"He who practices righteousness is righteous" (1 John 3:7)

Mark Quayle said:

I agree completely with what he said. But your quote of him can easily be taken to mean what they want it to mean, who oppose Calvin.

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Those who see only what they want to see are blind.

Paulomycin said:

Do works (such as baptism) facilitate salvation, yes or no?

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Yes.

obedience................unto................righteousness Romans 6:16
believes..................unto.................righteousness Romans 10:10
confession..............unto.................salvation Romans 10:10
repent/baptized......in order to........receive remission of sins Acts 2:38

Belief repentance confession and baptism therefore are forms of obedience to God's will, they are "doing righteousness" therefore NOT obeying in doing these things is doing UNrighteousness.

Butterball1 said:

Yes.

obedience................unto................righteousness Romans 6:16
believes..................unto.................righteousness Romans 10:10
confession..............unto.................salvation Romans 10:10
repent/baptized......in order to........receive remission of sins Acts 2:38

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There are no works that we can do to earn salvation.
People can be, and are, forgiven as soon as they repent. They don't need to wait for baptism - which may take several weeks, or may never happen.

Strong in Him said:

There are no works that we can do to earn salvation.
People can be, and are, forgiven as soon as they repent. They don't need to wait for baptism - which may take several weeks, or may never happen.

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Salvation is a free gift so it cannot be earned. But salvation is a CONDITIONAL gift that God placed preconditions upon and one must meet those preconditions (belief repentance confession baptism) in order to receive the free gift. Many examples throughout the Bible of men obeying God's will in order to receive God's free gift and not the first time is their obedience said to have earned them God's free gift.

God has commanded men to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38). All God's commandments are righteousness (Psalms 119:172) therefore those who obey God's command - obey God's righeousness in repenting and being baptized are the ones who will be seen righteous by God. 1 John 3:10 as long as one continues to not do God's righteousness/commands (repentance & baptism) one continues to not be of God.

Impossible for one to be righteous apart from doing God's righteous commands. How can one be righteous if he has NEVER done any righteousness?

Hammster said:

Free, but conditional. You can’t earn it, but here’s what you must do to get it.

Bit of a contradiction.

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While I don't agree with baptism being a requirement I don't see a contradiction here. Unless you want to say that we don't have to belief and repent in order to be saved. If Jesus' gift was "free" in the sense of "you don't have to do anything at all", then it was an automatic process and every human being was saved. But it is not. Jesus offers salvation for free, and in order to take His offer we have to do something: believe and repent.

Note though that believing and repenting are not considered "works". We don't have to add works to salvation, but yes, there are conditions.

Hammster said:

Free, but conditional. You can’t earn it, but here’s what you must do to get it.

Bit of a contradiction.

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• Salvation is a free gift that is conditional upon our believing.
• Whosoever believes is saved.
• Whosoever does not believe remains condemned.
• That is God's Sovereign plan of salvation.

John 3:16-18 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 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.

Blessings

Hebrews 11:7 the salvation of Noah's house was a free gift of God not something God owed Noah, yet God placed the precondition of building an ark in order for Noah to receive the free gift. His obedience earned Noah NOTHING but simply met a precondition on a free gift.

Noah was righteous for he did righteousness, obeyed God's commands. Had he not obeyed that would be doing unrighteousness and Noah would be seen by God as unrighteous for his defiant, rebellious disobedience.

Exodus 16:
God owed the Israelites nothing but because of His grace God sent them the free gift of manna. Yet the free gift came with the condition of the Israelites doing the work of gathering the manna. Had the Israelites not done the work of gathering the manna (faith only) then they would have remained hungry. Therefore they must have done the work of gathering the manna in order to receive this free gift from God yet the work of gathering earned them nothing.

2 Kings 5:
God did not owe Naaman anything but because of God's grace He would heal Naaman's disease. Yet this free gift came to Naaman with the condition that he do the work of going and dipping in the Jordan River 7 times. Had Naaman not done the work of dipping (faith only) then he would have maintained his disease. Therefore Naaman must have done the work of dipping in order to receive this free gift from God yet the work of dipping earned Naaman nothing.

John 9:
Jesus did not owe the blind man anything but because of His grace Jesus would heal the man's blindness. Yet this free gift came to the blind man with the condition he go and wash in the pool of Siloam. Had the blind man not done the work of going and washing in pool (faith only), he would have remained blind. Therefore the blind man must have done the work of going and washing in order to receive this free gift from Christ yet the work of going and dipping earned him nothing.

Matthew 19:
Jesus did not owe the rich man anything but because of His grace He offered the rich man the free gift of eternal life. Yet this free gift came with conditions of obeying God's commands. The rich man met those conditions except for one...go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. The rich man did not obey, did not do this work of righteousness thereby refusing the free gift that had been offered him. He therefore must have obeyed in order to receive the free gift Christ had offered to him for free yet his obedience in no way would have earned him anything.

Acts 2:
Peter, in his sermon, offered his listeners the free gift of salvation which is a result of God's grace. This free gift came with the condition they call upon the name of the Lord/repent and be baptized, verses 21, 38. Had they not done this work (faith only) they would have remained lost in their unremitted sins. Yet to receive this free gift of God required they conditionally call upon the name of the Lord/repent and be baptized and their obedience in doing this in no way would have earned them God's free gift.

Joshua 6:
God would give the Israelites the city of Jericho as a gift. Yet this free gift came with many conditions including the requirement of the Israelites to march around the city. Had the Israelites done no work (faith only) then they would have not received this free gift of God. Therefore Israel must have obeyed in doing those works in order to receive this free gift of God and doing these works in no way earned them the city.

Rom 6:
Paul said those Romans had been freed from sin/justified, a free gift of God, v23. Yet this free gift came with the condition of obeying from the heart that form of doctrine. Had they had done no obeying (faith only) they would have remained in their sins/unjustified. Therefore they must have obeyed from the heart in order to receive the free gift of God and obeying in no way earned them God's free gift.

Acts 10:
Salvation was a free gift that came to the Gentiles by God's grace. Yet this free gift came with the condition of 'working righteousness', v35. If the Gentiles had done nothing (faith only) they never would have been accepted with God. Therefore the Gentiles must have worked righteousness (obey the command to be water baptized) to be saved yet this "working righteousness" would not earn the Gentiles God's acceptance.

John 6:
Jesus told His hearers He would give (it's free) the gift of everlasting life. Yet this free gift came with the condition of laboring. Had Christ's hearers had done no laboring (faith only) they would not receive this free gift. Therefore they must labor to receive the free gift of everlasting life and their laboring in no way would earned them everlasting life.

Rev 22:
The waters of life are freely given, a free gift that is made available to all/whosoever. Yet this free gift comes with the condition that one must obey in coming and taking of this water of life. If one does nothing (faith only) he will never get the free gift of the water of life therefore one must do the obedient works in coming and taking of this water and those works in no way earns one this water of life.

Friedrich Rubinstein said:

If Jesus' gift was "free" in the sense of "you don't have to do anything at all", then it was an automatic process and every human being was saved.

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This is true.

Titus 2:11 if the gift of salvation were unconditional, then all men would unconditionally be saved.

Hammster said:

We should use better terms to be clearer. Justification requires faith. Regeneration does not require faith. We are born again before we believe.

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How do you know that regeneration does not require faith?

Titus 2:11
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.

The logical implication is if salvation is a UNconditional gift then 'all men' UNconditional will receive it.

setst777 said:

How do you know that regeneration does not require faith?

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Nicodemus, a Jew (Pharisee) making him of God's chosen, elect people, a believer in God, believed that Christ came from God yet not born again, John 3:1-2

Belief must precede regeneration.

Butterball1 said:

Titus 2:11
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.

The logical implication is if salvation is a UNconditional gift then 'all men' UNconditional will receive it.

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That is what they believe. But that is not what the Scripture states.

"Titus 2:5-11" shows us that regeneration occurs AFTER Lord Jesus appeared to save us.

Nothing about faith is discussed, because Paul is addressing Christians who already believe.

However the point is that,

• BEFORE Christ Jesus appeared to save us there was no regeneration, yet, we find a Cloud of believers in God before he ever appeared, before the regeneration of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus. And God blessed them.
• So regeneration is not so one can believe, because faith is possible for thousands of years before Christ Jesus ever appeared.

Hammster said:

Scripture says that we cannot please God in the flesh. Believing is pleasing to God. Hence, we need to be born again in order to believe.

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Where does Scripture say we have to be regenerated so we can believe?

Hammster said:

The contradiction is that it’s can’t both be free, and have conditions. Let me be clearer. There’s no condition to get a new heart. God regenerates freely. There’s no conditions to stay saved. There are, however, conditions to be an obedient child. None of my kids asked to be born or adopted. Yet here they are, being loved on. They do have requirements to be obedient. If they are disobedient, there are consequences. None of those consequences involves them ceasing to be our children, not even the adoptive ones.

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But you do realize that not every human being is a child of God, right? It's not as automatic as you seem to think.