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Bible Basics
For Smart People
Who Do Not Want To Be Dummies
About God and the Bible
(Parts I, II, III)
By J. George Cover
Lesson 31 - What About "Once Saved, Always Saved"? (Cont'd.)(Text Version)
There are those who believe that regardless of one's sinfulness, even after salvation that sinning cannot keep one out of heaven because it is God's grace and God's power that keeps us in spite of our actual behavior.
There are those who believe that at the moment of salvation, one is forgiven of all past, present, and future sins, and that one is justified forever because of Christ, although he continues to sin or returns sin. They believe that God cannot see the believer's sins because He looks at them through the blood of Christ.
Some Quotations From a Well Known Writer --
John Ankerberg & John Weldon in "Protestants & Catholics, Do They Now Agree"
(Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97402).
"When a man places his faith in Christ, at that moment, God, the righteous Judge, passes judgment on his sin problem. That is, He justifies him. God's justification takes place at the point of time at which a man believes. It is a once-for-all divine act, God's final judgment, brought into the present.
"Once passed, God's justifying sentence about the sinner is irrevocable. To say
God justifies is to say God has issued a verdict of acquittal concerning the sinner. It is a
legal pronouncement that forever excludes the sinner from receiving any punishment for
the sins he has committed during his life" (page 25).
He precedes this statement that this is "the Protestant view."
Page 27. "Historically, the Protestant Reformers argued that since a man's justification depended solely on God's never-ending favor and Christ's meritorious life and atoning death -- and not upon anything which a man can do -- a person could not lose his justification before God.
"Once a person believed in Christ, he was entirely and eternally secure. In essence, because salvation was a gift from God based solely on Christ's atoning death, the number of good or bad deeds (soft words for SIN) in a person's life would never change a person's perfect standing before God."
"Across from the Protestant position declaring that a person "can't lose justification" is the Roman Catholic position emphasizing that a person "can lose justification."
Page 23. "The pardoned sinner is still a sinner in and of himself " "This issue has its roots in the dispute stemming from Luther's famous slogan: 'at the same time just and a sinner.'" See 1 John 2:4.
Page 55. "Because justification is an eternal verdict pronounced of God, it is made final the moment a person believes on Christ."
Page 63. "Those accepted now are secure forever. Inquisition before Christ's judgment seat (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 3:35), may deprive them of certain rewards (1 Corinthians 3:15), but never of their justified status. Christ will not call into question God's justifying verdict, only declare, endorse and implement it."
"Please tell me more."
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