The permanence of salvation refers to the question of whether all Christians inevitably reach final salvation or whether it is possible for any to fall away (commit apostasy). The early church believed that final salvation was conditional upon the faithfulness of the believer. This is why the issue of postbaptismal sin was so thorny for them: if baptism was required to wash away sins but baptism was a one-time event, what recourse did those people have who sinned afterward? Some church