Volume  3    Issue   30   June 1st, 2003

A publication of the:
Butler church of Christ

Our meeting location is:
201 5th Ave.
Butler, PA 16001
724-287-0628 (building) / 724-282-9417 (home/office)

Assembling Times:
Sunday Bible Class - 9:30 AM
Sunday Worship – 10:30 AM
Wednesday Bible Class – 7:00 PM
 

Editor / Preacher –
Brian A. Yeager
 

Check out the web site:

http://www.wordsoftruth.net

    It is often taught by Calvinists that a Christian, once saved, cannot fall away.  It should be stated at the onset of this brief article that followers of the doctrine of John Calvin are not Christians, thus it is true that a Calvinist cannot become apostate Christians because they were never Christians to begin with.  However, the ideas of John Calvin have at times fallen into the church and Christians have been infected with this doctrine in feeling overly secure of their salvation.  The Bible is very clear that once you become a Christian you must remain faithful to have the reward of Heaven (Revelation 2:10).  The Bible is also clear that a Christian can fall away.

    Notice just a few of the passages the Bible records on this subject matter: (I Corinthians 10:12) “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”  (I Corinthians 9:27) “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”  (Galatians 5:4) “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”  (I Timothy 1:19-20) “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”  (II Peter 2:20-22) “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”

    When the Apostle John wrote to the “Seven Churches of Asia” five of them were falling away (Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea).  They were told to repent, not because they were right, but because they would perish if they did not (Luke 13:3; 5).  When anyone transgresses the law of Christ they commit sin (I John 3:4).  The wages [earnings] of sin is death for all men (Romans 6:23).  One cannot simply overlook all of the clear passages in the Bible concerning apostasy and hold that a child of God cannot fall away.

    Jesus illustrated apostasy in His Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11ff.).  He did not do so because Christians could not fall away, but He did use this parable to illustrate how one could return after their departure from the Father.  The Bible is clear that we will reap what we sow: (Galatians 6:7-8) “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”  The only reason a Christian would try to argue Calvin’s point of “Once Saved Always Saved” is to justify progressing sin in their lives.  The ultimate question to be posed is: are you an apostate?
 

Quick Notes

Those In Need of Our Prayers:
Joan Croyle, Marie Glunt (a friend of the Papp’s who is suffering from cancer), and Julie Rado (a friend of the Graham’s who has been diagnosed with breast cancer).