Falling From Grace

Many in the religious world teach that a Christian can never lose his salvation. They say he is "once saved, always saved." For instance, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 says, "All true believers endure to the end. Those whom Gad has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall preserve to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgements on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (God's Purpose of Grace, Article 5).

Is that true? It is impossible for a Christian to fall away and be lost even if he persists in sin? Will he still be saved no matter how he lives? Let's investigate.

The Hebrew Christians were members of the early church. They were called "holy brothers, who share in a heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1). Yet they could fall away from God (3:12), be hardened by sin (3:13), fail to reach the promise (4:1), fall by disobedience (4:11), spurn the Son of God (10:29), outrage the Spirit (10:29), throw away their confidence (10:35), fail to obtain the grace of God (12:15), refuse him who speaks from heaven (12:25), and be let away by strange teachings (13:9). Surely no one believes a Christian who does those things will still be saved.

We have examples of people who fell away in the New Testament. Hymeneus, Alexander, Philetus, Demas are all identified as having fallen (1 Timothy 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:17; 4:10); Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-10); and Simon was told to repend of his wickedness so he may be forgiven (Acts 8:22). Would he be saved if he refused to repent? Of course not. These names are etched in history as a vivid reminder that it is possible to "depart from the faith" (1 Timothy 4:1).

Peter, in graphic detail, describes the pitiful condition of those who fall away. He wrote, "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: 'The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire'" (2 Peter 2:20-22).

Advocates of the "once saved, always saved" doctrine argue that a person who falls away never really believed. They say he was only a pretender. Jesus made a statement that destroys this argument. In the Parable of the Sower, he said, "And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, received it with joy. But these have no root; they believed for a while, and in time of testing fall away" (Luke 8:13). Notice that they believed and then fell away. No one can say that they did not really believe, for Jesus said they did!

No one can snatch us from the Father's hand (John 10:27-29), but we may remove ourselves. That is why Paul said he disciplined his body "lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27) and Jude urged his readers to "keep yourselves in the love of God" (vs. 21). Yes, a Christian can fall from grace.