Calvinism - Lost Again

Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS), or as it is more formally called, Eternal Security or Perseverance of the Saints, is a very popular belief in the denominational world. In fact, it is so popular that most people who hold to it struggle to conceive of what those who don't believe in it understand about being lost again once you have been saved. For example, just last night some friends of mine who are all solid Calvinists asked about it, perplexed about what someone like me might believe about salvation. The question went something like this (and I'm paraphrasing):
* So what do they believe happens? They wake up saved and then they have to spend their whole day repenting of every sin? Do they believe they are constantly lost and in need of forgiveness? How do they even live like that?
The question stems from a couple of misunderstandings which I will address in the sections below.
== Does the Bible Teach Once Saved Always Saved? ==
In a word, no. To understand the idea that one can so sin as to be lost again after being saved, it is imperative to understand what the Bible teaches in regard to sin and salvation. A large part of the confusion comes from the Calvinist doctrine that has bled into so much of denominationalism to one extent or another. Yet Calvin was an uninspired man and his interpretations should be treated the same way as any other commentary, by comparing it to scripture to see if it holds up. While I do not intend to refute all of Calvin's 5 points here (as I will do so elsewhere), I do intend to address the one represented by the P - Perseverance of the Saints - in this article.
=== James 5:19-20 ===
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
James here is addressing Christians. We know this because he starts the context with "Brethren". He then goes on to say "if any of you [Brethren] do err from the truth" that is to say they stray from the path that God has given them. If someone is able to convert them, that is, put them back on the strait and narrow path, then they should know that they've converted a sinner (this saint is no longer a saint but has become a sinner again) away from their sin and saved their soul from death! 
Folks, it does not get any clearer than that. James explicitly says that you can sin in such a way that your soul is in danger of death again. This isn't the physical body. It's the soul. What death can the soul die? It can be separated from God (Isa. 59:1-2). Is this even possible? Yes. James says it is entirely possible.
Let's look at another passage.
=== Hebrews 6:4-6 ===
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
The Hebrew writer is talking about those who were once enlightened. For the Calvinist, this has a specific meaning, but for our purposes let us just say that this is someone who understands the gospel. They have faith that what God has said is true. Furthermore, this person has "tasted of the heavenly gift". What is the gift of God? Grace. What is grace? It is Christ and all that He represents and here the tasting implies those spiritual blessings that are in Him (Eph. 1:3). This is a person who has been immersed into Christ, put on Christ, and in short...been saved.
However, the Hebrew writer goes on to say that if this Christian, this saved person who was "made partakers of the Holy Ghost", were to fall away. There it is. The implication is exceptionally clear. A saved person can fall away.
=== Galatians 5:4 ===
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
The easiest one by far to understand, yet so many still get it wrong. Paul is writing to Christians in the churches of the region of Galatia. He says that Christ is become of no effect to you. Who is "you"? The Christians in Galatia! Whichever Christian seeks to be justified by the law [of Moses - see the context], what does Paul say happens? Whichever Christian seeks to be justified by Moses has fallen from grace.
Folks, you cannot fall out of a tree you did not climb into. You cannot fall from a grace you were never in. This is very clear that if you were in God's grace, covered by the blood of the Son and your sins have been washed away, that you can find yourself separated from God's grace again. Yes, this is a particular instance of how that can happen, but it still proves that it can happen. There is no arguing around it without setting up a contradiction in scripture.
== 1st Misconception - Just Keep Sinning ==
The first issue that the original question from my friend includes is an understanding of how sin and salvation work. To the Calvinist, even though you are saved, you are still a sinner. Like Schrodinger's cat, you are both a purified saint and a worthless sinner simultaneously. You sin all the time, continually, and if God didn't deliberately and irresistibly save you despite your best efforts to the contrary, you would be totally depraved and incapable of doing good. This, of course, speaks to the idea of total hereditary depravity, the T in Calvin's Tulip.
What the Bible teaches is far different from this. God teaches that we can grow closer to Him (Hebrews 7:19, 25; 10:1; 11:6; James 4:8), that we can conform to Christ in such away that we have given up self and Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20), that we can "go and sin no more" (John 8:11) that we can stop the continual sinning (1 John 3:6,9). Because these folks put everything on God's shoulders and take no personal responsibility, they could never grow as a Christian.
== 2nd Misconception - Every Sin Kills You ==
The second erroneous foundation the question is based on is that of the assumption that any sin immediately causes one to be lost if OSAS is not true. There thought is that if I can sin and lose my salvation (its framed as a passive thing - lose my salvation like I lost my car keys) then any and every time I sin, I'm lost again. This, still goes back to their total hereditary depravity though. Not only do they believe that you can't sin less as time progresses, but that if God didn't keep you forcibly saved, every misstep would be your destruction.
== In Reality It's a Walk (not a Ride) ==
1 John 1:6-7 - If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The truth of the matter is that falling from Grace, becoming lost again, isn't accidental. It's a willful act of turning away from God. You see, while we are faithful Christians, we are walking in the light. That is a walk, not a ride. It takes effort on our part. Work (gasp!). God doesn't just carry us along while we admire the scenery. While we are walking that path of righteousness, we may stumble, but Jesus is there to pick us back up and help us keep walking forward. He does this in part through our fellow Christians (Gal. 6:2). We are continually cleansed of our sins as long as we are walking in the direction God has directed us to walk.
However, if we willfully turn away from God, reject Him and His Son, and purposefully walk in darkness again, then we are lost and in need of being converted (turned around) as James says in James 5. That hopefully never happens. If it does happen, it's certainly not a day by day, minute by minute occurrence.
If a Christian does reject God and never repents, then their end is even worse than for those who never new God (2 Peter 2:20) because they were saved and threw it away. They will enter eternity knowing this. However, if a Christian does reject God, through prayer and patience, example and spiritual fruit (Gal. 5:22-23) that person can be won again to the cause of Christ and restored to a right relationship with God, their soul saved from death. 
What is the Christians' responsibility to avoid this? We study (2 Tim. 2:15), we grow (2 Pet. 3:18), and we walk that walk daily growing closer to God through worship and service to Him. When we stumble, which grows rarer if we are growing closer to God, then we pray for forgiveness. Sometimes we are especially weak, a span of time where we get caught up in that one thing that is especially hard for us. I know what mine is. When that happens, we can enlist the prayers of the church and find a good friend in Christ to confess to in order for them to help us stay on the right path. That Christian friend's responsibility is to aid us, not condemn us, exhibiting all the same spiritual fruits we are to show at all times (Gal. 5:22-23) because if they don't, they can drive a weak Christian away from the light and into darkness.
== To Know or Not To Know...That Is The Question ==
1 John 5:13 - These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
What I find interesting about the OSAS doctrine is that they claim, based on personal experience, to know that they are saved. Yet, if you dig down into their theology, it becomes a problem. If a person who everyone "knew" was saved suddenly goes off the deep end, they will say that such a person was never saved in the first place. Okay, but they said they "knew" they were saved back when everyone thought they were saved. What's the difference in them "knowing" and you "knowing"? Under this doctrine, "knowing" is based on a feeling rather than true knowledge. They "feel" saved, but it's just an emotion.
For those of us who understand what the Bible teaches, whatever state we happen to be in, we know it for certain. I know I'm a saint. I know I'm purified. I know the blood of Christ continually cleanses me from all my sins, even in a weakened state. How do I know? Well, it ain't because of a feeling else I'd feel lost at a good number of times in my life. I know I am saved, though, because of what the scriptures teach. That knowledge doesn't come from me, but from what God revealed to mankind through the scriptures. My standard for knowing isn't some imperfect, emotionally driven, personal standard. It's based on the objective, perfect mirror (1 Cor. 13:12), the Word of God.
== Conclusion ==
I have to say that I appreciate my friend for asking the question. He was curious and he did express what he thought about the topic by giving an example of what he believed, but he genuinely wanted to know. I wrote this in part to give him a more thorough answer than what I gave him last night. I also wrote this because, as is the case with most of my articles, its a question that comes up from time to time, and now I have my thoughts organized and already typed up, ready for someone to read.
If you have the same question, or perhaps you have someone asking you this question when you believe as I do, I hope this article has helped you understand the answer better. Not because I am anything, but because of what the scriptures have said about it.
In Truth and Love.
Category:Thematic
Category:Calvinism
Category:Denominationalism