Expert: Bruce Gourley - 9/12/2007

Question
Is their a such thing as once saved always saved, if so please explain.

Answer
The phrase "once saved, always saved" hearkens to the Calvinistic belief in the perseverance of the saints, i.e., the belief that a person's salvation (being made right with God, and effecting the soul's eternal status) is a permanent condition.

Some Christians (such as many Pentecostals and Free Will Baptists, among others) commonly deny this Calvinistic doctrine. Many Baptists, however, do embrace the belief. Falling in between are Christians who declare, in essence, that if one's salvation experience was indeed genuine, then that genuineness will be manifested in a secure salvation (in other words, if one "fall's away" after having declared to be saved, the falling away is evidence that the salvation experience was not genuine to begin with).

Biblically speaking, arguments can be made for all three positions listed above.

Advocates of the perseverance of the saints point to the following scriptures:

Eph 4:29-30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Eph 1:12-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory.

John 10:26-30 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

Rom 8:37-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NIV

Proponents of the perseverance of the saints point to the parable of the sower from Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8. In the parable, some who accepted God eventually fell away from God.

Those who take a stand somewhere between these two positions in may reference any of the above scriptures, but ultimately tend to point to Mark 13:13.

I hope this helps.

Bruce Gourley
www.baptistlife.com
www.brucegourley.com