Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS) is a Theological Myth - Part Two
Once Saved, Always Saved is a Theological Myth – Part Two
In my last article I laid out how the modern doctrine of Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS) is in alignment with the first century doctrine of the christian sect of the Nicolaitans, a group that is believed to have been started by Nicolas who we saw get ordained by the Apostles in Acts 6. It is possible that Nicolas’ mixed past of religious beliefs tainted his understanding of what he was being taught by the Apostles. It is also entirely plausible that Nicolas didn’t like the restraints that the new belief system placed on him and had a longing to return to pagan worship practices that he may have practised before. Nicolas also managed to attract a following of people who may have had the desire for the promise of eternal life, but who did not want to give up the things that they enjoyed in their life from before they converted to Christianity.
I also showed how Jesus Himself called out the false beliefs of the Nicolaitans as we read in Revelation 2. Jesus even goes so far as to state that he hates the beliefs of the Nicolaitans. If that is not enough of a reprimand for those who practised those beliefs, then there was nothing that could have set them straight.
In short, the Nicolaitans believed that the spiritual health of the soul was not affected by the acts of the flesh, that one could be in good relationship with God and with Jesus even if one did not act to forsake the desires of the flesh, or our sinful nature. It even appears that there was a certain amount of outright debauchery in the practices of the Nicolaitans while they claimed to follow the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles. I will quote the writings of Al Maxey on the Nicolaitans again in the following, “Tertullian (with regard to marriage) says, ‘The Nicolaitans, in their maintenance of lust and luxury, destroy the happiness of sanctity.’ Irenaeus writes, ‘they lead lives of unrestrained indulgence,’ and teach ‘it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.’ Ignatius brands them as ‘lovers of pleasure, and given to slanderous speeches.’ He also says that they ‘affirm that unlawful unions are a good thing, and place the highest happiness in pleasure. A question which comes immediately to mind at this point is: How could a group of individuals in the early church hold to such beliefs and practices and still profess to be followers of Jesus Christ?! Would they not see the inconsistency? The answer apparently is that, like Balaam, they were self-deceived and self-deluded. This caused them to gloss over their obvious wickedness, and to dress it up so as to make it more acceptable to both themselves and those around them.” [a]
Imagine the damage that this type of lifestyle did to the reputation of all of those who actually followed Christ as instructed by the Apostles. So how is it any different today for believers to claim to follow Jesus, yet they engage in acts that the Scriptures speak against specifically?
It's time to start correcting this bad doctrine. Today I will attempt to lay out the supposed evidences that the Bible supports the OSAS doctrine. As much as I hate to even appear to add any credence to that doctrine, I think it is important for people to understand both sides of an argument so that they can take a firm stance on the side of Truth and not be swayed by emotional arguments. I do not want to take a lot of time on this aspect. I would rather get to the Scriptures that refute this doctrine, since they are more important and also more numerous than those that are twisted to support this doctrine. I did a search online for the Scripture passages that are used to support the doctrine of OSAS, and some of these are the ones that I will use to show how this doctrine is defended. [b] Some of the others listed were so weak that I choose not to even refute them, but you can look at them yourself at the website listed at the bottom of this article.
One of the ‘strongest’ arguments given in support of OSAS is found in John 6:39-40, which reads, “And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” I will admit that this is a tough passage to argue against. It seems to be very clear that Jesus will not lose any that have come to Him. But I do have three arguments against these verses meaning what is claimed. The first argument is that we need to determine what is meant by Jesus when He refers to those whom have been given to Him. Does this refer simply to those who believe that He is the Son of God, or does this refer to those who obey Him? There is a BIG difference between these two. It is one thing to claim the gift of salvation; it is something more to live according to the Biblical standard. The second argument is that the act of losing something is typically used in the manner that it has occurred due to the neglect or failure of the one who is losing the item. Jesus will never neglect or fail us, so this language should already, on its own, discredit the argument. The third argument is that all Scripture must align with the rest of Scripture, so if there are no verses that speak against the belief of freedom from the laws of morality as a believer, then this argument can stand, but I will show you that there are many verses that are contrary to this doctrine, which means that there must be a different interpretation to these verses.
Proponents of OSAS also like to use Romans 8 as a source for much of their material in support of this doctrine. They claim that verse 30 tells us that everyone that God calls to Him is chosen by Him, which means that they are immediately justified and glorified, and this justification means that his salvation is guaranteed. They seem to overlook that Romans 6 lays out that there is an order of steps that lead to eternal life, as I laid out in “The Teaching of Righteousness”. OSAS supporters continue by looking at verses 33-34 and claiming that no charge can be made against them because they are already chosen by God. So if God chose us we are covered because Jesus is both our judge and our advocate. These arguments fail to realize that it is our decision whether or not we choose God, not the other way around. He will never force someone to enter into a relationship with Him against their will. They then continue again to verses 38-39 where it states that nothing can separate us from the love of God; and this is true, so long as we remain in relationship with Him. But if we remove ourselves from relationship with Him, then nothing else is needed to get in between us and remove us from His love; we have chosen to do so ourselves. These verses speak of outside forces acting against the power of God, but again, He will never hold us to Himself against our will. The real crux of the matter is not whether we speak some words like a magic incantation; the rubber meets the road in the nature of our relationship with Him, which we have immense control over. It is whether or not our confession was heartfelt and permanent.
Supporters also claim that the Holy Spirit immediately indwells new believers and baptizes them in the spirit, so in order to become “unsaved”, they would have to become “un-indwelt”. This first part of this claim can be easily refuted by looking at Acts 19 where Paul, upon coming to Ephesus, finds disciples there, but they did not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit until Paul laid his hands on them. If the first part of the claim is so easily refuted, then there is no basis for the rest of the claim. The claim is also made that eternal life cannot be eternal if it can be taken away. They come to these conclusions because apparently the Scriptures don’t say anything about this even being a possibility. Even if these claims actually bore some truth to them, the arguments in their favour are called arguments of omission; if the Bible doesn’t specifically say it, it doesn’t apply. This is a false argument. You can’t argue for something just because it isn’t specifically stated, especially in light of the fact that Scripture does, in fact, argue against these things in other passages which should be evident in the arguments that I will offer against OSAS.
In my attempts to keep this section short,
I will list a few more passages that are used as evidence of the truth of the
doctrine of OSAS. I will even emphasize the portions that are claimed to add support
to the OSAS doctrine. I will spend little to no time refuting these simply because
the refutation will come in the passages that I will use to refute the entire
doctrine. Again, if there is any refutation in Scripture of a doctrine that you
hold to, then that doctrine is false. All Scripture must align with the rest of
Scripture.
Now I will show you some further passages that are used as evidence of OSAS, but this time I will point out how these verses, when read correctly, cannot be used in support of this doctrine, but they actually refute OSAS. Remember that the basis of the doctrine of OSAS is that we can do nothing to earn our salvation, and therefore we can also do nothing to lose our salvation. That all that is required is to believe that Jesus is God’s Son and to believe that He paid our sin debt that was owed to God. If we continue to sin, that has no effect on our salvation status. Let’s see if that holds up to scrutiny.
First we’ll look at John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Jesus tells us that those who will receive eternal life, who will never perish and who will not be snatched from His hand, are His sheep. That means that He is their shepherd; they follow Him, He knows them and they do as He instructs them to do. One interesting thing about sheep is that they literally know the voice of their shepherd. If several flocks get mingled together in a field, a shepherd does not have to go into the mass of sheep in order to get his own out. All he has to do is to start calling, and his sheep, only his sheep, will come towards his voice. The other shepherds can even be calling out at the same time and the sheep will sort themselves, each going to their own respective shepherds. This is knowing the voice of God and following Him; this is why Jesus used this example. If someone is not following Jesus’ teachings, then they are not His sheep. If they are living according to the world and not denying themselves, then He does not know them. Luke 9:23-25 says, “And He [Jesus] was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”
There are two more passages that are used to support OSAS that I will deal with together, because the argument against them is the same. The first passage is John 3:3, which reads, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The second passage is Titus 3:5. “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”. In John we see that the promise is that we will see the kingdom of God; in Titus the promise is that we will be saved, but what is our part in this in order that we can receive the promise? Rebirth, regeneration and renewal. Can we possibly be considered as being reborn, regenerated and renewed if we continue to live as we did prior to our acceptance of Jesus’ gift? Absolutely not!
In John 3:1-21 we read of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus, a religious leader of the Jews. He is confused at Jesus’ words to him that we must be born again, so Jesus goes on to explain to him what that means. He finishes His explanation in verses 19-21 where He says, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” Jesus is telling Nicodemus that there must be a change in the heart of the man that comes to Him. If the man continues to “love the darkness” in the matter of his deeds, he hates the Light, and Jesus is the Light! So we are called to “come to the Light” and “practice the truth”. We must turn away from our old ways and seek to live according to the will of God, which does not include the continued wallowing in sin.
The Apostle Paul also writes about this in his letters to the churches in Rome and in Colossae. In Romans 8:12-13 he tells the church that, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” He warns those whom he loves that if they do not “mortify the deeds of the body”, they will die. This is not the mortal death that we will all face some day, but this is the death that salvation can deliver us from, the spiritual death that is itself defeated by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then in Colossians 3:1-10, Paul is exhorting the church to strive to attain to the things that are important in Heaven, not on the earth. But particularly in verses 5-6 he instructs them, and us to, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:” And for clarification, to mortify something means to overcome or to reduce in strength or to weaken. In this context, it means specifically “to overcome bodily desires and feelings by pain and by going without things” [c].
But the argument may then be that true followers of Christ do not practice such vile things. Obviously this is not necessarily true, since Paul had to talk to the church about their continued practice of such things. But then he goes on in verses 8-10, where he includes, “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him”. He tells the church to “put them all aside”. Who doesn’t occasionally get angry, struggle with wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech towards another person? Who has never lied to cover an error or their own embarrassment? We are all guilty of these things, but we are told to mortify these things in order to live; that is in order to gain eternal life.
But I am already getting into my arguments against OSAS according to the Scriptures, which are too numerous to continue laying out in this article which is approaching the length to which I try to keep things limited. You’re welcome. I can get long winded sometimes, so I will continue this in my next article where I will lay out how the Scriptures actually refute the notion that we are allowed to continue living in the ways that are contrary to God’s will and still remain in good standing with Him. I hope that you will return again to see what the Bible really has to say about the doctrine of Once Saved, Always Saved.
As always, please let me know what you think about this by using the comments section below.
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