Once Saved, Always Saved??

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”

--John 10:25-29 NKJV

There is a theological phrase that says “once saved, always saved.” Is that true?

Verses 28 and 29 are often used to reason regarding assurance of salvation that once somebody is saved, then they can never lose their salvation. This article will delve into this important issue. What does God want us to believe regarding our eternal security or relationship with Him? Let’s look at this passage and some other passages to help make some sense of this question.

First, regarding the theological position “once saved, always saved,” is that true in other situations? How about applying it to marriage: “once married, always married?” Certainly many people get divorced for various reasons, so that phrase wouldn’t always hold true in that situation. Insofar as both parties in the marriage are committed to each other no matter what obstacles and challenges try to separate them from the love commitment they made with each other, nothing can forcibly nullify their commitment to remain faithful to each other. However, if pride and bitterness creep into the marriage to the point that one of them decides on their own free will to sign divorce papers, then although they were once married, they are no longer married.

Likewise, in the final verse of Romans 8, there is the promise that “nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” for those who have pledged their allegiance to Jesus and been spiritually adopted into God’s honored family (my paraphrase). Again, Jesus says in John 10, “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30 NASB)

What is the meaning of the word “snatch” in verses 28 and 29? The King James Version uses the word “pluck:” “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and my Father are one.” (John 10:28-30 KJV)

According to the Strong’s concordance, the Greek word for “pluck” here (G726) is the word “harpazo,” meaning “...to seize (in various applications):-- catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).” In other words, no one can separate us from the love of God the Father as we remain vitally connected in life-union to Jesus the Messiah (to borrow language from John 15 in The Passion Translation). However, we could voluntarily, by our own free will, choose to walk away and to separate ourselves from God.

No one can forcibly cause us to renounce our commitment to God or take away our eternal salvation, but according to many passages, we can voluntarily walk away from the trust or love relationship with God that we once had. c.f. 2 Peter 2:1-22. Love, which is the nature of God, by definition, demands a free will choice. (1) Thus, is it possible that we can indeed lose our salvation? We could lose our salvation, but we would have nobody to blame for that but ourselves.

Nobody can cause us to lose our salvation, and God Himself is faithful to the end and will not divorce us. No sin can separate us from His love when it is clear to God that we are against that sin, count it our enemy, wage war against it in our thoughts, choices, and behavior, and will not allow it to have its way in our lives. See Psalm 139; Ephesians 5-6. However, we can by our own volition decide to separate or to divorce ourselves from Him, like a branch of a grape vine that is cut off from its life source. See John 15:5-6; Matthew 3:10; 7:19ff.

If we experienced rejection by loved ones or authority figures in the past, we might believe deep down that God will reject us, not love us, or cease to take care of us if we don’t measure up to His expectations, which feel demanding. However, such feelings of guilt, shame, and insecurity may be a failure on our part to receive His love and to see Him rightly, as we may be still listening to the doubts, fears, and accusations of past life experiences. But as we grow up perfected in love, progressively being made mature and complete by comprehending God’s love that surpasses knowledge, then we will be filled with the fullness of God, having blessed assurance and confidence regarding how we relate with God and others. See 1 John 4; Ephesians 3:16ff.

So can we have “assurance of salvation”? Can we rest with any confidence or have peace in our relationship with God? Yes, we can have assurance of eternal life; we can be confident and secure in God’s indescribable Love for us. See Romans 5; 8; 1 John 5. Many of us may be tormented with accusing voices that say we’ve “lost our salvation,” “committed the unpardonable sin,” “blasphemed the Holy Spirit,” “gone too far this time,” “fallen away from grace,” and/or that God has rejected us and doesn’t love us anymore. If a person is worried and concerned that they have committed the “unpardonable sin” of Mark 3 or Matthew 12, then their heartfelt concern is usually an indication or evidence that they have NOT committed the unpardonable sin.

The unpardonable sin is hardening one’s heart with pride and bitterness (or “thorns and briers”--see Hebrews 6:8) to the point that one no longer trusts in Jesus, and no longer acknowledges one’s need for Jesus’ blood to purify them from everything that hinders love. See 1 John 1:5-10. Such a person no longer listens to God’s voice, and in many cases, never ceases to claim that the miraculous, healing, saving, delivering work of the Holy Spirit is a demonic farce.

When such a person never repents of accusing God of injustice, wrongdoing, or unfairness regarding something bad that “He allowed” or “permitted in His sovereignty” to happen in their lives, then this can often eventually manifest in an unloving, self-justified lifestyle of sin or lawlessness with no desire to change the way they think no matter what God’s Word says. See Hebrews 6:4-8; Matthew 12:22-50.

Rather than remaining in Jesus, being rooted and grounded in love, a person who is rooted and grounded in bitterness will bear the evil, bad fruit of bitterness. c.f. Hebrews 12:15. Their lives will be full of envy, unforgiveness, resentment, anger, hatred, gossip, slander, fear, and other byproducts of hardhearted pride and bitterness--the thorns and briers that hinder the cultivation of loving relationships with God, others, and oneself.

Here are some other passages which indicate that some who are once saved do not necessarily always keep their salvation. Remaining saved is conditional on remaining secure in the love that Christ Jesus has for us. God’s love inevitably produces obedience to Him. How does this happen? Over time, the more we intentionally get to know Him, we will constantly look more and more like Him (Jesus) as a byproduct of setting our heart, mind, songs, affections, and thoughts on Him, submitting to Him in love because He first loved and loves us. See John 15; 1 John 4; Colossians 3; 2 Corinthians 3:18.

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,”

--1 Timothy 4:1 NASB

How can one “fall away from the faith” unless they were once in “the faith” in the first place? Thus, this verse is not talking about people who have never yet placed their trust in Jesus, but to those who have once pledged their allegiance to Jesus and received Him as the King, Master, or “CEO” in the “driver’s seat” of their lives.

This verse further shows that there is a great danger in failing to identify the lies of a real, demonic realm. Human ideas and theologies may not line up with what God says, and like Eve in the Garden of Eden, those who aren’t fully mature by remaining connected to God’s love and grace, which builds us up and teaches us to recognize truth from error, good from evil, are susceptible to “fall away from the faith.” See Hebrews 5:13; Acts 20:32; 2 Corinthians 11:2-4; Titus 2:11-14.

“The one sown with seed on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

--Matthew 13:20-22 NASB

Doing a word study on “fall away” in quotation marks (NASB) on the biblegateway website showed 16 results. Among those results, in Matthew 26:31,33 and Mark 14:27,29, it is notable to remember how Jesus prophesied that on the night he was betrayed, his disciples would all fall away and deny and/or desert him, which they did. However, all those disciples (except Judas Iscariot) later repented, returned to Jesus, believed in Him, were born again when they confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (see Romans 10:9-10; John 20), received His Holy Spirit, and had their fellowship with Him restored.

Similarly, as long as we’re still alive, then that means God has mercifully given us another day or opportunity to immediately have our fellowship with Him restored if ever we do mess up or fall away. As long as we don’t harden our hearts with bitterness or offense against another, ourselves, or God, then we can rejoice in the amazing assurance that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and removes it. See John 1:29; Mark 11:25-26; Hebrews 10:19ff.

We can always rejoice that nothing can separate us from the love of God, praising and thanking Him for the eternal life we have in Him. If ever we do become aware of an area of sin or unforgiveness in our lives, we can immediately come to God’s throne of grace, deal with any accusing thoughts by honestly talking to God about it, release forgiveness and blessing and grace towards that person or ourselves, and delight ourselves in God’s love for us. See Revelation 12:9-11; Hebrews 4; Matthew 5:21ff; 6:9-15; Psalm 36.

Now a common lie, wile, scheme, anxiety, or lofty idea that the demonic realm will feed to a person regarding this issue may sound like the following: “Oh no! What if I sin or have a prideful or bitter thought against somebody, and then I die before I confess it to God? Will I go to hell because I died with unconfessed sin?”

We don’t need to be paranoid and self-introspective by thinking such a thing, but can rest assured in God’s promises regarding His love and grace. Continue to let the Holy Spirit bring up anything in your life that isn’t right rather than relying on your own human understanding to dig up stuff through unhealthy self-introspection. See Proverbs 3:5.

That we would even be concerned about having fallen away from grace is an indication that our hearts are in a good place of right standing with God, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. See 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is because a hard-hearted person who remains in pride and bitterness won’t even care about their right standing with God and won’t have a repentant, contrite spirit.

They will be so offended and hurt by others that they won’t care about God and couldn’t care less about anything Jesus has to say about God’s morals or morality (His Love nature) and the way we should live or think. Or he/she will twist God’s commandments into a permit to be bitter, negative, cynical, depressed, envious, proud, to live sexually however they please, gossip, etc. See Jude 4ff.

But if you feel convicted about pride and bitterness, then that shows that your heart is humble and connected to God’s heart in a committed relationship, and you can continue to fellowship with Him and to praise and thank Him for the way He roots out pride and bitterness as you grow rooted and grounded in the good soil of His love. See Matthew 13:23.

“Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. 12 And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. 14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

--Matthew 24:9-14 NASB

Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we keep the beginning of our commitment firm until the end, 15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”

--Hebrews 3:12-15 NASB

1. To paraphrase James Warner Wallace, if somebody writes a Valentine’s Day poem that says “Roses are red; Bullets are lead; Love me or I’ll put one in your head,” then is that really true love? No! True love requires a free will choice for the beloved to either receive (enter into) or to deny (refrain from) a love relationship. If it’s forced under threat of punishment or death, then it isn’t love, but selfish control and manipulation. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear is tormenting and has to do with punishment, so a fearful person hasn’t yet fully embraced God’s love in every area of his life. See 1 John 4:18 (my amplified paraphrase). Many, due to their experiences with religion, may feel that God does use force and manipulation as His method for getting people to receive Jesus or enter into a relationship with Him. “If you don’t believe in Jesus, then you’ll go to hell.” Is there any truth to that? What if that’s like saying, “If you don’t drink water as we go out into the desert for one week, then you’ll die.” Is that an unloving threat, or is there some honest truth to that? Is it necessarily using manipulation, fear, and control if one tells their child, “If you drink this bleach/arsenic, you will get sick/die?” Even if they do have a mean demeanor of superiority or self-righteousness as they say that to a child, does that make their statement false? Ultimately, every day in every circumstance we have opportunities to choose life or death with our words and actions. We can choose to act in self-protection and self-gratification as a byproduct of constantly feeding from a diet of fear, pride, and bitterness, or we can choose to act in selfless love as a byproduct of being rooted, grounded in, and filled with God’s humility and love through the good news of what He has done for us in the Person of Jesus.

For more information on what it means to enter a personal relationship with Jesus, see my blogpost What’s the Good News? or Would You Like to Kick Satan’s Butt Personally?