What do Nazarenes believe about once saved always saved theology?

[Ave Maria]

Hi everyone. I am curious about what Nazarene's believe about once saved always saved theology. I am not here to debate but only to get understand this better. I pulled this from their site:

We believe that the finally impenitent are hopelessly and eternally lost.

Could someone please explain this. Thanks.

 

[tacodoglover01]

basically we believe you can be saved and then backslide and will go to hell if you should die. You have to repent and accept christ as your savior again to go to heaven.

 

[HeatherJay]

basically we believe you can be saved and then backslide and will go to hell if you should die. You have to repent and accept christ as your savior again to go to heaven.

Holly, the quote above is not the best way to explain the Nazarene belief about salvation. At least not the prevalent belief in my church. We don't have people running down to the altar every week to be 're-saved', though I know there are some churches that do have such beliefs. But it's definitely not the norm.

No, we don't believe in OSAS. The quote you were asking about just means that we believe that those who continually reject the offered gift of salvation and never accept Christ will be lost. The extended version of that same statement on the same site says "We believe that unless we experience God’s help and salvation through a faith commitment to Jesus Christ, our future is one of eternal separation from God and all that is good."

 

[Adammi]

I would assume that they are strongly against it considering that they folow John Wesley's teaching, sort of like asking if Catholics believe that the pope is the anti-christ.
Also because I am Church of God and our views of holiness are based on Wesley's teachings, and we are strongly against it.

 

[fiveinjuly]

So there are some churches that believe that you have to be "re-saved"? Can someone explain that further?

 

[HeatherJay]

So there are some churches that believe that you have to be "re-saved"? Can someone explain that further?

Not so much that you have to be 're-saved'...but there are some who believe that if you backslide, then you were never really saved to begin with. Does that make more sense?

 

[bigsierra]

Not so much that you have to be 're-saved'...but there are some who believe that if you backslide, then you were never really saved to begin with. Does that make more sense?

But, that wouldn't be Wesleyan doctrine, that would be Calvinistic.

Nazarenes don't believe you have to be rebaptized or anything, just that you have to repent and turn back to God. Growing up, I thought it was a matter of being resaved, but I don't think that terminology is entirely accurate.

 

[fiveinjuly]

Not so much that you have to be 're-saved'...but there are some who believe that if you backslide, then you were never really saved to begin with. Does that make more sense?

I've heard of that line of reasoning. So what would a Nazarene have to do in order to be saved the first time, and why would you have to do that again if you weren't saved the first time (or if you were and backslid)?

 

[HeatherJay]

But, that wouldn't be Wesleyan doctrine, that would be Calvinistic.

Nazarenes don't believe you have to be rebaptized or anything, just that you have to repent and turn back to God. Growing up, I thought it was a matter of being resaved, but I don't think that terminology is entirely accurate.

Well, it was a poor choice of words. I didn't mean it in exactly that way (hence the little quote-y things). You're right, the terminology isn't correct...sorry for the confusion it's caused. And, as I said also, it's not my belief or the belief of my own church, but there are some holiness churches who do feel that way.

Fiveinjuly, with Nazarenes I'm not so sure that anyone would attempt to tell another at what point the Holy Spirit filled them. Whether it was at the altar, walking down to the altar, in your seat before you come to the altar, lying in your bed praying the night before, days weeks or months later...who knows except the individual and God??? Nazarenes do believe in a second work of grace, which is santification...very basically, that a nature turned toward sin can be turned back toward God. It's probably that belief that leads to confusion for some.

All that's necessary to be saved is a belief that Jesus lived, died, and rose for you. Nothing out of the ordinary. And, once again, the whole conversation above, those aren't the beliefs of my Nazarene church...but there are holiness churches who lean toward that line of thinking.

 

[fiveinjuly]

Thank you for your insight HeatherJay.

One thing that I've never understood is why chruches focus so much on osas or osnnas (once saved not neccessarily always saved). Shouldn't we focus more on keeping people in the church? If we had a better retention rate, these scriptural technicalities wouldn't matter as much.