Once Saved, Always Saved — What Does it Mean?

The Distortion of Eternal Security

In 2009, a gunman ran into a Pittsburgh health club, killed three people and injured nine, then took his own life. A deacon from his church said the gunman was still going to heaven. The Bible makes it clear, he said, that professing a faith in Jesus as Savior means eternal salvation.

He said his church members are firm believers in once saved, always saved. Is that what that means? That as long as there was a point in your life you were a believer, you could go on a shooting rampage and you still get to go to heaven?

What Eternal Security Does and Does Not Mean

No matter what you do, you're still saved? No, that is a distortion of the doctrine of eternal security. It is by grace that we are saved through faith, not of works. But works still matter. The Apostle John wrote, Paul said that it's the gospel message, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

So if you don't remain in the faith, your moment of belief was just to satisfy some self-serving desire. You did not really worship God. Hebrews 12 says, At times we will stumble, but we have these promises, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Finishing the Race in Faith

And though we are faithless, He remains faithful. It is not enough that at one time you profess faith in Christ, you must finish the race. As Jesus said to His disciples, those who endure to the end will be saved.

When we understand the text.