Part 4 - OSAS WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE ACTUALLY SAY?

Security, Perseverance, Apostasy, and the Warning Passages

We have spent the first three articles following a historical trail.

We started with the earliest Christians.

We followed the development of Christian teaching through Augustine and the medieval church.

We watched the Reformation reshape the discussion.

We followed Calvin, Dort, Westminster, Owen, the nineteenth century, the Plymouth Brethren, dispensationalism, and eventually the modern doctrine commonly called “once saved, always saved.”

History has shown us how the doctrine developed.

But history cannot answer the most important question.

Was it biblical?

That question cannot be settled by Augustine.

It cannot be settled by Calvin.

It cannot be settled by Dort or Westminster.

It cannot be settled by Scofield, Chafer, or any modern denomination.

So now we have to put all of that aside.

Now let's open the Bible.

And this time, we're going to take both sides seriously.

The Bible contains some of the strongest promises of security imaginable.

Jesus says no one can snatch His sheep from His hand.

Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Jude says God is able to keep us from falling.

Those promises matter.

But the Bible also contains some of the strongest warnings imaginable.

Abide in Me.

Hold fast.

Continue in the faith.

Do not depart from the living God.

Otherwise you also will be cut off.

Those warnings matter too.

The question is not which group of texts we prefer.

The question is:

How do we understand them all together?

WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE PROMISE?

Let's begin where every Christian should begin:

with the promises of God.

Jesus said:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

John 10:27–28

That is an extraordinary promise.

Jesus does not portray salvation as something fragile that can be stolen from a believer by an outside power.

His sheep are known by Him.

He gives them eternal life.

No one can snatch them from His hand.

Paul makes the same kind of declaration in Romans 8:

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers… nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38–39

The Christian does not live in fear that some external force is stronger than Christ.

God is faithful.

Christ is sufficient.

His grace is real.

His promises are trustworthy.

And Hebrews says of Christ:

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 7:25

Notice the language.

Christ is able to save.

He always lives to intercede.

The security of the believer is not ultimately based upon the believer's strength.

It is based upon Christ.

That distinction will become crucial.

Because the biblical question is not:

“Is Christ able to keep me?”

He is.

The question is:

“What does the Bible say about the person who refuses to remain in Christ?”

Before we get there, however, we need to understand something about what Scripture means when it says that we are saved.

SALVATION HAS A PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE DIMENSION

One of the reasons this debate becomes confusing is that the Bible doesn't always use the word saved in exactly the same temporal sense.

Sometimes salvation is spoken of as something that has already happened.

Sometimes it is something presently taking place.

And sometimes it is something still future.

Consider Romans 5.

Paul writes:

“Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

Romans 5:9

Think about that sentence.

Having now been justified…

That's accomplished.

But:

we shall be saved.

That's future.

Paul does the same thing in the next verse:

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Romans 5:10

We have been reconciled.

Yet we shall be saved.

The Bible therefore allows us to speak about salvation as something already accomplished and something still awaiting consummation.

Paul makes the present dimension explicit in 1 Corinthians:

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are being saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:1–2

There it is.

You received the Gospel.

You stand in the Gospel.

You are being saved by the Gospel.

And then:

if you hold fast.

This gives us a framework we need to keep throughout this discussion:

I am saved — Christ has done it.

I am being saved — Christ is doing it in me.

I will be saved — Christ will complete it.

Scripture speaks of salvation in all three dimensions.

The theological tradition often describes these dimensions as justification, sanctification, and glorification.

The important point for our discussion is this:

The Bible does not reduce salvation to a single moment in the past.

Christ's work is accomplished.

His work is being experienced in the believer.

And salvation has a future consummation.

Hebrews 10:14 brings the first two dimensions together beautifully:

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Hebrews 10:14

Look at the contrast.

He has perfected forever.

That is accomplished.

But those who are perfected are also:

being sanctified.

That is ongoing.

Christ's finished work does not eliminate the ongoing work of sanctification.

And the ongoing work of sanctification does not mean Christ's sacrifice was insufficient.

Both are true.

The work is finished.

The work is continuing in us.

And Scripture still points forward to the day when salvation will be complete.

SO WHAT DOES “IF” MEAN?

Now we can return to the question that sits at the heart of this entire debate.

When Scripture says:

“if you continue,”

is perseverance merely evidence that someone was genuinely saved?

Or is continuing in faith actually presented as a condition of remaining in Christ and reaching the final goal of salvation?

Let's look carefully.

JOHN 15 — “ABIDE IN ME”

Jesus says:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”

John 15:1

Then:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

John 15:4

And then Jesus makes the warning explicit:

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

John 15:6

Jesus doesn't simply say:

“If you were never really connected to Me, you will eventually leave.”

He says:

“Abide in Me.”

Remain.

Continue.

Stay connected to the Vine.

And He gives a warning concerning what happens when someone does not abide.

There are different interpretations of the branches in Christian theology. Some understand the warning as referring to professing believers whose attachment to Christ was never genuine. Others understand the branches as genuine participants who can cease abiding in Christ.

We should not pretend that interpretation is effortless.

But neither should we erase the warning.

Whatever conclusion we ultimately reach, Jesus clearly teaches that continuing in Him matters.

The Christian life is not presented as a one-time event after which one's continuing relationship with Christ becomes irrelevant.

Jesus says:

“Abide in Me.”

HEBREWS 3 — “IF WE HOLD FAST”

Hebrews speaks even more directly.

The writer addresses his audience as:

“holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”

Hebrews 3:1

Then he says:

“Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

Hebrews 3:6

Then comes the warning:

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”

Hebrews 3:12

And finally:

“For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

Hebrews 3:14

Notice the progression.

Partakers of Christ.

↓

Beware of unbelief.

↓

Do not depart from the living God.

↓

Hold fast to the end.

The writer then reaches back into Israel's history.

The Israelites had experienced God's deliverance from Egypt.

They had witnessed His works.

They had received His covenant.

Yet they failed to enter God's rest because of unbelief.

And Hebrews turns their story into a warning to Christians:

“Beware, brethren…”

This is important.

The warning is not merely:

“If you eventually fall away, that will prove you were never really part of God's people.”

The writer is urging his readers now:

Do not harden your hearts.

Do not depart.

Hold fast.

Endure.

Whatever theological explanation we ultimately give this passage, the warning itself is real.

COLOSSIANS 1 — “IF INDEED YOU CONTINUE”

Paul gives us another remarkable example.

He writes:

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled…”

Colossians 1:21

Then he says that Christ will present them:

“holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight”

And then comes the condition:

“if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.”

Colossians 1:22–23

Again, look at the sequence:

You were alienated.

You have now been reconciled.

You are to be presented holy and blameless.

If indeed you continue in the faith.

Paul does not treat continuing in faith as meaningless.

It is part of the movement from reconciliation toward the final presentation.

A Reformed interpreter can respond that perseverance is the evidence produced by genuine salvation and that God guarantees that the elect will persevere.

That is a serious theological position.

But we should be careful about saying:

“The Bible never makes continuing in faith a condition.”

Paul plainly uses conditional language.

The question is not whether the condition exists.

The question is:

What does that condition mean?

ROMANS 11 — “OTHERWISE YOU ALSO WILL BE CUT OFF”

Now we come to one of the strongest passages in this entire discussion.

Paul is speaking about Israel and Gentile believers using the imagery of an olive tree.

He says concerning Israel:

“Because of unbelief they were broken off.”

And concerning Gentile believers:

“you stand by faith.”

Then comes the warning:

“Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.”

Romans 11:20–22

This passage gives us three things in rapid succession:

You stand by faith.

If you continue.

Otherwise you also will be cut off.

We need to respect the context. Romans 11 is specifically discussing Israel, Gentiles, covenant inclusion, and the olive-tree imagery. Paul is not writing a systematic theology textbook on individual eternal security.

But that does not make his warning irrelevant.

Quite the opposite.

Paul explicitly connects:

faith

with

standing

and

continuing

and warns of being

cut off.

And the reason the natural branches were broken off?

Unbelief.

The reason the Gentile branches stand?

Faith.

The warning?

Continue.

Paul is not describing faith as something that matters only at the moment of conversion.

Faith remains relevant.

1 CORINTHIANS 15 — “IF YOU HOLD FAST”

Now return to where we began.

Paul says:

“the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand”

and:

“by which also you are being saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you.”

1 Corinthians 15:1–2

This is perhaps the clearest passage connecting our discussion of salvation's different dimensions with perseverance.

They received the Gospel.

They stand in the Gospel.

They are being saved through the Gospel.

And Paul says:

if they hold fast.

That doesn't mean their perseverance earns Christ's work.

It means the Gospel must remain the Gospel they continue to embrace.

And notice the alternative:

“unless you believed in vain.”

Paul therefore refuses to separate the present experience of salvation from continued faith.

WHAT HAVE THESE FIVE PASSAGES SHOWN US?

We need to be careful here.

These passages do not, by themselves, prove every conclusion that either side of the OSAS debate wants to draw.

They do not automatically prove:

“A genuinely regenerated believer can definitely become finally lost.”

But they also do not allow us to say:

“Perseverance is irrelevant because salvation was settled once and for all at the moment of conversion.”

The New Testament repeatedly tells believers to:

abide

continue

hold fast

stand

remain

not depart

not be moved away

And several of these passages connect continuing faith with remaining in Christ and reaching the intended goal.

So we can say something with confidence:

Perseverance matters.

The real question is why it matters.

GOD PRESERVES — AND BELIEVERS PERSEVERE

This is where we need to avoid two opposite errors.

The first error says:

“God has done His part. Now everything depends on me.”

That is not the Gospel.

The believer does not preserve himself.

Christ is the Savior.

Christ intercedes.

Christ gives grace.

The Spirit works.

God keeps.

But the opposite error is also dangerous:

“Because God keeps me, my continuing response is irrelevant.”

That is not what the warning passages say.

Scripture repeatedly calls believers to:

faith

abiding

obedience

repentance

endurance

holding fast

continuing

The biblical picture is therefore not:

God does His part, and I do mine.

It is not a division of labor between God and humanity.

Rather:

God preserves—and believers persevere.

God acts first.

God gives grace.

God calls.

God keeps.

And the believer responds in faith.

That response does not create God's grace.

But neither is the response imaginary.

ASSURANCE IS NOT THE SAME AS PRESUMPTION

This distinction is critical.

The Bible absolutely gives believers assurance.

We don't need to live terrified that God will abandon us.

Paul says:

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Romans 8:31

And Jesus says:

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5

Christian assurance rests on God's faithfulness.

But biblical assurance is not the same thing as presumption.

Presumption says:

“Because I once believed, nothing I ever do—or refuse to do—can possibly affect my relationship with Christ.”

But Scripture never tells believers:

“You may stop abiding.”

“You may abandon faith.”

“You may depart from the living God.”

“You may turn back.”

Instead, the New Testament repeatedly warns believers not to do those things.

The problem isn't confidence in God's promise.

The problem comes when a covenant promise is turned into an unconditional guarantee that makes the covenant relationship irrelevant.

God's promises are secure.

But His warnings are real too.

And we cannot interpret one category of Scripture in a way that makes the other meaningless.

THEN WHAT ABOUT THE WARNING PASSAGES?

Now we arrive at the part we deliberately postponed.

We've looked at the commands:

Abide.

Continue.

Hold fast.

Don't depart.

But now we have to ask something much harder.

What does the Bible mean when it describes people who fall away?

Before we examine those passages, however, we need to understand something Jesus said about sin and unbelief.

THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM: UNBELIEF

Speaking about the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said:

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me.”

John 16:8–9

Jesus does not mean that every use of the word sin simply means “unbelief.” Scripture clearly uses sin in a broader sense.

But Jesus identifies something at the heart of sin:

refusing to believe in Him.

That becomes important when we read the New Testament warnings.

The ultimate danger is not simply that a Christian might stumble into a particular act of disobedience.

The deeper danger is unbelief that turns away from Christ.

That is exactly the warning we encounter in Hebrews:

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”

Hebrews 3:12

The issue is therefore bigger than:

“Did you commit a sin?”

The question becomes:

Are you continuing to trust Christ—or are you turning away from Him?

That distinction becomes critical when we examine what the New Testament means by falling away.

HEBREWS 6 — “FALL AWAY”

Some passages use astonishing language.

Hebrews speaks of people who have been:

enlightened

who have tasted the heavenly gift

who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit

and who then fall away.

Hebrews 6:4–6

These are not easy texts.

And this is exactly where we have to slow down.

Because if the Reformed explanation is correct—that these people were never genuinely saved—then we need to understand why the biblical writer describes them in such strong terms.

But if these passages describe genuine participation in Christ followed by genuine apostasy, then the implications are enormous.

We cannot decide that question by tradition.

We cannot decide it by Calvin.

We cannot decide it by OSAS.

We have to let the text speak.

And Hebrews 6 is not the only difficult passage.

HEBREWS 10 — WHEN UNBELIEF BECOMES REJECTION

Hebrews gives us one of the most serious warnings in the New Testament.

But notice the context.

The writer has just declared that the sacrifices of the old covenant could never finally take away sins.

Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins forever.

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Hebrews 10:14

Then he declares:

“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Hebrews 10:17

And:

“Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.”

Hebrews 10:18

Then comes the warning:

“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”

Hebrews 10:26

What does Hebrews mean?

The context matters.

This is not simply a Christian who stumbled into another sin.

The warning concerns someone who has received the truth and then deliberately turns away from the only sacrifice that can actually deal with sin.

The writer continues:

“How much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

Hebrews 10:29

That language is astonishing.

Trampled the Son of God.

Counted the blood of the covenant as common.

Insulted the Spirit of grace.

And notice the phrase:

“by which he was sanctified.”

What exactly does the writer mean by that?

Is he describing someone who was never genuinely connected to Christ?

Or is he describing someone who genuinely participated in the covenant realities of Christ and then deliberately rejected them?

We should not answer that question before we examine the text.

But we should also not make the warning disappear.

The writer himself concludes:

“But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”

Hebrews 10:39

The contrast is striking:

draw back

or

believe.

Persevere

or

turn away.

And that brings us back to the question we have been asking throughout this article:

What happens when someone stops abiding, stops believing, and deliberately turns away from Christ?

Hebrews does not treat that possibility casually.

It treats it as a matter of eternal consequence.

GALATIANS 5 — “FALLEN FROM GRACE”

Galatians 5:4 deserves special attention because it is often used carelessly.

Paul says:

“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

Galatians 5:4

But what is the context?

Paul is addressing people who are attempting to be justified by the law.

This is not simply:

“You committed a really bad sin.”

The issue is where righteousness comes from.

Are you trusting Christ?

Or are you turning back to a system in which you establish your standing before God through law?

That fits something we have already seen throughout this series.

The danger is not merely immoral behavior.

The danger is leaving Christ as the source of righteousness.

And that makes Galatians especially relevant to the Gospel we've been tracing throughout the Everlasting Gospel Series.

2 PETER 2 — ESCAPED, THEN ENTANGLED

Peter describes another sobering situation.

He speaks of people who had:

“escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”

2 Peter 2:20

But then:

they become entangled again

and are:

overcome.

Peter concludes that their latter condition is worse than the first.

Again, this is not an easy passage.

What does Peter mean by people who have escaped the world's corruption through knowing Christ and then become entangled again?

Are these merely people who appeared to believe?

Or is Peter describing people who genuinely experienced deliverance and then turned back?

Again, we need to let Scripture answer that question.

We should not decide the answer before examining the language and context.

THE CENTRAL ISSUE IS NOT WHETHER GOD IS FAITHFUL

He is.

The central issue is not whether Christ's sacrifice is sufficient.

It is.

The central issue is not whether God can preserve His people.

He can.

The question is:

Can a person turn away from the Christ in whom he has been trusting?

And if the answer is yes, what exactly does Scripture mean by that?

Does the person reveal that his faith was never genuine?

Or can genuine participation in Christ be abandoned through unbelief?

That is the question we cannot answer by simply choosing our favorite proof texts.

THE BIBLE WILL NOT LET US REMOVE EITHER SIDE

There are promises.

There are warnings.

There is assurance.

There is perseverance.

There is God's preserving grace.

There is human response.

There is a finished work.

There is an ongoing work.

There is a future salvation.

And there is the possibility of apostasy presented so seriously that the apostles repeatedly warn Christians against it.

We cannot make the promises disappear in order to protect the warnings.

And we cannot make the warnings disappear in order to protect the promises.

Both belong to Scripture.

The question is how they fit together.

And perhaps the most important discovery we've made so far is this:

Perseverance is not the Savior.

Christ is.

But perseverance is not therefore meaningless.

Faith does not create Christ's finished work.

But faith is not therefore unnecessary.

Sanctification does not add anything to the value of Christ's sacrifice.

But sanctification is not therefore optional.

And the believer's continuing relationship with Christ does not compete with God's preserving grace.

It is the relationship God's grace is preserving.

SO WHAT DOES “SAVED” MEAN?

We can now return to the three dimensions with which we began.

I am saved.

Christ has acted.

His incarnation, obedience, death, resurrection, and ascension are accomplished realities.

The Gospel is not something I accomplish.

It is something God accomplished in Christ.

I am being saved.

Christ is working.

The believer is being transformed.

This is sanctification.

It is not learning how to make ourselves righteous.

It is learning to deny self as the source of righteousness and to let Christ live and work in us.

Jesus said:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

Luke 9:23

The Christian life is therefore not passive presumption.

It is active dependence.

Not I, but Christ.

I will be saved.

Christ will complete what He began.

Paul could speak of believers as already justified while still saying:

“we shall be saved.”

Romans 5:9–10

The Christian looks forward to resurrection, glorification, and the final destruction of sin.

Salvation has a destination.

And Scripture calls us to persevere toward it.

SECURITY OR PRESUMPTION?

Maybe that gives us a better way to frame the entire debate.

The Gospel offers security in Christ.

It does not offer security apart from Christ.

There is an enormous difference.

The believer can say:

“Christ will never fail me.”

Amen.

The believer can say:

“Nothing outside of Christ can snatch me from His hand.”

Amen.

The believer can say:

“God is faithful to His promises.”

Absolutely.

But the believer should never say:

“Therefore I no longer need Christ.”

That would contradict the very relationship in which security exists.

Jesus did not say:

“You were once connected to the Vine, therefore you no longer need to abide.”

He said:

“Abide in Me.”

That is not insecurity.

That is relationship.

AND NOW WE HAVE TO STEP BACK

We've now heard both sides of the biblical testimony.

God's promises are real.

Christ's keeping power is real.

The believer's security is real.

But so are the warnings.

Scripture tells us to:

Abide.

Continue.

Hold fast.

Stand by faith.

Do not depart.

And when Scripture warns against falling away, the fundamental issue is not simply whether someone committed a sin.

The deeper issue is unbelief—turning away from Christ and abandoning the One in whom our hope rests.

So the question is no longer whether the Bible contains both promises and warnings.

It clearly does.

The question is how those promises and warnings fit within the larger biblical understanding of God's covenant with His people.

And that raises a fascinating question.

Have God's people faced this problem before?

Did Israel receive genuine promises from God?

Yes.

Did God truly elect them?

Yes.

Did He deliver them?

Yes.

Did He establish His covenant with them?

Yes.

And yet Scripture repeatedly records something else:

Israel could turn away.

Israel could become unbelieving.

Israel could presume upon God's promises.

Israel could hear the prophets announce God's favor while refusing the covenant relationship those promises assumed.

And eventually, false prophets began taking God's genuine promises and presenting them as something they were never intended to be:

unconditional guarantees.

If that sounds familiar, it should.

Because before we decide how to interpret the New Testament's promises of security, we need to go back and see how God Himself taught His people to understand His promises.

And that takes us back to Israel.

PART 5

ISRAEL — WHEN GOD'S PROMISES BECAME “UNCONDITIONAL”

Election, Covenant, Apostasy, and the Warning of Israel

Next, we go back to the beginning.