Once Saved, Always Saved?

The idea that all a person has to do in order to be saved is to say a few words—to accept and believe on Christ—is a common one in mainstream Christianity. Is conversion really so simple and momentary?

“Have you been saved?” This question comes up again and again in the mainstream Christian community, always with the same generic formula follow-up: “Accept Jesus in your life and you will be saved!”

The Bible does mention several times that conversion requires belief in Jesus Christ being the Son of the living God. However, faith is where mainstream Christianity often stops.

Though many of mainstream Christianity’s preachers and leaders are cautious in actually using the phrase “once saved, always saved,” their teaching generally supports the concept. In fact, it is this same teaching, which they use in conjunction with the concept of grace working outside God’s law, that allows them to ignore keeping God’s commands and laws.

For more information on how grace actually works with God’s law, and not against it, see “What Did Paul Teach About Law and Grace?”

What the Bible says

Many who say they believe in Christ seem to not put all the pieces to conversion together, trying to make an entire puzzle by stretching one piece (belief in Jesus Christ) as thinly as they can. The Bible mentions several other components that often appear to be ignored.

1. Repentance: This includes the understanding that we have sinned and gone contrary to God’s way. Repentance also includes actively changing ourselves to move away from sin and closer to righteous character. God does not continue to accept us just as we were when we first believed. He commands that we change to fit His standards, not standards we make up for ourselves. Repentance is an ongoing process (1 John 1:8-9).
2. Baptism: This is the symbol of a repentant sinful person dying and a changed, new person emerging from a watery grave. Many mainstream Christian movies depict people being “saved” by a fiery conversation and a tearful belief in Christ. Where are the baptisms? Christ Himself asked to be baptized, so why would those who are being “saved” not seek the same required symbol?
3. The Holy Spirit: Receiving the Holy Spirit after baptism gives us the guarantee, or down payment, on salvation (see the example below). It is God’s power inside of us that we must stir up to help us fight off carnality and embrace spirituality.

Why are these things not mentioned? Notice Acts 2:38: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (emphasis added). Why did Peter tell the crowd to do this if all they needed to do was believe in Christ?

The down payment

Notice Ephesians 1:13-14: “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, [which] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Here the Holy Spirit is called a guarantee, or down payment, on salvation. Imagine a home buyer who follows the concept of “once saved, always saved.” He decides that the down payment was enough. Would this buyer ever actually own the home? Or would he get foreclosed on and kicked out?

From the metaphor above, we see that a down payment is not enough. Thankfully, God not only pays the down payment, He pays the whole price. He not only gives a down payment of the Spirit, but He will give more of the Spirit. He only asks, by analogy, that we not vandalize the home and that we take care of it.

Just simply believing in Christ is not enough. Conversion is a multifaceted process and a lifelong commitment.

We compared the process of conversion to buying a home. But it’s more like being given a galaxy. Nothing we could ever do could pay for it. By God’s grace, we can be freely given it as a gift. Still, receiving this gift requires that we show that we really want it by continually drawing closer to God and removing sin. It requires seeking not to disgust the Great Giver with our evil actions, but seeking to please Him by obeying His rules that are really for our own benefit.

Choose God’s way of life

Before giving us eternal life—salvation—God wants to make sure we will choose to live His way that will produce happiness for us and those around us. If we choose the way that leads to misery, why would He want to see us make ourselves and others miserable for eternity?

If belief in Christ were all one needed in order to be saved, the Bible would contain about half of what Christ and the apostles taught, since the rest wouldn’t be necessary. All the concepts regarding true, continual repentance, baptism and the Holy Spirit would apparently be useless. However, Christ and the apostles did teach these concepts for a reason—so that we may be truly saved.

Eddie Foster, a school speech-language pathologist, and his wife are members in the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.

For more about the subjects discussed in this post, see:

• What Is Repentance?
• What Is Baptism?
• Do You Have to Be Baptized to Be Saved?
• How Do You Know You Have the Holy Spirit?