Are we saved by grace, faith, works of faith, repentance, election, or combination of these?

[Hammster]

No, but then again I don’t go around throwing other people’s kids into a lake of fire either. So again I don’t think your analogy quite fits the discussion.

Neither does God. He saves His children.

 

[ColoRaydo]

Say you have three kids. They acknowledge you as their father and they love you.

You tell them to rake the leaves. One gets all the leaves but one. Another misses about 10. The third gets barely half out of the yard. HOWEVER, one of their friends is there also. He’s not your kid. He doesn’t even like you, but he’s a good little raker. He only missed two leaves.

By that alone, which child or children get to stay in your home permanently?

Then they each point to their efforts and say “This is what I did for you. Have I earned my place in your house?” Would you grant them access to the house based on their raking performance? Or would you say, “Nobody earned anything, my sons can live in my house.”

 

[BNR32FAN]

Say you have three kids. They acknowledge you as their father and they love you.

You tell them to rake the leaves. One gets all the leaves but one. Another misses about 10. The third gets barely half out of the yard. HOWEVER, one of their friends is there also. He’s not your kid. He doesn’t even like you, but he’s a good little raker. He only missed two leaves.

By that alone, which child or children get to stay in your home permanently?

Then they each point to their efforts and say “This is what I did for you. Have I earned my place in your house?” Would you grant them access to the house based on their raking performance? Or would you say, “Nobody earned anything, my sons can live in my house.”

Ok so let’s take this analogy even further. Let’s say one of your kids curses you and gives you the finger then he goes and kills your other two kids and the friend that helped rake up the leaves. Is he still welcome to live in your house? Will God allow a child that behaves this way to live in His house?

 

[BNR32FAN]

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:16‬ ‭NASB‬‬

 

[Hammster]

Ok so let’s take this analogy even further. Let’s say one of your kids curses you and gives you the finger then he goes and kills your other two kids and the friend that helped rake up the leaves. Is he still welcome to live in your house? Will God allow a child that behaves this way to live in His house?

Yes. Where sin abounds, grace abounds more.

 

[Hammster]

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:16‬ ‭NASB‬‬

Did you not know that Paul doesn’t stop there?


But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
— Romans 6:17

They were no longer slaves to sin. They have died to sin.

 

[BNR32FAN]

Yes. Where sin abounds, grace abounds more.

There ya go I rest my case. People who curse God and kill are allowed to enter the kingdom of God.

 

[Hammster]

There ya go I rest my case. People who curse God and kill are allowed to enter the kingdom of God.

Just the saved ones.

 

[ColoRaydo]

Ok so let’s take this analogy even further. Let’s say one of your kids curses you and gives you the finger then he goes and kills your other two kids and the friend that helped rake up the leaves. Is he still welcome to live in your house? Will God allow a child that behaves this way to live in His house?

It’s an analogy and that already was assumed to be fourth kid who wasn’t his son. Don’t change the scenario.

The children are imperfect, but they love their father. They are his children. Which (if any) of the children get to stay at home that night? The best raker? The best two? What about the screw-up? What’s the cutoff?

 

[Hammster]

May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
— Romans 6:2

Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
— Romans 7:1-4

We can’t lose our salvation because we are dead to sin, and it has no authority over us any more.

 

[BNR32FAN]

It’s an analogy and that already was assumed to be fourth kid who wasn’t his son. Don’t change the scenario.

The children are imperfect, but they love their father. They are his children. Which (if any) of the children get to stay at home that night? The best raker? The best two? What about the screw-up? What’s the cutoff?

The discussion is that some do not remain in Christ. Jesus said that some will fall away and their love will grow cold. Your scenario was a bit mild so I amplified it a bit because there are situations like this in the world where believers’ love for God turns to hate and discontent. Reformers will quote 1 John 2:19 as if it were referring to anyone who falls from grace and say that such a person never truly believed and was never saved but 1 John 2:19 is not referring to those who have fallen away. John is talking about hypocrites who spread lies about God. They never believed and were never saved. This doesn’t mean that anyone who falls away never believed and was never saved. Jesus said that some WILL BELIEVE for a while but then when tribulations come they will turn to unbelief. The biggest problem with reformed theology is predestination. That’s where all their errors spawn from. That’s why they think that no one can fall from grace and lose their salvation even tho Paul specifically said in Galatians 5:4 that people can fall from grace. In EVERY SINGLE example of apostasy in the scriptures the one committing apostasy HAS THE ABILITY TO CHANGE HIS OUTCOME. The scriptures NEVER say that a person is condemned by God’s choice, in every single case it is the choice and actions of the individual himself that condemns him. Not once does the Bible say that someone is condemned because they were not elected by God. People think that Romans 9 is evidence of God choosing who will be saved and who will be condemned and they completely miss the point of verse 22.

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭9:22‬ ‭NASB‬‬

God has not predestined the vessels of wrath for destruction, He predetermined that they will never repent according to His foreknowledge and uses them as an example to show His glory and to persuade others to repent. If God had predestined them for destruction how and why would he be patient with them? Reformers will directly contradict plainly stated verses of scripture in order to hold on to the false doctrine of predestination. They will say that Jesus didn’t pay for the sins of the world. He absolutely did which is exactly why He will be the one to either acknowledge or deny each person before The Father. Jesus said some will believe for a while then turn to disbelief and reformers will say they never truly believed. Jesus said The Father cuts off every branch IN ME that beareth not fruit and reformers will say they were never really in Christ. Jesus said anyone who does not abide/remain in Me will be cast into the fire. Reformers will again say they were never truly in Christ. Reformers will say that God doesn’t really want all men to repent and be saved when both Paul and Peter specifically said that He does. Both Peter and Paul said that God does not show partiality towards men, reformers say He does. And now for the really big one, Revelation 2:20-22.

“But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:20-22‬ ‭NASB‬‬

Now if predestination was true then why would Jesus expect Jezebel to repent if she was not elected? Why would He give her time to repent if she is incapable of repentance? I haven’t seen a reformer yet that could answer this question.

The problem with reformed theology is that it was formulated by men who were seeking to refute the Roman Catholic teachings as much as they possibly could. And I don’t blame them at all. The leadership of the RCC at that time were far from godly. Evidently what these men didn’t know was that the RCC had been excommunicated from the Catholic Church over 500 years before the reformation ever began in 1054AD. I can explain further if you like but this post is getting too long and I hate to make my posts too long as they often get overlooked.

 

[Hammster]

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
— Galatians 5:1-6

Paul is not making an argument that one can lose their salvation. He never does anywhere in scripture. The only way synergists can make their arguments is by using single verses out of context.

Paul is addressing those who think salvation comes by following the law first. If you do, then there’s no grace. All of Galatians is about grace being over the law. Look here:


You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain⁠—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
— Galatians 3:1-6

This short passage here counters @BNR32FAN ’s argument about needing to be obedient to stay saved. We can’t do anything to stay saved since we didn’t do anything to be saved. We respond to Christ. That’s it. So if you try to be perfected by the flesh, your work is in vain.

 

[Religiot]

Are we saved by grace, faith, works of faith, repentance, election, or combination of these?

(Please vote in the poll).

The Spirit, through Paul, says, by grace are you saved through faith unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them; thus if we walk not in good works we are then walking another path that God did not ordain, which, of course, means that we are going our own way, and our own way is the broad way that is not Christ, for Christ is the only way that is narrow.

Moreover, the Spirit says, through James, that belief alone cannot save anyone, and that it is the foolishness of vanity to think that it can.

Furthermore, the Spirit says, through Paul, that works alone cannot save anyone either, and that it is the stubbornness of pride to think that they can.

Belief and Works, these two, together, they render the obedience of faith, by which God, by His grace, has chosen us to save.

Remember, that Christ is the Author of our salvation, but only to those of us who have believed that we must obey Him, and do it!

 

[Bible Highlighter]

The Spirit, through Paul, says, by grace are you saved through faith unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them; thus if we walk not in good works we are then walking another path that God did not ordain, which, of course, means that we are going our own way, and our own way is the broad way that is not Christ, for Christ is the only way that is narrow.

Moreover, the Spirit says, through James, that belief alone cannot save anyone, and that it is the foolishness of vanity to think that it can.

Furthermore, the Spirit says, through Paul, that works alone cannot save anyone either, and that it is the stubbornness of pride to think that they can.

Belief and Works, these two, together, they render the obedience of faith, by which God, by His grace, has chosen us to save.

Remember, that Christ is the Author of our salvation, but only to those of us who have believed that we must obey Him, and do it!

Yes, exactly. This is what I believe the Bible teaches, as well.
I believe we are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ (forgiveness of sin), and by Sanctification (Holy living in being fruitful for our Lord, putting away sin, and not in justifying sin).

I believe Jesus saves both in going to His grace, and in Sanctification. The Lord forgives sin by His work of redemption in His death, burial, and resurrection, and in seeking forgiveness with Jesus, and also in abiding in His words and or seeking to obey His commands (only by God's power and His working through us). I believe God does the good work through us. God saves, but we have to cooperate with His plan of salvation. It's not all just grace alone, and neither is it all obedience alone. It is a health balance of God's grace and obedience to His good ways (i.e. His NT Commands).

 

[Hammster]

The Spirit, through Paul, says, by grace are you saved through faith unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them; thus if we walk not in good works we are then walking another path that God did not ordain, which, of course, means that we are going our own way, and our own way is the broad way that is not Christ, for Christ is the only way that is narrow.

Moreover, the Spirit says, through James, that belief alone cannot save anyone, and that it is the foolishness of vanity to think that it can.

Furthermore, the Spirit says, through Paul, that works alone cannot save anyone either, and that it is the stubbornness of pride to think that they can.

Belief and Works, these two, together, they render the obedience of faith, by which God, by His grace, has chosen us to save.

Remember, that Christ is the Author of our salvation, but only to those of us who have believed that we must obey Him, and do it!

You are off a bit. Being saved into good works doesn’t mean that works are part of what keeps you saved. See my previous post on what Paul had to say.

We work because we are saved. We want to. It’s part of our new nature. But it contributes nothing to our salvation.

 

[Hammster]

Yes, exactly. This is what I believe the Bible teaches, as well.
I believe we are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ (forgiveness of sin), and by Sanctification (Holy living in being fruitful for our Lord, putting away sin, and not in justifying sin).

I believe Jesus saves both in going to His grace, and in Sanctification. The Lord forgives sin by His work of redemption in His death, burial, and resurrection, and in seeking forgiveness with Jesus, and also in abiding in His words and or seeking to obey His commands (only by God's power and His working through us). I believe God does the good work through us. God saves, but we have to cooperate with His plan of salvation. It's not all just grace alone, and neither is it all obedience alone. It is a health balance of God's grace and obedience to His good ways (i.e. His NT Commands).

If that were true, Jesus and Paul would have said so.

 

[BNR32FAN]

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
— Galatians 5:1-6

Paul is not making an argument that one can lose their salvation. He never does anywhere in scripture. The only way synergists can make their arguments is by using single verses out of context.

Paul is addressing those who think salvation comes by following the law first. If you do, then there’s no grace. All of Galatians is about grace being over the law. Look here:


You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain⁠—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
— Galatians 3:1-6

This short passage here counters @BNR32FAN ’s argument about needing to be obedient to stay saved. We can’t do anything to stay saved since we didn’t do anything to be saved. We respond to Christ. That’s it. So if you try to be perfected by the flesh, your work is in vain.

And everyone who knows the scriptures knows that Paul is talking about trying to be justified by obedience to the law apart from Christ’s sacrifice.

 

[Hammster]

And everyone who knows the scriptures knows that Paul is talking about trying to be justified by obedience to the law apart from Christ’s sacrifice.

I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. Paul’s argument through the letter was against adding works to grace. So he’s not arguing against trying to be justified apart from Christ’s sacrifice, but adding works to His sacrifice.

 

[Religiot]

Yes, exactly. This is what I believe the Bible teaches, as well.
I believe we are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ (forgiveness of sin), and by Sanctification (Holy living in being fruitful for our Lord, putting away sin, and not in justifying sin).

I believe Jesus saves both in going to His grace, and in Sanctification. The Lord forgives sin by His work of redemption in His death, burial, and resurrection, and in seeking forgiveness with Jesus, and also in abiding in His words and or seeking to obey His commands (only by God's power and His working through us). I believe God does the good work through us. God saves, but we have to cooperate with His plan of salvation. It's not all just grace alone, and neither is it all obedience alone. It is a health balance of God's grace and obedience to His good ways (i.e. His NT Commands).

There is no such thing as New Testament Commands, nor Old Testament Commands, they are all God's commands, and none can be done away with, as the Spirit has said through Christ: for Christ did not come to do away with the law, but to magnify the law, e.g., to be a murderer under Christ's administration of God's laws, requires only that you hate your brother; and to be an adulterer requires only that you look with lust, etc.

Moreover, circumcision, which is not through what God gave Moses, but is of our forefathers, is also magnified under Christ's administration of God's laws, in that, in Christ, carnal circumcision has become spiritual circumcision, thus the prophecy is fulfilled, and circumcision is now magnified, for it is now the heart that is cut.

To imagine that God's commands are done away with, is like imagining that the carpet on your floors is all that lies underneath your feet.

You must be sure to make the distinction between God's law, and the administration of His laws. God's laws were kept by Abraham through the administration of Melchisedec, but the administration of Sinai is the administration of death, which administration came through the Levitical Priesthood, Moses calling for recompense, his brethren responding with the sword, killing their own brothers: it is by these same men, the sons of Levi, that this administration of God's law was performed til the payment of Christ: and it is this administration that requires compensation for any and all transgressions of the law, but under the administration of grace, which is the administration of Christ, all transgressions are already paid for, and all intercession is free, and complete, resulting in an empowerment that allows all who believe access to achieve what was once impossible under the previous administration.

The old administration of Levi is no more, but the ancient administration of Melchisedec, which is an eternal administration of God's will, is now in Christ, Who is after the ancient order of Melchisedec, which order is that of those who are born of God, who need not the threat of stoning to keep the Sabbath, but the love of God, as their Father, like Melchisedec, like Christ, like any who are truly born again.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

There is no such thing as New Testament Commands, nor Old Testament Commands, they are all God's commands, and none can be done away with, as the Spirit has said through Christ: for Christ did not come to do away with the law, but to magnify the law, e.g., to be a murderer under Christ's administration of God's laws, requires only that you hate your brother; and to be an adulterer requires only that you look with lust, etc.

Moreover, circumcision, which is not through what God gave Moses, but is of our forefathers, is also magnified under Christ's administration of God's laws, in that, in Christ, carnal circumcision has become spiritual circumcision, thus the prophecy is fulfilled, and circumcision is now magnified, for it is now the heart that is cut.

To imagine that God's commands are done away with, is like imagining that the carpet on your floors is all that lies underneath your feet.

You must be sure to make the distinction between God's law, and the administration of His laws. God's laws were kept by Abraham through the administration of Melchisedec, but the administration of Sinai is the administration of death, which administration came through the Levitical Priesthood, Moses calling for recompense, his brethren responding with the sword, killing their own brothers: it is by these same men, the sons of Levi, that this administration of God's law was performed til the payment of Christ: and it is this administration that requires compensation for any and all transgressions of the law, but under the administration of grace, which is the administration of Christ, all transgressions are already paid for, and all intercession is free, and complete, resulting in an empowerment that allows all who believe access to achieve what was once impossible under the previous administration.

The old administration of Levi is no more, but the ancient administration of Melchisedec, which is an eternal administration of God's will, is now in Christ, Who is after the ancient order of Melchisedec, which order is that of those who are born of God, who need not the threat of stoning to keep the Sabbath, but the love of God, as their Father, like Melchisedec, like Christ, like any who are truly born again.

The Old Law is No More - The Law has changed:

God's moral laws came into existence for man and would forever exist for him after the Fall of Adam and Eve (after they received the knowledge of good and evil). A Moral Law is any law telling you to do good without a specific law telling you that such a thing is so (See Romans 2:14). These moral laws existed before the Law of Moses.

In the New Covenant (or New Testament) these Moral Laws (like: “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” Do not covet,” “Do not commit adultery,” etc.) are repeated from the 613 laws within the Law of Moses and they still in effect (i.e. They have been carried over into the New Testament). However, the Old Testament Law of Moses as a whole or package deal is no more (contractually speaking). Ceremonial commands: Things like the commands on circumcision, animal sacrifices, the Saturday Sabbath, etc. are no longer binding under the New Covenant. Sure, you may be able to say that the Old Law can be obeyed in a metaphorical sense, but you cannot obey them in a literal sense (Which is how one was to obey these laws under the Old Covenant). This is because the written Law given to Israel is no longer in effect (as a whole). How so?


Here are a list of verses
(showing us the Old Law is no more):

"When God speaks of a "new" covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear." (Hebrews 8:13) (NLT).

”Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” (Romans 7:4).

"But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." (Romans 7:6).

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" (Colossians 2:14).

20 "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using; ) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh."
(Colossians 2:20-23).

“By abolishing in His [own crucified] flesh the enmity [caused by] the Law with its decrees and ordinances [which He annulled]; that He from the two might create in Himself one new man [one new quality of humanity out of the two], so making peace.” (Ephesians 2:15) (AMPC).

"The old [former] rule [commandment; regulation] is now set aside [nullified; abolished], because it was weak and useless [ineffective]." (Hebrews 7:18) (EXB).

9 “Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” (Hebrews 9:9-10).

16 “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” (Hebrews 9:16-17).

”And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament…” (Hebrews 9:15).

27 “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28).

50 “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;" (Matthew 27:20-51).

8 “Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.” (Hebrews 10:8-9).

“And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” (Acts of the Apostles 15:1).

“But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” (Acts of the Apostles 15:5).

“Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment” (Acts of the Apostles 15:24).

28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." (Acts of the Apostles 15:28-29).

7 "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).

“But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 3:14).
​

Pay special close attention to Acts of the Apostles 15:24. At the Jerusalem council, the apostles told the Gentile believers that they did not need to keep the Law of Moses (i.e. the 613 laws as a whole and not individual laws) and circumcision. According to Acts of the Apostles 15:1, there was a certain sect of Pharisees who said that these Gentile believers needed to be circumcised in order to be saved; But this was not the case at all. Paul says in Galatians 5:2 that if you seek to be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.