In his “Outlines on the New Testament,” Warren Wiersbe makes the following comment on today’s title, taken from Galatians 5:4: “’Fallen from grace’ (v 4) does not mean ‘fallen from salvation’ because such a thing is not possible.” Of course there was not a single biblical text provided to support his point because such cannot be found anywhere in the sacred text. Wiersbe is begging the question, that is, making an argument based on an unfounded conclusion.
He further digs himself a hole by saying these Christians had “moved out of the sphere of grace into the burdensome sphere of law.” I guess he missed Galatians 2:16, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith in Christ Jesus.” So, I’m not sure how one continues to be saved after moving from grace to a place wherein no man can be justified.
The Scriptures are replete with warnings against apostasy and texts that explicitly teach the possibility of apostasy: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith” (1 Tim 4:1). The word rendered “depart” is “apostatize.”
Hear the opening phrase of Galatians 5:4 as it refutes the tired, old, “if one falls away he never was saved to begin with” fallacy: “You have become estranged from Christ.” Have you ever heard of an estranged couple? Are they together? In like fashion, these were once joined to Christ, but are now no longer in that same relationship. How does one miss this???
A final passage in this respect is 2 Peter 2:20-22: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled again and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
Like the couple that never really was together, I guess the dog never really was sick, and the sow never really was washed. It’s a lot easier to believe the truth than try to defend error. A Christian can fall from grace and lose his salvation.
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