Faith in the resurrected lord Messiah Jesus, the Son of God is undeniably the only way for somebody to be saved. This is made very clear from a multitude of Scriptures.
Here are some:
John 3:14-18:
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
John 20:30-31:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John 11:25-26:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
Mark 16:15-16:
“And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Acts 16:30-31:
“And brought them [Paul and Silas] out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they [Paul and Silas] said, believe on the lord Messiah Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
And they spoke the word of the lord to him and to all who were in his house.
After Paul said to the jailer in answer to his question, “What must I do to be saved? And Paul and Silas say, “Believe in the lord Messiah Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. Paul continues to speak the word of the lord to him. The word of the lord is the message about the coming Kingdom of God and how to enter that kingdom, which includes making a total commitment to die to self and obey the words and commands of the lord Messiah Jesus. To become a slave to righteousness – God’s righteousness and shown through the life of the lord Messiah Jesus. So, believing in the lord Messiah Jesus is not all that is required to enter the kingdom of God, one must die to self, enter into baptism, total immersion, and when that one comes out of the water, he/she comes out in newness of life and new creation in the lord Messiah Jesus, and by the spirit of adoption become the sons/daughter of God – Yehovah, and are grafted into the Israel of God – Romans 11. They also become the slaves of the lord Messiah Jesus because they have been purchased by the blood he shed when he became a sin-offering sacrifice on the stake. And as Jesus was acting as the agent of his God and Father Yehovah, that makes us slaves of Yehovah also. Now as a slave of the lord Messiah Jesus, I own nothing, but what he blesses me with I am to exercise stewardship over what he has given to me. That is what speaking the lord to someone who asks, “What must I do to be saved”.
Romans 10:9:
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Before saying anything else, I would first like to point out that in the “whoever believes” and other similar statements given in the above passages, the present tense is used. In other words, what is described here is an active, present committed faith. An even more accurate translation of these statements would be “whoever goes on believing” i.e. believes now and goes on believing. This would correspond more to the fact that the present tense in ancient Greek was used to point out duration rather than one-off events.
It is obvious from the passages we gave above (and there are more) that we are not saved through works of the law or our own works. Salvation is given free, by grace, as a gift to everyone who believes in Jesus the Messiah as his lord and master, the Son of God. This is the undisputed truth of God’s – Yehovah’s Word. A committed faith therefore is the key to salvation with grace being the other key. Ephesians 2:8 summarizes this very well:
Ephesians 2:8:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God - Yehovah”
There are two components that when combined give salvation: grace and faith. Each of them alone cannot give salvation. The grace of God alone cannot save a person if this person does not have faith i.e. if he does not honestly and truly believe, from the heart, in Jesus the Messiah as his lord, as the Son of God - Yehovah.
Basically, God – Yehovah’s desire is for everyone to be saved, and gave His Son for everybody as a ransom.
As 1 Timothy 2:3-6 says:
“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God - Yehovah our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. “For there is one God - Yehovah, and one mediator between God and men, THE MAN the Messiah Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
Note: Jesus became a sin-offering sacrifice on the stake so that mankind could be reconciled to God – Yehovah. We who are the followers of the lord Messiah Jesus have been bought with a price, his shed blood, which makes us his slaves – bondservants.
And also, Titus 2:11:
“For the grace of God - Yehovah that brings salvation has appeared to all men” The lord Messiah Jesus gave himself for all mankind! God – Yehovah desires everyone to be saved. His grace has appeared to all men.
Therefore, the grace of God – Yehovah - the first part of the salvation condition of Ephesians 2:8 (“by grace”) - is available to everyone; it “has appeared to all men/women”. But the second part (“through faith”) is not there in everyone. Only a few truly believe in what God – Yehovah says in His Word about His Son and it is those who will be saved, for salvation is not just by grace, but “by grace through faith”.
Having clarified this point, the critical question is once someone believes, is faith something guaranteed to last forever or is it something that has to be kept by living out the lord Jesus in your life continually, which in turn means that it can also be abandoned?
How does the Bible treat faith?
Does it treat it as something dynamic or as something static i.e., as something that once you have it, you will always have it? What happens to a person’s salvation, in case his/her faith is abandoned? Is this possible at all and if yes what are the consequences? Many people do not bother to ask these questions.
To have salvation one needs to become totally committed to loving God with his/her heart, mind, being, and strength and loving one’s neighbor as himself/herself. Mark 12:28-32. This can only happen if one repents, dies to selfishness, and is baptized a symbol of that repentance and dying to selfishness and rise up out of the water in newness of life as a new creation in the lord Messiah Jesus, receiving the holy spirit which enables a believer to love God with all one’s being and love their neighbor as themselves. One has to do this continually until the lord Messiah Jesus comes or until they die. Jesus gave us his all on the stake and we in love for what he has done for us give our all to him as our saviour. Because of what he has done we through the spirit of adoption have been added to the household of God – Yehovah as sons and daughters. We have also been grafted into the Israel of God – Romans 11. Which makes all believers brothers and sisters in the lord Messiah Jesus who is our elder brother!
I haven’t given the scriptures to back up what I have just written it is up to you to look into the scriptures to see if I am right!
No comments:
Post a Comment