TABLE OF CONTENTS
Gospel of Matthew VS Once Saved Always Saved
The gospel of Hebrews is written by the apostle Matthew primarily to Jewish believers and it is the gospel that draws the most references to the Old Testament. Additionally, this gospel has also scriptures that go against the false doctrine of “Once Saved Always Saved”.
In this post, I am simply going to quickly display these verses out for you with some personal comments. To the OSAS brothers, if you find some good argument that can be used to argue against these scriptures, please don’t hesitate to comment and if it adds to our knowledge, I will be glad to add the argument and the response to the article.
Losing Saltiness
In the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5, the Lord Jesus Christ starts with the beatitudes and then goes on to talk about His true followers being the Light of the world and the salt of the earth.
Let’s look at the passage from verse 9 to 16:
Matthew 5:9-16 (KJV)
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: (Jesus is oviously speaking about people who are “saved“): for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
13 Ye are the salt of the earth (true believers are likened to salt): but IF the salt have lost his savour (whatever identifies salt as salt can be lost), wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out (it becomes useless and to be cast out), and to be trodden under foot of men. (I hope we agree that something that is good for nothing and trodden under foot of men will not be glorified and saved)
14 Ye are the light of the world (true believers are now likened to the light of the world). A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
The Lord Jesus likens true saved believers to salt. Now salt has characteristics that make it salt, some mention its savour or its function as a preservative as something Jesus meant. Whatever it is, it is something that can clearly be lost according to verse 13. If then the characteristic of the salt is lost, this salt then becomes good for nothing except to be cast out. That is losing salvation. How can a saved person be good for nothing, be cast out, be trodden under foot of men and still be saved?
I wonder how our brothers from the OSAS camp would interpret this passage. Please feel free to add a comment. The point is not to argue but to discuss. I think the most OSAS believers can do is render the passage meaningless or say it is just a metaphor. There is no way around it.
Depart from Me Ye Workers of Iniquity
In chapter 7, Jesus speaks about people who will call Him Lord, Lord but who will not do the will of His Father.
Let’s look at the passage.
Matthew 7:21-23 (KJV)
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter (not all who profess His name will enter) into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father (but those who also DO the will of the Father, what’s the Will of the Father? to Believe on His Son and obey Him) which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? (isn’t it amazing that these works are gifts of the Spirit? This suggest they had it. Remember Jesus says that we can’t cast out devils except by the Spirit)
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work INIQUITY. (so we can do great works and if we don’t depart from iniquity, we will not enter)
OSAS Objection: these believers are not really born again, He “never” knew them
I heard some OSAS brothers say that this is not talking about true born-again believers. According to them, the word “never” as Jesus said in verse 23 proves they were never born again.
If we read this passage without bias, there would not have been that much emphasis on the word “never”. This is obviously pushing too much on one word to render the whole passage about believers who never had the Spirit. I personally always felt that by using the expression “I never knew you”, Jesus was vehemently disowning and denying those who are disobedient to the Father.
But let’s suppose that He really means He NEVER knew them. If one is going to say this means they never had the Spirit, then one also has to say this: one knows God and God knows them AS SOON AS they are born again. I don’t believe that to be the case when we talk about KNOWING GOD.
According to the scriptures, really knowing God is more than being born again. When we are born again, we start to get to know Him. But it takes CONTINUING IN JESUS WORDS and ABIDING IN HIM to really know Him and know the Truth.
Let’s look at some verses:
John 8:31-32
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed (talking to Jews who believed) on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32 And ye shall know the truth, (who are the ones who shall know the truth? it is the ones who believed and continued in His word) and the truth shall make you free.
John 10:26-27
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (Jesus knows His sheep who believe, hear Him and Follow Him)
Jesus knows His sheep. These sheep are not just the Christians who believe but who also HEAR HIM and FOLLOW HIM. That is not a one-time thing. That is CONTINUING in His words and DOING them.
So to go back to my response, when Jesus says “I never knew you”, that doesn’t mean that these believers were never born again. It means that they were born again but that they never really walked with Him, continued with Him. They were never really hearing His voice and never followed Him. They didn’t abide in Him and they did not continue in His words. That is why they will be cut off from the vine (read John 15:1-6).
Believers who Endure until the End will be Saved
There are two verses in the book of Matthew that say the same thing.
Here they are:
Matthew 10:22 – And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 24:13 – But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Who shall be saved? the believers who will endure until the end.
To the OSAS brothers who say this is only applying to the great tribulation, I already answered this objection in another article: we are not a special breed of believers that don’t have to endure until the end. God is not a respecter of persons. The new testament church was martyred for their faith, we have to be willing to be martyred if that is what it takes and at the great tribulation it will be the same.
Conclusion
My friend, did this article convince you? Can you truly say that we only need to believe inside and that is all it takes to be saved? Believing in something takes more than just words or thoughts. As the saying goes, we have to “put our money where our mouth is”. If you don’t believe this, maybe reading Hebrews 11 will help you see that people who had real faith had actions that proved their faith. That is the true saving faith.
We cannot say we believe, deny Jesus by our works and say that we are still saved. Jesus said if we deny Him, He will certainly deny us. If you believe in “Once Saved Always Saved”, I plead with you dear brother, go back to the scriptures and read them one book at a time. Try to get rid of the bias of learned doctrine, don’t trust any man, don’t trust me, just search the truth for yourself.
May the Lord help you endure in faith until the end and may God’s works continue in you!