BIBLE BASICS

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Lesson 31 - What About "Once Saved, Always Saved"? (Cont'd.)

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." 

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