Once You're Saved You're Saved?

Hi Guys, Good Evening. I hope you’ve been having a decent week so far? If you haven’t, don’t worry, the weekend is already at hand and you get to retreat and relax. Last week, I was thinking of what to share with you guys (notice how I’m almost always thinking of what to share lool) and one particular phrase came to mind. It is a commonly used and heard phrase and it is "Once you’re saved, you’re saved."

If I’m being honest, this particular statement is something of a spiritual pet peeve (if there’s anything like that) and something I find to be such a dangerous and erroneous message with no true biblical backing. I’m sure a lot of people will instinctively disagree with me but before I get into the whys and the crux of it, I’ll just begin with a couple verses from Hebrew 6.

Hebrews 6:4-6 Says; “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ^6 [c]if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”

I always wondered where people who go on to boldly tell other Believers, that once you are saved you are saved got that idea from. Particularly because it is always said with such conviction, insinuating that it is impossible to fall away from salvation, once you’ve been saved. I remember at the beginning of my born-again Christian journey, I had a Believer I admired and looked up to, who was evidently on fire for God, tell me that if you backslide in your relationship with God and fall away from God, then you were never truly saved, to begin with. Even back then as a Christian who was still feeding on milk, I knew in my Spirit that there was something off about that doctrine but I didn’t know enough of the Word to take it on. What I would later realize is that this is a widely preached gospel particularly in WesterChristendomom.

Many times, I’ve heard people cite “If the Son sets you free you are free indeed.” (John 8:36) as proof of the fact that once we give our lives to Jesus, come what may, we will inherit the kingdom. What is often forgotten is the massive clause or caveat if you will, attached to that promise. If we dialback a couple verses in John 8 we see what Jesus’ take on what the Son setting us free really means.

Vs 31 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”

Vs 34-35 ^“Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.”

Looking for the root word for ‘Abide’ these were a few of the definitions for the root word that came up; remain, wait, and in the transitive tense; endure, sustain, stay firm under. And to abide with means to “remain in the service of.”

Jesus wasn’t just asking us to believe, He was asking to remain in His word till our last day. He was telling us that the freedom He gives is not a freedom to attain eternal life while doing what we please. It is a freedom to not be bound by sin or sinful desires. It is a freedom to know the truth that in Him, the hold of sin is broken off us and we can walk in righteousness and purity.

Hebrews 10:35-38 makes it clear to us that abiding is a prerequisite for attaining salvation and being truly saved. It says;

³⁵ Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ³⁷ “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.³⁸ Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”

Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 says;

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Paul is telling us here that people who walk the following walks cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. In saying that this is who we used to be but now we are justified, He is telling us that there ought to be a difference between who we were before we were saved and who we are now. Evidence of our salvation is in the fruit of our walk with God. This isn’t saying that we won’t err, or do any of these things from time to time but when we do, we do not continue on that path, we repent of those actions and we return under the covering of the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul urges the Philippians and us in the same vein to “Work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

We have to understand that it simply not enough to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to save our souls, even the devil and demons believe that too. What sets us apart as believers and heirs of the Kingdom is the fruit of that belief. This is a classic 'faith without works is dead' situation.

For anyone who is still in doubt, I'll just leave you with this.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; ¹³ but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” - Hebrews 3:12-14