Origen:
“A man may possess an acquired righteousness, from which it is possible for him to fall away.”
Quotes – Early
Tertullian:
“God had foreseen… that faith – even after baptism – would be endangered. He saw that most persons – after obtaining salvation – would be lost again, by soiling the wedding dress, by failing to provide oil for their torches.”
Tertullian:
“Some think that God is under a necessity of bestowing even on the unworthy what He has promised [to give]. So they turn His liberality into His slavery… For do not many afterwards fall out of [grace]? Is not this gift taken away from many? These, no doubt, are they who… after approaching to the faith of repentance, build on the sands a house doomed to ruin.”
Tertullian:
“The world returned to sin . . . and so it is destined to fire. So is the man who after baptism renews his sins.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“It is neither the faith, nor the love, nor the hope, nor the endurance of one day; rather, ‘he that endures to the end will be saved.'”
Clement of Alexandria: Read More »
Irenaeus:
“It was not to those who are on the outside that he said these things, but to us – lest we should be cast forth from the Kingdom of God by doing any such thing.”
Justin Martyr:
“I hold further, that those of you who have confessed and known this man to be Christ, yet who have gone back for some reason to the legal dispensation [i.e., the Mosaic Law], and have denied that this man is Christ, and have not repented before death – you will by no means be saved.”
Barnabas:
“The whole past time of your faith will profit you nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also withstand coming sources of danger.”