Video – No Apologies #108 – “Once saved, always saved?”
Loading the player...
Views 2508
Ave Maria!
Many protestant groups hold that once a person accepts Christ as Saviour, he is at that moment saved and there is nothing the person can do to lose that salvation. But the Bible is clear that like Adam and Eve we are able to fall from grace.
Ave Maria!
Audio (MP3)
Hello. I agree with you, but I wondered if the sin unto death means a sin wherein God has determined to destroy the flesh in order to save the spirit in the day of judgment like in 1 Cor 5:4,5 and in 2 Cor 11:29-32. It is a dangerous doctrine and I hate it.
I don’t believe St. John is referring to the same thing as St. Paul in the verses you’ve pointed out. St. Paul mentions specifically that the flesh is being destroyed so that the spirit will be saved. St. John doesn’t mention this, rather he exhorts us not to “pray for such a one.” This isn’t because there is a sin that God will not forgive or because he’s telling us to be uncharitable, but because those he’s referring to are hardened in their sin and will not repent. The commentary in the Douay-Rheims bible says this:
16 “A sin unto death”… Some understand this of final impenitence, or of dying in mortal sin; which is the only sin that never can be remitted. But, it is probable, he may also comprise under this name, the sin of apostasy from the faith, and some other such heinous sins as are seldom and hardly remitted: and therefore he gives little encouragement, to such as pray for these sinners, to expect what they ask.