Throughout the religious realm of Christianity there is a popular doctrine that suggest that once someone gives their life to Christ and is saved, they are no longer capable of falling from God’s grace. This doctrine is commonly known as once saved always saved. However, does the Bible truly teach this?
Where does Grace come from? The Bible teaches that Grace only comes from God. We are all sinners and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Yet, we are saved by grace through faith, which is not from us but from God (Ephesians 2:8). So as we can observe the source of grace is from God.
The question then lies how do we receive God's grace? To often people in the religious world think that simple belief is enough to merit God's grace and that we can act anyway we want and God will have us covered. Although very popular and appealing the Bible teaches the exact opposite logic. For instance, in Titus 2:11-12 it says "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age." God's grace is here and it instructs us to live a life of godliness. "For all scripture is inspired by God profitable for teaching, correcting, reproofing and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work," (2 Timothy 3:16). Grace comes from living by God's word.
Therefore grace does not come from living any way we want and expecting grace to just happen. In Revelations 2:10 the church in Smyra is told "Do not fear what you are about to suffer...be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life." Therefore we see that in order to receive the crown of life we have to be faithful in our walk with Christ. We can understand that this ability to walk with Christ and live by his decrees is conditional. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Paul writes "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you." The use of the word if is a conditional statement, therefore the end result, being saved is conditional as well. Colossians 1:22,23 which expresses that we should remain steadfast, holy and blameless, so that we are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Does this mean believe and live any way we see fit? Are we to keep on sinning so that grace may multiply? absolutely not (Romans 6:1-4).
Salvation can only come through faith and obedience to the gospel of Christ. If we choose not to by our own free will we can fall away from God and inheritence of eternal life. therefore, simple belief followed up by living any way we choose will not cut the mustard when it comes time for judgment. The doctrine of once saved always saved is an attractive doctrine, however it is leading many in the religious world down a path of false doctrine that could lead to spiritual death. The only way to attain salvation from eternal condemnation is to make Jesus Lord as described in Acts 2:38, and commit our lives to living by the word of God for the remainder of our time on earth.
So the question is have you fallen?
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