Once Saved Always Saved? Part 3 We finished our last post with this verse: “Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Galatians 3:11) There are many scriptures which teach us that a person must have faith in order to receive their salvation. But let us first make a distinction between having a saving type of faith and simply believing. For instance, a person may believe there is a God, but not the God who has revealed Himself to us in the bible. Or a person may accept the God who revealed himself to us in the Old Testament, but reject Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah who has provided for our salvation. Others accept Jesus as the Son of God but then add further requirements to the gospel, mixing legalistic practices (works) in an attempt to reach a righteous standing with God. These types of believing reject the gospel message, a message which takes away the requirements of you and me perfectly keeping the law and replaces it with the finished work of our Lord Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the law and all righteousness and became our sacrifice on the cross, and His righteousness is credited to us when we place our trust in Him as our Savior. This is the meaning of grace: God’s favor towards us which is unearned and undeserved. Let’s begin by looking at scriptures which support the idea that salvation is a GIFT from God by His GRACE, and is to be received by FAITH. “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by FAITH from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by FAITH.” Romans 1:17 “For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through FAITH—and this is not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God— NOT BY WORKS, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 “Therefore, since we have been justified through FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by FAITH into this GRACE in which we now stand.” Romans 5:1-2 “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of GRACE and of the GIFT of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” Romans 5:17 “For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 Clearly the bible teaches salvation is not something we can earn. So what about works? What is their value? As a Christian, should I be doing good works? Absolutely! Remember, in our previous post we learned that as a Christian, you and I are not to do whatever we want. Instead, we are called to surrender our minds and bodies to God and allow His Holy Spirit to work in us and through us. Our flesh desires to sin, but we are to deny ourselves and instead be led by the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-18) Our Lord expects us to produce fruit of the Spirit, bringing blessing to ourselves and others around us. Now let’s look at scriptures which show that works are evidence of faith, and faith without works is dead. James 2:14-20 says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” In this passage James is not referring to a genuine saving faith that you and I have through placing our trust in Christ as our Savior. Instead, he is writing about a person having an intellectual knowledge of truth that is dead (v.17), demonic (v.19) and useless (v.20). James is also not saying that a person is saved by works and not by genuine faith. Rather, he is saying, to use Martin Luther’s words, that “people are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.” James further writes, “Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” James 2:21-24 If we read the last verse without taking into account the context of the entire passage it would appear that James is contradicting Paul’s writings that people are saved by faith and not by works. But James is simply reinforcing his point that righteous action is evidence of genuine faith. If we look back to Genesis 15:6 we will see that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness by God BEFORE Abraham offered up his son Isaac on the altar (Genesis 22). Now let’s go back to Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through FAITH—and this is not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God— NOT BY WORKS, so that no one can boast.” The next verse says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) Again, this shows the same order James wrote about with Abraham. Salvation is by faith and by God’s grace, and then it is followed (evidenced) by doing good works which God has planned we should do. Again, the context of James’ message to us believers is that faith and works go together, and you can’t have one without the other, but righteousness by faith is not contradicted and made false. Remember that all scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), that is to say it comes from the mind of God and was communicated to the writers of the bible through the Holy Spirit. Also, we know that it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2) or contradict Himself. Therefore, it is important not to read single verses or passages to support our beliefs, but to take scripture in its totality. We must consider everything God has given us and weigh it together with the whole bible message. Thank you for reading this and may God grow your faith to stand firm in His truth. Until next time may God richly bless you! FOCUS QUESTIONS Is it possible to believe in God and not be saved? Explain. What role do good works have in the Christian life? Please like the “King’s Fellowship” and share it with others.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 14:43:53 +0000
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