Is Once Saved, Always Saved a license to sin?
No, once saved always saved is not a license to sin. Just because a person is secure in the work of Christ does not mean he will desire to go live sinfully. Anyone who would do that is a liar.
1 John 2:4, “The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
The Apostle clearly tells us that anyone who says he has come to know Christ, and yet goes out and willingly sins, is a liar. This means he is saying one thing and doing another. He says he believes in and follows Christ, but he does not act like it. Obviously, such a person is not really a Christian. Why? Because along with salvation there is regeneration. Regeneration is the change in the person from being enslaved to sin to serving God, from being dead in his sins to alive in Christ.
This is what it means to be born again (John 3:3) and to be made a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). It means we were crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6), and in so doing have also died to sin.
Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
So, when people accuse Christians who affirm that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as a license to go out and sin, they are misrepresenting the position and bearing false witness against it. Furthermore, they are ignoring the fact that true Christians are also regenerate which motivates them to stop sinning, to war against their sin, and to honor God.
Written by Matt slick/C.A.R.M.