IF YOU WANT TO GET TECHNICAL ABOUT IT (“Once Saved, Always Saved”)
There are moments when a believer must pause, breathe deeply, and look straight into the Scriptures with an honest heart. The truth is never afraid of inspection. The gospel does not tremble beneath the weight of sincere questions. And when we ask whether a real child of God can fall from grace, the Bible does not answer with riddles or shadows. It answers with people. It answers with names written in the holy story. Judas Iscariot, once chosen and empowered, stepped into darkness. Simon of Samaria believed, obeyed, and then drifted. Ananias and Sapphira were part of the fellowship, yet cut short in judgment. The man in Corinth walked with the saints, then was handed to Satan because of persistent sin. Hymenaeus and Alexander were shipwrecked concerning the faith. These are not parables. They are living witnesses that the Christian life must be kept with humility, vigilance, and a heart anchored in Christ.
Some might say the case of Judas is complex, but his story shines with a hard clarity. Jesus chose him. Jesus sent him. Judas preached. Judas held the moneybag. Judas ate the bread and walked the road and heard the voice that raised the dead. And in the breaking of that fellowship, Jesus still called him “friend.” There is a solemn tenderness there, a reminder that proximity to Christ is no substitute for a heart surrendered to Him. When we follow the text without forcing it to fit a system, we see what is plainly written. Judas turned away from the Light he once walked beside. It is Scripture, not imagination.
Simon’s story stands beside Judas like a twin pillar. Acts says he believed. Acts says he was baptized. Acts says he continued with Philip. Luke uses the same language for Simon that he uses for every other convert in Samaria. His fall was not from ignorance but from pride. And when Peter rebuked him, he did not tell him to be baptized again or to “start over.” He told him to repent, because a believer can step off the path and must be called back through repentance and prayer. This is not harsh. This is mercy reaching through the fog.
And then there is that fearful but holy phrase, delivered to Satan. It appears when believers drift into dangerous sin. It means removal from the shelter of the church, the lifting of protection, the exposure of the wandering soul to the consequences of rebellion so that repentance might yet awaken the heart. It is discipline, not destruction. It is sorrow from the shepherd’s staff, not a sword from an enemy’s hand. Even here the Father is calling, pleading, longing for His children to return.
If you want to get technical, this view is not new. It is not narrow. It is not the product of a small corner of Christianity. It was held almost unanimously by the early church. It has been preached by saints, scholars, reformers, revivalists, and the simple faithful through the ages. It is the heritage of Orthodox believers, Catholic believers, Wesleyan believers, holiness believers, Restoration believers, and millions more. Only a small stream within the Reformed tradition insists otherwise. That does not make them evil, but it does remind us that the belief that one must continue in faith to remain in grace is not an oddity. It is the river the church has long sailed upon.
Truth does not depend on how many embrace it, but it comforts the seeker to know that he walks an ancient path. The warnings of Scripture are not meant to terrify the saints. They are meant to guard them. To keep them. To call them. To remind them that salvation is a living relationship with a living Christ. The Lord who saves us is the Lord who keeps us as we abide in Him. So let the technical minds study the texts and trace the history. The message remains simple and clear. Stay close to Jesus. Keep your heart soft. Walk in the light. And trust the grace that not only saves but shepherds us all the way home.
BDD
Note:
Most Christians throughout history and around the world have not held to Once Saved Always Saved.
Here is the broad consensus across the centuries:
The early church fathers (1st-3rd centuries) almost unanimously taught that believers could fall away.
The Eastern Orthodox Church rejects OSAS.
The Roman Catholic Church rejects OSAS.
The majority of Anglican, Methodist, and Wesleyan traditions reject OSAS.
Most Holiness, Pentecostal, Restoration Movement, and Churches of Christ reject OSAS.
Even many Lutherans reject eternal security in the Calvinistic sense.
Only a portion of the Reformed world (and later Baptist traditions influenced by them) holds to an unconditional eternal security doctrine.
Most Christians past and present do not hold to OSAS.
