The “once saved always saved” teaching is popular and widespread in American Christianity. But is it true? This is the idea that once a person comes to faith and accepts Jesus as Lord, he is eternally saved, no matter what may happen later in life.
And there certainly are many passages that talk about the eternal security of the believer. Perhaps the most popular is found in Romans: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor authorities nor present things nor those about to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39). But what if a person later turns away from this wonderful love of God?
To answer this question, we must understand what salvation actually is. The New Testament word for salvation (from the root sodzo) means deliverance from danger: from shipwreck (Acts 27:20), from illness (Matt. 9:22), from death (Matt. 27:42), etc. But the main theological meaning is deliverance from the wrath to come: “Much more then, having now been made righteous by his blood, we will be saved from the wrath of God through him” (Rom. 5:9). Being made right with God now, by the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice, is what leads to that future salvation.
But how do we get this righteousness that leads to salvation? “But for the one who is not working, but having faith in the one making the ungodly righteous, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Rom. 4:5). Righteousness is attained through faith. This is why the Bible speaks of being “saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). This is often spoken of as something we experience now, because as Hebrew puts it: “But faith is the [present] reality of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Faith is the reality we currently experience that points to this coming salvation.
So even when salvation is spoken of as a present reality, as it often is (“for by grace you have been saved,” Eph. 2:8; also Rom. 8:24-25, etc.), that present reality is pointing directly to a future salvation. And the connection between the two is faith. As Peter puts it: “...who by the power of God are being protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the end time” (1 Pet. 1:5). Our salvation will be revealed at the end. And until then, our faith, empowered by God, is what protects and keeps us for that coming salvation. Here we see the vital necessity of faith in keeping us for that future day of salvation.
Some, tragically, assume they are in a right relationship of faith even when they are not. Jesus addresses this directly in Matt. 7:23: “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; get away from me, you who are practicing lawlessness.’” But what about those who are in a right relationship? Is this a guarantee of future salvation? Or is faith something that must be nurtured and maintained?
In 1 Corinthians, Paul says: “through which [gospel] you also are saved by that word that I preached to you if you hold fast, unless you had faith in vain” (1 Cor. 15:2). Paul says that they had in fact “had faith” (or “believed”) in the past, which as we have seen is the basis of salvation. He also says that they currently “are saved” if they continue in that faith. But that salvation can be threatened if they don’t “hold fast” to the gospel. This implies a slipping away from their initial faith. Paul is clearly teaching here that salvation is something that can be lost.
Jesus put it this way: “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 10:22). Holding fast or enduring is essential to maintaining that right relationship that leads to salvation. Salvation requires an ongoing commitment on our part. This statement would be completely unnecessary if salvation was the result of a moment of conviction, after which salvation could never be lost under any circumstances.
Paul expressed the same idea: “See, then, the goodness and severity of God: on those who have fallen, severity, but on you, the goodness of God—if you continue in his goodness; if not, you, too, will be cut off” (Rom. 11:22). This statement would make no sense if it were impossible for a believer to turn away from God’s goodness and be cut off.
A similar passage is in Colossians: “But now he has reconciled you with his fleshly body through death, in order to present you holy and without blemish and blameless before him, if you also remain in the faith, established and steadfast, and not moving away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard” (Col. 1:22-23). This is a message written to believers who have already been “reconciled” to God and are “in the faith.” But remaining in the faith is not a given. He says “if you also remain in the faith” and are “not moving away from the hope of the gospel.” If it’s not possible to turn away from the faith and leave behind the reconciliation we have with God through Jesus, these words make no sense.
The writer of Hebrews expresses a similar sentiment: “But Messiah was faithful as a son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold on to the boldness and the proud boast of our hope” (Heb. 3:6). Here again, he’s clearly speaking to believers who are already members of the household of God. But that membership in God’s house requires us to hold on to the hope of the gospel, and not abandon it.
Later he continues, “For it’s impossible for those who, having once been enlightened, and having tasted the heavenly gift, and having become partakers of a holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of a coming age, and having turned away, to restore them again to repentance, as they are crucifying again to themselves the Son of God and putting him to shame” (Heb. 6:4-6). Surely those who have been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and partaken of the Holy Spirit are believers. But here he clearly says that they can turn away from the faith and from the repentance by which they could be saved.
Jesus also said: “Anyone who approves of me before people, the Son of Man will approve of him before the angels of God; the one who has denied me before people will be denied before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9). We know that Peter committed this sin (Matt. 26:72), but he repented and was forgiven (Matt. 26:75). What if he had not repented?
Paul says much the same thing, though directed more clearly at believers: “If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, that one will also deny us” (2 Tim. 2:12). We must endure in faith to the end. But if we don’t, and we turn and deny Jesus, we will not reign with him. These verses are not talking about a season of doubt or struggle. They imply a point of decision that has led to a public denial of Jesus: flipping from belief to non-belief, denying the faith by which salvation is made possible.
If this is true, that maintaining our faith until the end is something that we must do, does this turn salvation into a salvation by works? This is a common criticism by those who maintain the “one saved always saved” point of view. But the Biblical debate over salvation by works refers to “works of the Law,” in other words, the requirements of the Mosaic Law: “For we consider a man to be made righteous by faith, apart from works of the Law” (Rom 3:28, 3:20; Gal. 2:16, 3:2, etc.). Faith, this teaches, is not a work of the Law. But it is a type of work: a work of faith. “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you have faith in the one that that one [God] has sent’” (John 6:29). Works of the Law can make no one righteous. But the work of faith is necessary for salvation.
THE REQUIREMENT OF OBEDIENCE
Faith is not the only requirement of the New Covenant. As Jesus put it: “But why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but don’t do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). Or as John puts it: “By this we know that we have come to know him: if we obey his commands” (1 John 2:3). A covenant relationship has requirements for all parties involved: otherwise, it wouldn’t be a covenant, which simply means an agreement or contract. One essential part of our covenant with God is forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive sins for us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But is it possible for a believer to sin so much or so deliberately that it is in effect a denial of God? As Paul put it: “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him” (Titus 1:16). This verse could also certainly apply to those who were never true believers to begin with.
But what about this verse in 1 Timothy: “But if anyone does not provide for his own (family), and especially (his own) household, he has denied the faith and is worse than a non-believer” (1 Tim. 5:8). Paul doesn’t say that this is a person who never believed to begin with. To be “worse than a non-believer” implies that this is a believer, but by his actions he has denied the faith.
We see the same logic in 2 Peter: “For if they, having escaped from the defiling deeds of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah, but having again been entangled by these things are overcome, this latter situation is worse for them than the former” (2 Pet. 2:20). If they had never been true believers to begin with, how could they be in a worse situation than that? It’s only if they had genuinely escaped the world by knowing Jesus and then turned back to “the defiling deeds of the world” that it could be worse. “For it would have been better for them not to have known the Way of righteousness than having known it to turn back from the holy commandment that was delivered to them” (2 Pet. 2:21). Notice that Peter reproaches them for turning back “from the holy commandment,” that is, Jesus’ instruction to avoid “defiling deeds.” Yes, we cannot be saved by good deeds of the Law. But our evil deeds can accumulate to such a degree that they are in fact a denial of the faith.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:9: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous
will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Similarly,
in Galatians 5:21, speaking to believers, he lists a set of serious sins and
concludes: “...of which I warn you in advance, just as I have warned you before,
that those doing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
There is a lifestyle that must be the goal of all believers: “Pursue peace with all, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). This holiness isn’t presented as an option. Rather, it’s a required goal for all true believers. This doesn’t mean that believers are immediately cut off because of a moment of sin. Our covenant with God through the blood of Jesus provides a remedy for sin. But we must take advantage of this provision in our covenant by repenting and turning back to God. The problem is when a heart is hardened, and there is no more desire to repent. This isn’t only a danger for those who overtly turn away from God and publicly reject their former faith. It’s also a danger for believers who secretly stop fighting against sin.
THE SIN OF THE UPLIFTED HAND
So where is the line we must not cross? In the Old Covenant, it was the sin of the uplifted hand, in other words, intentional sin. “And the soul that does anything with an uplifted hand [defiantly], from the native (Israelites) or from the (Gentile) strangers, he is blaspheming the LORD; and that soul will be cut off from among his people, for he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment. That soul will be completely cut off; his iniquity will be on him” (Num. 15:30-31). For this kind of intentional, defiant disobedience, no sacrifice was available.
This same standard is also applied in the New Covenant: “For should we willingly continue to sin after our reception of the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a zealous fire about to consume his adversaries. Anyone having rejected the Law of Moses dies without mercy on (the testimony of) two or three witnesses. How much worse a punishment do you think he will be worthy of who has trampled on the son of God and considered the blood of the covenant unclean by which he was made holy, and insults the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:26-29). This is the same standard we saw in the Old Covenant: willful, intentional disobedience to God.
So what’s the answer? Yes, sin can accumulate to the point where no sacrifice is available. Where is that point exactly? The key phrase here is “willingly continue to sin.” This is not someone struggling with sin and who later repents. This is someone who has given up the fight and is perfectly happy to continue in sin without any meaningful attempt to repent and change. This is very dangerous. And if we don’t warn sinners like these to repent, we become responsible for misleading them. As God said to Ezekiel:
“And when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does wrong, and I set a stumbling block before him, he will die, for you did not warn him. He will die in his sin, and his righteousness that he did will not be remembered. And his blood I will require from your hand” (Ezek. 3:20).
The “once saved always saved” teaching provides false assurance for those who turn away from faith or who willingly continue in sin. It claims that they can never lose their salvation, while the Bible directly teaches that they can. This is dangerous not just for that person, but also, as Ezekiel warns us, for those who fail to warn sinners because of this false teaching. How much better to warn believers of the dangers of sin and unbelief, so they can repent and be restored! As God also said to Ezekiel:
“And if you warned him—the righteous—that the righteous should not sin, and he did not sin, he will live, for he was warned, and you have delivered your soul” (Ezek. 3:21).
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