Is once saved, always saved biblical?

Response

Once a person is saved, are they always saved? Yes, when individuals come to acknowledge Christ as their Savior, they are ushered into a relationship with God that ensures their salvation as eternally secure. To clarify, salvation encompasses more than uttering a prayer or “making a decision” for Christ; salvation is a divine act of God in which an unregenerate sinner is cleansed, transformed, and reborn by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3;Titus 3:5). Upon experiencing salvation, God grants the forgiven sinner a new heart and instills a new spirit within them “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”, (Ezekiel 36:26). The Spirit will lead the saved individual to live in accordance with God’s Word (Ezekiel 36:26-27;James 2:26). Numerous Bible passages affirm that salvation, as an act of God, is secure:

(a) Romans 8:30 proclaims, “And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” This verse indicates that once God selects us, it is as though we are already glorified in His presence in heaven. Nothing can hinder a believer from eventually being glorified because God has ordained it in heaven. Once a person is justified, their salvation is assured— they are as secure as if they are already glorified in heaven.

(b) Paul poses two critical questions in Roman

8:33-34 “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? No one will, because Christ is our advocate. Who will condemn us? No one will, because Christ, the One who died for us, is the one who condemns. We have both the advocate and judge as our Savior.

(c) Believers are born again (regenerated) when they believe (John 3:3; Titus 3:5). For a Christian to lose his salvation, he would have to be un-regenerated. The Bible gives no evidence that the new birth can be taken away.

(d) The Holy Spirit indwells all believers (John 14:17; Romans 8:9) and baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ «For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. », (1 Corinthians 12:13). For a believer to become unsaved, he would have to be “un-indwelt” and detached from the Body of Christ.

(e) John 3:15 states that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will “have eternal life.” If you believe in Christ today and have eternal life, but lose it tomorrow, then it was never “eternal” at all. Hence, if you lose your salvation, the promises of eternal life in the Bible would be in error.

(f) In a conclusive argument, Scripture says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Remember, the God who saved you is also the God who will preserve you. Once we are saved, our salvation remains secure for eternity!