By: Rev. Johann Caauwe

Rev. Johann Caauwe — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:20:08 +0000

Yes, it was the Anabaptists who were saying, “Once saved, always saved.” And the Lutherans condemn that teaching because the Scriptures do. The Scriptures warn against taking our salvation for granted, or against thinking that we have it made. (1 Corinthians 10:12 comes to mind.) Salvation can be lost. Those who make that claim today will suggest that those who fall away were never really saved in the first place. Of course, that has the potential to throw everyone’s salvation into doubt. If “once saved, always saved,” how will I know for sure if I am one of those? This teaching forces us to turn away from the grace of God and the merits of Christ and turn to our own feelings and actions.

The other side of the coin is that God does give assurance to believers that he will preserve them in faith until the end. That’s probably were “once saved, always saved” finds its source. But those promises are not made to secure sinners, but to believers who are tempted to doubt and are perhaps suffering under the cross and wonder if they’ll make it. It is to these people that God promises that he will preserve them until the end.

By: Karen Adams

Karen Adams — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:39:29 +0000

Question Pastor:
On Article XII and the Anabaptists. Does this mean we CAN or CANNOT lose the Holy spirit once we’ve been justified? Mark Mangini always quotes, to Debbie’s chagrin, that “once saved, always saved”, to imply that once we have received the Holy Spirit, there is absolutely no way we can screw up enough to end up in Hell! I know we can’t earn our way anywhere, and that we definitely don’t deserve to go to heaven, but is this true? We can’t ever lose Him?
I’m really glad we’re doing this!
Thanks,
Karen

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By: Rev. Johann Caauwe

By: Karen Adams