe that ‘once saved, always saved’.
Where do we draw the line?