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| Jn 10:27-30 | cannot snatch them from me [1]verse used to challenge Catholic teaching | The notion of "once saved, always saved" springs from the hope that once we have accepted Jesus and leapt into his arms, he will never lose us. While it is true he will never leave us, there is nothing that prevents us from leaving him, falling away from his grace.
As the following Bible verses show, it is our free will that allows us to leave God behind and enter mortal peril, something the inspired writers were very concerned about. |
| Jn 6:39 | Jesus will not lose us, but we can leave | |
| Co 1:21-23 | Jesus' death saves, provided... | ...we do our part. Yes, God's promise to us is an irrevocable offer. But it is not the same as our acceptance of his gift. The bible has many parables of the invited turning down God's invitation. |
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| Mt 7:21 | not everyone saying "Lord, Lord" | There is no magic dance or sinner's prayer that guarantees redemption. |
| Mt 24:13 | persevere to the end to be saved | Hard work required |
| Rm 11:21-22 | lost converts treated severely | Implies that, instead of man being either a random winner or loser in some salvational sweepstakes, we will reap what we sow. |
| 1 Cr 9:27 | discipline lest salvation be lost | Hard work required |
| 2 Tm 2:11-13 | must hold out to the end | |
| Pp 2:12 | salvation requires our work | |
| He 3:4-8 | if we hold firm to the end | Rather than some assurance, our resistance to temptation is necessary. |
| He 4:1 | fear of failing to reach salvation | ...if we are not sufficiently diligent. |
| He 2:1-3 | Let not truth slip away | Consistent with the persistent theme that we can lose our salvation, a warning that truth can slip away if we are not diligent. For if punishment came about for ignoring God's message sent by his angels in the Old Testament, how much more pain will be due to believers if we neglect his new message sent directly through his Son? |
| He 12:4 | Resist sin unto blood | Our maximum effort, even unto death (consider the martyrs) may be required. Rather than a simple, one-time choice, we are required to testify to our faith through words, deeds, and choices in the face of daunting challenges. |
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| Lk 8:13 | joyful believers lost to temptation | Rather than "always saved" we find multiple instances in the bible where the chosen lose their salvation. |
| 1 Cr 10:11-12 | believers may fall | |
| Ga 5:1 | now free, do not submit again | An observation by Paul that the saved may slip into sin. |
| Ga 5:4 | you've fallen away from grace | |
| He 6:4-8 | believers can fall away, be lost | |
| He 10:26-29 | the sanctified can fall away | |
| 2 Pt 2:20-21 | the righteous can fall | |
| Sr 2:7 | God-fearing may fall | Those who fear the Lord may fall away. |
| Ez 18:24 | A just man lost to sin | A righteous man, turning to sin, loses his life. And all his justice will not be remembered by God. Note that the man is called "just" or "righteous" before he makes a decision to turn to sin; thus his choice to sin does not mean he was never righteous to begin with, as some Protestants hold. |
| Ez 33:12-13 | justice of the just fails | All the accumulated justice of a just man will not save a man when he turns to sin. Ask any OSAS believer if a lifetime of "righteousness" [KJV, NIV, RSV] is sufficient even if he subsequently sins. He cannot reply that the man in this biblical example was never righteous, for scripture has declared him so. The tragedy of believers losing their salvation is a wholly Catholic concern. Hence the need for every believer to "endure to the end" (e.g., Mt 10:22, Mt 24:13, Mk 13:13, 2 Tm 2:11-12, He 3:4-8, Sr 2:3). |
| Ez 33:18 | Just man leaves justice = death | Once again, a just (or righteous) man that departs from the way of the Lord gains only death. |
| Ma 3:7 | Return to me | God's chosen turned away from God. Yet God remains ready to fulfill his promise. But they must return to him first.
Being chosen is no guarantee unless we remain on the path that God has defined for us. |
| AA 20:28-30 | even bishops to fall | Even church rulers, placed by the Holy Spirit no less, will choose to fall away. |
| Lk 15:24 | Son alive, dead, alive again | In the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32), note that the father (representing God the Father) says of his son who had lived in his father's house but left and "sinned against heaven", that his son was dead, and then "alive again". So at the beginning, the son was alive (saved) in the father's house, but left the house and "died" (sinned grievously, lost faith). Yet he was able to return the his father's house and become alive "again". That is, he was initially alive (saved), then dead (unsaved), then alive (saved) again. |
| Rm 11:16-17 | Branches of the holy root broken | The saved (holy branches) can break away from the holy root (verse 16). |
| Rm 11:23 | Broken branches grafted again | The saved (the holy branches) fell away (were lost), but can be grafted into the "holy root" again. That is, the saved can be lost, but they can still be saved yet "again." |
