Introduction
It’s unfortunate that while the Church
watched out for the more well-known errors propagated by the likes of Latter
Day Saints and Jehovah Witnesses, no less insidious teachings have stealthily
crept in into the mainstream Church, mainly directed at the youths, without
most people catching a whiff of them. The doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS)
holds that it is solely God’s responsibility to save a believer and keep him
saved. So far so good. However the
doctrine quickly EMPHASISES an adjunct statement: nothing such a believer does
or fails to do, including lifestyle choices, can ever affect his status as a
candidate for heaven. As a matter of fact, a well-respected Nigerian Bishop insisted that a
Christian bothering to confess his sins is only trying to add work to grace;
and that no one needs bother to notice or confess sins, as they are
continuously automatically cleansed the moment they are committed. They reason: Why bother to ask for forgiveness
of sins when the Bible clearly says your sins are forgiven in 1 Jhn 2:12? But these deceived souls still believe they
could, for instance, pray for healing, even though the Bible also talks about
us already being healed by His stripes (1 Pet. 2:24)!
How
exactly would this work out in practice when people’s consciences are
deliberately deadened to sin? Ironically,
it is the same Scripture that encourages us to confess our sins and receive
guaranteed forgiveness (1 Jhn 1:8) that is turned upside down, with the strange
teaching that the admonition applies only to “those who are only saved” but not
“born again.” The supposed distinction
being that it was only after the death and resurrection of Jesus that born
again saints started to be made. By this
audacious falsehood, all the Apostles, including Peter who affirmed their faith
in Jesus and confessed Him as the Son of the Living God, were NOT born
again. By this simple token also, EVERY
teaching or commandment of the Lord Jesus is summarily dismissed as irrelevant
to “Saints” or “New Creation realities”; as there were supposedly none of these
in His days. Ditto, all the admonitions
in the Epistles to be spirit-minded, to not give room for deception, etc are
adjudged irrelevant to the one who is in Christ Jesus! With probably millions
of mainly young people embracing these dangerous propositions, believing they
have come into contact with some superior “present truth” revealed to some
select end-time saints, it is clear we are living in perilous times indeed!
Apparently, the need for this destructive
carnal doctrine is rooted in people struggling endlessly with besetting sins
and addictions. Instead of counselling
such people to restitute their ways (as suggested in Gal. 6:7), they are
encouraged to live with it in good conscience.
Here is a standard counsel offered in this respect: “If you have been
taught that YOUR ADDICTION OR SINFULNESS has caused you to fall from grace, you
have been taught wrong. That is not what
the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that
you have fallen into grace. HOLD YOUR
HEAD UP, hold your hand out, receive God’s grace. You have not fallen from grace because of YOUR
ADDICTION OR SIN. You have fallen into
grace.” It’s amazing how people could be
goaded into believing such deception from the devil.
It is of course important that
Christians be assured of the validity and robustness of their salvation (1 Jhn 5:13, 1 Pet. 1:18-20). But in the same breath, we must not lose
sight of the responsibility that goes with this grace. In the words of the Apostle Paul, after being
saved freely by God’s mercy and grace, we need to show that we appreciate our
new status by walking “worthy” of it.(Eph. 4:1ff, 1 Pet 1:17). The Lord warned
that Pearls are not for pigs! (Mat. 7:6)
The nature of spiritual warfare
Clearly, a devil who has no other weapon but deceit
must do all he could to hide his identity and thus get people, if possible, to
cast off restraints and become especially vulnerable to him. (2 Cor. 11:14, 1
Pet. 5:8, Jhn 10:10)
Man remains volitional, even after salvation. Free to choose between carnal-mindedness or
spirit-mindedness; hence the copious encouragement to choose spirit-mindedness
over carnality (Rom. 8:1,4,6; Gal. 5:16,25).
Salvation is available to whosoever would believe in the Son of God, and
call on Him for salvation (Jhn 1:12, Rom 10:9-10, 13). It is totally free for
the asking, as the Lord Jesus had paid the full price from the foundation of
the world (Heb. 4:3, Rev. 13:8). Salvation, as it were, restores to Eden; but
even in Eden, before the Fall, Man was volitional (Gen. 2:16-17). There are consequences to whichever choice we
make – even after salvation (Rom 8:6, Acts 1:25).
The appeal to the lusts of the flesh, of the eye,
and the pride of life is the devil’s major arsenal. From the first Adam (Gen. 3:6) to the second
Adam (Mat 4:1-10), and definitely till today (I Jhn 2:15-16). Satan seeks to push people off the limits of
legitimate liberty and pleasure, across the thin line into the Lusts. The Bible encourages us not to make provision
(or justification etc) for the flesh and its Lusts (Rom 13:14). Rather, the devil must be resisted, by faith,
after we have fully submitted to God (Jas 4:7, I Pet 5:8-9). At the present
time, a true believer is saved from the power of sin, but not yet from the
presence of sin (Rom 6:12-14, 1 Pet. 1:17). That comes only when we see the Lord in glory
(1 Jhn 3:2-3).
Of Response, Responsibility, and
Works
Obedience, response to a free gift, is NOT works to
be boasted of. Filling the water pot to the brim with water as instructed and
drawing wine of it does not get a reasonable person boasting of having “earned”
the wine (Jhn 2:7-9). Rolling away the stone for Lazarus to come out of the
grave does not put us in the same league as the Resurrection and the Life, nor
does our “efforts” detract from the value of the miracle (Jhn 11:41-44). Same
goes for getting empty vessels from the neighbourhood to receive an endless
supply of oil from El Shaddai (2 Kings 4:3).
None of the efforts involved in these acts of simple obedience could
constitute Works to be boasted of! Not
obeying ALL that was instructed could truncate miracles though. Indeed, the
instruction might be more of God’s way of ‘screening’ out those unworthy of the
blessing – as in the case of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-24. The Lord
Jesus instructed disciples to find out one who was worthy in any city they went
to preach, and stay with such folks (Mat. 10:11-13).
Disobedience or non-responsiveness to a free gift
does not detract from the value of the gift - it only shows the intended
recipient as unworthy. Grace can be rendered vain or frustrated – either by
legalism (Gal 2:21, 5:4) or licentiousness (Jude 1:4; 2 Cor 6:1-18, Titus
2:11-12, Heb 12:14-17). In 1 Cor. 15:10,
Paul said he laboured extensively in appreciation of the grace he had
received. Yet, even that labouring (both
the willingness and the doing) was by grace (Phil. 2:13)!
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