Once Saved Always Saved?

Introduction

“Once saved always saved”, also known by the acronym “OSAS”, and by some is also referred to as “undeniable grace”, “irresistible grace” or “unstoppable grace”.

Those who subscribe this doctrine, believe that once one is approved, chosen or otherwise sealed by God after coming to know him and being baptised in Yeshua, they cannot lose their salvation.

Some believe that they are always saved no matter what they do or how they live once they believe, this form of the doctrine being connected with the notion of “Free Grace”. Whilst others believe that once a person is “truly saved” they “cannot sin anymore” and are thus always saved, this being known as “Perseverance of the Saints” or “Monergism”.

This doctrine is also highly related to the debate between “faith vs works“, in that those who subscribe to some form of OSAS also believe “sola fide” or “faith alone”, as they go hand in hand.

What does “Saved” Mean?

First we must define the meaning of the term “saved”.

The word comes from the Greek root of “sózó”, which means to be “preserved” or “delivered” from danger and death. Thus, to be saved, means to have our lives preserved, but not just our current lives, but in the Christian context, our eternal lives.

• “Yeshua said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26

Scriptures in Favour and Opposition of OSAS

Christians who subscribe to OSAS, do so based on their interpretation of the Bible, and thus will cite several scriptures in support of this doctrine. These scriptures typically used most are these:

Scriptures Argued in Favour “Always Saved”:

• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22: “He who establishes us with you in [the] Anointed [One] and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.“
• 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it”.
• Ephesians 1:11-14: “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so that we who were the first to hope in [the] Anointed might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory”.
• Revelation 7:3: “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads”
• 1 John 3:9: “Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God”.
• Romans 8:38: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in [the] Anointed Yeshua our Lord.“

These scriptures read alone appear to promise salvation to believers of Yeshua. Thus, this is why many Christians believe that once one has believed in the Anointed, they are guaranteed eternal salvation.

So, why is it then that some Christians disagree with this doctrine, and believe that believers can in fact ‘lose’ their salvation after putting faith in Yeshua?

Again, our answer can be found in the quotations of several scriptures:

Scriptures Argued Opposing “Always Saved”:

• Ephesians 4:1, 5:6-7: “As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received… and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by which you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.”
• Hebrews 6:4-6: “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—and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame.”
• Hebrews 10:26-29: “…if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the enemies. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
• 2 John 1:8-9: “Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of [the] Anointed does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son”.
• 2 Peter 2:20-21: “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Yeshua [the] Anointed, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, their final state has become worse for them than it was at first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them“.
• 1 Corinthians 9:27, 10:1-6: “…I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. Now I want you to know, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea  and all got baptized into Moses by means of the cloud and of the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food  and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they used to drink from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock meant the Anointed.  Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.  Now these things became examples for us, in order for us not to desire injurious things, as they desired them”.
• Colossians 3:1-12, 23-25: “If, however, you were raised up with the Anointed, go on seeking the things above, where the Anointed is seated at the right hand of God.  Keep your minds fixed on the things above, not on the things on the earth.  For you died, and your life has been hidden with the Anointed in union with God.  When the Anointed, our life, is made manifest, then you also will be made manifest with him in glory.  Deaden, therefore, your body members that are on the earth as respects sexual immorality, uncleanness, uncontrolled sexual passion, hurtful desire, and greediness, which is idolatry.  On account of those things the wrath of God is coming. That is how you too used to conduct yourselves in your former way of life.  But now you must put them all away from you: wrath, anger, badness, abusive speech, and obscene talk out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythʹi·an, slave, or freeman; but [the] Anointed is all things and in all. Accordingly, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves … Whatever you are doing, work at it whole-souled as for the Lord, and not for men, for you know that it is from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as a reward. Slave for the Master, [the] Anointed. Certainly the one who does wrong will be repaid for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality”.
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, 15:34: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain… Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning””.
• Philippians 3:10–14: “I want to know [the] Anointed—yes, to know the power of his [rising] resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which [the] Anointed Yeshua took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in [the] Anointed Yeshua.”.

These verses are used by those against the OSAS doctrine on the basis that they would appear to be prescribing a lifestyle of continual righteousness and avoidance of sin, lest one be labelled as a hypocrite and not gain their salvation but instead will be condemned, in the spirit of Yeshua who says “not everyone who says to me ‘lord, lord’ will enter into the Kingdom” (Matthew 7:21-27).

Furthermore, it’s seems quite apparent that the writings of the Apostles promote “working” and “striving” toward the goal of salvation and inheritence, by means of following God’s commands.

As such, both frameworks attempt to explain these verses, which on the surface might seemingly seem to contradict one another in some people’s eyes. This has resulted in several variations of the OSAS doctrine.

Branches and Variations of the OSAS Doctrine

Though there are many more scriptures which look to be in opposition of the OSAS doctrine, this does not deter all Christians from subscribing to it, but instead they argue that these verses are to be seen “through the context” of OSAS, rather than vice versa.

This has resulted in multiple branches of the OSAS doctrine:

1. If you “feel any temptation to sin”, or if you ever make a mistake and have to “repent of a sin” as a baptised Christian, you’re not saved, as being “sealed” means you are perfect and cannot sin anymore, thus you will automatically carry out the commands of Yeshua as the sealing of God’s holy spirit takes control of your freewill. Any Christian who claims to believe, even if they seek a life of righteousness but feels they have to make a “conscientious effort” to resist sin (even if they are not committing any sins at all) will not be saved but will be destined for Gehenna (or Hell). Hence salvation is only for the specifically pre-destined, and choice doesn’t come into it. This being “Perseverance of the Saints”.
2. You can fall into unintentional sin and make mistakes as a baptised Christian, but it is only “the sin of flesh”, whereas the “spirit”, “soul” or inner person is incapable of giving into “willful” or “unreptnant sin”, and is immune to being condemned, thus there is no need to repent of sins or mistakes after baptism. The holy spirit ensures to take control of your mind so you will never commit an intentional sin or betray Yeshua. But anyone viewing their faith in Yeshua as a licence to sin were never saved or sealed in the first place.
3. It’s a blatant licence to sin and ignore Yeshua’s commands, because you’re always saved once you believe in him, this being “Free Grace”.

As we can see, there are many different approaches to OSAS.

In my breakdown of these views, I’m going to work backward, and address branch 3 first, as this will be the easiest to get out the way, and will in turn also set up a few things when it comes to addressing the other branches.

Branch 3

Those who support branch three, will claim Paul’s words warning against “sinning against” and “grieving” the spirit, doesn’t mean anything other than “hurting God’s feelings” and preventing his protection and blessings from coming upon us in our daily lives, but that it won’t ever affect our salvation.

In regard to warning that there is “no sacrifice left” for wilful sinners once knowing the Lord, they interpret such words were written only to “non-Christian” or unbelieving people who had heard about Yeshua but were rejecting him, and not putting faith in him, which is why they are not being saved.

On the surface this arugments might be persuasive, but we must examine them more closely in detail to see if they hold up.

Who the Letters Were Written To

There is no evidence, either in scripture which explicitly states, nor any scholarly evidence, that these texts were intended for non-Christian audiences only.

Whilst it is true, that those who know about Yeshua but willingly and knowingly reject him and fail to be baptised in him are liable to judgement and condemnation (just like the Pharisees), there is no evidence that the same cannot be said to be true of believing Christians who refuse to abide by Yeshua’s commands.

Rather, we find ample evidence within scripture which show that these texts are to believing Christians:

• Hebrews 10:29: “How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-2: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain…
• Colossians 3:7-8, 12, 24-25: “That is how you too used to conduct yourselves in your former way of life.  But now you must put them all away from you … Accordingly, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved… Slave for the Master, [the] Anointed. Certainly the one who does wrong will be repaid for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality”.

As we can see here, these letters letter were not to non-believers who learned of and rejected Yeshua, but to Christians, for they are described as those who have been “sanctified” by Yeshua’s blood, in other words, they have become baptised believers and “sealed” by God’s spirit.

We read for example at Hebrews 2:11: “For both the one sanctifying and those being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers”, and again in Hebrews 6:4 which says that those who have “shared in” or had received the holy spirit to only then fall away afterward have no repentance given to them.

Likewise in 1 Corinthians, we are presented with direct evidence, that Paul’s warnings to the Corinthians were to baptised believing Christians, those who had “received” the Gospel and were called “brothers” by Paul.

Here he makes it clear that despite receiving Yeshua and “standing firm”, they had to still “keep on” firmly holding it, or they “believe” in “vain”.

We see at Colossians also, the letter is also to Christians, for these people are those who “used to” conduct themselves in worldly ways, and are now “chosen ones” of God, yes, sealed ones. Yet, despite having departed from their former life to follow Yeshua , they are being reminded that they must continue to put all sinful practices behind them, for they will be judged in the same manner that the world will be judged for wickedness.

These quotations not only show it’s to Christians, but also directly contradicts the claim that one can brazenly abandon the commands of Yeshua or even belief in Yeshua without consequence.

All these verses as quoted above make very sobering statements, not just about those who reject Yeshua, but about those who willingly live in sin ‘despite’ belief and sanctification in Yeshua. Thus, we are shown that we are not eternally secured in this life for guaranteed salvation by believing, but our faith comes with ongoing requisites.

I could continue going on to prove all these letters throughout the New Testament concerning warnings are addressed to believing Christians, but for brevity’s sake, I believe three clear examples are enough alone to show that Christians are not above following the commands and moral laws of Yeshua just because they believe in him.

Grieving the Spirit

Now understanding the audience of Paul, if we look again back to Ephesians, I firmly believe we get a better idea of how Paul was meant to be understood in his warnings against grieving the holy spirt by means of unrepentant and wilful sin.

We have to understand that Paul was a practical man, he was not one for idle talk, meaningless speeches or empty threats, in fact he spoke out against such things (2 Timothy 2:16, Colossians 2:8).

In the spirit of 1 Corinthians 15:32: “if there is no resurrection, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die”, if OSAS was true, then could we not use Pauline style reasoning to say “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we cannot die”?

Paul seemed very adamant on “not grieving” the spirit, but if there is no real penalty to this, no “practical” benefit to avoiding this grieving, then Paul was making empty threats… Which is ‘not’ Paul’s style.

Why would he make such an intense speech in regard to not grieving the holy spirit which seals us for salvation, if at the end of the day there was no effect on our salvation? Would he really be talking about the temporary benefits of the blessings of the spirit for our temporary lives in this system of the world?

It seems apparent that Paul’s warnings were for good reason, seeing that it is God’s spirit which is “saving and sealing us”, and therefore, that is the reason we must must not grieve or sin against it.

The Seal of the Spirit

Of course, the question remains… If one can lose salvation by means of wilful sin against the spirit… Then how is it that believers are “sealed” by it for promised salvation?

This is the argument that those who support OSAS believe they have their opposers trapped. But considering the framework we have covered in that Christians ‘must’ abide by living moral lives, I believe this gives us a better understanding of how these specific verses are to be read.

Rather than suggesting that the seal guarantees salvation no matter what we do, I strongly believe based on scripture, that Paul is saying “as long as we do not grieve the holy spirit, we are saved”. For if we grieve the holy spirit, it can be said to “leave us”, or no longer be in support of us. If the holy spirit of God is no longer with us, then no longer is its (and by extension God’s) seal of approval, for it is “by” the holy spirit Paul says we are saved and sealed, thus, why he appears to be adamant on not grieving it appears to be that we do not want to lose it, for that means losing our salvation.

Much like water, if we keep on drinking it, we will live, but if we do not drink it, we will die. I can state to you that “I promise water will forever hydrate you”. Did I tell a lie? Or did you misunderstand my statement?

I did not say that the existence of water, or the fact that you had “one cup” of water will forever keep you hydrated, so is it with the holy spirit and our salvation, which according to the scriptures covered, is subject to our faith and obedience in Yeshua, just as our hydration is subject to the continuous in take of water (of which interestingly enough, the holy spirit is often likened to in the scriptures).

One should carefully read Ephesians 1:11-14, 4:1, 17-24, 30, 5:6-7, if not the entire book of Ephesians, to see if they can observe clearly on what was Paul’s meaning on both sealing and grieving. One may begin to realise that the idea of OSAS, especially ‘this’ branch of OSAS, is formulated by the cherry picking of scripture, without consideration of surrounding scripture.

It’s made clear that this “saving belief” involves not just something in our mind, but something in action, faith is in unison with works, and those two components are what make up “belief” by which means we gain the holy spirit’s sealing of approval from God.

We do well to remember that seals ‘can’ be broken or removed if the standards by which that seal is said to be with us are not met.

• “So, when I say that the righteous will live, and they come to rely upon this… But thereafter, they [do what is] evil; their righteous ways will be forgotten… For the sins they commit, they will die! ‘And when I say that the godless will die, And then they turn from their sins And start being righteous and fair… If they give back the collateral they’ve taken, And return all the things that they’ve seized… If they’ll travel an orderly life And no longer [follow] wrong [paths]; They will continue to live… No way will they have to die… Their sins will all be forgotten… For making their ways righteous and fair, Their lives will thereafter be spared!”. – Ezekiel 33:13-16

Branch 2

Moving on to Branch Two.

This branch holds similar belief to Three, that “grieving” the holy spirit is not sinning against the holy spirit, of which we have already covered the premise of above. Likewise, some supporters of Branch Two will claim the letters about wilful sin refers not to saved Christians, but to non-Christians, of which I also disproved above.

The difference between this branch and the former branch we discussed, is that it believes “grieving” the holy spirit is done by the “unintentional sins of the flesh”. This means our “fleshly weaknesses” that our physical minds and bodies submit to outside of our control, and not wilful sin.

This idea comes from Romans 7:20–25:

• “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Yeshua [the] Anointed our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin”.

People who do not believe in OSAS, would say this is referring to Paul struggling with his sinful desires due to sinful imperfection (which is infecting all of mankind), and putting up a fight for righteousness, in that “he doesn’t want” to do wrong (as it is with us all), but often falls to his weaknesses (as do we all), but always seeks to better himself and seeks continual repentance through Yeshua.

However, an OSAS believer of Branch 2, will claim that Paul’s body was sinning as if it were some automated machine of which he did not have any control over, and thus was not to be seen as “his sin” or the “sin of his spirit” of which is “the real him” which resides inside his sinful body, and thus he (and all Christians who commit “any sin” or fall to mistakes they regret) has nothing to repent for, and will never ever have anything to repent for ever again once repenting once and believing in the Lord, because their “spirit is forever sealed and sinless”.

Whilst there are certain elements I find agreeable, such as the fallen nature of man, and our unintentional sins, I still overall disagree with this interpretation in defence of OSAS, for Paul was “insisting” that Christians do not grieve the spirit.

If the sins of the flesh, that is the unintentional sins of which we do were the only thing grieving the spirit, and that we are in fact “incapable” as “true sealed Christians” of “consciously giving into sin”, then what good was Paul’s advice if there is no freewill on the matter?

Paul clearly was talking about a lifestyle of willingly giving into sin (that is, “seeking or wanting sin”), which in itself would contradict the idea that we do not have freewill to willingly sin and risk losing salvation once sealed.

Again, the same reasoning applies as mentioned in the discussion of Branch 3. Why is Paul making a fuss if there is no practical benefit to our salvation? Even more so in this case if there isn’t even the “ability” to choose between right and wrong once in Yeshua. Paul’s advice becomes ‘even more’ meaningless.

Furthermore, why would we be told by both Yeshua, James and John to continually avoid sin, and to confess of our sins that we sometimes end up committing?

• 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
• 1 John 2:1: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Yeshua [the] Anointed, the righteous”.
• Matthew 3:8: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.“
• Luke 17:3: “So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.“
• James 5:15-16: “Then their faithful prayers will rescue the ill and the Lord will lift them and forgive any sins that they’ve committed. So, admit your errors to each other and pray that each one of you’ll be healed, because prayer has a lot of power when it’s working through righteous people.”
• Revelation 2:3-5: “You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

Again, such OSAS believers would try to claim these letters are to those who have not yet accepted Yeshua and are non-believers, and that our “confession and repentance” is a one time deed, only done at baptism, and from then on the doctrine of this branch of OSAS applies and takes over.

However, if we read through the chapters, we see yet again, that these letters are to those who are already “believing and sealed” Christians:

• 1 John 2:7, 12: “Beloved, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old one, which you have had from the beginning. This commandment is the message you have heard…. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven through His name.“
• Luke 17:3: “So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.”
• James 5:19: “My brothers, whenever someone is led astray from the truth and someone else leads him back“.
• Revelation 2:3-5: “You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

As we can see, these letters are to “beloved Christians”, brothers and sisters of who already repented of their sins and have been “forgiven”, yes they are “sealed believers”, yet in the very same letters they are being told to “keep on” confessing and repenting of their sins and to keep on avoiding sins.

As the angel in Revelation warned John, their “lampstands” would be removed from God’s temple, that is, their place in Yeshua (2 Chronicles 4:7, 1 Corinthians 3:16), which implies that indeed, Christians have freewill in the matter and it is a case of fighting our weaknesses and striving to seek righteousness.

What is Repentance?

Thus, as I mentioned, I believe that this branch is “closer” to Biblical truth, that if we seek righteousness within and do not want to sin, but sometimes fall to sin and temptation due to our fleshly weaknesses, then it is due to our imperfection and sinful nature of flesh given to us by the first man Adam, certainly.

But in opposition to what OSAS teaches, I contest based on scripture that this does not absolve us of repentance or confession, for it was still a mistake on “our part”, nor does it absolve us of making conscientious effort, for we do not have a secondary component taking the wheel of our freewill, but rather this fleshly corruption is “an urge”, an “inner evil” of sin, which tugs at us and attempts to weaken our resolve, which we must pray against, and fight against, with faith in Yeshua, and in his shed blood to pray for forgiveness of our sins and weaknesses.

Yeshua as the Anointed one died for the sin of the first man, Adam, which was also the sin of us all (Romans 5:13-14). It was Adam’s sin in which placed mankind in a debt we could not pay, and sold our souls to the bondage of sin, and is why we inherited our fleshly sinful nature from him. This is why we have the of law “Adamic sin” (weakness of flesh) waging war against the law of righteousness (our desire to do good).

It is this law of righteousness, yes, our inner spirit, by conscious desire and effort to be kept in alignment with God’s spirit, which in turn moves us to seek repentance and keep on doing good, to keep on fighting our flesh, this is why Paul describes it as a “war”, and not a passive state of being.

All sins can said to be “wilful” in technical every day language, for whether it is a straight up choice to commit a sin, or a falling to weakness, temptation, even addiction, we with our ‘freewill’ are carrying out that action to submit to that urge (which at times for some, due to our nature, can be overwhelming!). But Biblically, “wilful” sin refers to a “practice”, that is a lifestyle, a “seeking out” of sin, a state of not caring about our sins, and not repenting of our sins.

As such, if we do not repent of all of our sins, wilful or mistaken, if we do not “make a statement” (that is confession to God) that the ill deed we just committed was wrong and requires repentance, it is then when we invite the spirit of wickedness in our hearts, where we conform our spirit to the flesh and begin to “accept” sin as normal and not to be fought against or be sorry over, and we become “willing” sinners, which may lead us to the “very practice” of sin as the next step in the road, as we shrug off our sins and “blame the fleshly automaton” for all of our ill deeds.

Before we know it, it is then no longer fleshly Adamic sin (the type of sin of which Yeshua died for, the sin which tugs at us and begs us to give into of which we sometimes do and then regret), but rather it becomes the sin of spirit, for which there is no forgiveness in the Anointed one (Hebrews 10:26). And that I personally feel is one of the biggest dangers of the OSAS doctrine in all of its forms.

The risk of believing that we are not in control or responsible for our actions in fact has been tested in psychological experiments, where the subjects were told they did not have freewill. This of course was a lie, but many of the subjects began to do immoral things they usually would not do, due to the fact that they were convinced that their freewill was taken away from them and they had no responsibility for their actions. And ‘that’ is the power of this form of deception.

Click to access 91974.pdf

Romans 8:39 speaks true, that nothing in this world can separate us from God’s love, nor can anything external in this universe, be it men, demons or Satan himself, deny us our hope in Yeshua for everlasting life and salvation, nor can they interfere with God’s promises to the faithful and his plans to restore this world to the glory it had at first.

But the scriptures also make it plain, that whilst the Anointed one and his Father will never be the first to let go of our hands… ‘we’ can let go of ‘theirs’.

Branch 1

Branch one goes the most hardcore in its theology of OSAS, as it’s explanation of eternal salvation involves the compelte inference of having no freewill whatsoever.

Branch One promotes the idea that even if you repent and make an effort to be righteous, it is no good and you are doomed unless you are “chosen to be sealed” by God.

Thus, this form of OSAS often heavily ties into the idea of “predestination” or “fate”, a subject I adressed in this other article:

Fate or Choice?: Predestination

This belief is commonly known in the world of Christianity as “Hyper-Calvinism”, aptly named after John Calvin, who was thought to be one of the first people to conceive of this doctrine.

I would contest that Branch One, though it utterly detests and makes no excuses for sinful conduct, perhaps may be the most evil and vile of all of the branches of OSAS. Why?

Denial of Responsibility

This form of the doctrine would take away any and all sense of responsibility before God, instead it asserts that you are selected, saved, and from there, God takes over, and you are perfect, never can you sin again, and you will always follow the commands of God, no matter what ‘you’ do to stop it, or what anyone else may do to stop it. They take to the extreme the idea of “faith alone, and not works”.

There is one scripture that OSAS of all branches, but especially this branch, will refer to in order to support this notion, and that is:

• 1 John 3:9: “Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God”.

At first this looks very convincing, but what they don’t show you are all the scriptures written by John, many of which we have already covered, which go on to tell Christians to keep confessing and repenting of sins, even in the next couple of verses from this one, John straight away tells Christians to beware not to be like Cain, but to be like Abel:

• 1 John 3:12: “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.”

If John literally meant in verse 9 that true Christians “cannot” sin anymore in a literal sense, then why would he then go on to advise Christians “dos” and “do nots”? Surely John was not contradicting himself in a single sentence?

No, it’s clear by his directive, and the directive throughout the scriptures of the New Testament, that John was talking about our “heart condition” of which we must maintain through manual, conscious effort, dedication and prayer to God. That a loyal Christian, ‘if’ having his heart in the right place, will not “bring himself” to “practice” sin, again that word “practice” which means “to make a continual habit of” or to “willingly do” without repentance.

I believe that the scriptures we have studied so far completely disprove of the idea of that being sealed or saved by God would include any kind of “immunity to sin” or “loss of self agency”, as many scriptures written to Christians directly contradict the idea.

An Unjust God

Secondly, it makes out our wonderful and forgiving God to be cruel and merciless, that he “picks and chooses” who he wants, not based on their faith, efforts, or conduct, or willingness, but arbitrarily.

A murderer, rapist and child molester who suddenly is selected by God and stops sinning one day, is sealed and becomes perfection next to Yeshua himself, whilst the Christian next door who just may well be literally living a sinless life in devotion to God with faith in Yeshua, is denied salvation and is thrown to Gehenna just because he has to “make an effort” to be righteous, whereas the sealed former molester doesn’t.

Does this sound fair, or just? Is that how we are to understand salvation? As predestined roboticsm?

Now, I’m not saying that vile men or women cannot repent and change for the better, quite the contrary, but I’m attempting to make a statement. Does this sound like our God Yah? Or his Anointed Son, Yeshua? I would not say so.

• Zephaniah 2:3: “Seek YHWH, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of YHWH’s anger“.
• Ezekiel 18:23: “‘Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign Lord YHWH. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?'”.

The scriptures have always approved of those who seek God, who strive for goodness. Never has it promoted the idea that only those who are remote controlled by God are to be saved, no, but those who willingly seek him and by their own freewill conform to his ways.

But this does not mean a Christian cannot make mistakes, nor does it mean that his heart cannot be darkened, as shown in many scriptures where Christians who were once considered “sealed” or “saved”, later turned to sin (Hebrews 6:4-6, Revelation 2:2-5).

Promotion of Egotism

Furthermore, the idea of there being an “elite class” of Christians who can do no wrong, who are literally perfect, who require no effort to do what is right, I would humbly say is a form of self-righteousness and egotism, for not even the Apostles were said to be flawless. In fact, the Bible has something quite strong to say in regard to those who claim to be perfect and sinles:.

• 1 Corinthians 10:12: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

Quite a firm statement. Yes, if we claim we are sinless, that we cannot sin in any form, then we only deceive ourselves and become liable to falling. And we must remember, these verses are written to Christians. In these letters the apostles encouraged confession and effort to attain righteousness and maintain our salvation which goes with our faith in Yeshua, nowhere do the gospels preach literal immunity from sin or loss of salvation, rather the scriptures time and again warn of a loss of salvation.

Thus, this is how I believe we are to understand the spirit of 1 Corinthians 10:13, that only through prayer and reliance on God through Yeshua can we hope to endure temptation and to maintain the power to keep on confessing and repenting, which “provides the way out” from eternal condemnation.

The idea of this extremely self-righteous Calvinistic form of OSAS I believe promotes a mindset that thinks he or she is perfect, without flaw, and as a result deceives himself. I believe it encourages ignorance of all warnings from the scriptures upon the presumption that we are untouchable.

Stumbling the Faith of Others

The final reason I’d say Calvinist OSAS could be seen as evil, is because it denies all Christians their repentance of sin and devalues their efforts to please God.

It puts down and robs the hope of those who are striving to be as perfect as they can toward Yeshua in all things, fighting against their fleshly inclinations. Even worse, I feel it may even cause these loyal and faithful Christians to completely give up on their faith because they believe they are “sinning” by “trying”, or are not loved by God enough to be chosen!

In this the scriptures give a grave warning:

• Mark 9:42: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea”.
• Ezekiel 3:18: “When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.”
  

Conclusion

An overall conclusion on matters…

We can see throughout scripture, we are told time over, that we must “strive” to retain our salvation via both faith and obedience, to ensure that our faith is not dead. That it is something we must all consciously make an effort to keep adhering to, that we not be “disqualified”.

This is a path open to all people who are willing, not those who are specially chosen, not an elite class, but all men and women. And it is a path of effort.

Our ultimate role model in the Gospels, of course, is our Lord, Yeshua.

Even Yeshua himself, who was a perfect sinless man, yes, who did not even have the curse of Adamic sin, was not immune to temptation after his baptism, as was shown by him being tested by Satan three times to give into sin (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12, 13, Luke 4:1-13, Hebrews 4:15), and it is “through him” we are saved.

Not only by his sacrifice in our place to pay for our sins when we have genuine repentance, but also as something to imitate.

Yeshua lived as an example for us of how to live and conduct ourselves. If Yeshua was not immune to falling to sin, and had to make a conscious choice to refuse sin, how much more so should we in the spirit of 1 John 2:6? If he was immune by faith alone, and we also are immune by faith alone, then what was the point of his example of showing us how a loyal baptised Christian should walk and act in the face of temptation?

This goes for all of us, you and me. The warnings of Yeshua and the Apostles are very clear, that are faith ‘can’ be “in vain”, if we do not make sure we keep our faith, and do what is commanded of us along with it.

Olive Branch to the Reader

As some of you reading this article will be OSAS yourselves, I want to make it clear, that I am not here to try and condemn OSAS believers.

I’m sure not all of them are self-righteous, narcissistic and judgemental individuals (such as many of those of “Branch 1”). Some are just following what they were taught, others may be afraid of judgement or responsibility, and need some sort of security blanket, I feel for them, but I wish to encourage serious reflection and thought. I wish to encourage people who believe in this doctrine to consider my thoughts.

I realise of course, this is a very important, if not emotional subject for some. But be assured, I do not do this to mislead, but to save. These are matters of what could very well be literal life and death.

If you as a believer are hesitant of the idea of abandoning OSAS, then think on this and judge for yourself…

I contend, there is nothing to fear in not believing OSAS, for if it were true, you have nothing to lose, as you’re already saved, right? If you are not saved by no longer believing in OSAS, then does that not in itself disprove the teaching? How can one claim OSAS to be true if one is not saved when no longer believing in OSAS? Is that not a double negative?

Thus, it’s either true or it isn’t… But if it isn’t true, you may have much to lose if you live a life without confession and repentance of your sins before God, or by living a life of wilful sin.

If you are someone who feels afraid of the responsibility to put in an effort to retain your salvation by conscious obedience to God and his Son, don’t fret, like the poor widow who gave her last small coins (Mark 12:42–43), all God requires of us is our personal best, and honest intent to serve him.

God always forgives a repentant heart who seeks him and the path of righteousness. That is the free gift of Yah, his perfect son Yeshua the Anointed who died for our sins, and as Yeshua has yet to return to us, there is still time to make that change should your conscience declare.

I am not the master of your faith, as is no man, but only Yeshua the Anointed, our Lord, and his Father Yah. As such I can only share my convictions of faith and scripture in the aim of helping others to follow what I firmly believe to be the right path. I do not ask you to accept what I say with blind faith, but to test it, read the Bible for yourself chapter by chapter, compare the thoughts of others, for and against, and pray for God’s guidance.