:<\/strong> \u201cI pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.\u201d<\/p>\n1 Corinthians 10:12: <\/b>\u201cTherefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galatians 5:1: <\/b>\u201cFor freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galatians 5:4: <\/b>\u201cYou are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philippians 3:8-14: <\/b>\u201cIndeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
1 Timothy 4:1: <\/b>\u201cNow the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Catholics believe, in accordance with these passages, that salvation can be lost and that one can fall out of faith and the good graces of God. Passages such as these about falling away from faith, or what is called apostasy, <\/i>present a problem, however, for Calvinist Protestants, because their system requires them to deny the possibility that such a thing can ever take place. For them, sinners are elected by God from eternity and protected from ever falling away. Human participation or vigilance or effort plays no role whatsoever in ultimate salvation.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the elect or \u201csaved\u201d person cannot possibly lose his salvation. When a person seems to be on the wrong path (caught up in adultery or some other clearly sinful behavior), the Calvinist community immediately assumes that he was never saved in the first place (or else he would not have sinned so badly). This is circular reasoning, and also contrary to much Scripture, such as the verses above.<\/p>\n
[clarifying note from 3-27-19: my wording could have been more precise in the above two paragraphs. Catholics agree that the elect are the ones who are actually<\/em> saved, and that God elected them from all eternity. The actual elect cannot possibly fall away. What we are contending, on the other hand, is whether a person who by all appearances<\/em> is \u201csaved\u201d or \u201cborn again\u201d (in the Protestant understanding) or regenerated and in God\u2019s good graces, can fall from grace or salvation. We<\/em>\u00a0(from our limited human knowledge) can\u2019t know for sure who is among the elect]<\/p>\nAlbert Barnes, in his Notes, <\/i>makes a fallacious analysis of Galatians 5:4. He tries to apply Paul\u2019s words about apostasy to those who never possessed grace to begin with, since they were (like the Judaizers) trying to be saved by the law:<\/p>\n\n[T]his passage does not prove that anyone who has ever been a true Christian has fallen away. The fair interpretation of the passage does not demand that. Its simple and obvious meaning is that, if a man who had been a professed Christian should be <\/i>justified by his own conformity to the law, and adopt that mode of justification, then that would amount to a rejection of the mode of salvation by Christ, and would be a renouncing of the plan of justification by grace. (Barnes\u2019 Notes on the New Testament,\u00a0<\/i>Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1983)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This makes no sense and, with all due respect to Barnes, cannot be sustained from the text. The fact remains that these people fell away. Whether they fell away from a belief-system of justification by grace or from grace as a state of personal relationship with God, or both, makes no difference. For in both instances, they were either believing as Christians are, or in the state of grace and regeneration that Christians are in, by virtue of baptism and the personal decision to follow Christ.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the entire tone and tenor of the epistle to the Galatians shows that Paul believes he is writing to Christians. He refers to \u201cthe churches of Galatia\u201d (1:2). In 1:6 he speaks of the Galatians \u201cdeserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel.\u201d This does not read as if they never knew or believed in God\u2019s grace. One cannot desert something he never had. One cannot turn to something different if one never possessed the thing that is being contrasted with the different thing.<\/p>\n
If St. Paul thought they had never possessed the true gospel in the first place, it seems obvious that he would have used different terminology; he would have written that they never did <\/i>understand or accept the gospel of grace alone. He would not\u00a0have expressed his judgment in terms of deserting and turning and falling away and being \u201csevered from Christ.\u201d Can a branch be severed from a tree to which it was never attached?<\/p>\n
St. Paul assumes throughout that this was a case of apostasy of those who were Christians. He says they \u201creceived\u201d the gospel (1:9); he refers to the \u201cgrace that was given to me\u201d (2:9) and then says the Galatians had \u201cbegun with the Spirit\u201d (3:3); he writes to them that \u201cas many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. . . . You are all one in Christ Jesus\u201d (3:27-28); he says the Galatians are God\u2019s \u201csons,\u201d upon whom He \u201csent the Spirit of his Son\u201d into \u201cour <\/i>hearts, crying, \u2018Abba! Father!\u2019 \u201d (4:6).<\/p>\n
St. Paul states that they formerly did not know God, but \u201chave come to know God\u201d only to return to bondage again (4:8-9). He believes that the Galatians \u201cwere running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth [5:7]?\u201d The entire letter explicitly indicates apostasy. It could hardly be more clear than it is. What else could Paul have written to make it any more <\/i>obvious?<\/p>\n
Thirdly, logically speaking, the fact that some might be turning to salvation by works and law does not prove that they never <\/i>accepted salvation by grace alone. The two are not intrinsically related. Believing one thing does not prove that one never adhered to a different system formerly. Barnes simply assumes this (as is so often the case in Protestant exegesis \u2014 at least where \u201cCatholic\u201d implications are present), because he is not allowed to hold that anyone can ever fall away from faith, no matter what the Bible might inform us about such possibilities.<\/p>\n
Fourthly, the Greek word for fallen, ekpipto, <\/i>is often used elsewhere in the New Testament in the sense of \u201cfalling from that estate in which something once was\u201d; for example: the stars from heaven (Mark 13:25); chains falling off hands (Acts 12:7); shipwreck and falling off a boat (Acts 27:26, 29, 32); and apostasy, or at least a spiritual degeneration (Rev. 2:5). Greek scholar Gerhard Kittel discusses the root word pipto <\/i>in relation to apostasy:<\/p>\n\n[P]ipto <\/i>may also be used for loss of faith and separation from grace (1 Cor. 10:12). At issue here is an apostasy from God or Christ which means disqualification (1 Cor. 9:27). In Rom. 14:4 standing and falling are oriented to the fact that each must answer to the Lord as Judge. The use is absolute in Heb. 4:11: a specific sin is not in view but apostasy. In Rev. 2:5 leaving the first love is the point (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. <\/i>Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated and abridged by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1985, 847)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Much more plausible is, I think, John Henry Newman\u2019s sermon on Philippians 3:12 and related scriptures:<\/p>\n
\n[W]e do not know the standard <\/i>by which God will judge us. Nothing that we are can assure us that we shall answer to what He expects of us; for we do not know what that is. . . . This thought will surely ever keep us from dwelling on our own proficiency. . . .<\/p>\n
The doctrine, then, that few are chosen though many be called, properly understood, has no tendency whatever to make us fancy ourselves secure and others reprobate. We cannot see the heart; we can but judge from externals, from words and deeds, professions and habits. But these will not save us, unless we persevere in them to the end; and they are no evidence that we shall be saved, except so far as\u00a0they suggest hope that we shall persevere. They are but a beginning; they tell for nothing till they are completed. Till we have done all, we have done nothing; we have but a prospect, not possession (Parochial and Plain Sermons, <\/i>V, 1840, Sermon 18: \u201cMany Called, Few Chosen,\u201d 1110-1119).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
***<\/p>\n
Photo credit:\u00a0<\/strong>Apostle Paul <\/i>(1633?), by Rembrandt (1606-1669)<\/span> [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/p>\n***<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From my book,\u00a0The Catholic Verses\u00a0(Sophia Institute Press, 2004, pp. 79-83). ***** 1 Corinthians 9:27 (RSV): \u201cI pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.\u201d 1 Corinthians 10:12: \u201cTherefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.\u201d Galatians 5:1: \u201cFor freedom Christ has set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":31264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[151,1987,3675,1482,1985,1986,145,238,2342,3672,3673,244,1471,229,1650,1123,4699,4019,4701,2344,3674,146,2341,243,1207],"class_list":["post-31258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salvation-justification","tag-apostasy","tag-appropriation-of-grace","tag-assurance-of-salvation","tag-catholic-soteriology","tag-co-laborers-with-god","tag-cooperation-with-gods-grace","tag-eternal-security","tag-faith","tag-faith-alone","tag-falling-from-grace","tag-falling-from-salvation","tag-grace","tag-grace-alone","tag-heaven","tag-hope","tag-imputed-justification","tag-instant-salvation","tag-judas","tag-judas-iscariot","tag-justification","tag-losing-ones-salvation","tag-perseverance-of-the-saints","tag-salvation","tag-soteriology-2","tag-synergy"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"St. Paul on Falling Away from Grace and Salvation","description":"Catholics believe St. Paul's teaching that salvation can be lost and that one can fall out of grace. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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