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Jehovah’s Witnesses ask:
Once
a Person Is Saved, is He Always Saved?
One
of the things that we realized that need to be straightened out
in this special question and answer topical section is the definition
of being “saved”. The
definition of being “saved” could actually become stretched and
refer to a lot of other things in which one can be saved from.
For example one could say that they were saved from a freeway
accident, a sinking ship, etc.
Hence, to clarify our use of the word “saved” and salvation,
we will stick to the definition given below:
Saved or Salvation - The rescue
of a person from the eternal separation from God that brings torment
and punishment.
How
are we saved? According
to the Word of God, we are saved by grace alone apart from works
(cf. Ephesians 2:8-9) through faith alone apart from the law (cf.
Romans 3:28) and in Christ alone (cf. Acts 4:12). Since we all are
sinners and unable to work our way out of damnation, God loved us
so much to have Jesus take our place on the cross.
The
questions now furnished in this special Bible insight concern the
issue of whether man once saved, will always be saved.
The scriptures and the questions provided below are real
flavoring of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from their booklet, “Reasoning
from the Scriptures”. It’s
been my humble pleasure to search through God’s Word in order to
give them the biblical answers that yes, once one is saved (truly
saved, meaning one has really come to God for their salvation as
given above), the person is always saved.
(NOTE: All Italics
below are the author’s)
| Scripture:
“Though you already know this, I want to remind you that the
Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed
those who did not believe." (Jude 5) |
| Question:
Didn't God save his people once yet didn’t save them later?
Does this not go against the once saved, always saved
position you hold? |
| Answer:
To begin with, there's two definition of 'saved' being confused
here. The problem
here is a categorical one.
To illustrate, let the definition of saved, in terms
of being rescued from eternal punishments, be labeled as saved1A.
The other definition of saved, in which we define as
rescue from threatening situations, such as out of Egypt as
in the situation of this verse, will be labeled as saved2B. To be saved1A requires belief or believing, as John 3:16 states,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believe
in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."(Italics
mine) Saved2B,
or being saved from other threatening situation, doesn’t necessarily
mean that you were saved1A, since you didn’t necessarily believe
in God and the Bible.
If we look at the world around us, we see atheists
surviving car crash and being saved2B.
You can also say that being saved2B is a miraculous
sign. Yet, such
people aren’t saved1A, since Jesus is not their Lord and Savior.
God, in his mercy, might allow someone to be delivered
from certain situations that could be defined as saved2B.
The case of those in unbelief being given mercy, or
saved2B, but not being saved1A is exactly the case described
in Jude 5. God
saved2B his people, the Jews, out of Egypt.
But among them, there were those who weren’t saved1A
in the first place, since they didn’t believe.
Thus, it’s not surprising to see that the Lord said
this in Numbers 14:11-“How long will these people treat me
with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?”
(Italics mine) So,
taking all this into account, Jude 5 doesn’t go contrary against
the position of once saved always saved.
Rather, if we were to take the WatchTower’s position
seriously, which is contrary to the once saved, always-saved
position, there’s an issue we have to face. If someone was
once saved1A and later not saved1A, isn’t that person not
saved1A at all? How can we call someone that is not saved1A,
saved1A when they are not saved1A?! Yet, that is the logical
conclusion of the WatchTower’s belief. |
Question 2
regarding Matt. 24:13
| Scripture:
“But he who stand firm to the end will be saved.” (Matt. 24:13) |
| Question:
Is our salvation determined at the end, or is it determined
when we first put our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? |
| Answer:
We know that our salvation is determined at the point when we
put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior since God’s
Word declares, “In him, when you believed, you were marked
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those
who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians
1:13b-14). Indeed,
looking at the verse above, we can see that those who stand
firm to the end will be saved.
But here’s another question: How does one stand firm
in the first place? Looking
at the latter half of 2Corinthians 1:24, we see that the Apostle
Paul stating, “It is by faith you stand firm.”
Thus, those who are saved will be those who have faith
to the end. This
doesn’t conflict with Biblical position of once saved, always
saved position. Rather
we would expect to see someone saved persevere with faith to
the very end. Faith,
or belief, therefore, is very critical to one’s salvation.
When we place our faith in Christ, our salvation is determined
then and there.
We know this since “In him, when
you believed, you were marked
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit
guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those
who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians
1:13b-14; italics are the author) Notice
that the sealing, the deposit and the guaranteeing (all these
terms show that an individual salvation is dependent on God’s
promising work, which is why man is once saved will always be
saved) occurred when you believed and not at the end in the
death of your life. If God himself promises one’s salvation,
would that not favor the once saved always saved position? |
Question 3
regarding Phil. 2:12
| Scripture:
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-- not
only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue
to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians
2:12) |
| Question:
If once saved always saved is true, why do we work out our salvation
with fear and trembling? |
| Answer:
Reading the verse immediately following, “For it is God who works in you to will and
to act according to his good purpose.”(Philippians 2:13) Any
good works a believer does comes from God who works within a
believer as we can see above in Philippians 2:13. This concept
of God working within man brings the individual to an awe that
can at times be even fearful and trembling.
In fact, it is the fear of God that God uses to work
within a believer to never turn away from God. As God states
himself in the latter half of Jeremiah 32:40, “I will inspire
them to fear me, so that they will never
turn away from me.”
If it is God who works within you for your salvation,
how can you ever lose it?
The Bible says that we are saved by God’s grace and not
by our works: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8
with the italics from the author) Salvation, to hammer the point
home again, is “not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians
2:9) So what does Philippians 2:12 mean by working out our salvation?
We have the human responsibility of standing firm in the faith
and endure. But
even this is God’s work and grace as have been demonstrated
above with Philippians 2:13, Jeremiah 32:40, Ephesians 2:8-9.
Looking at 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 it says concerning God and
one’s faith firm in Christ. “Now it is
God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.
He anointed us, set his seal
of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as
a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Such promising work of God promises us that once saved, always
saved. |
Question 4
regarding Heb. 6:4-6
| Scripture:
“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy
Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and
the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought
back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying
the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
(Hebrews 6:4-6) |
| Question:
Does this verse show that Christians can lose their salvation? |
| Answer:
Notice that this Bible verse describes “if
they fall away”. Whereas
in theory one COULD lose their salvation, in reality Christians
WILL NOT lose their salvation.
God gave his Son to save the world so that they “shall
not perish but have eternal
life.” (John 3:16)
Eternal life does not end after a brief time period but
goes on FOREVER. We
must also realize that “you may know
that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13b)
If Christians can know that they have eternal life, does
this not assure them of once saved, always saved?
Jesus himself said, “And this is the will of him who
sent me, that I shall
lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up
at the last day.” (John 6:39) Since Jesus can not lose any He has saved, those who call themselves
“Christians” but fell away must come to realized that they were
not Christians to begin with.
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong
to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with
us, but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”
(1 John 2:19) |
Conclusion
God’s rich mercy
for sinner man has truly been a blessing to those whom come to Him
in repentance and trusting Jesus for the sacrifices of their sin.
His wonderful love extends beyond man’s limited scope of
comprehension even to the point that Christians, once saved will
always be saved. If
you are not saved and have not turn to Jesus Christ to rescue you
from being damned, do so now before it is too late.
Once you accepted Jesus Christ free gift of salvation, walk
with Him in your life and worship Him in awe to have Christians
“once saved, always saved.”
--Jimmy Li
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