Grace, Faith, and the Freedom to Choose: Rethinking Salvation Beyond the Debate

Grace, Faith, and the Freedom to Choose: Rethinking Salvation Beyond the Debate

Introduction: A Struggle Over Words

“If you can lose your salvation, then you earned it.”

“But if you can’t leave, then you never really had free will.”

These aren’t just clever quips tossed around in a theological debate—they reflect two fundamentally different views of salvation, grace, and human responsibility.

Often, the disagreement comes down to a struggle over words. What does it mean to be “saved”? What is “grace”? What is “faith”? Can someone truly choose to walk away from God? And if they can, does that mean salvation was never really a gift?

In this article, we’ll explore the meanings behind these foundational terms—and how those meanings shape the drastically different conclusions people reach in the “once saved, always saved” (OSAS) discussion.

1. What Does “Salvation” Mean?

One of the first challenges in this debate is defining the word salvation. Scripture speaks of salvation in past, present, and future tenses—we have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved—but different theological frameworks emphasize different aspects.

OSAS View:
Salvation is seen as a one-time, legal, and binding declaration. At the moment of genuine faith, a person is justified, adopted into God’s family, and eternally secured. In this view, both past and future sins are covered at that moment.
This act is irreversible—even the believer themselves cannot undo it.

Ongoing-Covenant View:
Salvation is viewed as the beginning of a covenant relationship—initiated by God, received by grace through faith, and sustained by continued trust and abiding.
While not earned, it involves willing participation. God does not force people to remain in covenant against their will—people can walk away or demonstrate by their actions that they no longer desire to follow Him.

Scriptures Emphasizing Ongoing Faithfulness:

• “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
• “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end” (Hebrews 3:14).
• “Abide in Me… If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away…” (John 15:6).

2. What Is Grace?

Everyone agrees that salvation is by grace—but what that grace means differs dramatically.

OSAS View:
Grace means God does 100%, and man does 0%. Any suggestion that continued obedience or faithfulness is required is seen as adding human effort, turning grace into “works.”
From this view, grace must be entirely unconditional—or it ceases to be grace at all.

Ongoing-Covenant View:
Grace is unearned access to a relationship with God. It empowers us to walk in that relationship—to remain faithful, to grow, to endure. Like a gift that can be cultivated or buried.
Choosing to remain in covenant doesn’t mean grace is earned; it means it’s real.

Scriptures Emphasizing Both Gift and Response:

• “For by grace you have been saved through faith… not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
• “As obedient children… be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:14–16).
• “Whoever practices righteousness is righteous… Little children, let no one deceive you” (1 John 3:7).

3. Does Salvation Allow for Free Will?

The OSAS model sees salvation as irreversible. Once saved, a person cannot become unsaved—even if they later reject God.
But this raises an important question: if salvation is a relationship of love, doesn’t it require the freedom to walk away?

Ongoing-Choice View:
God respects human will—He created it. He doesn’t force anyone to stay in a relationship. Salvation is offered freely and can be freely continued—or freely abandoned.

To reject God is not to face endless torment, but to forfeit eternal life itself.

Even Jesus, who shared divine nature with the Father, said: “I can do nothing on My own… I seek not My own will but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30).
This wasn’t weakness—it was a choice. “I seek.” He willingly submitted His will to the Father.

As Paul writes: “Then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).

Scriptures:

• “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).
• “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption… For if, after they have escaped… they are again entangled… it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:19–21).

4. Does Faithfulness Undermine Grace?

Some argue that if staying saved involves any human response, grace becomes merit. But Paul’s warnings in Romans 4 are about earning salvation through the law—not about responding to grace with loyalty.

Faithfulness doesn’t contradict grace—it’s the fruit of it.
Remaining faithful to God isn’t “earning” anything—it’s honoring the relationship.

We don’t say a spouse earns their marriage by staying faithful. We say they honor it.

Biblically, love is not just a feeling—it’s action. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Faith is similar—it’s not just belief, but belief lived out. “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17).

Scriptures:

• “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you” (Philippians 2:12–13).
• “Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

5. What Is Eternal Life?

OSAS View:
Eternal life is inherent to all—it’s just a question of where it is spent: heaven or hell.

Ongoing-Covenant View:
Eternal life is a gift, not a default. It is given through union with Christ. The alternative is not eternal torment but eternal death—total loss.

Scriptures:

• “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).
• “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).
• “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).
• “God so loved the world… that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
• “Fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

Scripture presents eternal life not as a universal trait—but as a gift given through union with the Giver.

Conclusion: Grace Honors Choice

God doesn’t revoke salvation when we stumble.
He doesn’t demand perfection to remain in His grace.
But He also doesn’t override our will.

Salvation is not earned by behavior—nor is it a cage we cannot leave. It’s not legalism—it’s relationship.

Like a marriage, salvation involves trust, love, and loyalty.
Grace opens the door. Faithfulness chooses to remain.

The question is not simply, “Can I lose my salvation?”
The real question is:
“Will I choose to remain in Christ?”