Because we are in Christ, we can rest in the knowledge that our salvation is secured; if our faith is in Christ, nothing can separate us from Him. This confidence in our salvation should give rest to our anxiety and peace to our fears. Unfortunately, what should be a source of comfort and peace is twisted by many into a source of false-assurance and an excuse for spiritual laziness and sin. Historically, this abuse of the concept of Christian assurance is likely due to a misunderstanding of Calvinism and its tight-knit logic expressed by the acronym TULIP, the P of which stands for perseverance of the saints. More recently, many people have been lulled into a sense of false-assurance due to the prevalence of the slogan “once saved, always saved” combined with inadequate teaching on what it means to “be saved.”
The Nuanced View
First, it needs to be pointed out that there are those who affirm the perseverance of the saints and are also careful to explain the concept in such a way that Christians are expected to strive after holiness. One thinks of individuals such as John MacArthur, Thomas Schreiner, and Steven J. Lawson who, though they affirm that a true Christian cannot lose his salvation, likewise stress the necessity of living a life of faithfulness to God. A life characterized by unfaithfulness to God betrays a lack of faith, which means that the individual is not in a right relationship with God. A true Christian is going to pursue holiness (1 Peter 1:13-16). Such teaching avoids the excesses of the “once saved, always saved” slogan.
Misunderstanding Assurance
Having acknowledged that it is possible to affirm even Calvinistic-Perseverance and not abuse the notion, the fact is that many people who self-identify as Christians do not have such an understanding; rather, they know the slogan “once saved, always saved” and take it at face value. Slogans, by their very nature, are (overly) simple, memorable, and highly suggestive and thus can easily mislead people.
To make matters worse, many people mistakenly understand salvation as exclusively a one-time event that occurred when they were baptized or said a prayer. If such a view of salvation is held – and unfortunately it is very common – and one also believes that once salvation is attained that it cannot be lost, it is easy to see how so many self-identifying Christians live in a manner indistinguishable from the wider culture. Are they living an unrepentant life of sin? Oh well, they were “saved” in the past and that salvation cannot be lost. They haven’t attended church in years? Oh well, they were “saved” when they were younger and that salvation cannot be lost. I wish this were an exaggeration, but I believe we all know that it is not.
Deception Unto Death
This combination of salvation-as-past-event and a simplistic idea of once saved, always saved is more than just a reductionistic understanding of the Christian life; it is a deception and tool of Satan. Consider how powerful of a deception it is to have convinced so many individuals that they are secure in their salvation when in reality those individuals have no relationship with God. What better way to convince people that it doesn’t really matter what kind of life they pursue because, after all, the salvation they attained cannot be lost? Again, this is not a false fear, for I personally know many individuals who live under the delusion that they are saved because of some past event while living with no apparent concern for their current relationship with God.
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:9-10)
Do We Have Assurance?
So does a Christian have assurance at all, or must we live in constant anxiety that we may at any moment lose our salvation? No, a Christian does have assurance of salvation and we must never fail to emphasize that fact.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
If we place our faith in Christ, nothing can remove us from His salvation. As long as we have God-ward hearts, we can have confidence that God will not forsake us. Does this mean that a Christian never sins? No, even a Christian can find themselves sinning, yet we trust in God’s promise that the blood of Christ continually cleanses us (1 John 1:5-10). There is a fundamental difference between one who walks in the light of Christ, trips, and stands back up in repentance and one who walks in darkness while claiming to be a Christian. A Christian is a follower of Christ – how can we claim to be followers of Christ if we do not strive to follow His commandments?
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one 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 workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
God has promised forgiveness of sins and adoption into His family. He has promised that if we live in faith, striving for holiness and confessing our sins, the blood of Christ will continually cleanse us. He has also promised that there is no power that can separate us from Him. God cannot lie; therefore, we can have confidence in those promises and rest assured that our salvation is secure with God. This confidence will not lead a Christian to live a life of spiritual laziness, but will fuel them to strive after a life pleasing to God.
Studies in the Bible 