What’s Wrong With ‘Once Saved Always Saved’?

Why “Once saved always saved” is false, unbiblical, and potentially spiritually dangerous.

By Deacon Frederick Bartels
1 October 2024

Through repentance, faith in Christ, and baptism we receive the unmerited grace of justification and the gift of the Holy Spirit—this is the first moment of salvation for the individual. And, indeed, the Holy Spirit does convict us of sin and direct us to live a life of holiness throughout the life of the Christian.

This is a common misconception. A person who has placed their faith in Christ and been sealed by the HS will hate their sin and fight their sin because the HS will convict them. They can’t sin comfortably the way they could prior to salvation.

They don’t fight sin to “remain… pic.twitter.com/1n90YXI4Gy

— autocorrect2.0 (@autocorrect2_0) September 30, 2024

Nevertheless, salvation is an ongoing process. We too must do our part (Phil 2:12). Assisted by grace, we must resist temptation and avoid all sin. God’s grace doesn’t cancel out the possibility that a person might use his free will in a morally blameworthy way. The Holy Spirit does not subdue human freedom. Rather, we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit—an effort on our part which is indispensable and which requires constant attention and often involves great struggle.

The reception of justifying (sanctifying) grace does NOT guarantee that a person will never commit sin, whether mortal or venial. In the case of mortal sin, salvation is lost because it destroys the virtue of charity in the soul and severs a person’s relationship with God. Friendship with God is recovered through repentance and receiving God’s forgiveness through the sacrament of Penance (confession).

There are many biblical examples illustrating that salvation can be lost. The Letter to the Hebrews (chapter 10) is written to Christians, warning them of the consequences of deliberately sinning (mortally) after coming to faith in Christ and receiving justifying grace. In doing such a thing, they profane “the blood of the covenant by which [they were] sanctified,” and thus outrage the Holy Spirit:

For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb 10:26-31)

In 1 Cor 6, Paul is speaking to Christian brethren at Corinth. He admonishes them for wronging and defrauding their brothers. He is therefore speaking to Christian believers, warning them against unrighteous behavior amongst one another, saying:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:9-11).

Further, OSAS can indeed foster self-deception. How? Because people who believe in this false doctrine can become indifferent to sin, thinking incorrectly that sin has no bearing on their salvation and final destiny. Hence, our Lord Jesus warned:

Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers’” (Matt 7:21-23).

The Protestant doctrine of “once saved always saved” (also known as the doctrine of “eternal security”) is false and unbiblical. It is a human invention that is at odds with the word of God. It seems to cancel out the power of human freedom: the ability to make choices which have eternal consequences. It can indeed be spiritually dangerous in that it lends to self-deception.

All of this points to the essential importance of the teaching of the Catholic Church which Christ himself instituted on the headship of Peter (Matt 16:17-19). We cannot truly understand what it means to live the Christian life apart from holy mother Church. When the authority of the Church and the magisterium is jettisoned, the scriptures are all too often twisted to man’s destruction (cf. 2 Pet 3:16).