How to respond to the OSAS debate the biblical way:
Short version:
I think the Bible teaches that true born again believers will not fall from grace, for the Lord Jesus says that He will keep His sheep (John 10: 27–28) and that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38–39). However, the teaching of OSAS has been perverted by many teachers of it into a license for sinning and a false security to give to false converts who had no salvation to lose in the first place. The truth is that, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24: 13), and “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20).
Longer version:
Scripture teaches that the truly born again cannot lose their salvation. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:27–28). Paul wrote that those whom God justifies, He also glorifies (Romans 8:30). Eternal security is a reality, because salvation is of God from start to finish.
The danger, however, is that many have perverted OSAS to a false gospel of easy-believism. They tell people that a one-time prayer or profession is sufficient even if there is no repentance or change of life. Scripture is clear that such people were never saved to begin with: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him” (Titus 1:16). “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us” (1 John 2:19). Genuine salvation always produces genuine fruit.
That’s why Jesus warned, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24: 13), and “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). Real believers will persevere because the Spirit of God preserves them (Philippians 1: 6), but false converts will fall away because they never truly belonged to Christ. The problem is not with eternal security itself, the problem is a counterfeit version of it that gives sinners false assurance and leaves them on the broad road to destruction.
OSAS can only be true if it’s taught the way the Bible teaches it. The Bible does teach that a true born again person can never lose their salvation, because Christ Himself keeps them, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). But the Bible never says a person can live in open rebellion and be secure. The real evidence of salvation is the believer does not depart from the faith: “We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14). Those who fall away, prove they were never really saved (1 John 2: 19), even if they once appeared to believe (Luke 8:13). The warnings of Scripture are true, but they sift out the false and strengthen the true. So yes, once saved, always saved is true, but only for those who were really saved in the first place. Don’t give assurance to those who don’t truly believe, because telling a lost person they are saved only confirms them on the road to hell.
A Warning to Those Who Teach OSAS (Wrongly) in the name of Christ
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). Jesus taught, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 7:19). And Paul wrote, “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19).
Salvation from the penalty and power of sin is absolutely certain for the true believer, secured by the resurrection power of Christ and kept by His Word. But if you preach OSAS in a way that lulls people to sleep in sin, assures those who have never repented that they are safe, or disregards the clear teaching of Jesus and Paul that unrepentant sinners cannot be saved, you are not preaching the truth. You are on Satan’s side.
People die in their sins for one of two reasons: either they have never been born again, or they have fallen away from their first love. Both the false professor and the backslider are in a lost condition and are in danger of hell. Hebrews 6: 4–6 uses the word parapiptō (to turn aside) in regard to both. Paul says in 2 Peter 2: 22, “even so shall the dog, returning to his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22). The reason they fall away is the same reason they are lost: their heart has never been changed.
Jesus said, “They went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).
In other words, true Christians are eternally secure, but those who are not cannot be saved by some clever assurance or twisted form of “once saved, always saved.” Remember: Eternal security is a good thing, for it is the very reason the soul that sins must die (Ezekiel 18:20). When you reverse its biblical teaching, and use it to harden the heart of the sinner, you have perverted it to Satanic use.
Making mistakes is human, but telling sinners they are safe no matter what is from Satan. Don’t fall for it. Beware of “OSAS” in the title of Christ. If it excuses sin, dismisses repentance, or tells the unconverted they are safe, it is not biblical. Make sure your view of security really is built on the eternal Word of God.
Views: 15
