A reformed response to a “Once saved, always saved” YouTube video

Editor’s note: this week’s blog article is responding  to a video on YouTube. I have never responded to a video in terms of a blog post before. I actually had a different topic planned for this week but I moved that to May 11, 2020

The other day, I saw a video by John Schoehelt at Truthortradition, a ‘biblical’ Unitarian ministry called “Don’t wait to be saved”, published 9-6-19 [embedded below]. In this video, the biblical doctrine of The Perseverance of the Saints was so misconstrued with  ‘Once Saved, always saved’, that it became a license to sin. The Bible teaches that true Christians will continue in the faith until the last day [John 10:27-29, Phil. 1:6] but it also warns us that sinful people, regardless of if they claim Christ or not, will eternally perish [I Cor. 6:9-11]. Because this group is Unitarian, meaning that they deny the trinity and the deity of Jesus, some may wonder why I am taking the time to respond to their video. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints- part of reformed theology [which is my systematic theology]- is often characterized by some as what Schoehelt describes; namely, that we can do any sin and as long as we say “Jesus” we’ll go to heaven; I want to explain why Reformed Christians cannot be charged with giving people a license to sin. This is not the orthodox reformed position; and I want to provide a reformed response to this video.

The relevant sections of this video are from the 3:30-4:45 mark. Starting at 3:30-3:48, Schoehelt says:“I get to smoke, i get to drink. I get to be with women or men or whatever...you can live like that after your saved: Jesus Christ loves sinners”. While the last part of this statement is correct, what he fails to see is that Christ’s love for sinners requires him to call them to repentance. Because Jesus loves sinners, he calls them to abandon their sin and trust him for salvation  [John 6:11]. The wages of sin is death [Rom. 6:23] so to love sinners is to warn them about the consequences of sin. True love calls sinners to repent, not enables their sin. We are to conduct oursselves in a way that glorifies God, not indulge ourselves in sin. At 4:12-4:15, Schoehelt says “But the fact of the matter is, wilful sin doesn’t keep people from being saved“ What a lie! The Apostle Paul says in I Cor 6, that those who live in wickedness will not enter heaven. Also, in Heb 12:14, we read that without holiness, no one will enter heaven. Yes, willful sin keeps people out of heaven. According to Heb. 10:26, if we sin after we know the truth, we no longer have Christ’s blood applied to us. At 5:34-5:37,  the error continues, “Go find me a Christian that isn’t a sinner”, this statement could be true on the surface. According to I John 1:8, if Christians say that we are sinless we have deceived ourselves. However, according to I John 3:9, those who are truly born again do not make a practice of sin. Schoehelt’s statement, in the context of the video, supports the idea that true Christians can live in open, unrepentant sin. This is false. True believers, who have the Holy Spirit, do not desire sin, but Christ. Lastly, at 5:45-5:47, we hear the following lie-”Sin doesn’t keep you from heaven:”. Actually, it does! {“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”-1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:9-10”}‬. ‭

Now, let me explain the biblical doctrine of perseverance. What the Bible teaches is that those whom God predestined to salvation come to Christ (John 6:37, Acts 13:48). These people receive a heart that desires Christ. These people are the ones who endure to the end. They do not desire sin, because they have been born again, with new desires and nature. Someone who claims to follow Christ, but lives worldly, lies (I John 2:4). One cannot follow Christ while living in the flesh (Rom. 8:8), so what Schoehelt describes- ie, a true Christian living sinfully, is actually an impossibility. No true Christian openly practises sin, but holiness.

Finally, I would like to encourage those who follow Schoehelt to stop following him. Not only does he deny the trinity and the deity of Christ-cornerstone, basic doctrines of the Christian faith- but now he supports sin. True Christians believe in the holy trinity, acknowledge Jesus Christ as eternal God, and forsake their sins to follow him.