Once Saved, Always Saved?

● The adherents of certain religions are frequently heard to say: “Once saved, always saved.” By this they mean that having once declared their belief in Christ they cannot backslide or fall away from salvation. But this just is not so. If it were, the apostle Paul would not have written to the brothers in Corinth: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”—2 Cor. 11:3, 14.

●Nor, if backsliding were impossible, would he have told the congregation at Ephesus: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Nor, if it were impossible to fall away from salvation, would he have told those who were spiritually inclined among the Galatians to consider themselves “lest thou also be tempted.”—Acts 20:29, 30; Gal. 6:1.

●What do these things mean to the Christian? That he must continually check his faith, by testing it to see that it is accurate and by proving it by God’s Word; then he must live up to God’s requirements and contend for the faith, so as not to be like those of the ancient Israelites, whom God saved out of Egypt, but later destroyed because they “believed not.”—Jude 5.