The Raging Debate... 
 

      Many Catholics, perhaps, know little about the “once saved, always saved” debate that rages among sincere Protestants, usually of the Evangelical type.  Here in the American South, there’s a good chance though that you’ve run across it by being “witnessed to” by some eager soul concerned for you, bound as you are in the darkness of that medieval monster called Roman Catholicism!  These are most often well-intentioned people; but good intentions are not sufficient, necessarily, for clear thinking and a real openness to what the Christian Faith has taught for two thousand years.

      I was amazed when I did a web search on this topic, amazed at the shrillness of the debate among Evangelicals, pro and con, concerning this “doctrine” which claims that once someone has made an act of faith in Christ – usually qualified by the words “as your personal Lord and Savior” – his or her eternal salvation is absolutely assured and that no matter what happens after that, no matter what sins one commits, one has what is called “eternal security.” 

      The debate rages, as I said, but one has to wonder why, since the Bible, the only religious authority for Evangelicals, is quite clear on this point:  in the light of Scripture, read and pondered with honesty, there is not a shred of evidence for this fanciful idea of “once saved, always saved”; it was invented, whole-cloth, out of Martin Luther’s torture at the thought of dying and going to hell.  Seeking some kind of relief from the threat of eternal damnation, Luther, who like us all was struggling against sin, came up with this new doctrine.  His psychological need for it was answered by a “theological” view, a new “doctrine.”

      I’ve read a number of biographies of Luther, and over time developed a kind of sympathy for him, wayward as he was.  The thing that stands out is, it seems to me, Luther’s unhealthy concentration on his performance (or the lack thereof) rather than a grateful – and even cheerful – understanding of repentance. He had despaired of the efficacy of the Sacraments, particularly the Sacrament of Penance (confession), the sincere use of which entails a growth – for most of us a slow but steady process – in God’s grace.  And this drove him, naturally, to seek consolation elsewhere:  that is, in his new doctrine of “eternal security,” guaranteed to the one who has made an act of faith in Christ. "Be a sinner and sin boldly,” Luther exhorted his followers, “but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world.  As long as we are here in this world we have to sin.  This life is not a dwelling place of righteousness.”  Quite a bold statement, but again, it flies in the face of Scripture and contradicts such biblical injunctions as “Go, and sin no more,” a command given by Christ Himself to the woman caught in adultery. 

      The question then is, both for Luther and for present-day Evangelicals who hold to his teaching on this issue, not whether first and foremost this “doctrine” consoles one, but rather whether it is true.  The Bible, specifically the New Testament, says no, as do two millennia of Christian, Catholic Tradition. 

      The motive behind this notion of “once saved, always saved” is a desire for consolation and assurance – not a bad motive in and of itself – but as pointed out by the Catholic Church and by more and more Evangelicals, it is a seeking for something that is not there.  What is missing from the non-Catholic Christian’s experience is the very consolation offered by Christ through the Sacraments of His Church.  The average, practicing Catholic, though certainly concerned about the state of his soul, is not traumatized by not believing in this strange and unbiblical idea of “once saved, always saved,” except in the sense that Catholics hold to this idea as a description of heaven.  The Catholic knows that his eternal security is assured him through, as the Scriptures put it, “abiding in Christ,” remaining in Him, as He Himself urged:  “Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” And then comes the warning that our Lord gives, so incompatible with this idea of “once saved, always saved” – “If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.” (John 15).  The means for abiding in Christ, remaining in Him, is, of course, faith, hope and love; but those virtues from God are given, protected and fostered in and through the Body of Christ, His Church, of which He is the Head; these virtues are given in the sacramental life of His Body.  The whole purpose of the Sacraments is to unite us to Christ (beginning with Baptism) and keep us united to Him.

      The real danger behind this “once saved, always saved” teaching, a point that would surprise and dismay the Evangelicals who hold to it, is that in a truly sinister fashion it actually detracts from faith in Christ.  I saw this clearly when I was dealing with the issue with the college students at the Catholic Center.  We were looking at this bold, Evangelical claim on one of their websites, where the writer asked, “Can a true Christian fall from grace?”  This is an oblique reference to St. Paul’s words to the Galatian Christians, rebuking them for turning back to the Old Covenant and abandoning the Gospel:  “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). The first thing I pointed out to the students was that St. Paul, to the Galatians, never made a distinction between “true” and “false” Christians; the Apostle’s warning is addressed to Christians on the verge of losing their faith.  Secondly, this writer on this website never really answered his own question, but went on to argue that “grace” and “salvation” are two separate things, implying then, that, yes, one can fall from grace (St. Paul clearly says so), but that does not mean one loses his salvation:  a very bold claim to make, since that means, contrary to another Protestant “doctrine” (sola gratia – by grace alone), that one is then saved apart from grace.  But it gets worse, much worse.  St. Paul in this very passage equates “fallen from grace” with “severed from Christ” (“severed” being a possibility only if there was once a union); and so the Evangelical is making the ludicrous claim that a Christian can be saved apart from Christ! 

      And so it goes when looking for consolation in the wrong places!  The genuine consolation we desire is only found in the Truth, that is, in Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life.  Our sacramental life as Catholics is our means of adherence to Him, out of whose wounded side flowed blood and water, signs of His grace, flowing to us in His Body, the Church.  Christ, then, is our eternal security, as we abide in Him.