"If Once Saved, Always Saved, Why...?"

Johnie Edwards

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     Notice what Sam Morris, a Baptist preacher, said in a tract entitled: "Do Christian's sins damn his soul?" "We take the position that a Christian's sins, do not damn his soul. The way a Christian lives, what he says, his character, or his attitude toward other people have nothing to do with the salvation of his soul... All the prayers a man may pray, all the Bibles he may read, all the churches he may belong to, all the services he may attend, all the sermons he may practice, all the debts' he may pay, all the ordinances he may observe, all the laws he may keep, all the benevolence acts he may perform will not make his soul one whit safer: All the sins he may commit from idolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger...the way a man lives has nothing whatsoever to do with the salvation of his soul...The way I live has nothing whatsoever to do with the salvation of my soul."

 

     Now read what the Bible says: "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Gal 5:4). What a difference in what men say and what the word of God teaches! If once saved, always saved, then why…

 

     1. Are We Warned Not to Fall? Paul warned the church at Corinth: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (I Cor. 10:12). Peter wrote: "... beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness" (2 Pet. 3:17). Why would a parent warn a child, not to fall down the stairs, if it were impossible for the child to fall down the stairs? The apostle to the Hebrews penned: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be any of you in departing from the living God" (Heb. 3:12)!

 

     2. Are There Some Examples of Some Who Did Fall? Simon, the sorcerer "...himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done" (Ac. 8:13). According to Mark 16:16, he was saved from his past sins. Now notice his trying to buy the power of "laying on of the apostles' hands" (Ac. 8:18-19). Peter told him: "...Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God" (Ac. 8:20-21)! Here is an example of one who did fall away. Jude wrote of some who fell away: "I will put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not" (Jude 5). If a believer can become an unbeliever, he can fall away and be lost. Remember Hebrews 3:12? You might like to read about Hymenaeus and Philetus and what they did (2 Tim. 2:17-18).

 

     3. Are We Told What to Do When One Falls Away? When Simon fell away, he was told: "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (Ac. 8:22-23). John joined in by teaching: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I Jn. 1:9). We have proof-positive that one can fall.