Can a Child of God Fall from Grace? Part 1
PART 1
There are many people of the religious world who believe that once a person is saved, he can never do anything that would cause him to be lost. Sometimes, the doctrine is referred to as “Once Saved, Always Saved.” Religious questions should be answered by the Bible. Does the Bible teach that there is the possibility of a child of God being lost?
The Bible teaches that falling from grace is a reality—it is an irrefutable fact. Judas was an apostle selected by the Lord, and was sent out to preach the Gospel. Judas, along with the other apostles, was given miraculous power by which he could heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils (Matthew 10:1-8). Peter affirmed that Judas was “numbered” with the apostles and took part in their ministry (Acts 1:17). However, “Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place” (Acts 1:25). Question: If God had wanted to tell us in the Bible that Judas, an apostle of Christ, fell from grace and “went to his own place,” how could He have communicated that more clearly than He did? Jesus said that it would have been better if Judas had never been born (Mark 14:21). The irresistible implication is that Judas died lost!
Also, Paul affirmed the reality of falling from grace. He wrote, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). Please consider that these words were written to those who were members of “churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2); to those who had been called into the grace of Christ (Galatians 1:6); to those whom Christ had made free (Galatians 5:1). Yet, some of them had fallen from grace! Christ had “become of no effect” unto them. That means Christ had once been “effective” in their salvation, but now they had turned away from Christ and gone back into bondage (Galatians 5:1).
The Bible warns about falling from grace. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). Notice this was addressed to “brethren” who could “depart.” Therefore, these were Christians who could depart from God. Can one depart from our only source of salvation—God—and remain in a saved condition? Paul warned: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (I Corinthians 10:12). But if one can never lose his salvation, such warnings about falling have no real significance. An abundance of other passages warn about falling from grace, but these are sufficient to prove the point beyond all doubt.
If you have been taught the “Once Saved, Always Saved” doctrine, I plead with you to reject it. Nothing is taught more clearly in the Scriptures than that a child of God can fall from grace!
