I get asked two questions frequently:  Do you believe in “once saved, always saved?  and Can you lose your salvation?   I’d like to deal with both of those questions.  The first thing we need to concede is that the Bible does indeed seem to teach both points of view:  you can and you can’t lose your salvation.  So which is it?

Experience

Experience shows that a person can temporarily fall from grace.  This is known as “backsliding,” and while you won’t find that word in the New Testament, it is all over the Old Testament.  In the Hebrew, there are two words used for “backsliding.”  One word means “to turn back” or “to turn away,” while the other word means “to turn around” or “be refractory.”  Israel is compared to a backsliding heifer that refuses to be led and becomes refractory under the yoke; Israel has turned from God and has stubbornly refused to take upon her the yoke of His Law.

In the New Testament, we are warned against this kind of attitude, but with different words.  A backslider is one who once had zeal for God but who has now become cold (Matt. 24:12); he once obeyed the Word but now worldliness has made him ineffective (Matt. 13:22); he once put his hand to the plough, but looked back (Luke 9:62); is like Lot’s wife, who was delivered from the City of Destruction but wanted to return (Luke 17:32); once had a relationship with Christ, but is now away from Him and is withered and barren and good for nothing spiritually (John 15:6); once had a moral compass, but now ignores is and as a result his ship of faith has become wrecked on the rocks of sin and worldliness (1 Tim. 1:8; 2:12).

So, experiences in the Bible, as wall as, perhaps, experiences in your own  life prove that lapses from grace are possible.  However, may a person who was once saved lapse and be lost for good? Again, the Bible isn’t clear; it seems to teach both yes and no.  Within the Church, there are two camps:  the Calvinism (from John Calvin) teaches no while Arminianism (Jacobus Arminian) teaches yes.

Next time, we’ll examine Calvinism and Arminianism, then we’ll compare the two systems of doctrine, finally we’ll arrive at the Scriptural balance.