- May 17, 2021
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I would like to apologize for not being previously clear as to what I meant about the assurance of salvation. My own view of assurance is perhaps closer to the Catholic teaching than the "easy-believism" promoted by many evangelicals today.
This is from the doctrinal statement of the Salvation Army, of which I used to be a member:
This would mean that our assurance of salvation is conditional upon continued, obedient faith, rather than the presumption that God will save us no matter how we live, even if we fall away from the faith.
I agree with Catholics that good works and avoidance of sin are necessary to confirm our salvation, but I wouldn't use the same list as to what those good works are, such as praying the rosary or performing Eucharistic adoration.
At the same time, I believe that good works and avoidance of sin are a gift of God's grace, imparted to us as sanctifying grace from Christ's finished work on the cross:
Imparted righteousness - Wikipedia
This seems to more or less be the Catholic teaching as well:
This is from the doctrinal statement of the Salvation Army, of which I used to be a member:
Continued obedient faith
Our salvation is assured as long as we continue to exercise faith in Jesus Christ. Such faith is expressed in obedience to his leadings, will and commands. Obedience as a free-will choice is a consequence of faith, and without it, faith dies.
Salvation
This would mean that our assurance of salvation is conditional upon continued, obedient faith, rather than the presumption that God will save us no matter how we live, even if we fall away from the faith.
I agree with Catholics that good works and avoidance of sin are necessary to confirm our salvation, but I wouldn't use the same list as to what those good works are, such as praying the rosary or performing Eucharistic adoration.
At the same time, I believe that good works and avoidance of sin are a gift of God's grace, imparted to us as sanctifying grace from Christ's finished work on the cross:
Imparted righteousness - Wikipedia
This seems to more or less be the Catholic teaching as well:
The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) is a document created and agreed to by the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999 as a result of extensive ecumenical dialogue. It states that the churches now share "a common understanding of our justification by God's grace through faith in Christ."[1] To the parties involved, this essentially resolves the 500-year-old conflict over the nature of justification which was at the root of the Protestant Reformation. The World Methodist Council adopted the Declaration on 18 July 2006.[2][3] The World Communion of Reformed Churches (representing the "80 million members of Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed, United, Uniting, and Waldensian churches"), adopted the Declaration in 2017.[4]
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification - Wikipedia