Why does the Apostle Paul ask you to examine yourself?

Question

If your once saved always saved and if you ask Jesus into your heart then you cant ever lose salvation, you cant be taken from the Lord and cant walk away from the Lord into sin.

After all the worst that can happen is you lose some reward right? but adulterers, fornicators and thieves that accepted Jesus beforehand cant lose their salvation.

Am i mistaken or what?

Why examine yourself, was paul mistaken?

Answer 1

You are mistaken, you can lose your salvation.  We are to examine ourselves to see if we are in faith or acting on our own behalf which is doubt and unbelief.

Answer 2

To check for lumps in the b*****s/testicles, of course.  

Answer 3

  I think he means examine your conscience.

Answer 4

That's why once your saved always saved isn't true. Are you going to apply that false concept to Hitler, he was a Christan and he killed six million jews and also polish, american etc. Even if you are "good" you still have to examine yourself, because there is always some sin some imperfection that we have inside of us. Even if your a saint, no one is good enough to not take the time and examine who they are and what the have done evil in the sight of God. And obviously people who accepted Christ beforehand and became fornicators aren't really Christian are they or they wouldn't be doing something contrary to Our Lord.  

Answer 5

That was a Teaching of Calvin.... Once saved always saved not Paul.... Read Paul and find out for yourself...

Answer 6

It's a good idea for everyone to examine themselves. Breast cancer is sneaky. You can find skin cancer that way, too.

Answer 7

>>but adulterers, fornicators and thieves that accepted Jesus beforehand cant lose their salvation.<<

So we lose our free will by accepting Jesus? God is going to force us to spend eternity with Him even if we don't want to?

Answer 8

I know lots of people who claim "once saved, always saved". They are all mistaken. Furthermore, this assumption that you can't walk away from the Lord into sin is absurd. Of course you can. I know a woman who loves to preach this nonsense, yet she's gone to prison twice for dealing drugs; was married to one man yet lived with another - and slept with other men; and in general did very little to follow Christ's teachings. This is unquestionable proof that a person can label themselves anything.

Answer 9

The Catholic is asked, "Are you saved?" The Catholic should reply: "As the Bible says, I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13)."

The BIG "IF":

1 John 5:16-17 - If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly

There actually are a lot of exception clauses in the New Testament. You simply choose not to see them. Matt 6:14-15, “For IF you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Does that apply only to the unsaved? If so, where does it say that?

Well, if we look at Matthew 18:23-35, it applies to the saved. The debtor can’t pay the debt. His Lord has mercy on him and cancels the debt (he’s saved!). The forgiven servant doesn’t likewise show mercy to a fellow servant. The Lord calls him back and revokes His mercy and has the reprobate handed over to the jailers until he should pay every penny…which he can’t pay…so he’s there forever.

Romans 11:17-23, the wild branches (Gentiles) that are grafted into the olive tree (Christ) will remain “PROVIDED you continue in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.” John 15:1-6, the branches (Christians) of the vine (Christ) will be cut off, cast forth to wither, then be gathered and burned if they do not bear good fruit.

Heb 6:4-8, “For it is impossible to restore to repentance those who have once been enlightened…IF they then commit apostasy…”

Gal 5:2-4, “IF you receive circumcision…You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”

1 Tim 5:8, “IF anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

I could go on…and on…and on.

1 Cor 4:3-5, “...I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes…” Yet, you are pronouncing judgment on yourself. You are saved. You’re going to Heaven. You are presuming upon the Lord. Something which Paul himself didn’t do.

1 Peter 1:17, “And IF you invoke as Father Him Who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.”

Phil 1:12, “...work out your on salvation in fear and trembling.”

Heb 10:29, “How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was SANCTIFIED [that means he was a Christian], and outraged the Spirit of grace?” Do you really think the person described here goes to Heaven?

1 Cor 15:1, “Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand [Christians], by which you are saved, IF you hold it fast,” [exception clause].

Paul himself didn’t seem to have this “assurance” of salvation that you are so confident of: Phil 3:10-14, “...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…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.”

1 Cor 9:24-27, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you MAY obtain it…I do not run aimlessly…but I pommel my body and subdue it, LEST after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Ezek 33:13-16, “Though I say to the righteous [saved, right?] that he shall surely live [assurance of salvation, right? God has told him he shall surely live] YET [exception clause] if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.” If he dies in iniquity, that isn’t a good thing is it? Yet, he was righteous and he was told by God that he shall surely live. Once saved, always saved? Don’t think so.

Regarding the parables of the Good Shepherd and the Lost Coin. Those parables make no sense under your theology. How could a sheep be “lost” if once saved always saved is true? How could the coin be “lost” if once saved always saved is true? Who is the lost sheep Jesus goes to find? Can’t be one of the saved, can it? They can’t be lost, can they? Can’t be one of the unsaved, they’re not one of the sheep, are they? And, if none of the sheep can get out, as you proclaim above, how did it get lost? Sorry, but your theology makes these parables a load of nonsense.

Also, look at the parable of the Prodigal Son. Didn’t the Father allow the son to leave home? You seem to say that can’t happen. The Good Shepherd would never open the gate and say to the sheep, “Go ahead and leave if you want to.” Well, the Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son did, didn’t he? What Father is the parable actually referring to? And, how is the Prodigal Son referred to by the Father? As being in no danger of losing his salvation no matter how much he sinned? No. As being still saved even if he has backslidden a bit? No. The Father describes the prodigal son as being “dead!” Dead!!! Fits Catholic theology perfectly. Fits once saved always saved theology not at all. You seem to think that Jesus will keep us against our wills. Nowhere does the Bible say such a thing. If we are part of the family, and we want to leave…He lets us go. You have a big problem with the prodigal son.

Finally, in regards to this, let me ask you this question. When Adam and Eve were created, were they saved or were they unsaved? They were saved, right? I mean, they spoke directly to God. He walked in the garden where they were, didn’t He? So, they were saved. Yet, they sinned. Not just any sin, either. They sinned THE sin…changed all of history. Changed everything. And, what happened?

Were they still allowed into the garden?

Absolutely not.

They got tossed out of the garden because of their sin, even though they were originally saved. And, let’s examine their sin a bit more closely. God tells them that if they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they will die. But, who comes along and tells them otherwise? Who comes along and says, “You will not die?” Satan.

Satan was teaching once saved always saved in the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve bit on his lie…and they were expelled from the garden. The very first lie of Satan as recorded in the Bible is the lie of once saved always saved. That, if they sin, they will not die. You need to consider that very carefully.

Peace in Christ............

Answer 10

Paul was right. It's the "once saved always saved" teaching that is wrong.

Answer 11

Becuse he doesnt want you to become like Chris and believe that satan and his demons ride around in UFO'S

Quote from Chrissy poo the tin foil hat boy

"There are no aliens. There are demons that pretend to be aliens, to deceive people. "