Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Once Saved Always Saved, Well Not Quite.


The Anabaptists refuted Luther's theology of the bound will and being once saved always saved. The Anabaptist believed that God offers grace to all however we as his created have free will to accept or reject that grace. There view of accepting that grace was quite different from that of Luther's. When one would seek salvation the early Anabaptist beleived that there was an inner change. This inner change led to the outward sign of baptism. After one became a member of the community they person would enact that covenental relationship through discipleship, the outward sign of the means of grace that had occured.

For the Hutterites this outward sign of the means of grace was through the sharing of property. This sharing of property was based on the model of the church set forth by Luke in Acts. If one decided to leave the Hutterite community the property that was "held in common" would be the property of the community and the individual would leave with nothing.

Very soon after the outward signs of discipleship were seen as the test of faith. There must be fruits seen, with the culmination of time so must the fruits. This led to the use of the ban against brothers and sisters in the faith whose fruit did not mature as quickly as others in the faith community. This soon led some members of the faith community to go back to the reformed and lutheran churches in their villages.

I myself believe once saved always saved until the person makes a clear cut with Christ, however even cuts can be stitched and the fabric made whole through the grace and regeneration of Christ.

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