Hyper-Grace: What pastors overlook in their OSAS obsession: by Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi

From the gates, let’s make it clear that the category of Christians with whom the facticity of OSAS, an acronym for Once Saved Always Saved, is immaterial are the ones who have allowed the Word of God to dwell in them richly.

You’ll understand as you read along.

The passionate back-and-forth around eternally secured salvation lately intensified in Nigerian Christendom to the extent that it is drawing raw emotions and bile from some men of God. Not even arguments around tithing have been as heated as the once-saved-is-forever-saved sensation. Mainstream (not social) media reports the insults among young ministers on the matter. A major newspaper captured the development in a report captioned, ‘Learn Bible before preaching, Pastor blasts Dolapo Lawal over salvation doctrine’. The editors must have advisedly used “blasts” rather than “advises”.

Lawal (who rose to prominence following Pastor E.A. Adeboye’s acknowledgement of his impactful preaching and spiritual insight) had asserted that those who hold a contrary opinion must be under demonic influence. For this, he got a response that was pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Other ministers of the Gospel have since joined the fray with their perspectives. In the words of Dr Abel Damina: “I can’t even understand how a so-called pastor would say that; for anybody to establish that salvation is eternal, they must have a demonic problem. I think that pastor is highly demonised because only a man who is demonised will reject a very clear biblical position. It’s so clear that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life… Everlasting life is a possession given to the believer. The life is Jesus himself. No wonder Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. We need to examine whether some of these pastors are truly saved because a man that is truly saved cannot carry out a campaign against the salvation that Jesus provides.”

Also weighing in, Apostle Arome Osayi explained that, “In the New Testament, there are 80 times God warned believers to take heed because you can lose your salvation… It is good to balance the Bible so that we don’t become lascivious. Even though I’m born again now, I’m not going to make an intentional practice of sin because that is going to expose and damage the quality of life that I have, which is not everlasting but eternal. If you don’t believe me, believe Jesus who said I will blot out names from the book of life. He was not talking to unbelievers. He was talking to the Church. It means that it’s possible for a Christian to experience judgement from God that will lead to his name being blotted out from the book of life.”

The hyper-grace belief has become such a polarising ecumenical topic that some preachers are throwing decorum to the dogs with visceral vituperations. Debates on the matter and other doctrinal issues weren’t this debased when Apostle Joshua Selman used the October 23, 2025, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) Conference platform to share the following observations: “There is a lot of mismanagement of zeal all over social media. It has even become a human right violation issue. As simple as it sounds, if this is not addressed, pastors will start killing themselves. The level of growing hatred in the body of Christ and everything is credited to our love for Jesus. We cannot love Jesus too much that we kill one another as proof that we love him… There is the need to examine the mental state of pastors. Many pastors have spiritualised trauma from childhood and we come on the pulpit and turn it into sermons.”

“The generation that is coming is in clear confusion right now. Everything you bring as a doctrine is a subject of debate. The fathers are transiting gradually. It is important that a spiritual council come together and define for Nigeria, as a spiritual recommendation, what do we believe? While we may not agree on everything, it is important to define the things that define a Christian,” he advocated. With this as the case, Nigerians who have been trying to drag God’s Generals from the pulpit to the podium (in terms of commenting on national issues) can see that these influential religious leaders have a knotty nut to crack within the Body of Christ. A man whose house is on fire doesn’t become an emergency responder elsewhere.

The onus is really on the fathers in the faith to call belligerent younger ministers to order and offer a unified position on these contentious doctrinal issues. Given the immense influence they wield over their Sons of the Prophet, they can persuade them to stop portraying the Body of Christ as a body in crisis. As Salman pointed out, “there are matters within the body of Christ that children are too small to address no matter the level of spirituality. There are issues that only fathers can speak about.”

But do we really need to bother denominational founders about some of these developments? As feverishly animated as the debate around OSAS has been, losing or being eternally guaranteed of their salvation should be the least worry of the studious believer. Pastors should know this, which is why those who think some actors in the debate are only chasing clout may not be entirely wrong. It depicts the weaponisation of ignorance. Little wonder God said in Hosea 4:6 that they are “my people” yet lack of knowledge has caused their damnation. Does this not suggest that God’s people (read: the saved) can lose their deliverance? Well, that’s just by the way.

You see, when focused on the germane, you won’t have time for the mundane as per veering into libertinism. This brings us back to the opening paragraph. Hidden in plain sight, the answer to the OSAS debate is Acts 20:32, which reads, “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Question: Can what is being built by Christ become an abandoned project? Absolutely not! For emphasis, the writer of that verse, after committing the saints to God, pointed them to “the word of his grace”, being Jesus, adding that the same will build them up.

Intrinsic in that biblical assertion, however, is a responsibility on the part of the believer to study the Word. That’s the function “commend to…” is performing in that verse. As long as you are rooted in the Word through steady study, you’ll only be built up and not cut off from salvation. This is what both sides in the OSAS debate should be highlighting without making eternal security look as if it abdicates believers of any responsibility. Jesus’s word in John 15:6 is instructive: “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” You remain in Christ by studying, not merely reading the Bible. Whatever you study gets established within you. It is the grafting procedure which connects you to the Vine, ensuring you do not fall off.

The arguments around OSAS have so far been misplaced. The proponents and opponents have been fixated on the con – not the pro. Rather than focusing on the likely loss, they should emphasise the spinoff growth that salvation guarantees. The one who only believes may be deemed a free moral agent susceptible to stumbling, but not when they deliberately rely on the Word. (1 Peter 2:2). The strength and stability of the saints are determined by the depth of the Word in their spirit.

While reading the Bible merely informs you, studying it exposes you to deeper revelations, firms up your convictions, and refines your discernment through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. (Colossians 2:6-7). With your walk with God built on truth, you will be steady and consistent in faith, rising above the urge to sin.

Here’s a dissection of 2 Corinthians 3:18 as it pertains to this matter: After gaining salvation (open, unveiled face), and we behold as in a mirror (study the Word), we soon start reflecting the same image (Christ) through the help of the Holy Spirit! Indeed, the incubator cannot toss out someone who has yielded themselves to this transformation process until they are refined.

Then this poser: Can they that have calcified and crystallised as Christ’s replica become of the world? Impossible!

VIS Ugochukwu is a sage, storyteller and branding specialist who welcomes feedback via [email protected]

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