Why the Final Perseverance of the Saints Is NOT Once Saved Always Saved

And How FPS Dilutes the Gospel of Grace

I hold to Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS). Put simply, that means (or ought to mean) that a saved person can do nothing to lose their salvation. Or to put it more pointedly, OSAS teaches that salvation, once received, is irrevocable regardless of future actions or beliefs. To make this personal, I trusted Christ when I was six years old. I was saved the very moment I placed my faith in Him. So from that moment on, I was safe and secure in Jesus’s hand, and absolutely no one can or will ever snatch me from Him (John 10:27-29).

Now there are plenty of reasons we can argue that OSAS is false. I think all of those reasons fail, and I’ve talked about a few of those in previous posts. But a potentially more serious problem for an OSAS advocate like myself is that there are actually two versions of OSAS, and they are not the same thing!

OSAS vs FPS

In my experience, most people who claim to hold to OSAS actually hold to a doctrine explicitly taught by Calvinists called the Final Perseverance of the Saints (FPS). On this doctrine, it’s true that once you are saved, you can’t lose that salvation. But FPS goes on to say that once you are saved, it is impossible to fall away from the faith. The Holy Spirit guarantees to keep you in some sort of a state of faith and/or good works.

There are different versions of this doctrine — some stronger, some weaker. Stronger versions of FPS hold that no degree of backsliding is possible. The “true” Christian always makes forward progress in their spiritual lives. There may be, or indeed there will be, moments of sin (after all, we have not yet arrived (Phil 3:12-14)), but on the whole, the trend will always be towards greater spiritual growth. This particular version is more common among committed five point Calvinists and is a logical result of their underlying system, the essence of which is that you weren’t saved because you believe, but rather you believe because you’re saved. If God saved you and gave you faith, does it make sense for Him to ever withdraw that faith from the person He has chosen?

There’s also a weaker version of FPS, which allows for very serious times of backsliding. Whereas on the strong version, a person who renounces their faith completely or falls into serious sin is regarded to have never been saved to begin with, a more moderate FPS says that there can be seasons of spiritual darkness in the believer’s life. We can become confused, engage in serious sin, and even have serious doubts about Jesus. Such people are still saved, but this version of FPS guarantees that, at least at some point, if one is truly saved, the Holy Spirit will renew them to repentance. This moderate version is more palatable and consistent with real Christians’ experiences. It’s also more hopeful, because we can hold the belief that loved ones who have strayed from the faith will come back “someday.”

But therein lies the problem with both the strong and the moderate forms of FPS. If it is true, then there is just no reasonable way to have assurance that we are truly saved. The reason for this is evident enough. If all true believers will persevere until the end, but if some people (despite truly believing they were a true believer!) fall away and demonstrate their faith wasn’t genuine, then there is no way to know that my faith is genuine. I don’t know the future. I can only say that if I’m a genuine believer then I know I will persevere. But I can’t know that I’m a genuine believer! My future apostasy (or failing to return after some future apostasy) may prove that my current belief is just self-deception. Jesus describes just such people in Luke 8:13-14. Some people believe — or, on FPS, appear to believe — but after a time fall away. Nothing in my current beliefs or experiences can prove that I’m not of those who might fall away, since any future falling away would just negate all of my current “evidence” as mere self-deception.

No Americano Gospel, Please

For you non-coffee aficionados out there, an Americano is just a shot (or two) of espresso with hot water added. We can be a bit snarky and call it a watered down espresso. (Not judgment, by the way. I take my coffee black, but straight espresso is too strong for me. I do like an Americano, though!) My worry is that FPS is the the Americano version of OSAS. Let me explain.

OSAS says bluntly that nothing I do earned my salvation, so nothing I do can lose it. In other words, the gospel says that salvation isn’t a matter of my behavior. It’s only a matter of Jesus’s behavior! If we take that seriously, though, then we have to admit that our bad behavior, even our worst behavior, doesn’t rule out salvation. Bad people — really bad people — are still saved, so long as they trusted Christ at some point.

That’s just too strong for some people who want to claim OSAS. So they water it down. They say, “OSAS is true, but if you’ve truly believed, the Holy Spirit just won’t let you do this or that bad thing.” Now they get to say the same thing as conditionalists. You see a person in really bad sin or who has fallen from the faith? Surely they can’t truly be saved! Those people aren’t one of “us.” But they get to say they believe in OSAS.

The practical difference is non-existent. If serious sin causes me to lose my salvation, or if it proves I was never saved to begin with, the bottom line is the same: if you want to know you’re going to heaven, you can’t commit serious sin. (Feel free to debate what constitutes “serious sin”).

As for me, I’ll take my gospel straight. I think Jesus told the truth that all believers have everlasting life (John 3:15; 6:47) and that such life just cannot be lost (John 10:27-29). I’d go further and say that anything less than straight gospel is just no gospel at all. FPS turns the bold espresso of grace into a diluted brew, blending salvation with performance. But as Paul says, grace mixed with works is just no longer grace (Rom. 11:6).

Of course, both strong and moderate FPS advocates believe they have good, biblical reasons to think their interpretation of Scripture is true. So over the next few posts, I plan on addressing some of their primary arguments. Make sure to subscribe for an analysis passages like Matt. 24:13, Phil. 1:6, 1 John 2:19, and Heb. 6:4-6, all of which were, my own days as a moderate FPS advocate, some of the strongest prooftexts for me. I’ve got a latte to say about those. If you have a favorite passage that you think supports FPS, ex-presso yourself in the comments! If you’ve made it this far, brew you definitely handle the truth.

Okay, I’ll stop now. I’m running out of steam!