Getting Saved (Part 1)
The Dangerous Deception of "Once Saved, Always Saved"
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours
In the American evangelical church, a theology is often promoted that goes something like this: if you accept Jesus into your heart, you are sealed for heaven from that day on and it cannot be taken away no matter what happens afterward. This is commonly called once saved, always saved.
We often fail to look at this topic biblically as it can be a source of pain for those of us who have prodigal sons or daughters in their lives. Because this can be a hard topic is why it deserves a proper treatment. That’s why this will be a three part series diving into the doctrine of the order of salvation, the ordo salutis, and I’m bringing on board my friend D. Blackmon, a historian and lay theologian. He will be writing Part 2 and co-authoring Part 3 with me.
The fancy theological word for doctrine of salvation is soteriology. We will look carefully at various soteriological claims that are being made and what the Bible says about salvation.
What OSAS Claims
Once saved, always saved (OSAS) makes a simple claim: whoever has faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior will have eternal life and the person will be saved no matter what state of active faith they end life in. There is a lot of comfort in a statement like this, and that’s why so many accept it.
The origin of this is found in a theology that begins to look at the doctrine of salvation from John 3:15-16. It reads, [Jesus must ascend] “so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
This is one of my favorite verses because it is a great example of God’s desire to save everyone who believes in Him. The drastic mistake that OSAS theology makes is that it begins its assessment of salvation with this verse and interprets salvation as a ticket to heaven that has been punched. Because it begins its assessment here, it makes the unfortunate mistake of interpreting other verses through this assumption.
Here’s an example of once saved, always saved: Terry was raised in the church by loving parents. He went to Sunday school as a kid and when he was old enough went to youth group almost every week. One summer, he gave his life to Jesus at a youth camp and was baptized. When Terry went off to public college, his faith became less and less important to him every day until it didn’t matter as his social life, sex, and idols became much more important to him. He lives a lifestyle incompatible with the Gospel. His parents call him often, but every time they bring up Jesus or the faith of his childhood, he gets angry and refuses to talk about it. OSAS claims Terry is destined for eternal life with Jesus based on his decision at youth camp no matter what he does the rest of his life, even becoming an avowed atheist.
Sanctification
John Wesley, in his sermon The Scripture Way of Salvation remarks that salvation is not a distant thing, and it is not only about our future eternal destination. He says, “it is a present thing; a blessing which, through the free mercy of God, you are now in possession of.”1 You may have heard it said similarly in tenses, “I was saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved.” This is actually a great way to describe the ordo salutis in layman’s terms.
Protestant soteriology generally recognizes three major moves that occur through God’s grace given to us. I encourage you to read the Scripture proofs for each.
The first is justification, this is when our past sins are forgiven, and the stain of original sin is removed from our lives.2
The second is regeneration, this occurs concurrently with justification, but details us being born again where we shed our old, sinful predisposition for a new identity in Christ.3
The third is sanctification, where we are carried on in salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit.4
There are ways this could be broken down further, but for our purposes, focusing on the three major moves will do.
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NASB)
OSAS makes the mistake of ignoring sanctification as part of salvation. In OSAS, our salvation is wholly contingent on God’s saving grace in justification and regeneration and has no regard for God’s saving grace in sanctification. As Dr. Jackson Lashier remarked to me in my Christian Doctrine class, “grace is grace is grace.” What that means is while we systematize it into justification, regeneration, and sanctification in the ordo salutis to help us understand and see how God’s grace works, it is all the same grace. To say that we receive one part of grace without the other is misunderstanding the free gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 says that “by grace” we are saved. Not specifically justifying grace, or any one move of grace, but all of it. The grace of salvation is not divisible. Completely ignoring sanctification is a tragedy that causes us to miss seeing the totality of God’s grace at work in our lives and in our salvation. This could have dire consequences for someone who goes through life ignoring sanctification.
Apostasy
Apostasy is the second major problem for OSAS. When someone apostatizes, they reject and depart from the faith they once earnestly held. Many verses mention apostasy as a real threat. The OSAS method of interpretation fails to properly address these verses as no single verse can function as a trump card to other verses.
“Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” -Hebrews 3:12 (CSB)
The OSAS answer to apostasy is that people who commit apostasy are saved if they ever displayed saving faith. Yet, repeatedly, Scripture points to apostates not having salvation due to their plain rejection of God.
“Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.” - 1 Timothy 4:1-2 (CSB)
In conclusion, OSAS is a theology that can cause us to unintentionally ignore God’s grace for us in sanctification and does not deal with the very real threat of apostasy. While OSAS offers comfort in our salvation, I believe there is more comfort to be found in a biblical understanding of salvation. What, then, is that biblical way to look at salvation? Join us next week for Part 2!
http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-43-the-scripture-way-of-salvation/
John 14:6, Romans 3:28, 5:1, 5:9, 6:23, Galatians 2:16-17, 3:24, Titus 3:7
John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 2:15, 5:17, Titus 3:4-7
Psalm 32:5, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Matthew 6:12, Luke 17:3-4, John 16:12-13, Acts 2:38, 5:32, Romans 8:9, Galatians 3:2, James 5:17, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 1 John 2:1