Quote:
Originally Posted by
Athos
"Once saved, always saved".
It doesn't stand up to a certain kind of logic, but the idea is psychologically valid. Believers will tend to live their lives accordingly. It's true that it can also be seen as a license to sin, but this is very unlikely and surely psychologically INVALID.
On a practical level, I have seen a number of born-agains whose lives have been changed for the good by the simple belief that God is ALWAYS with them no matter what they do, and that He will never abandon them.
It's a powerful belief.
‘Once saved always saved is a type of self certified-salvation-obtained-in-the-here-and-now.’ This is a delusional and presumptuous state of euphoric self-justification that simply doesn’t exist. Certitude of salvation:
“For as no pious person ought to doubt the mercy of God, the merit of Christ and the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, so each one, when he considers himself and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and apprehension concerning his own grace, since no one can know with the certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God. (The Council of Trent Session VI, January, 1547, Pope Paul III)
A salvific faith is always accompanied by hope and charity. Implied in the first half of Romans 3:28 is a faith formed in charity; a faith that moves toward God in hope – the ‘works’ of hope and charity are present in St. Paul’s understanding of justification. As to the second part of the verse “without the works of the law” St. Paul is suggesting that the ritualistic washing pots and pans will not produce faith. "Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not."(Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is a virtue of the knowledge of God’s love hoped for but not yet realized. Furthermore, a virtuous faith is formed in charity. Hope is a movement toward, or the vision of a thing not yet realized. We know that hope is forward looking, or the effects of our hope are realized in that future. Once the future object is obtained it is no longer hope, “hope that is seen, is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for?” (Roman 8:24) “
Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. iii, 10): "By charity I mean the movement of the soul towards the enjoyment of God for His own sake." Cf. John 15:15 (c. St. Thomas, II, II, 23, 1), i.e. friendship.
The nature of charity is:
“Charity is patient, is kind: charity envies not, deals not perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeks not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinks no evil: Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth: Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
As a consequence charity is required for justification: "Let all your things be done in charity." (1 Corinthians 16:14). Given these definitions of faith, hope, and charity we can conclude the following:
- If we have faith alone, we obtain justification in this life (i.e. salvation) then we don’t have a virtuous hope. Given that faith is defined as the substance of things hoped for, and without hope we cannot please God. Obviously this mode of obtaining salvation by faith alone and once-saved-always-saved becomes an absurdity as faith is always a lifelong struggle to persevere in hope and charity.
- If we have faith alone and we have obtained justification with certitude, not only is it not faith alone, it becomes a justification obtained without hope. This kind of faith is obtained in the great Divine lottery of predestination. This is another absurdity given that faith is formed without hope cannot be a realized as salvation in the here and now.
- If we have faith alone and somehow overcoming the previous objections, we are still left with an absurdity as that faith is formed in charity. And when added to ‘faith alone’ it is no longer a homogeneous salvation that saves in the here and now.
Once-saved-always-saved does indeed fail logic.
JoeT
