Once saved, always saved?

Question

I have heard people make this proclamation. Could someone explain it in detail. Does this mean that once you say a sinner's prayer, then you are covered forever. You Don't need to go to church. You don't need to pray. You have no accountability. You can be a murderer, adulterer, fornicator, thief, liar.or cheater. then who are the ones whose names are blotted out of the book of life.

Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

I realize that Jesus did not say names that were blotted out, but His reference is that He will blot out some names, namely them that do not overcome.

Answer 1

Yes Jesus can only save you one time because as the bible says He will never leave you. This does not mean you can not leave him. Jesus will always be there we just have to repent and start living for him again.

Answer 2

The names that are blotted out are definately not overcomers. But it is not the overcoming that saves, dear brother, it is grace. YOur belief in salvation is by works and the Apostle Paul says that it is not by works lest any man should boast... The problem with your argument is that you always must bring some sin into it? "but what happens if you sin?" It is not the absence of sin that keeps one saved it is the Grace of Jesus. It is not the fact that the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of your heart that keeps you saved it is the fact that your are sealed unto the day of redemption. You cannot do things to stay saved. Also everytime I hear this arguement it is the same.... some horrific sin is named and then surely you are lost? But the fact is that you are looking at sin like a human and not from God's persepective. All sin is the same to God your lie or your deciet is the same as this murder. That is why 2 Cor 5:21 is so powerful... what about propitiation. It must be such bondage to believe like you do... since all sin is the same... and you just thought about a lustful situation then surely you know that you are lost, right? That is what you are saying. James says that if you break one point of the law you are guilty of all the Law. Romans 8:1 There is therfore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus... I hate it that you can never have that assurance it must be terrible...

Answer 3

When you believe and trust that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you sins You are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and you become a member of His body in particular.1 Corinthians 12: 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 1 Corinthians 12: 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. How could you ever be take our of His body? You are sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4: 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. How can anyone break the seal of God? Your body is cut loose from your soul. The body is sinful and will return to the ground but the soul and spirit is cut loose and goes into God's heaven when you die.Colossians 2: 11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Circumcision is a cutting loose of the soul. How can you ever be uncircumcised? If you have had salvation you can never loose it. Salvation does not depend on what you do but what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross. Most people will tell you that the one saved alway saved doctrine mean that you can do anything you like. This is not true. When you believe are you not a new creature. 2 Corinthians 5: 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. What would you like to do as a new creature? Romans 6: 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Romans 6: 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Answer 4

It would be a terrible mistake to actually believe that joining a church makes it okay to sin all you want. Christian scripture- I'll repeat myself for those who didn't hear it the first thousand times I've said so- is largely figurative. But even so, there are many opportunities to understand it correctly.
Being clothed in white to symbolize purity? Fine. If you dress in white, you stay clean as long as you stay away from dirt, but if you are wearing white, even the slightest bit of dirt that gets on you shows up as a nasty stain and ruins your pure, wholesome look. Now if we understand the white raiment as being symbolic of a pure heart, then the slightest bit of sin on that pure heart makes a nasty stain.
Forgiveness, like Tide with bleach, powers out tough spiritual stains and dirt, but if you roll in the dirt again, you get dirty again. If you get white clothes dirty enough often enough thinking that you can always wash all the dirt out, eventually they get dingy, yellowed and something other than pure white.
It is easy to understand if you think about it. People who don't turn away from a life of sin- i.e. who don't repent- are not real Christians.
I hope this helps. Love your enemies.

Answer 5

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

So we cannot save our self but we must rely on God’s gifit, but is it given without any rules?

Many people fervently believe that once saved, they can never lose their salvation. I pray that those who do believe it will read the following with an open heart and an open mind. Above all, I urge every reader to check each Scripture presented – and then check the context that the Scriptures are quoted in by reading at least ten verses before and ten verses after.
I sincerely believe the ‘once saved always saved’ concept to be wrong. The implication that once someone becomes a ‘real’ Christian (a definition would be handy) they are saved and that they can’t backslide or commit a sin which would rob them of that inheritance.
Christians sin every day, but to believe that a Christian can live any way he or she likes, and still be saved, is dangerous. Some argue that a ‘real’ Christian wouldn’t commit these sins and it is the ‘almost Christians’ who fall foul of this type of entrapment from the enemy. I believe that would be wrong too. Committed Christians sin for all sorts of reasons and we are only saved by God’s amazing Grace, not our level of commitment. God knows our true heart!
If a Christian sins maliciously (deliberately breaks laws for his or her own advantage – say purchasing goods known, or strongly suspected, of being stolen) that is quite different from accidentally sinning – something we all do constantly.
God knows our true intention. We might be able to fool a police officer that we sinned accidentally, but God knows the real truth. I believe that if we deliberately go against the direction given by Jesus (who, you will remember, said to obey the laws of the land) then we must suffer the consequences – and that might mean the loss of eternal life. At least our Judge, while tough, is fair and understanding!
Let’s look at this Scripturally
Jesus understood that when people heard the Word of God they would react in different ways – from total rejection to total acceptance. He explained it in ‘The Parable Of The Sower’. I have quoted the Matthew 13:3-23 Scripture here, but the same parable can also be found in Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15.
Matthew 13:3-9:
3 Then [Jesus] told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.
4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
9 He who has ears, let him hear.” [NIV]
The Disciples wanted to know what this parable meant and Jesus explained.
Matthew 13:18-23
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” [NIV]
For people who believe that “once saved, always saved” I rhetorically ask: how do you relate your beliefs to Matthew 13: 20-21? If a man cannot lose his salvation then why would Jesus say: “When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away”?
The key to how we are saved is in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” [NIV]
I understand that the word ‘believes’ in the Greek is an on-going verb (this is not so easy to determine because Greek is a contextual language). It really says that unless we keep on believing in Him we will perish and not have everlasting life. We are saved by Grace as long as we keep on believing in Him.

Answer 6

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus was speaking to the Church! He is warning us! Rev. 2:10 "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." What if they were not faithful? What about Chapter 25 of Matthew? Jesus is warning us we will face eternal punishment if we are lazy. Paul writes to the Church and he warns us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Salvation is freely given to all who ask, but we must remain faithful and obedient to the Spirit, if not, we will lose our salvation. Our actions show everyone what we truly believe. Jesus commandments are stricter than the ten commandments. Under the old law, a person gave ten percent, and they worshiped God only once a week. Now we are to give all that we can and we worship God everyday. Under the old law, people knew that we were of God by keeping the Saboth, but now people know that we are of God by loving our fellow Christians. I could not fullfill what Jesus' Word says without God's Holy Spirit living in me, but it is useless unless I let the Spirit of God lead me.

Answer 7

I think that people who are saved take it for granted myself. They then think that they can just live life whatever way they want and repent their sins just before they die like they're writing a last apology and everything is all better.
I have asked the Lord to come back into my life on many, many occasions when I have started to see my life take a turn not necessarily for the better or I have done something to make me feel like I should do so.
Would you say you were sorry to your parents for writing on a wall when you were 4 and then do things like miss curfew, come home intoxicated, wreck their car or even just be plain rude in the way you spoke to them and never say you were sorry? I think not. Hence the reason we need to repeatedly be "saved"

Answer 8

By taking scriptures out of context, some will tell you that once you are saved, since there is no longer another way to be saved, you are saved forever, no matter what. In fact I heard one Baptist preacher comment about some people who were saved and forgot it, would be surprised to find themselves in heaven on judgment day. But of course it isn't true. There are plenty of examples of those who turned again to the world...Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Answer 9

Once saved, always saved simply means you haved accepted Jesus as your savior and you have let him into your heart. It does not relieve you of the necessity to live right or pray or do things that are pleasing to God. It simply means when you do backslide you have already set down a safety net to keep you from falling too far.If you are truly saved then you will do that which pleases God...otherwise you did not truly mean it when you made the covenant with Jesus in the first place.

Answer 10

Yes. The eternal security of the believer is the backbone of Christianity. If your salvation can be lost, then God is a covenant breaker and a liar and the entire Bible is false. But God keeps his promises. We can error, but God is just to forgive us if we ask him so. This is not a license to sin at will. Habitual sin has its penalty---all sin, even for the believer saved through the blood of Jesus, has its consequences. But a believer cannot loose his salvation. There are Christian denominations that teach that you can loose your salvation, and they quote Scripture in an attempt ot prove their point, but they misinterpret the Scriptures or quote them out of context to prove their point. There are Scripture that speak of the security of the believer.