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I guess that is what people say all the time about the bible.Isn't this a contradiction? When you are saved you become a good servant, but when a saved person notice being a bad servant he/she gets convicted by the Spirit. Then you can be saved yet be a bad servant, a convicted bad servant?
I guess that is what people say all the time about the bible.If it sounds contradictory, that is not my intent. Simply, if a person is saved and is filled with the Holy Spirit, they strive to be a good servant. If a person is not saved, they could care less about being a good servant. A Christian is directed daily in the path of good servitude through the power of the Holy Spirit. A non-believer does not know what direction to go in.
James 2:18
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
Yes, they are believers not non-believers. The OP asks the question if good servitude is required before salvation. I am simply pointing out that our salvation produces the good servant.Those believers who choose to act in accord with His will are good servants.
Works salvation is not Christianity. It is the opposite. Christianity is salvation which shows through the fruit of the believer. Salvation is never taken away. People choose to walk away.Actually my dear it's the people who believe in works salvation who are frequently unsaved-by their own admission.
How can you be saved if your salvation can be cut off at anytime?
Works salvation is not Christianity. It is the opposite. Christianity is salvation which shows through the fruit of the believer. Salvation is never taken away. People choose to walk away.
Blessings
45 But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves,
You think Jesus is a literal vine,not a man?
And the people spoken about in the parable are foliage?
So back to your question, "Do you have to be a good servant to be saved?
Answer- When you are saved, you become a good servant.
Well you're right about Christianity not being works salvation. It's by faith.
I don't believe a saved person can "walk away" or abandon the faith after they are saved. Even if they wanted to, Gods will is stronger and won't let them:
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one."
So Jesus is telling us after we are saved we won't walk away, because no-one can take the saved from him.
Strive, in the way I am using it, means efforts towards being a good servant through the power of the Holy Spirit."if a person is saved and is filled with the Holy Spirit, they strive to be a good servant."
Being a good servant and striving to be a good servant is not the same, is it?
I could agree about being saved and striving. Yet, not exactly sure what striving means. For a time I chose sinful life after being saved. Of course I didn't want to, yet chose it. Don't know if that is striving. At least I didn't see me as a good servant.
Strive, in the way I am using it, means efforts towards being a good servant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Strive, in the way I am using it, means efforts towards being a good servant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
He doesn’t say we can’t walk away He says no one can snatch them from His hand. This means no one else can take away your salvation. Romans 11:17-23 says that a person can lose their salvation as a result of unbelief.
He doesn’t say we can’t walk away He says no one can snatch them from His hand. This means no one else can take away your salvation. Romans 11:17-23 says that a person can lose their salvation as a result of unbelief.
No, he says "no man" so that would Include potential deserters. This is not a parable this is direct.
This is a very elementary line of questioning that I don’t want any part of. I think the answer to your question is quite obvious. If that’s how this discussion is going to be then there’s no point in having it.
I already addressed this (Romans 11) point in a previous post and we disagree.
In Pauls letter the people who were ''broken off'' did so because of the lack of faith. It was never there to begin with-they probably trusted in self-works for salvation.
Who grafted in these branches? Does God graft branches into Christ that do not believe? Why would He graft branches into Christ who don’t believe only to cut them off for unbelief?
Well.......first of all you said "yes" he is a vine. Now I tighten the question some you say "obvious"
I know you don't want to admit the parable isn't literal because you believe some of the verses contained within support your belief if used literally.
I don't think God can be in debt to the creation,which is the arrangement when you believe you need to labour for salvation. A wage is accrued and a debt is accumulated. So salvation has to be gifted and the Bible describes the gift of life as eternal, so eternal salvation for the saved.