The simple answer is: NO.

The longer answer: No. Someone who has truly come into a saving relationship with Jesus cannot lose her or his salvation, because they did nothing to earn it. Salvation was accomplished for us on the cross by Jesus and then offered to us as a gift (2 Corinthians 5:21). We simply responded to the free gift of God in faith. Ephesians 2:7-10 points out that even faith itself is a gift so we don’t think we somehow have a better “faith chooser” than someone else. I Peter 1:5 points out that God Himself guards our salvation. Ephesians 1:13-14 says that God gives us the Holy Spirit (God Himself) as a guarantee of our salvation.

The words “once saved/always saved” are sometimes used by people licentiously. These want to pray for salvation and, afterward, live according to their own desires while maintaining some kind of assurance that their ticket for heaven is punched. That attitude does not fit someone who has had a true encounter with Jesus Christ through the Gospel. The get-saved-and-go-my-own-way lifestyle is not the Biblical pattern we see of any follower of Jesus. The grace that saves a person is also the grace that is effective enough to begin transforming them to have the character of Jesus (the theological term for this is sanctification).

This idea that grace works is seen in another doctrine the Church has called the perseverance of the saints. This means that:

• Those who are truly in Christ will endure in their faith in Him. (John 10:26–30; 2 Timothy 4:2-4; Mark 13:13 )
• We will display obedience which is evident of the inner working of God in our hearts. (Galatians 5:19-21; John 8:31; 2 Timothy 2:19; Philippians 2:12,13)
• True followers of Jesus will not remain in a permanent state of rebellion against God (l John 2:19; 2 Timothy 2:11-13)

See also Romans 8:28-30, Jude 24-25, Philippians 1:6; l Thessalonians 5:23-24

Today, you can rejoice in the fact that God holds you in His hands and is working in you to conform you to Jesus Christ’s image until the day you cross the finish line.

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