Scriptural evidence for Once-saved-always-saved?

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Epistemes

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Can someone please cite Scriptural evidence that shows that it is not just simply necessary for a person only to believe that Jesus came and died on a cross (e.g., that it is not necessary to always go to church, confess one’s sins, etc.) in order to be saved?

My mother thinks that a person only has to believe that a person need only believe that Jesus came and died on a cross in order to go to heaven; therefore, she grants herself the right to go to church (she is Protestant, not Catholic) when she wishes among other things. She thinks the Catholic Church is too regimental.
 
There are plenty of one liner scriptures that say that you must believe and you are saved.

Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”

The problem with building a theology on one-liners, is you leave out all the rest. The Bible wasn’t intended to be selective. The Catholic Church is the FULL GOSPEL Church.

BTW: You came to the right place, this thread will give you plenty in no time! 👍
 
Another verse often cited is
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

But they often miss what is said a few lines later in that same chapter:
3:36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; **he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. **
 
One of the problems with saved by faith alone is that even the demons believe that Jesus Christ is God. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. Believe God is who he is, does not really carry in weight.

Another point I love to make to protestants who believe that all they need is faith and they cannot lose their salvation is this: in 1 Corinthians 13:13, when the bible says “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”, why does in NOT say and the greatest of these is faith?? If salvation is the ultimate goal, and faith is all you need, would that not be THE MOST IMPORTANT thing?? Then you can make the point that love requires you to do something(works). If you loved someone, but never told them or never took care of them, what good is the love?

Also Romans 3:20 says “because by the works of the lawshall no flesh be justified in his sight, for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin”. Now why would we need knowledge of sin if we are once saved always saved or if we have faith.

Here are two good scripture verses.
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling

James 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
 
Most of mankind is lazy and selfish. If they can find something in the bible that says they don’t have to do anything to be saved they will go for it and ignore the rest to their own destruction.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” quotes the selfish one.

“NOT everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved but he who DOES the will of the Father”
 
Quote: Jesus said it is not enough to have faith in him; we must also obey his commandments.“why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ but do not do the things I command”?(luke:6:46,Matt 7:21`-23,19:16-21). ‘Once saved ,Always saved’ is pesumptuous, and dangerous.
 
John 10:27-29 “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. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

I think this is the one used commonly in my experience.
 
May I suggest you read James 2:14-26. The ‘proof’ of a true faith is that it is an active faith, ie it must have associated works. In the same way that you cannot truly say that you love someone, and then be happy to ignore them as if they didnt exist, so neither can you say that you truly believe in what Jesus has done for us, without wanting and needing to respond to that love - remembering that we see Christ in every other human being.

As to going to Mass only when you feel like it - it is not just a question of duty / obligation / ticking the box. If you truly understood the nature of the Mass and what God does for us at Mass, you wouldnt want to stay away for a single week.

It is also crucial to remember that it is not by our own power we can live in the way God wants, but by being open to the grace and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
 
May I suggest that James is writing to Israel [James 1:1]. Israel is not the Body of Christ. Man has always been saved by Grace thru Faith. Paul never writes that we are saved by Faith plus works. He writes just the opposite - Romans 4:4,5; Ephesians 2:8,9. To be fair, Paul does write that we are saved UNTO good works in verse 10. Whatta ya think?
 
Good morning to you all & may God bless you in abundance.
Although i cannot remember chapter & verse, the scripture that i most cling to when talking about " Once-saved-always-saved" is that which has Christ telling all who would hear, “What ever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me” This is works at it’s finest. It cannot be done by “Faith or Hope” it is by doing.
Scotchirish
 
PeterMuz said:
One of the problems with saved by faith alone is that even the demons believe that Jesus Christ is God. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. Believe God is who he is, does not really carry in weight.
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Hi Peter. I am a Protestant, so I thought I’d try to reply to you and some of the other Catholics to show that there is actually a method to our reasoning that is quite sane!! 😃

Let me point out to you that Protestants have James 2:19 in “their” Bible too! The difference is not in interpretation, but in reconciling those two thoughts together in the Bible. The Bible says that you are saved by grace through faith, so are we to say that we are saved by faith, AND grace, AND works?

In order to reconcile these passages, we must build for ourselves the correct understanding of how God proceeds in the work of salvation - after all, salvation is ENTIRELY His work, not any of ours, and on that Catholics agree with Protestants.

God tells us that if it were not for His love, we would never be saved. He tells us in 1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He FIRST loved us.” Which is what 1 Cor.13:13 refers to as the “greatest of these.”

You say that 1 Cor.13:13 means that “Then you can make the point that love requires you to do something(works). If you loved someone, but never told them or never took care of them, what good is the love?” What you fail to understand is that it is GOD’S LOVE, not ours, that is important in this equation. We respond to His love. It is GOD’S WORK, not ours, that is important in this equation. We respond to His work.
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PeterMuz:
Also Romans 3:20 says “because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin”. Now why would we need knowledge of sin if we are once saved always saved or if we have faith.?]
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I’m not really sure I understand your question here. All I can say is that if you read all of Romans 3, you will find that the law is a schoolmaster which brings us to the knowledge of how we fall far short of God’s glory, and this should expose our consciences to the understanding that there is nothing that we can do in our power to bring about salvation.

Hope that helps.
 
ricko said:
Most of mankind is lazy and selfish.
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Hi Ricko. I agree, but with one caveat: most of mankind is SPIRITUALLY lazy and selfish. There are many people who do good works, but much of those good works are done selfishly, and will result in no spiritual benefit. It’s like Bill Gates giving away millions and millions, all outside of Christ. What will this benefit him?
 
jarmum said:
May I suggest you read James 2:14-26. The ‘proof’ of a true faith is that it is an active faith, ie it must have associated works.
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Hi Jarmum. I agree with you 1,000%!! There is a difference between “true” faith, and the faith that devils have (James 2:19), is that true, saving faith is a faith that works. You can’t help it. It’s like a cat that cleans itself by licking - it cannot walk up to a sink and pump the soap and turn on the water. A cat can only clean itself with its tongue. A cat cannot do anything else.

As a matter of fact, a cat MUST clean itself with its tongue. It cannot help itself. That characteristic and trait is inbred in its genes. A cat that does not clean itself is a dead cat.

For the same token, a Christian (a person born of TRUE, saving faith) WILL do good works. His spiritual genes are instructing him on new habits and desires, and he cannot help himself. That spiritual characteristic and trait of good works is inbred in his spiritual genes.

In the same way that you cannot truly say that you love someone, and then be happy to ignore them as if they didnt exist, so neither can you say that you truly believe in what Jesus has done for us, without wanting and needing to respond to that love - remembering that we see Christ in every other human being.
 
Hope this helps:

Bible Christian Society booklets
Once Saved Always Saved

I. The Protestant View
A. Protestant Beliefs.
~Accept Jesus Christ into your hearts
~The “sinner’s prayer”
~Only need to believe in Jesus (John 3:16)
~One way ticket to heaven; nothing can derail the train
~”Absolute assurance”
~Since works do not gain our salvation, works cannot contribute to our losing our salvation.
~We are “hid” with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
~”No condemnation” for those in Christ
(Romans 8:1-2)
B. One Protestant writes:
“However, it is not merely from the Levitical laws that we were discharged, but also from the moral ones. God only has one law. Does that mean we can sin freely? No, for God hates sin, and if we love God, we will live according to His commandments. However, it does mean that no sin will be held against us once we receive Christ, for upon receiving Christ we are discharged from the very law against which our sins would have been reckoned.”

II. Showing the Protestant Doctrine to be False, from Scripture
A. Absolute assurance… NO! Catholics say:
~ Romans 8:1-2
does not say absolute assurance
~ Romans 6:15-16
says that sin leads to death
B. Discharges from the moral law…NO! Catholics say:
~ Matthew 5:27-30
Jesus does not discharge us from the moral law! There is consequence for sinning!
~ Matthew 18:8-9
C. Others
~ Matthew 13:40-42; Matthew 18:23-35 & Matthew 6:14-15 (we must forgive others); Romans 11:17-23; John 15:1-11; Galatians 5:1; Hebrews 6:4-8; James 5:19

III. Other Protestant Arguments
A. Sola Fide…NO!
~ Once saved, always saved stems from this doctrine. Since “sola fide” (faith alone) can be shown to be false, the basis for once saved, always saved crumbles.
B. Once saved, you cannot sin…NO! ~ Romans 7:15
“For I do not do what I want, but I do the very things I hate.”
C. Once saved, sin no longer holds any consequences…NO!
~ Paul writes to believers but preaches about avoiding sin.
~ Romans 12:21 & 15:15; Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 6:18 & 11:17-22 & 15:12; Ephesians 4:25-32 & 5:5; James 2:1 & 4:1-4; Matthew 5:31-48 & 6:1-7; Colossians 3:25; 1 Peter 1:1-2 & 2:1, 2 Peter 1:1 & 3:17

When the crowds saw it, they were afraid , and the glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
  • Matthew 9:8
IV. Other Problems if Protestant View is True
A. Must endure until the end ~ Matthew 10:22
~ Hebrews 10:35-36
~ Hebrews 12:1
B. Hope
~ Romans 8:24-25
~ Romans 15:13
~ Romans 5:2
C. Paul didn’t have “absolute assurance”
~ Philippians 3:10-13
~ 1 Corinthians 9:26-27
D. Other verses that wouldn’t make sense if Protestant view is true
~ 2 Corinthians 13:5-6
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:23
~ Philippians 2:12
~ Hebrews 4:1,11
~ Colossians 1:21-23
E. The “Book of Life” ~ Revelation 20:15
~ Psalms 69:28
~ Revelation 3:1-5

IV. Once Saved, Always Saved…NO!
~ Hebrews 10:38
~ Ezekiel 33:12-19
~ Ezekiel 18:21-24
~ 1 Timothy 4:1
~ John 2:11 with John 6:16-22, 66
~ 2 Timothy 3:16

biblechristiansociety.com/booklets/Once%20Saved%20Always%20Saved.doc
 
The question is How does one get unsaved…hum

God loves you…God bless
 
Many of the early Christians were Jews, and according to the footnotes in both my RSV and NJB James is writing to the Jewish Christians outside Palestine, so he is writing to the Body of Christ.
The danger is using verses as ‘proof text’ ignoring the whole bible. Once righteous through faith, then we can use grace (the gift of the Holy Spirit) for good works. But we still have free will and so can refuse the gift of grace - Romans 6 helps explain here - otherwise why does he implore in Rom 6:12 not to sin.
 
1 Cor 11:27-32. By partaking of the Eucharist in an unworthy manner we profane the Body & Blood of the Lord and so bring judgement on oursleves - which he goes on to show can lead to death. Obviously there is always hope for repentance (a gift of the Holy Spirit) and forgiveness.
 
Reformed Christians, believing in God’s complete control of the human heart, can say that the elect are necessarily sanctified (made progressively more righteous throughout life). Since all who are justified are glorified (Romans 8:30), it follows that all who have saving faith will be in heaven.

If one were to believe in free will (as with Arminianism), then it makes sense why the doctrine of perseverance would be repudiated, for the human is always “free” to choose otherwise. But a Calvinistic understanding precludes this objection.
 
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