Chapter I: The Danger of Falling

It’s not our purpose to speak at this time on the topic, “What Must I Do to Be Saved?” but rather upon one which is equally important, “What Must I Do to Keep Saved?” This very question implies not only the possibility, but even the danger, of one’s falling from grace. If it were not possible for one who has once been in a saved condition to fall out of it into an unsaved condition, then our topic would be entirely out of place. Furthermore, a big part of the New Testament would be of no value. A great portion is devoted to warning Christians against falling and to telling them how to keep from falling. Every warning in the New Testament addressed to Christians implies not only the possibility but also the danger of apostasy.

Simon, the sorcerer, believed and was baptized; therefore he must have been saved for Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). But after Simon had reached that condition, he endeavored to buy the gift of God with money, to whom Peter said, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” (Acts 8:20-23). Surely Simon was then lost, although he had been once saved, illustrating the fact that one can fall from grace.

Addressing the Christians at Galatia who would be saved by the law of Moses, Paul said, “Ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). Why argue about the possibility of falling from grace when such a plain statement is found in the Bible?

If any further evidence could be desired, you can find much more in the Bible to the same point. For instance, James, chapter 5, and the last two verses thereof, “Brethren, if any one of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

Save a soul from what death? Not from physical death. “It is appointed unto men once to die,” physically. In that sense everybody has to die, the good and the bad alike. The only death from which you can be saved is the second death, which means to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8). This verse says that if you save a sinner from the error of his way, you have saved him from the second death. But who are the sinners here addressed? They are members of the church. Verse 19 says, “brethren,” you people who have already been saved, “if any one of you”—one of you saved people—“do err from the truth, and someone convert him,” then he has saved his soul from eternal torment. Surely this teaches that a brother in the church, who has been saved, may so sin as to go to hell, and will go to hell if somebody doesn’t convert him.

No wonder, then, the Apostle Paul said, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Let him who thinketh he standeth—let the man who thinks that apostasy is impossible—take heed, lest he experience that which he denies. These Scriptures then are sufficient to show that there is a danger of one’s falling from grace.