Rampant in many Christian churches today is the belief that salvation is guaranteed no matter how a person lives. Once a person accepts Jesus as Savior, that person is saved for life. This is known as the “Once Saved, Always Saved” theology.
However, this is a false gospel.
Let’s look at the Bible to see why this is false.
What is the false gospel
Proponents of this false gospel argue that Jesus’ blood makes atonement for sin. Therefore, once a person accepts Christ, that salvation cannot be taken away. So no matter what a person does after accepting Christ, it doesn’t really matter. As long as the person declares he believes in Jesus, he is saved. He can sin like the devil and still go to heaven.
They use the popular verse John 3:16 to justify their argument. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
But they neglect a crucial verse following John 3:16.
Namely, in John 3:36, it says: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Here we can see that the word “belief” and the word “obey” are related. The one who believes will obey. But the one who does not believe will not obey.
So in the Bible the word for belief is not simply head knowledge or lip-service. Belief is from the heart to the point that one’s actions would change according to that belief.
What is the true gospel
These are the components of the true gospel:
1. Admit you have sinned – that you have done bad things and broke the laws of God.
2. Believe that Jesus is Lord. And believe He died for you to pay for your sins on your behalf (Matthew 27:11-66), and He has risen from death and is alive today (Matthew 28).
3. Repent: You agree to follow God from now on and turn away from your sins (refrain from the things you used to do that are wrong).
The false gospel ignores repentance. But the true gospel from the Bible always includes it.
When John the Baptist preached the gospel, he said: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2).
When Jesus preached the gospel, He also told people to repent. “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'” (Matthew 4:17)
“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'” (Mark 1:14-15)
When Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the gospel, they also spoke a similar message. “They went out and preached that men should repent.” (Mark 6:12)
When the apostle Paul preached the gospel, he carried the same message. “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21). And again he said: “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20).
So repentance: the decision to follow God and turn away from sins is an integral part of the gospel. And it is not to be separated from it.
Simply believing Jesus is Lord and died for our sins, but continuing to live a life that is wicked, is not true belief in God.
Lip service doesn’t get you to heaven
Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23). Who are the evildoers but the ones who keep on practicing evil?
There is no such thing as once saved, always saved, if a person continues to purposefully sin.
“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29)
Jesus’s blood is not mocked. Anyone who “believes” but continues to casually sin is mocking the blood of Jesus. They haven’t believed at all!
If we believe in God without any action to turn away from our sins, we are behaving like demons: “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (James 2:18-19)
Think about it. Demons believe God exists and demons recognized Jesus (Luke 4:41). But their actions are evil. So just believing without any actions is no good, and if we act like that, we too are behaving like them.
So if we have believed Jesus, we need to start living like we believe Jesus. If we have any sins, ask God’s forgiveness and ask God’s help to turn away from those sins. We need to start doing good and keep away from doing evil.
It is not that if we sinned today, we are going to hell. It is that we should NOT have the mentality of taking advantage of God’s salvation and knowingly living like we used to. We need to turn away from our old life, and live in the grace and power of God. God gave the grace of new life in Jesus, and by relying on God’s power through the Holy Spirit, we can be transformed to be more and more like Christ.
True belief and action go hand-in-hand
When we believe in Jesus, we enter into an agreement with God: that we believe Jesus died for our sins and paid for our sins in full, and that we will turn away from our sins and follow God for life.
True belief is having faith in Jesus and learning to be faithful to Him. You can’t have the first part without the second part.
Here is an analogy that can help you understand what true belief means.
A story of a rich man and his two friends
A rich man invited two friends to his property. He said to the first man, “Friend, dig here and you will find buried treasure. Take the treasure for yourself! Do you believe me?”
His friend replied, “Yes I believe you. But it’s getting dark and I don’t want to get my clothes dirty. Let’s go eat something.”
The rich man spoke to the second man, “Friend, dig here and you will find buried treasure. Take the treasure for yourself! Do you believe me?”
His friend replied, “Yes I believe you that there is buried treasure here. Give me a shovel!”
So he took the rich man’s shovel and began to dig. He dug for hours without stopping. His hands got blistered, his clothes got dirty, and he grew tired and hungry. But he kept at it until he found the buried treasure.
Which of the rich man’s friends truly believed his words?
Isn’t it the second man who took action? So also after you have believed in Jesus, you need to act like you believe and not just simply say you believe. Examine your own life to see if you truly believe.
Read James 2 in the Bible.
Learn more about Faith vs Works and Is it possible to lose salvation?
See other false teachings Christians should avoid.