The way the salvation message is presented in most evangelical churches these days is fundamentally flawed. The emphasis is on believing in Jesus to “get saved,” which is only one part of the truth. Once a seeker professes faith in Jesus, he is pronounced saved and told that his salvation is a done deal, that he can never lose his salvation. Sanctification and holiness are downplayed and regarded as optional extras, because “we are not saved by works.”
Salvation as a one-time event
The simplest and most superficial salvation view is that the only requirement for salvation is faith, and that repentance and works play absolutely no role.
faith → salvation
Some emphasize that faith must ‘true’ faith, whatever that means. Repentance and works are still left out of the equation.
Some may add repentance as a requirement for salvation.
repentance + faith → salvation
Some are even more correct and admit that works must follow repentance and faith.
repentance + faith → salvation + works
What all these salvation views have in common is the fact that salvation is seen as a one-time event, a done deal that cannot be undone. This position is known as once saved, always saved (OSAS) or unconditional eternal security. Most evangelical churches these days teach such a salvation view.
Do backsliders go to heaven?
What if a believer falls away from the faith? Consider this real-life example. A man has a genuine salvation experience. His life is changed dramatically and undeniably. He is on fire for Jesus, walking in power and living a victorious life. But at one point a difficult test comes in his life: his teenage daughter is murdered. That man begins to resent God – How can a loving God allow this? – and his love for God begins to grow cold. He begins to backslide. Before he knows it, he is back to a life of sin. A few years later he dies as an alcoholic, still resenting God.
Now what can be said about this man’s salvation? There are three possible answers to this question, depending on your salvation theology.
The Arminian view: That man got truly saved, as evidenced by his changed life, but because he eventually fell away he lost his salvation.
The Calvinist view: All those who are truly saved will persevere to the end. The fact that the man fell away shows that he was never truly saved to begin with.
The OSAS view: That man got truly saved, as evidenced by his changed life, and he remained saved even after falling away, because Christ died for all our sins: past, present, and future.
Note that modern-day OSAS is not the same as classical Calvinism. A true Calvinist would never claim that someone who falls away and dies in that state goes to heaven.
Arminians and Calvinists both agree that backsliders don’t go to heaven. Arminians would say that a person who backslides lost his salvation, whereas Calvinists would argue that he was never saved to begin with. But if that person doesn’t go to heaven, what practical difference does it make in the end?
Contrary to what many believe, Calvinism offers no unconditional guarantee of salvation. Calvinism teaches that IF you are chosen by God for salvation, you will persevere to the end, but it cannot guarantee that you are one of the chosen few, because unless you actually persevere to the end, there is no way to know. So Calvinism teaches that we cannot lose something it cannot guarantee we have in the first place!
Salvation as a race
Going back to our main topic, the Bible portrays salvation not only as a one-time event, but also as a race to be run. This race has a start and an end, and only those who run the race to the end go to heaven.
[Matthew 24:13] The one who endures to the end will be saved.
The Bible does speak of salvation as a past event.
[Ephesians 2:8] By grace you have been saved through faith.
[1 Timothy 1:9] God saved us and called us to a holy calling.
But it also speaks of salvation as an ongoing process.
[1 Corinthians 1:18] The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
[Philippians 2:12] Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
The Bible also speaks of salvation as a future event.
[Acts 15:11] We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
[Romans 5:9-10] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
The only way to reconcile these verses is a salvation view that distinguishes between initial and final salvation.
A more correct view is the following:
initial repentance + initial faith → initial salvation
After the initial salvation, the believer needs to go through the process of sanctification to reach heaven, the final salvation.
initial salvation → ongoing sanctification → final salvation
Both repentance and faith are required for the initial salvation, and exactly the same conditions need to be maintained for sanctification and final salvation. Repentance and faith are not one-time events.
On our journey from initial to final salvation we go through many tests, some of them very difficult. Many of those who start the race abandon it before reaching the finish line. The Bible says that only those who pass the tests and don’t abandon the race receive eternal life.
[James 1:12] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he WILL receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Those who fail the tests will not receive the crown of life.
The final salvation is only for those who overcome. Those who don’t overcome will be hurt by the second death.
[Revelation 2:11] He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.
Eternal life is only for those who overcome. The names of those who don’t overcome will be blotted out from the Book of Life. Calvinists beware!
[Revelation 3:5] He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life.
Here is another passage saying that reaping eternal life is a future event. Note the little word IF, which means that salvation is conditional. If salvation were not conditional, everybody would be saved.
[Galatians 6:7-9] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, IF we do not give up.
Do not be deceived. Those who give up won’t reap eternal life. Whether they lost their salvation or they were never saved to begin with doesn’t really matter.
Believers can be disqualified from the race. The Bible is full of such warnings. Paul himself was aware of this danger. He knew that if he didn’t keep his carnal desires in check he could be disqualified.
[1 Corinthians 9:27] I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
This is a salvation issue, not a rewards issue. Paul knew he could lose the very thing others had gained through his preaching: eternal life. This is obvious when you read between the lines.
Warnings from the past
The Bible likens our journey from initial to final salvation to the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. Very few of the Israelites who were saved out of Egypt entered Canaan. Likewise, very few Christians will enter heaven. In the words of Jesus:
[Matthew 22:14] Many are called, but few are chosen.
Having an initial salvation experience is no guarantee of going to heaven. The Bible warns us that what happened to the Israelites physically can happen to us spiritually.
[1 Corinthians 10:1-11] For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
Doing things that displease God will disqualify Christians from entering heaven, just as it disqualified the Israelites from entering Canaan.
Here is one more warning:
[Jude 1:5] The Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
The Bible also says very clearly that believers can fall away from God. Note again the little word IF.
[Hebrews 3:12-19] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, IF indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Why does the Bible warn believers not to fall away if it’s impossible for them to fall away? Also note that these verses equate sinning and being disobedient with unbelief.
The Bible also warns us that those who shrink back during persecution won’t be saved. Whether they lost their salvation or were never saved to begin with is irrelevant.
[Hebrews 10:35-39] Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Wrapping it up
The Bible teaches both personal responsibility and God’s election in salvation. How to reconcile the two is a difficult subject and beyond the scope of this article. For now, I will only mention that God’s election and predestination are not arbitrary but based on His foreknowledge.
[Romans 8:29-30] Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
[1 Peter 1:1] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.
From a practical standpoint it doesn’t matter that much if Arminianism or Calvinism is the more correct doctrine, because we are not saved by believing a doctrine about salvation, and both theological schools agree that only those who persevere to the end will go to heaven.
So make up your mind not to abandon the race under any circumstance, no matter how hard it gets. Make up your mind to endure to the end, even if it means dying for your faith. Instead of wasting precious time with intellectual arguments and man-made doctrines of dead theologians from centuries past, be wise and do what the Bible says:
[2 Peter 1:5-11] Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for IF you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I encourage you to let go of all theological mumbo jumbo and get serious about your sanctification and your walk with God.
[Revelation 22:14] Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
May the Lord help us to wash our robes and walk in the ligh rather than playing games with God.