Does God Owe Me Something? PART 2
PART 2... It’s been way TOO long since my last blog entry (article)… In 2006 I hope to keep this updated weekly!
Welcome to PART 2, if you have not read part 1, please read it before reading this! The foundation of many statements that will be made here are there.
With that said…
Many Christians who would agree that God does not owe us anything (much less Salvation) unwittingly support such a position due to their view of the doctrine called, “Eternal Security” (aka “Once-saved, Always-saved”)
Many Christians today believe that once a person puts faith in Christ they (1) can at some future point commit an act that would negate the “eternal life” they received or (2) “deny their salvation / faith” and thus go to hell when they die.
Scenario #1 - The inescapable conclusion for scenario #1 is that once a person places their faith in Christ they must then “walk the straight and narrow” or “keep a set of rules” in order to “maintain” their salvation. In other words, we are justified NOT by faith alone but by faith PLUS obeying the law until we die… HOWEVER, faith + works (keeping a set of rules to stay saved) is not the Bible equation for salvation! Consider Romans 3:20a, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight”. If one believes that once they are saved they then have to “keep a set a rules”, that person is in a works oriented religion (trying to earn salvation by performance THUS God would “owe” salvation because of this persons ability to keep the law versus being justified by faith alone). This person is seeking to “stay” justified by obeying law YET the Bible says this is impossible (Rom 3:20). Also, consider these verses in Galatians 3:
[2] This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
[3] Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
[7] Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
[8] And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
What are we justified by? FAITH, nothing more, nothing less. Justified simply means to be put in right-standing before God, to be considered blameless. This is when our sins are forgiven, our “slate is wiped clean” if you will. The Bible says that, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom 4:5) It did NOT say that our “good works” were counted for righteousness. It did NOT say that our “ability to keep the law after we are saved” is counted for righteousness. It must be understood that if a person is keeping a set of rules to “maintain” being justified or maintain the righteousness that GOD has IMPUTED to them… they are earning / working for their salvation.
Finally, I hope it can be seen that if we add our “good works” or “ability to keep the law” into the equation that brings about eternal life then we are earning that eternal life. If works are involved at all in the equation then God OWES salvation to us and this is neither logical nor Biblical. (also consider Romans 4:1-4; 11:5-6, Ephesians 2:8-9)
Consider also these verses that speak of faith ALONE being how we are justified / made righteous in God’s sight:
Romans 3:28 - Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Romans 5:1 - Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Galatians 2:16 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Galatians 3:11 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Galatians 3:24 - Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Looks like we’ll have to deal with “scenario #2” next time… please check back!!!
Welcome to PART 2, if you have not read part 1, please read it before reading this! The foundation of many statements that will be made here are there.
With that said…
Many Christians who would agree that God does not owe us anything (much less Salvation) unwittingly support such a position due to their view of the doctrine called, “Eternal Security” (aka “Once-saved, Always-saved”)
Many Christians today believe that once a person puts faith in Christ they (1) can at some future point commit an act that would negate the “eternal life” they received or (2) “deny their salvation / faith” and thus go to hell when they die.
Scenario #1 - The inescapable conclusion for scenario #1 is that once a person places their faith in Christ they must then “walk the straight and narrow” or “keep a set of rules” in order to “maintain” their salvation. In other words, we are justified NOT by faith alone but by faith PLUS obeying the law until we die… HOWEVER, faith + works (keeping a set of rules to stay saved) is not the Bible equation for salvation! Consider Romans 3:20a, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight”. If one believes that once they are saved they then have to “keep a set a rules”, that person is in a works oriented religion (trying to earn salvation by performance THUS God would “owe” salvation because of this persons ability to keep the law versus being justified by faith alone). This person is seeking to “stay” justified by obeying law YET the Bible says this is impossible (Rom 3:20). Also, consider these verses in Galatians 3:
[2] This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
[3] Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
[7] Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
[8] And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
What are we justified by? FAITH, nothing more, nothing less. Justified simply means to be put in right-standing before God, to be considered blameless. This is when our sins are forgiven, our “slate is wiped clean” if you will. The Bible says that, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom 4:5) It did NOT say that our “good works” were counted for righteousness. It did NOT say that our “ability to keep the law after we are saved” is counted for righteousness. It must be understood that if a person is keeping a set of rules to “maintain” being justified or maintain the righteousness that GOD has IMPUTED to them… they are earning / working for their salvation.
Finally, I hope it can be seen that if we add our “good works” or “ability to keep the law” into the equation that brings about eternal life then we are earning that eternal life. If works are involved at all in the equation then God OWES salvation to us and this is neither logical nor Biblical. (also consider Romans 4:1-4; 11:5-6, Ephesians 2:8-9)
Consider also these verses that speak of faith ALONE being how we are justified / made righteous in God’s sight:
Romans 3:28 - Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Romans 5:1 - Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Galatians 2:16 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Galatians 3:11 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Galatians 3:24 - Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Looks like we’ll have to deal with “scenario #2” next time… please check back!!!
posted by I say, I say... at 6:15 PM
3 Comments:
I agree with you that "by Grace we are saved" and we only need to believe. But, then the Holy Spirit goes to work on us, and through the Spirit, we want to do good things and honor God and glorify Him, and that is what others will see and hopefully be led to God also. As we become more mature Christians, our lives will reflect God's word and the life of Christ through us and what we do. All of us is a work in progress and we can't judge each other by what we always observe and see in others. Only God can judge us and them, and we need to pray to have our hearts opened to "see" past any errors of others and then help them on their path to God.
Man, this is wonderful teaching.
Keep it up!
Love, Joe
Yes! For folks who are looking for ten commandments to obey. Jesus gave us just one commandment. "Abide in me, and I in you." (John 15:4) And The Holy Spirit to make it possible!
Amen Brother! Love the KISS principle applied to God's Holy Work. Even helps this old man understand!
Love, Joe
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