evolution of doctrine - kanawha valley church...evolution of doctrine once saved, always saved but i...

Evolution of Doctrine

Once Saved, Always Saved



OSAS Overview

Can someone who has

been saved lose their

salvation?



OSAS Overview

Verses for:

Ephesians 1:13-14

Philippians 1:6

John 10:27-30

John 6:37-47



OSAS Overview

Verses for:

Hebrews 10:26-31

John 15:1-5

II Timothy 2:11-13

Colossians 1:22-23 (..if..)



But I believe that even those, who have been persuaded

. . . to observe the legal dispensation along with their

confession of God in Christ, shall probably be saved. And

I hold, further, that such as have confessed and known

this man to be Christ, yet who have gone back from

some cause to the legal dispensation, and have denied

that this man is Christ, and have not repented before

death, shall by no means be saved. Further, I hold that

those of the seed of Abraham who live according to the

law, and do not believe in this Christ before death, shall

likewise not be saved . . .

–Justin Martyr, Dialogue Of Justin (A.D. 100-165)



But what if a bishop, if a deacon, if a widow, if a

virgin, if a doctor, if even a martyr, have fallen

from the rule (of faith), will heresies on that

account appear to possess the truth? Do we

prove the faith by the persons, or the persons by

the faith? No one is wise, no one is faithful, no

one excels in dignity, but the Christian; and no

one is a Christian but he who perseveres even to

the end.

-Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics

(150-220)



But the world returned unto sin; in which point

baptism would ill be compared to the deluge. And

so it is destined to fire; just as the man too is, who

after baptism renews his sins: so that this also

ought to be accepted as a sign for our

admonition.

-Tertullian, On Repentance (150-220)



Whoever is separated from the Church and is

joined to an adulteress, is separated from the

promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes

the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of

Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an

enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father,

who has not the Church for his mother. -Cyprian,

Treatises of Cyprian. Treaties (258)

•Converted in 387

•Major contributions to Original Sin,

Predestination & OSAS

•donum perseverantiae or Gift of

Perseverance or Final Grace (Mt 10:22)

•Opposed Pelagius

•Crystalized his theology

"I assert....that the perseverance by which we

persevere in Christ even to the end is the gift

of God."

The grace of God

"which both begins a man's faith and which

enables it to persevere unto the end is not

given in respect of our merits, but is given

according to His own most secret and at the

same time most righteous, wise, and

beneficent will; since those whom He

predestinated, them He also called, with that

calling of which it is said, 'The gifts and calling

of God are without repentance.' "

1. Death came from sin, not man's physical

nature.

2. Infants must be baptized to be cleansed

from original sin.

3. Justifying grace covers past sins and

helps avoid future sins.

4. The grace of Christ imparts strength and

will to act out God's commandments.

5. No good works can come without God's

grace.

6. We confess we are sinners because it is

true, not from humility.

7. The saints ask for forgiveness for their

own sins.

8. The saints also confess to be sinners

because they are.

9. Children dying without baptism are

excluded from both the Kingdom of

heaven and eternal life.

•British born ascetic moralist

•Rome in 380

•Appalled by moral laxity and blamed

AH’s “divine grace” teaching

•Known by Augustine as a “saintly man”

•Opposed original sin (Dt. 24:16),

predestination and OSAS

•Grace = God declaring law

•Man was not mortally wounded by

Adam

•Man is able to live moral life

•Celestus

•Excommunicated in 418

He instead said that "This grace we for our

part do not, as you suppose, allow to consist

merely in the law, but also in the help of God.

God helps us by His teaching and revelation,

whilst He opens the eyes of our heart; whilst

He points out to us the future, that we may not

be absorbed in the present; whilst He

discovers to us the snares of the devil; whilst

He enlightens us with the manifold and

ineffable gift of heavenly grace."

In a letter to the Pope defending

himself he stated that "This free will is

in all good works always assisted by

divine help," and in an accompanying

confession of faith, "Free-will we do

so own, as to say that we always

stand in need of God’s help,"

However, he affirmed that "We do also abhor

the blasphemy of those who say that any

impossible thing is commanded to man by God;

or that the commandments of God cannot be

performed by any one man" (which the pope

approved of upon receiving the letter), whereas

Augustine famously stated "non possum non

peccare" ("I cannot not sin").

•British born ascetic moralist

•Rome in 380

•Appalled by moral laxity and blamed

AH’s “divine grace” teaching

•Known by Augustine as a “saintly man”

•Opposed original sin (Dt. 24:16),

predestination and OSAS

•Grace = God declaring law

•Man was not mortally wounded by

Adam

•Man is able to live moral life

•Celestus

•Excommunicated in 418



•Augustine as an

exaggeration

•Limited human responsibility

and morality

•Mortal Sin (12th Century)

•Exceptions - Mary, Apostles

and Saints

Mediaeval Times



"Verse 4, "Ye are fallen from grace." That means you are

no longer in the kingdom or condition of grace. When a

person on board ship falls into the sea and is drowned it

makes no difference from which end or side of the ship he

falls into the water. Those who fall from grace perish no

matter how they go about it. ... The words, "Ye are fallen

from grace," must not be taken lightly. They are important.

To fall from grace means to lose the atonement, the

forgiveness of sins, the righteousness, liberty, and

life which Jesus has merited for us by His death and

resurrection. To lose the grace of God means to gain

the wrath and judgment of God, death, the bondage

of the devil, and everlasting condemnation."

(Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, 5:4).



Even if he would, he could not lose his salvation, however

much he sinned, unless he refused to believe. For no sin

can condemn him save unbelief alone. All other sins, so

long as the faith in God’s promise made in baptism

returns or remains, are immediately blotted out through

that same faith, or rather through the truth of God,

because he cannot deny himself if you confess him and

faithfully cling to him in his promise. But as for contrition,

confession of sins, and satisfaction,along with all those

carefully devised exercises of men: if you rely on them

and neglect this truth of God, they will suddenly fail you

and leave you more wretched than before. For whatever

is clone without faith in God’s truth is vanity of vanities

and vexation of spirit

Martin Luther on Eccles. 1:2

http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Eccles. 1.2



•Crystallized Reformed Theology

•T otal Depravity (Original Sin)

•U nconditional Election (Predestination)

•L imited Atonement

•I rresistible Grace

•P erseverance of the Saints (OSAS)



• Five Articles of Remonstrance

1. Election was conditional on foreseen

faith

2. Christ's atonement was unlimited in

extent

3. Total depravity

4. Prevenient (starts with/by) and

resistible grace

5. The possibility of apostasy.

• Split in Protestant Churches

evolution of doctrine - kanawha valley church...evolution of doctrine once saved, always saved but i...

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