These are questions sent to GraceLife Ministries by Internet E-Mail. We appreciate each person who sent the questions and hope our answers will be a help to many. If you would like to have a question answered for Grace Answers, please e-mail Mark McGee.

• QUESTION: My questions is: Most Baptist people believe once you are saved you are always saved. There is alot of scripture that says this is true. Is there any scripture that supports the fact that you can fall from grace? If you were once saved and then find yourself falling back into those bad habits, doing the devils work, how can you say you would go to heaven if you died; that once you fall back into sin, you have to ask for forgiveness?

• ANSWER: Once saved - always saved (also known as the security of the believer, eternal security and perseverance of the saints) is a primary doctrine of many baptists and other denominations. Losing one's salvation (falling from grace) is a primary doctrine of many other denominations. It's a life-and-death doctrine, so we must make sure we understand it. If a Christian can really lose their eternal salvation, we'd better know how we can lose it and how we can get it back.

  One of the joys of the GraceLife is understanding why and how God saves us. He saves us by His Grace and keeps us by His Grace. We start and finish in His Grace. God "gives" us a Gift. It is the "gift" of eternal life. We were "dead" in transgressions and sins when God gave us the gift of eternal salvation. We spent every minute of our lives "gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts." We were by nature "objects" of God's wrath. What saved us was not our desires, our yearnings, our wants. We didn't want God's salvation so bad that we worked for it, earned it or deserved it. We were "dead." We didn't want God. He wanted us.

  "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved."

  Ephesians 2:4-5

  God gets all the credit for our salvation. It's not something about which we can pat ourselves on the back and say how good we are to have been saved. God did it all.

  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."

  Ephesians 2:8-9

  The faith we had to believe in Christ was a gift from Him to us. God did it all. He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world. He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ. We have redemption through the blood of Christ and forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's Grace. He revealed to us the Mystery of His Will. "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." Having believed in Christ, each of us were marked in Christ with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. All of this is to the praise of God's Glory. (Ephesians 1:4-14)

  God saved us by His Grace. He sealed us with His Holy Spirit by His Grace. The Holy Spirit became part of us when God saved us. We became part of Christ when God saved us. We are "in" Christ and He is "in" us. We are inseparable.

  Paul's letter to the Romans is a wonderful example of the Truth of Eternal Security. He taught the Christians that "no one will be declared righteous" in God's sight by observing the Law. Paul taught that a righteousness from God, "apart from the law," had been made known. That righteousness from God came "through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Everyone had sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. God justified them "freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." He did it to demonstrate His justice. God is just "and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Paul then adds: "Where, then, is boasting?" Paul makes the same point with the Romans that he did with the Ephesians. "It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." (Romans 3)

  Paul gave the Romans Abraham as an example of a great patriarch of faith who was justified by faith, not by works. Abraham lived hundreds of years before God gave Moses His Law.

  "If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."

  Romans 4:2-5

  The entire letter of Romans is a reminder about the Sovereign Grace of Almighty God. God saved us because of His Love for us and by His Grace. "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, by on God's mercy." (Romans 9:16)

  Our salvation is not in our hands. It is in the Hands of God. We are part of a much higher purpose than our own existence.

  "What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

  Romans 9:22-24

  "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

  Ephesians 2:6-7

  We were the objects of God's wrath--prepared for destruction. God bore us with great patience. He put up with our lying, cheating, murdering, selfish ways for thousands of years. God demonstrated His Power through the Mercy He showed us in Christ Jesus. Even though had been prepared for destruction along with every other object of God's wrath, God had also prepared us in advance for glory.

  "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

  Ephesians 1:4

  Paul believed that God's Children of Grace, Christians, were a very special people. He believed God had called us out from among the world's population to be a special people. That calling had a purpose. That calling included security. That calling included heavenly protection.

  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 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 shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or 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 8:28-39

  Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! Now that's assurance of one's salvation.

  The Galatian Christians are examples of people who became confused about their salvation. They began in God's Grace, but were attempting to finish in their own works. Paul first preached the Gospel in the region of Galatia. However, false teachers came behind him and tried to turn these new Christians from Grace to the Law and Works. They used guilt and fear as tactics to turn the Galatians from the Gospel of Grace. They used the basics of works-preaching to draw Christians back to symbols of slavery, like circumcision. Here's some of what Paul told them about this.

  "Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!"

  Galatians 1:7-8

  "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing. You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing--if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you hear?"

  Galatians 2:19-3:5

  The answer, of course, is that God gives His Spirit to us because we believe what we hear, not because we observe the Law.

  Paul builds his argument to a crescendo of logic, then moves in for the convincing finish:

  "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you."

  Galatians 5:1-8

  What about the people who were leading the Galatians astray? "The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be." (Galatians 5:10)

  Did these Galatian Christians who were moving toward the Law lose their salvation? No. Paul never told them they were lost in transgressions and sins. He never spoke to them as lost souls. Before Paul began his remarks about what they were doing, he addressed the churches in Galatia: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Later, he wrote: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus ... So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." Paul also wrote: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Paul addressed the Galatian Christians as brothers in the Body of Christ, not as people who had been saved but lost their salvation.

  But Paul said those who were trying to be justified by Law had been alienated from Christ; they had fallen away from Grace. Doesn't that mean they lost their salvation?

  Paul is dealing with the most severe issue in a Christian's life. We are saved by Grace through faith, and that is not from ourselves. It is God's Gift to us. It is not by our works. It is not by our keeping of the Law or any other moral code. It is all of God; all of Grace.

  Paul does not hold back on this issue. "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all." Paul invokes his own name here. He is speaking as the Apostle of Grace of the Almighty God. He is not kidding around. As he told the Galatians earlier in his letter to them: "I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ." That's powerful! That's dynamic! The Galatians were fooling around with the wrong person. Paul was God's spokesperson. God told Paul and Paul told them. Simple and to the point: "if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all." The Greek reads: ean peritemnesthe Christos humas ouden ophelesei . It means that the Galatians profited nothing from their relationship with Christ if they depend on circumcision for their relationship to God. Christ comes to us in only one way: freely. A Christian cannot add anything to their salvation by adding to Christ. Christ is complete. He is Everything. Christ is all and all. How can anyone "add" to completion? How can something that's complete be made more complete? That's why Paul addressed them "You foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you?" Paul had presented Christ clearly as "crucified." He went on to ask: "After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" That's foolish. That's ridiculous. Anyone who would try that is really saying Christ is not enough. They put Christ aside and try to "add" to what God gave them freely. God won't do it. God won't add anything to Christ. Christ's death on the Cross is the finished work of God. There's not anything else anyone can do to add to that.

  False teachers had come into the region of Galatia and whipped up a firestorm of concern among the Christians. Those teachers told the Galatians that they needed to add something to Christ. They said the Christians needed circumcision and the Law. Paul reacted swiftly and decisively.

  "If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! ... Who has bewitched you? ... how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? ... Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good ... Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery ... You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough ... The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be ... As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! ... Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

  Galatians 1-6

  Paul is dealing with a fundamental principle of Grace Living. We begin with the Grace of God. We live by the Grace of God. We finish in the Grace of God. When someone tries to convince us that we need to add something to God's Grace, they "cut in" on us and keep us from obeying the Truth. What is the Truth? All we need is Grace! We will never need anything else. Trying to add something to God's Grace is disobeying God's Truth. What Christian would want to do that?

  The "value" Christ has to us is that He is Everything to us. We have nothing without Him. We are nothing without Him. He is our Beginning and our End. He is Everything between.

  The Galatians who were trying to be justified by Law had been "alienated" from Christ. The Greek reads: katergethete apo Christou hoitines en nomo dikaiousthe . "Aliented" (katergethete ) means "to render inactive, idle, useless, ineffective." That is a sad, but true, statement about Christians who try to add something to their salvation "by grace through faith." The action of adding something to something that cannot be added to brings a Christian to a position of being inactive, idle, useless, ineffective. That is the terrible story of millions of Christians today and through centuries in the past. What a waste. Christians who do not grasp the Truth of God's Grace are of little use in God's wonderful plans. Slavery does not set people free. Freedom sets people free.

  The action of a Christian trying to be justified by the Law means they "have fallen away from grace." The Greek reads: tes charitos exepesate . The Galatian Christians had "fallen out or away" from where they had begun. It's the farthest distance from the Truth a Christian can get and still be a Christian. Christ's death is of no value to their lives anymore because they've tried to add to His death; an impossible task. Their lives are useless and ineffective. They've fallen away from that which saved them: the Grace of God.

  Paul speaks in the harshest of terms because he was dealing with the worst of conditions for God's Children of Grace. He warns them about the foolishness of their actions in a strong way. Paul was serious because God was serious about what the Galatians were doing to themselves.

  Christians aren't perfect. We continue to live in the flesh until God calls us to Heaven. Sin does tempt Christians. Christians do sin. The difference is we don't have to sin. We don't have to give in to temptation. We don't have to succumb to wickedness. We don't have to enjoy sinning. We have a choice. Lost people do not have a choice. They gratify the cravings of their sinful nature and follow its desires and thoughts. They are objects of God's wrath. Paul presented the differences clearly.

  "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."

  Galatians 5:16-18

  How beautiful and understanding on God's part! He knows Christians continue to live in the flesh. He knows we battle with the sinful nature. He understands the conflict within us and that we sometimes don't do what we want to do. "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." How Gracious of God! He removed us from being under the Law when He saved us by His Grace. As Paul told the Roman Christians: "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14) Every Christian should thank God right now that He removed us from under the Law and placed us under Grace! Life is so much easier under Grace. Yes, sin will tempt us, but, no, we don't have to sin. If we do sin, we are led by the Spirit and not under Law. Law carries penalties for disobedience. Grace has no penalties. God forgave us once, at the beginning of our salvation, and we don't have to be forgiven again. We are not "under Law." We are "under Grace!"

  Christians who understand being under Grace don't want to sin. They are so full of love and thankfulness to God, they want to please Him always. They don't want to do anything to displease Him. Understanding God's Grace means we understand being "in Christ" and being "led by the Spirit." What does that do for us?

  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

  Galatians 5:22-23

  The "fruit of the Spirit" is GraceLife. It is the life God placed within us the moment we believed in Him. It is a life God gave to us to live eternally. Nothing can take that away from us. Hallelujah!

Last Updated: 12/20/1999