Prominent Religious Doctrines:
“Can A Child Of God Sin And Be Lost In Hell?”

One doctrine that continues to thrive in religious circles is the doctrine of the impossibility of apostasy, or the doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” Some call it “once in grace, always in grace.” The doctrine many today espouse says that once one is saved, he or she can never be lost in Hell. Is this a true doctrine? Is this taught in the Bible? Let me suggest that this doctrine has its roots in Calvinism. It is the logical conclusion to the doctrine that says man is born a sinner. We discussed this in an earlier article and found that doctrine to be without foundation and false. Therefore, the doctrine of the impossibility of apostasy must also be false. One is founded upon the other. When one doctrine falls, the other must fall as well. Seeing that God never taught that man was born a sinner, we can know that one who is a child of God does not have his “ticket punched,” as it were; thus guaranteeing that he or she can not ultimately be lost in Hell after becoming a child of God. Please do not accept or reject this merely because I said it. Let us consider what the Bible says about this subject.

Paul Said A Child Of God Can Fall From Grace.

Please read Paul’s words in Galatians 5:4. “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Isn’t this straight-forward? The Galatians had been guilty of trying to keep the Old Testament law (Law of Moses). Some Judaizing teachers had been saying that they had to keep the Law of Moses as well as the law of Christ. This was false. Paul told them if they went back to that “yoke of bondage” it makes Christ “profit you nothing” (Gal. 5:1-2). Therefore, there was something that could cause children of God to fall from grace! Further, consider 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.” The apostle Paul himself said he needed to discipline his body unless he became a “castaway” (“disqualified,” NKJ, NAS) after preaching the truth to so many. To be a “castaway” is to be “rejected ... worthless ... reprobate” (Strong’s). Therefore, we know Paul was concerned about his eternal destiny, as we should be concerned about ours!

Further Proof That A Child Of God Can Be Lost

In Hebrews 3:12, we read, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” To whom is he talking? To the brethren. Specifically, “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1)! These “holy brethren” needed to “take heed” lest they departed from the living God. It is important for us to remember that one cannot depart from God unless he first has a relationship with Him. This same idea is seen in I Timothy 4:1-2. Therefore, the “holy brethren” were warned against leaving God after having been in a relationship with Him. Also study Hebrews 12:15-16. Paul said some of the Christians he knew about were in danger of casting “off their first faith” (I Tim. 5:12). In fact, “Some,” he said, “are already turned aside after Satan” (I Tim. 5:15). Who were these people? They were children of God! Specifically, young Christian ladies who had been widowed and then did not live as they were supposed to, i.e., getting remarried, raising a family, etc. (I Tim. 5:11-15). Peter ended his second epistle by saying, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness” (II Pet. 3:17). I don’t know of words any clearer than this! Peter says beware!!

Is There Hope For Us?