From what I recall, the first was written to the unsaved, and the second was written to the saved.
Amen. Salvation is most definitely a gift. There is nothing that we can do to deserve it.
As for salvation being a reward for good works and obedience, I cannot convince you of course, but I think there are plenty of verses in Scripture that teach other than what you believe. Here is an example:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In the above verses, Jesus is not talking about rewards that one might obtain while in heaven. He is talking about "inheriting the Kingdom" and being sent into an "eternal fire".
That is just one example but there are plenty more if you re-read the NT with that idea in view.
Absolutely. There is nothing that I can do to save myself. The only thing that I can do is to allow God to save me. That comes through allowing God to instill faith in my heart, and allowing the Holy Spirit to perform good works though me.
I believe that he knew that he was going to heaven, if you look at the letters toward the end of his life. Let's take 2 Timothy 4 as an example:
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
You can see that his confidence is based on the fact that he "fought the good fight," "finished the race", and "kept the faith".
But if you look at 1 Corinthians, which was written some 10 years earlier than 2 Timothy, you see a different picture:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Paul kept the faith up until the point of his death. That is why he has the confidence that you see in 2 Timothy, but which is lacking in 1 Corinthians.
That is my take on the letters, at least.
The good news, at least for me, is that God loves us, sent his son to save us, and desires to share his blessed life with us for all eternity. Sure, we worry about "getting to heaven" or "staying out of hell" and so forth, but the whole point of it all is to have the relationship with God that he desires to have with us. Even though I can get a bit "legalistic" sounding with talk of "mortal sin" and so forth, the main focus is and should be on improving one's relationship with God.
Absolutely. Gentiles like you and me are grafted in through faith.
The point that I wanted to make with the verse, is that "we too will be cut off" if "we do not continue in his kindness". The "you" that St. Paul refers to in those verses are the very same Gentiles who were grafted in.
The point is that the Jews were cut off for their unbelief, and likewise, the gentiles too can be cut off for their unbelief.
I would not say that it is our human effort that keeps us in a state of grace, from a Catholic perspective. Rather, it is God's grace (or the Holy Spirit) working within us that keeps us in a state of grace. Our "human work" if you will, consists of allowing God to perform the good works through us that he desires. Thus, St. Augustine writes "Since only grace makes every good merit of ours, and when God crowns our merits, He crowns nothing else but His own gifts."
As for our initial justification, yes, this is what the Catholic Church teaches:
Paul III Council of Trent-6
If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.
But generally we would read verses like James 2:24 (and many other verses) to indicate that one must continue to assent to God throughout the course of one's life, in order to receive the final reward of heaven. At a high level, I guess you could say that a person must continue to have faith in Jesus, and continue to hold Jesus as Lord and Savior, until the end of one's life. Anyone who goes out and rapes and murders 20 people, or commits some other mortal sin, has rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior, and thus loses the reward.
I know you disagree, but that's cool. This is the way that I interpret Scripture, but not everyone does, of course.
