To a King James Only Legalist:  

Many words and phrases have colored meanings due to the perspective of the person's stance concerning other doctrines. The phrase "once saved, always saved" has a lot of color to it. You can see the color of it come up in the face of those who argue about it. Actually, the phrase does not exist in any version of the Bible, King James or no. The phrase does nothing in itself but provoke argument. Then why do people use the phrase? To make belief simpler? This is irrational. Only arguments proceed from such unlearned phrases. Why not rather use the "form of sound words" (2 Timothy 1:13) as taught by the Scriptures themselves? Can these forms stand modern usage and prevalent thought? I think so.

It seems a little absurd to me that someone would cling so tightly to King James wordage and so loosely to what it says. One statement you made is a perfect example of the problem in trying to put the word of God in a box. You said, "The eternal security teaching cannot consistently hold man to be a free moral agent." As I will restate several times: We should be careful not to use words or phrases not appearing in the Bible to back up our arguments. The phrase "eternal security" cannot be found in any version of the Bible; neither does, "free moral agent."  In most cases, these phrases only provoke thoughts not scriptural, much less spiritual.  I say if a thought cannot be made to conform to a doctrine spelled out in Scripture, then it is no spiritual thought but an attempt to sidetrack the thinker into fleshly thoughts. 

  If the phrase "eternal security" cannot be found in any version of the Bible, then why do people love it so?  To be sure, it has a certain ring to it.  It seems scriptural.  But I say, why not let the Bible say what it has to say?  We should mold our thoughts around the scriptures, not a “buzz phrase.”  For instance, we know the verses that speak thusly:  the Father knows His sheep and His sheep hear his voice and no one can take His sheep from His hand.  This is a Biblical thought.  We can get the doctrine of eternal security from this, but we cannot get eternal security itself unless we are the Father’s sheep. Where does the Bible teach that man is a “free moral agent?”  What does a sheep and a free moral agent have in common?  How can a man be free to pick good when he is accustomed to the evil? Jeremiah 13:23.  He thinks he does right, but his choices lead to death. Proverbs 14:12.  Taken together with the rest of the Scriptures, these passages show that man’s salvation is due directly to the sovereignty of God based on God’s election, not man’s abilities.

  Usually, the “once saved, always saved” party does not like to think of salvation as wholly God’s work and not man’s.  That is their problem.  They agree we are saved apart from works, but there is lingering doubt as to what this means. So they twist the scriptures to sound like we’re saved no matter what, once we do our initial part by coming to the Lord. Even though this has the appearance of a faith-based salvation, it leans heavily on the work of man (as small as his part is portrayed). It sounds as though once we fulfill our side of the contract, then God is obligated by our one-time only decision to abide by our contract. This is error of vast proportions.  This free moral agent stuff is at the root of the error. 

  You believe that the “once saved, always saved” crowd is wrong. They are wrong if they buy into you’re saved no matter what.  But you go too far the other way and say that a man can be saved and then lose his salvation, having once been a sheep.  Once again, the “free moral agency” doctrine is at fault here.  It can be shown from experience that free moral agents devour sheep even after they have decided to “accept Jesus into their hearts” (another non-Biblical phrase).  These are merely wolves in sheep's clothing. Yes, they have had a religious experience and believe themselves to be saved.  They talk freely about the love of God.  But they devour sheep nonetheless.  They bring damnable heresies into the fold and practice abominations worthy of death. These are not sheep. They are Christians, to be sure, but they work for the devil.

The thought that we cannot add to or subtract from the finished work of Christ is a Biblical thought. However, the thought that the believer has no obligation to the spirit (or Spirit) in order to be saved, is a devilish thought, no matter how arrived at. The Scripture is quite clear that the mind of the flesh is not subject to the will of God; neither can it be made subject to the will of God. We are obligated to the Spirit. If we are obligated to the flesh, to fulfill its desires, then we are condemned. (Rom. 8:13). If we sow to the flesh we reap corruption. If we sow to the spirit, we reap eternal life (Gal. 6.:8). It really doesn’t matter if a person can quote the King James Bible in its entirety. If he doesn’t get the message, then he will be found wanting on judgment day.

“Eternal security” is not spoken of in the Bible. However, predestination is. Paul does not treat predestination as a side doctrine. It is central to the doctrine of grace. If a person wants to defend something, defend Paul's development of grace in the light of God's predestination. The mind of the flesh cannot certainly attain to this. How are we going to express the eternal foreknowledge and sovereign will of God to the temporal mind of the flesh? It is useless (please read Romans 8:7 and 1 Corinthians 2:14 over and over until you get it). The fleshly mind cannot understand predestination, a Biblical word. So we try for something else more catchy, like “eternal security,” or “once saved, always saved, ”etc., depending on what part of the country you’re from. Let’s stick to the form of sound words as expressed by the apostles and prophets of God, whose citizenship is in heaven.

You talked about the sinner as being dead in trespasses and sins, and you maintain that belief is impossible by a dead man. We might as well add, nothing is possible by a dead man, not even sin.  No point is made there. The so-called dead walking around us are not dead, but very alive. They are alive to experience pain, sorrow and death. They also experience God’s goodness when they eat, drink, and are merry. They, however, despise the grace of God and twist his love to their own lusts. This is what dead in trespasses and sins means. Their future is death and destruction. It would have been better for them never to have been born.  Mark 14:21.

They may be moral agents, whatever that means, but they are not free moral agents. They are certainly dead when it comes to choosing good. The false gospels make men think that by deciding this or that they can be saved. Then they are assured they have eternal security because of something they decided to do. John 1:13 tells us different. Romans 9:16 totally agrees with John. 

The problem arises when a person foolishly asks, “Can a believer lose his salvation at any point?” You would argue that he could, because the Scriptures are loaded with verses warning against disbelief and its consequences, especially to those who knew the way of righteousness and turned from it (1 Peter 2:21).  But the question is foolish. It assumes that there is a salvation based on something else besides belief. A believer believes.  If at some point he stops believing, then he has not obtained that for which he hoped.  He is no longer a believer. According to modern Christianity, making a decision for Christ eternally saved this person, and there is now only certain heaven awaiting him no matter what, even if he stops believing. You are right, this is not found in the Bible. A believer who no longer believes is a concept that belongs to theologians in mental wards.

Do the chosen, the elect, ever disbelieve? Yes. It is called sin and the believer turns from it by the sovereign grace of God. He may believe that his salvation is based on something he did in the past.  He may then do something that goes against that. He may then believe he is eternally damned. This is so common it hurts.  In other words, his belief system is challenged by reality. If he is God’s, he will eventually get it straight and quit trusting in past events and get on with his faith in Christ.  All too often, however, this is not the case and the “believer” stops believing in his only hope and is left desolate.  This only goes to show he was never God’s in the first place, no matter how genuine his belief appeared to be. Something came between him and God, thus proving Romans 8:28 is only for those called according to His purpose.

  I believe that you are trying very hard to be a Christian. I commend you for this. The kingdom of heaven is not given to slackers, but is fought over. The fight is faith. As much as you may think you are outfitted for battle, you can never win against the Goliaths out there. You may tend to think its all up to you whether you believe or don’t. You probably really do not know how much protection God keeps around you regardless of your present faith level, or you wouldn't be so flippant about how it's Him, not you, doing the work; while all the time maintaining your legalistic stance. 

Where then does the will of man come in? If the Bible was not written to work on the will of man, then there is no purpose for it at all.  We are told to obey; we resist and disobey. However, that’s about as far as the will of unregenerate man goes. John 3:13 says the children of God were born “not by the will of man.” 2 Peter 1:21 says that scriptural prophecies cannot be individually interpreted because they came “not by the will of man.” Until a man is born again from above, he has no will to do God’s will. It may seem monstrous to you, but the elect of God were chosen to listen to the gospel, chosen to believe the gospel, chosen to repent. The eternally damned do not care about God and His ways, even though they know more about how to be saved than ten Billy Grahams.  The chosen, however, hear the word and do it. They have been made alive with Christ.

Which brings up grace. As big as you make your box to put God in, His grace will always be so much bigger than that box. It is His preeminence that saves us or destroys us. Who are we to answer against this? He has shut up all in disobedience (Rom. 3:9) that He might show mercy to all (Rom. 11:32). “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

So be careful about judging another man's servant just because of some stupid doctrine he holds. I appreciate your willingness to argue for the truth, which is very necessary. But watch this:

According to you, Annanias and Sapphira were doomed to eternal destruction because they lied to the Holy Spirit. I do not presume to know about their whereabouts.  Have you ever lied?  To whom were you lying?  Go ahead and justify yourself by saying that you have never lied to the Holy Spirit - watch it, there. The Holy Spirit is everywhere, listening to your lies and mine. If we say we only lie to man, then to whom were Annanias and Sapphira lying? They assumed that lying to man was O.K. Peter taught us different.

Your treatment of the prodigal son is perfect, if you'll hear it. A man who was dead and lost recovered himself from that death how?  Did he sort through all his available options and pick the best? He had already done that and failed miserably. No, he "came to his senses." I don't know how he did that. Maybe there is some sort of mental vitamin in hog slop. The father is this story does not know the condition of his wandering son. But God knows all about the condition of the dead and lost. He is the One behind the scenes, moving all things for our good. Like the father in the story, God rejoices when one of His children come home, but He also hates to see one envious, jealous and self-absorbed in his own righteous standing. 

I am very glad that my salvation comes from God and not me. I am confident you also believe this. I make choices for and against God all day long. I do not place my faith in my choices or in my performance. Our Father chastens me, as He does you, when He feels like it. I thank Him for it. Only by His sovereign grace I am not an adulterer, a murderer, a homosexual or a drug addict. I may not be a person you would like. Maybe I don't speak with the right accent. Maybe I'm too unrefined. Maybe I don’t shave every day or cut my hair the way you like it. Am I condemned because you don’t like my preaching style? I think not.

Again, let God out of His box. It ain't His box, it’s yours. You put Him there, and if you look real close, He isn't in there anyway. 

- Chris Simonson

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