The Truth About Once Saved Always Saved Eternal Security Dan Corner The teaching of once saved always saved (also known as eternal security) is defined exactly as its descriptive name suggests, that is, once a person becomes saved or regenerated he will always remain saved. The hidden, but inferred, remainder of that definition of once saved always saved is that a Christian’s immoral behavior or doctrinal apostasy, after getting born again, is irrelevant as to adversely affecting his salvation! Hence, pandora’s box has been opened and a license for immorality has gushed forth. Irrefutable undeniable substantiating proof of this is shown in their faulty understanding of the “sin unto death.” From the perspective of the once saved always saved proponent, there are Christian alcoholics, Christians addicted to pornography, etc., that is, there is salvation security in heinous sin, even if one dies unrepentant. Shocking! Evangelical Outreach has received letters from criminals in prison who stated they are there because when they committed their crimes they thought, at that time, they would not be negating their salvation by doing so. In their minds, they were Christian thieves, Christian rapists, etc.! Besides these “Christian criminals,” we also have the categorical proof that various suicides occurred because those suicides were proponents of once saved always saved, thinking they could murder themselves and go a paradise heaven afterwards because they were previously saved! Once saved always saved proponent, George Sodini went even further! He murdered three women then committed suicide in Pittsburgh, PA in August 2009 under that delusion! Please see “The Believer’s Conditional Security: Eternal Security Refuted,” pages 449-473 for other examples and various OSAS teachings on suicide.) Since salvation is the most important Biblical subject that can be studied, that makes this topic supremely important. If once saved always saved is not true, then surely multitudes have already perished and multitudes more precious souls are traveling down that same broad road to hell in vital need of repentance for salvation, but totally unaware of it! In order for once saved always saved to proliferate as it has -- “spreading like gangrene” (2 Tim. 2:17) -- grace had to be twisted into an allowance for immorality. That is precisely what was and is done by all of the once saved always saved, once a son always a son, once in grace always in grace teachers! That list extends from small time local preachers, only adversely affecting a few to public eye people like Charles Stanley, John MacArthur and Joseph Prince, who have untold hundreds of thousands, if not millions, listening to their arsenic- laced sermons! Without question this issue is “the issue” that needs to be addressed and understood, but too few recognize it because once saved always saved has been embraced as the evangelical gospel of grace and is not even questioned by many.
King David is a perfect example to note while pondering the license for sin involved here. He proves that a redeemed and regenerated man can afterwards backslide horribly! Holy Writ shows King David turned to adultery and murder, after he coveted Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. Clearly, King David died spiritually when he turned to evil (Ezek. 33:18; etc.). The once saved always saved proponents are forced to say, as reluctant as they might be, that King David remained saved during the entire time before he repented of those sins! That proves, without question, that once saved always saved allows for Christian adulterers and Christian murderers, even though that is diametrically and violently opposed to the Biblical message (1 Cor. 6:9,10; Eph. 5:5-7; Rev. 21:8; etc.)! Such OSAS teachers have changed “grace” into a license for immorality, the very thing Jude 3,4 state happened 2,000 years ago and which Christians are to battle against! True Biblical grace does NOT allow for immorality (Titus 2:11,12). Grace is also given to the humble, while the proud are overlooked (James 4:6; 1 Pet.5:5). If grace was “unmerited favor,” even the proud would get it, but they don’t! Furthermore, true Christians can fall from grace to the point where Christ is of no value to them at all (Gal. 5:2-4)! That makes the believer’s security conditional upon the believer in Christ remaining a follower of Jesus. If that believer disowns Jesus, Jesus will disown him (Mt. 10:33). If that believer becomes lukewarm, Jesus will vomit him out of his body (Rev. 3:16). If that son of God becomes fruitless, he will be cut out of Christ and thrown into the fire and burned (Jn. 15:1- 6)! Those truths, and many other Scriptures, demolish the teaching of once saved always saved. Many Scriptures (like John 10:28; Phil 1:6; Rom. 8:38,39; etc.) have been misused by the grace changers and many others have been avoided (Rom. 11:19-23; Gal. 6:8,9; Heb. 3:14; etc.) to teach once saved always saved. They also teach once saved always saved under the infinite work of Christ, grace, the gospel and the blood of Christ when it has absolutely no connection to such. Consequently, these distortions have far reaching doctrinal impacts! The holy image of a Christian has been smeared, the apostle Paul himself has been slandered, and the gospel itself has been rendered powerless before the world. Professing Christians need to know the vital truth -- that they must endure hatred to the end for salvation (Mt. 10:22). Jesus taught Christians, after the cross: “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death” (Rev 2:10,11). All of that is clear enough, but then we have the clincher. Scripture explicitly says: “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first” (Heb 3:14). Thus, there is NO once saved always saved. Do not be deceived by that popular fine- sounding doctrinal myth. Visit: http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/jesus-es.htm