A group of pastors and Bible scholars put out a documentary film that seeks to disprove Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS). In one part of the video, Drs. Michael Brown and David Bercot, along with Pastors Joe Schimmel and Zac Poonen, say that 1 John 1:9 proves that OSAS is false. See here from 56:12 to 57:19.
They fail to explain why being out of fellowship with God means that one has lost his salvation. Their reasoning, though unstated, seems to be this:
Major Premise: Only people in fellowship with God are saved.
Minor Premise: 1 John 1:9 says that if a believer fails to confess his sins, he’s out of fellowship with God.
Conclusion: 1 John 1:9 teaches that salvation is lost every time a believer fails to confess his sins.
But read 1 John 1:9 again. It doesn’t say anything about regeneration, salvation, justification, or eternal condemnation.
The issues in 1 John 1:9 are forgiveness and cleansing. Those are fellowship issues, not eternal destiny issues.
However, Pastor Joe Schimmel contradicts his colleagues, possibly because he realizes how harsh this sounds. One unconfessed sin, and a person loses his salvation? Not according to Pastor Schimmel. He said this:
“You must continue to confess your sins. Now if we die and there’s one sin unconfessed, well, guess what? We’re branches in the vine. Falling short of the Lord’s glory doesn’t sever us from the vine. It’s apostasy that severs us from the vine. That’s a continual rebellion against God” (see 57:19 to 57:37).
Schimmel says that one unconfessed sin won’t sever you from the vine. What, then, does 1 John 1:9 mean? And why did the other scholars and pastors say that 1 John 1:9 disproves OSAS?
Schimmel is wrong that apostasy causes loss of salvation. And his definition of apostasy is wrong. He said, “Apostasy…is a continual rebellion against God.” No. Apostasy is a falling away from faith. One need not rebel against God continually for a long time. Apostasy occurs the moment one ceases to believe a fundamental truth of Scripture.
All the Lord’s “never” promises in John’s Gospel and the rest of Scripture show that even continual rebellion against God cannot separate a believer from God’s life in him. The believer will never perish (John 3:16), never thirst (John 4:10-14; 6:35), never hunger (John 6:35), never be cast out (John 6:37), and never die spiritually (John 11:26a).
Conclusion: 1 John 1:9 does not contradict OSAS. Nor does 2 Pet 1:9 (cleansing of past sins) or Jas 5:19-20 (turning a believer who has strayed back to the Lord to save him from physical death). It is a terrible mistake to confuse forgiveness and eternal security.
Of course, some–or even all–of these men may have believed the promise of everlasting life in the past. If so, they remain saved even though today they no longer believe that John 3:16 is true. OSAS is good news. Don’t you agree?
Keep grace in focus!
