Can a Christian fall from grace, i.e. can you
lose your salvation once you believe and are baptized? Some say no - nothing
you do after you become a Christian will keep you from going to heaven. This
belief is commonly referred to as "once saved,
always saved" and is based on the biblical concept of salvation by grace
and not works. From Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV): "For by grace
you have been saved through faith. And this is not
your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one may boast." The idea is
that since we are saved by grace and not works, works are not relevant to our
salvation. Nothing we do or fail to do will nullify God's grace; moreover, God
will not allow us to fall from grace (see John 10:28-29).
The concept of predestination is
a bit like "once saved, always saved". Predestination is the idea
that God (before the foundation of the world) chose to save some and not others
based on his purpose and his sovereign will (nothing else). From Romans 8:28-30
(ESV): "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And
those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."
In other words, since God is all knowing he knows the choices we will make even
before we are born; therefore our actions in the future are set in stone and
our salvation (or lack thereof) has already been determined. We have been
predestined to follow a particular path and that path cannot be changed.
Predestination and "once
saved, always saved" may seem like reasonable concepts based on certain
passages of scripture, but there are serious biblical and logical problems with
both of them. Most of the biblical problems come from a "pick and
choose" mentality. The scriptures that support these concepts are used to
justify them while the ones that don't are conveniently ignored. Since the
Bible is God's word then all of it is relevant, not just the parts that support
a certain viewpoint. We have to consider the Bible as a whole to determine the
validity of a given concept.
So how do we refute "once
saved, always saved"? Consider John 14:15. Jesus didn't say "If you
love me, that's good enough". He said "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" which implies action (works) and not
just faith. The Lord's brother James takes a common sense approach in James
2:14-17 (ESV): "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith
but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is
poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go
in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for
the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does
not have works, is dead." Yes, we are ultimately saved by grace because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23),
but we also see from the preceding passages that works are definitely relevant
to our salvation. Surely God did not allow his only son to be crucified so we
could watch the world go by and do nothing to make it better.
The sheer illogic of
predestination can be used to refute it. John 3:16 (ESV): "For God
so loved the world, that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life." 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV): "The Lord is not slow to fulfill
his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that
any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."
God wants everyone to come to repentance, not just a predetermined few, so he
sent his son to die on the cross so that anyone who believes in him has an
opportunity for eternal life. If predestination is true then (a) why would God
allow his only son to be crucified for no reason and (b) why would Jesus
instruct his disciples to preach the gospel to all the world? If our salvation
(or lack thereof) has already been determined from the foundation of the world
and cannot be changed, then Jesus died for nothing and preaching the gospel is
irrelevant. Predestination is clearly incompatible with both the Bible and
common sense.
Back to our original question:
can a Christian fall from grace? "Once saved, always saved" says no
(for those who believe), predestination says no (for an elect few), but a
careful examination of these concepts shows they have no merit. Let's look at
some passages from scripture for the answer. In John 15:5-6 (ESV), Jesus says:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone
does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the
branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned." 2 Peter 2:20-21
(ESV): "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in
them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For
it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness
than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to
them." So can a Christian fall from grace? Absolutely. God has given us
all free will; therefore, just as we choose accept God's plan for salvation we
can choose to walk away from it. We would do well to heed Paul's warning in 1
Corinthians 10:12: "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take
heed lest he fall." This can be paraphrased as "let anyone who thinks
he cannot fall from grace take heed lest he does".
