Once Saved Always Saved
I would like to have some insight on the subject once in grace always in grace. Me and some of my buddies have been discussing it and I am not sure I understand it.
You speak of once in grace; always in grace. I have also heard it called once saved; always saved. This is called the doctrine of eternal security. It means that once a person is truly saved, they can never be lost after that. The opposite of the doctrine of eternal security is the belief that a person can by wilful acts of sin (different people have different ideas concerning what point this happens) lose their salvation.
I believe in eternal security (or once in grace; always in grace) for a large number of reasons. However, I also admit that there are a number of doctrinal and practical problems that have to be dealt with. But that is true no matter which way this is taught. But do not think that I take this doctrine lightly. It matters, and it matters very much. If we can lose our salvation, then we must have some part in earning our salvation. If we earn our salvation, then it is not by grace (which means God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves).
Salvation is entirely a gift of God. True, we accept it, but we do not earn it. When we accept it, God births us into His family and we become a child of God (John 1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
See All...). My children were born to me. And, though they have not always been in good graces with me, they have never ceased to be my children. And, though human parents might cruelly cast a child out of their home, the Bible promises us that we can never be separated from the love of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:35-38 [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
See All...).
Can I stop being God's child if I want to? Let me ask you: Can you stop being your earthly father's child even if you want to? Of course not--to both questions. Besides, why would anyone want to cease being the child of God? Why would anyone want to go to hell instead of heaven. They would have to had lost their mind to want to stop being saved. I would not cast my children out because they lost their mind; neither would God cast His children out.
Often people will point out to me people they know that "got saved" and later left the Lord and went back to sin. There are two possibilities. One is that they were never saved in the first place. 1 John 2:19They 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: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
See All... speaks of a group of so-called believers who left the saints so that it might be known that they were never really one of the saints. Many people go through an experience or "get religion" for a time, but they are not saved. Eventually, their lack of true spiritual life bears fruit and they leave the God they never really knew.
The second possibility is that God is still dealing with them, though we may not see it for a time. The Bible teaches that those who are true sons of God will be chastened (whipped) when they stray from Him (Hebrews 12:5-7 [5] And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
[6] For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
[7] If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
See All...). In fact, he says that those who do not receive chastisement are not His sons (Hebrews 12:8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
See All...) but are illegitimate (the Bible uses a stronger word here). Sometimes, the ways of the Lord work slowly over a long period of time, but He is always working to bring His true children back to Him.
But, when we are saved and truly born again, we will forever be one of God's children. We may stray and we may suffer for our disobedience, but we will never cease to be His child. This shows us the greatness of the salvation God has given us. Thanks be to His name.