Some Evangical misconceptions about the Gospel are due to their
misunderstanding of the statement in Ephesians 2:8 that seem to address the
timing of salvation. The phrase is "ye are saved." Unfortunately, this
assurance is immediately appropriated by Evangelicals as a promise to them
personally, without consideration of teh context, or how they compare to the
ancient Ephesians to whom Paul was speaking.
Evangelicals believe that salvation occurs at the moment true faith is first experienced by the new convert. That moment is often called "the moment of faith," and it supposedly occurs entirely independent of any effort or intent to be obedient to God's commandments. It happens before any trial of the new convert's faith, and is not in any way a work. While some speak of submitting their will to Christ as a result of their faith in Him, all Evangelicals claim that personal obedience has nothing to do with recieving salvation. At most, they believe only that obedience is a characteristic of the redeemed, but not a condition for redemption.
The distinction between this teaching and the truths taught in the Bible (and in Mormonism) is very subtle, but extremely important. It is found in the Evangelical belief that the saved state of a believer persists irrespective of his or her continuing obedience. The words, "you have been saved," do not invite that conclusion, and a thorough review of relevant biblical passages will make that clear.
By far the majority of references to salvation in the New Testament are in future tense. Many say that Men shall be saved (e.g., John 10:9, Acts 2:21; 16:31; Rom, 5:9-10; and 10:8-9,13). Others have a contingent wording, promising that Men may be saved (John 6:40; 1 Cor. 5:5). Some speak of the hope of salvation (e.g., Rom 5:1-2; 10:1; Heb. 6:11-12; 1 Thess. 5:8; and Titus 1:1-2), while others treat salvation as a process or "way," saying that Men are "being saved" (e.g., Acts 16:17; Rom. 1:16; 13:11; 2 Cor. 3:18; and Acts 2:46-47; 1 Cor. 1:18; and 2 Cor. 2:15, in the NASB).
In fact, there is only one instance in the Bible where a specific individual is said to have been saved at a specific moment in time(Luke 7:36-50, esp. 48-50). In that case, a devoted and abjectly penitent woman was forgiven of her sins by Christ when she annointed His feet with oil. After He forgave her, Christ said, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." The woman's sins having been forgiven by God Himself, she was, at that moment, in a state of perfect holiness before Him and thus "saved." But the Bible does not say she remained in that state.
Besides Ephesians 2:8, there are a few passages in the writings of John that use the present perfect tense to describe the enjoyment of eternal life by those who believe (e.g., John 3:15, 36; 6:47; and 1 John 5:13). These passages require an understanding of what john meant when he used the term "believe," as will be discussed later. NO biblical reference speaks of personal salvation in teh past tense alone ( e.g., "I was saved in Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost").
Therefore, before assuming that all men remain permenently saved because Ephesians 2:8 says "you have been saved," as Evangelicals suppose, it would be well to exegete Ephesians 2:8 further. Ephesians 2:1-7 places Ephesians 2:8 in context, and reads in the NASB as follows (some emphasis added):
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (bygrace you have been saved), and raised us up in Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of his grace inthe kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.This passage indicates that the Ephesians had learned not to walk in sin by the time Paul said they were saved. They had turned from their evil ways, and were living in obedience to God's commandments, or at least that was the assumption on which Paul's comment about their salvation was based. Furthermore, there is no promise in the passage that any of the Ephesians so addressed would remain saved should they turn back to evil. Indeed to "remain" in that state of holiness is what would be required if for them to be saved until the end.
1 John 2:24-25,29:
"Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born."In fact, the Book of Revelations, written some 30-50 years after the Epistle to the Ephesians, compliments the Ephesians on many points, but calls them to repentance, and threatens to "remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev 2:1-6). Even though Paul told the Ephesians "you have been saved" in 60 A.D., their salvation was by no means assured when the Book of Revelations was written several decades later. So there is another sense in which the phrase "you have been saved" was used by Paul. In Ephesians 2:6, Paul speaks of events that are clearly in the future tense as though they were in the past. This is a writing technique Paul uses to make promised future blessings more immediate and vital. Paul's statement, "you have been saved," is a literary technique referring to the future blessing of ultimate salvation as though it were a present reality.
This statement cannot be taken as a generalized assurance of permanent salvation, as Evangelicals imagine it to be. Christ has made His atoning sacrifice, and hence, in one sense all men "have been saved." This does not mean that any single individual is guaranteed of that condition irrespective of his or her state of current repentance. Take for example another one of Paul's comments which uses the term "saved" in past tense: Titus 3:
5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"So we see that Paul mentions salvation, which already seems to have been obtained, but then in verse 7 he speaks of "eternal life" as that of something they should HOPE FOR.7 "That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
Perhaps the best biblical scriptures that explain how one can actually "lose" their salvation, could be found in the Book of Hebrews:
"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to theselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."(Hebrews 6:4-6)After reading these passages, one can only wonder how anyone could adopted a "Once saved always saved" doctrine as many Evangelicals are doing so today."For if we sin willfully after that we have recieved the knowledge of truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins."(Hebrews 10:26)