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Thank God it is according to Jesus, then. The Bible is not the word of God . . . Jesus IS.
No, it is not according to Jesus. And the Bible is the Word of God. This has been shown to you time and time again. However, this is not the topic of this thread and this subject is not going to be discussed on this thread.
No, it is not according to Jesus. And the Bible is the Word of God. This has been shown to you time and time again.
However, this is not the topic of this thread and this subject is not going to be discussed on this thread.
Hi ldonjohn. It's a big load off of your mind, and a big burden off of your shoulders isn't it to realize that your salvation is 100% the work of Jesus Christ and not dependent on doing good works in order to earn your salvation, and to know that you can never lose your salvation. While works are a part of the Christian life, they have no relevance to being delivered from the penalty of sin which is spiritual death. Eternal life is ours the moment we simply receive Christ as Savior.
A very strong affirmation of our eternal security is found in Romans 6:8.
Romans 6:8 Now if ('if' is in the Greek first class condition which means it is assumed to be true; if and it's true) we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
The moment any church-age believer receives Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit places us into union with Christ by means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The believer is identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Therefore, having died with Christ, we WILL live with Christ. We in fact have eternal life in the present.
This guarantee of our eternal security is repeated in 2 Tim. 2:11.
2 Tim. 2:11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
2 Tim. 2:12- 13 then continue with,
2 Tim. 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
Having just been told in verse 11 that if (since) we have died with Christ we will live with Him, we are then told in verse 12 that if we endure in our Christian life we will have rulership responsibilities in the kingdom. And if we deny Christ we will be denied rulership responsibilities and privileges.
And then in verse 13,
2 Tim. 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
Having been told in verse 11 that we will live with Christ, and then told in verse 12 that faithfulness in our Christian life will result in rulership responsibilities, we are now told in verse 13 that even if we are faithless, Christ remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself. When we receive Christ as Savior we are placed in union with Him and become a part of the body of Christ with reference to the church. Jesus cannot deny even unprofitable parts of His body - the church. Now rewards will be denied the unfaithful believer, but not eternal salvation.
Sadly however, many simply will not believe this. The false gospel of salvation by works was addressed by Paul in the Book of Galatians, because the Judaizers were claiming that you had to be circumcised (Gal. 1:6-12; 5:1-12; compared with Acts 15:1-11)
And today we still have the salvation by works crowd. If only they would open their eyes and see their error and accept the fact that the Bible clearly teaches salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone.
To God be the glory!!!
Mike
Hello Mike,
Absolutely! My life was most miserable before I fully understood salvation by faith in Christ's death & shed blood on the cross for the forgiveness on my sins. I cannot see how anyone could ever have peace about their salvation if they are trying to add works to the Gospel message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ's finished work on the cross. If I thought for one minute that my salvation depended on anything I have done or could do to keep myself righteous in God's eyes the I would again find myself living in that same misery in which I lived for so many years. Praise the Lord for showing me that the only righteousness God requires of me is that of Jesus which comes only through His blood & yes I will fail God and I will sin but His blood atonement is my eternal security.
I know that some here might see my salvation as "easy believeism" where one can just "believe," claiming salvation, and then live their life as they please, but that is not the salvation I experienced. When Jesus changed my life He changed the things I want to do, He changed the way I treat others, He changed my whole focus of life, He changed my unbelief into an absolute belief in God's Word as the absolute Truth. I serve Him out of a sense of gratefulness & gratitude for what He did for me and not out of a sense of obligation.
Absolutely! My life was most miserable before I fully understood salvation by faith in Christ's death & shed blood on the cross for the forgiveness on my sins. I cannot see how anyone could ever have peace about their salvation if they are trying to add works to the Gospel message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ's finished work on the cross. If I thought for one minute that my salvation depended on anything I have done or could do to keep myself righteous in God's eyes the I would again find myself living in that same misery in which I lived for so many years. Praise the Lord for showing me that the only righteousness God requires of me is that of Jesus which comes only through His blood & yes I will fail God and I will sin but His blood atonement is my eternal security.
I know that some here might see my salvation as "easy believeism" where one can just "believe," claiming salvation, and then live their life as they please, but that is not the salvation I experienced. When Jesus changed my life He changed the things I want to do, He changed the way I treat others, He changed my whole focus of life, He changed my unbelief into an absolute belief in God's Word as the absolute Truth. I serve Him out of a sense of gratefulness & gratitude for what He did for me and not out of a sense of obligation.
God bless you, brother!
ldonjohn
I hope that others who are depending on their own efforts to merit eternal life find out as you have that it is all about what Christ did for us.
What is often missed is that the "faith that saves" is a living faith not a dead faith. Both types exist and the living faith is shown by the works of faith. The other just claims to have faith and ... doesn't.
What is often missed is that the "faith that saves" is a living faith not a dead faith. Both types exist and the living faith is shown by the works of faith. The other just claims to have faith and ... doesn't.
Oh, here we go again. That misunderstood statement of James about 'dead faith' is a favorite among the Lordship salvation variety of legalists who like to say, 'while we are saved by faith alone, the faith which saves is never alone'. It is a clever little statement which means absolutely nothing and is simply an attempt to insert works as a requirement for salvation through the back door.
The 'dead faith' which James mentioned refers to the non-productive spiritual life of an already eternally saved believer who is not applying the Word of God to his life and putting it into practice. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with eternal salvation. Nothing whatsoever.
A believer who is not a doer of the Word, but is a hearer only, cannot be saved from a non-productive spiritual life. But he has already been saved or delivered from the penalty of sin and therefore is eternally saved.
Last edited by Michael Way; 01-25-2014 at 06:31 PM..
What is often missed is that the "faith that saves" is a living faith not a dead faith. Both types exist and the living faith is shown by the works of faith. The other just claims to have faith and ... doesn't.
The faith that God gave me brought me out of the darkness of unbelief into the light of the Gospel message as the Holy Spirit moved into my life creating within me a new person who now has the settled peace & assurance of knowing that my salvation is forever secure in the blood atonement of Christ. The "saving faith" God gave me is focused on Jesus and not on myself; not in my works/self.
Some will disagree with me & use scripture in an attempt to "explain away" the Grace of God that changed my life, but your arguments cannot undo the changed life that the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, made in me through faith in Christ alone plus nothing else. I realize that some people cannot understand the point I'm trying to get across because I have found that the "changed life" that brings the peace & assurance of knowing that ones' sins are forgiven and that ones' salvation is forever secured in Jesus's death on the cross and His shed blood there is something that one must experience for himself/herself before he/she can truly understand. Yes, that "changed life" should produce good works, but if those works are necessary to keep one saved then Jesus' death on the cross would not be sufficient to save us in the first place.
Oh, here we go again. That misunderstood statement of James about 'dead faith' is a favorite among the Lordship salvation variety of legalists who like to say, 'while we are saved by faith alone, the faith which saves is never alone'. It is a clever little statement which means absolutely nothing and is simply an attempt to insert works as a requirement for salvation through the back door.
The 'dead faith' which James mentioned refers to the non-productive spiritual life of an already eternally saved believer who is not applying the Word of God to his life and putting it into practice. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with eternal salvation. Nothing whatsoever.
A believer who is not a doer of the Word, but is a hearer only, cannot be saved from a non-productive spiritual life. But he has already been saved or delivered from the penalty of sin and therefore is eternally saved.
No, not just james, though he was pretty clear. Also consider Hebrew the 11th chapter and Jesus' own words in Matt 7:21, where he shows calling on his name is not all that is required. We also have the example of Hymaneaus who did not disagree on faith, just one point of teaching.
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saving faith
