Few will be saved?

[yeshuaslavejeff]

What did Jesus mean when he said "few will be saved?" There are billions of Christians out there! Christianity is the largest religion in the world! So surely many will be saved? What are we missing? Discuss.

If there were even a half a billion anywhere, well, it would be so different than all the rest of the world,
yet the world cannot know nor accept anything true nor of the truth.

So, no, there are not many saved.
Jesus says so.
Jesus is right.
This is very very obvious all through all the world.

 

[Neostarwcc]

If there were even a half a billion anywhere, well, it would be so different than all the rest of the world,
yet the world cannot know nor accept anything true nor of the truth.

So, no, there are not many saved.
Jesus says so.
Jesus is right.
This is very very obvious all through all the world.

Hey Jeff, haven't seen you in a while. How are you?

 

[SBC]

Few will be saved?

Correct!

Also true is: ALL will believe; but not ALL will be saved.

Isa 45
[23] I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Also true is: ALL that believe AND are baptized SHALL BE SAVED.

Mark 16
[16] He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;

NOT ALL SHALL BE BAPTIZED!

God Bless,
SBC

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Hey Jeff, haven't seen you in a while. How are you?

"A man of sorrow, acquainted with grief"
"joy unspeakable and full of glory"
"peace that passes understanding"

"Unless the Father in heaven grants it, no man is able to understand anything."

"The whole world is deceived." (by satan; by pharmacy; by evil; by the world gov, etc)

"Seek wherever you go for those who serve YHWH in TRUTH in YESHUA(JESUS),
and abide with them ....."

"Whoever chooses to follow Jesus will necessarily suffer persecution."

"Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world".

 

[Bible Highlighter]

It's much more than that. Read post #41. Also believing in the Trinity and that Jesus is God helps but those are not required for salvation.

A person can be saved not knowing about the Trinity or that Jesus is God yet, but to deny these truths means that they are denying the very God in the Bible.

1 John 4:2-3 says,
"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

Jesus says if you do not believe "I AM" he, you will die in your sins (John 8:24). Jesus later clarified what He meant when He called Himself the "I AM" when he was talking with the Pharisees as an answer to how He was old enough to see Abraham; For they picked up stones to kill Jesus (See John 8:58-59). Jesus was saying that He was the "I AM" from Exodus chapter 3.

 

[Neostarwcc]

A person can be saved not knowing about the Trinity or that Jesus is God yet, but to deny these truths means that they are denying the very God in the Bible.

1 John 4:2-3 says,
"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

Jesus says if you do not believe "I AM" he, you will die in your sins (John 8:24). Jesus later clarified what He meant when He called Himself the "I AM" when he was talking with the Pharisees as an answer to how He was old enough to see Abraham; For they picked up stones to kill Jesus (See John 8:58-59). Jesus was saying that He was the "I AM" from Exodus chapter 3.

Agreed. Like I said people who deny the deity of Christ are idiots ignorant of scripture. But, it isn't a requirement for salvation.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

What did Jesus mean when he said "few will be saved?" There are billions of Christians out there! Christianity is the largest religion in the world! So surely many will be saved? What are we missing? Discuss.

Matthew 7:13 is tied to Jesus telling believers to depart from Him because they worked iniquity or sin (Matthew 7:23). Verse 26-27 says that he that does not do what Jesus says is like a fool who built his house upon the sand and when a storm came, great was the fall of that house (Matthew 7:26-27).

Most churches today believe in Once Saved Always Saved. They preach that you can sin on some level and still be saved. But if a person were to just read and believe their own Bible, they would come to find that the majority of the churches are wrong.

I mean, think about it. It is easy to do evil. So preaching a gospel that caters to men's sins is appealing to folks. But Jesus says narrow is the way that leads unto life. He says we will know false prophets by their fruit. False prophets are those who are teaching a gospel that leads people into sin and they themselves are servants or slaves to sin. Yet, Paul says we are to be slaves to righteousness in Romans 6.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Agreed. Like I said people who deny the deity of Christ are idiots ignorant of scripture. But, it isn't a requirement for salvation.

No. Denying the deity of Christ is a salvation issue. If one does not confess that Jesus came into the flesh, they are antichrist. Jesus Himself said if you do not believe "I AM" he, you will die in your sins. It does not get any clearer than that. You cannot worship a false god and still be right with the Lord. Narrow is the way. Not broad is the way.

 

[JoeP222w]

Muslims, Jews...etc all believe that there is one God too. They just don't believe its Jesus. Belief in Jesus is a minimum requirement for salvation.

The demons believe in Jesus but they do not have eternal salvation.

One must repent of their sins as well as believe in Jesus Christ. Demons will not repent.

 

[RaymondG]

No. Denying the deity of Christ is a salvation issue. If one does not confess that Jesus came into the flesh, they are antichrist. Jesus Himself said if you do not believe "I AM" he, you will die in your sins. It does not get any clearer than that. You cannot worship a false god and still be right with the Lord. Narrow is the way. Not broad is the way.

I believe you mean, confess that He is come..... There is a slight difference with important implications.

1 John 4:3
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,

 

[Bible Highlighter]

I believe you mean, confess that He is come..... There is a slight difference with important implications.

1 John 4:3
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,

Uh, it's talking about the Incarnation. The incarnation is a past event. Jesus still has a physical flesh and blood body now but He is not still repeatedly reliving the Incarnation every waking second of every day. Jesus came once into the flesh with the Incarnation. It was a one time event and not a "present day" every day kind of thing.

 

[Halbhh]

What did Jesus mean when he said "few will be saved?" There are billions of Christians out there! Christianity is the largest religion in the world! So surely many will be saved? What are we missing? Discuss.

Well, 5%, 10% or 20% of all people could count as "few". To me, 10% is few, as I think of it. Even 30% could be "few" (btw, today about 30% of the world call themselves 'Christian'), or 3%, either. But since many billions have lived (and billions more live right now), 5% or 15% would amount to hundreds of millions. I surely don't know which order of magnitude there will be, tens or hundreds of millions, or even higher, or even fewer. But, while "few" will make it to that small gate, that will still be plenty of people it would seem likely.

 

[RaymondG]

Uh, it's talking about the Incarnation. The incarnation is a past event. Jesus still has a physical flesh and blood body now but He is not still repeatedly reliving the Incarnation every waking second of every day. Jesus came once into the flesh with the Incarnation. It was a one time event and not a "present day" every day kind of thing.

ok, I understand. So you adjusted the scripture to more clearly show your view of things, or was there a specific translation that you quoted from?

 

[Neostarwcc]

Well, 5%, 10% or 20% of all people could count as "few". To me, 10% is few, as I think of it. Even 30% could be "few" (btw, today about 30% of the world call themselves 'Christian'), or 3%, either. But since many billions have lived (and billions more live right now), 5% or 15% would amount to hundreds of millions. I surely don't know which order of magnitude there will be, tens or hundreds of millions, or even higher, or even fewer. But, while "few" will make it to that small gate, that will still be plenty of people it would seem likely.

I see your point. Hundreds of millions of saved people still sounds like many though. But, when you think of 10% of people many starts to sound like few.

 

[Devin P]

What did Jesus mean when he said "few will be saved?" There are billions of Christians out there! Christianity is the largest religion in the world! So surely many will be saved? What are we missing? Discuss.

This used to confuse and irritate me too. The reason few will be saved is because most of Christianity professes a false doctrine of "the Torah isn't applicable to us". No one obeys God's commandments. Therefore no one loves God.

Only those that keep His commandments, and the doctrine of the Father will be saved, because only those that love the Father will be saved.

All throughout the NT (New Testament), the apostles keep Torah. Whether it's the 7th day Sabbath (one of the commandments that Christianity does away with because of a false doctrine started during the 3rd century that the majority still keeps today instead of what Jesus taught). Or the biblical feasts/holy days they also not only kept, but gave us instructions on how to keep with the revelation Jesus gave. Or even just the Torah's instructions in general that most say was done away with, when all of the NT, and Jesus says otherwise.

Few will be saved because few will be willing to put down the past 1700 years of man-made tradition to pick up the way Jesus and the apostles walked. In acts alone they kept the 7th day Sabbath over 80 times. Not to mention Passover, unleavened bread, and Pentecost twice.

We keep Torah because we're saved, not to save ourselves. Jesus was the only thing that could save us, but He asked us to walk as He walked - well, He kept Torah. I don't even think Him keeping Torah was what saved Him. The red heifer sacrifice was represented by Him. And according to Torah, a heifer can only be considered the red heifer if it does no work. Jesus was the red heifer, which means He never worked for His salvation, and understood that His obedience to the law wasn't what saved Him, but faith alone.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

ok, I understand. So you adjusted the scripture to more clearly show your view of things, or was there a specific translation that you quoted from?

"But every person who doesn't declare that Jesus Christ has come as a human has a spirit that isn't from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that you have heard is coming. That spirit is already in the world." (1 John 4:3) (GWT).

"And no spirit that does not confess that Yeshua has come in the flesh is from God, but this is from that False Messiah, him whom you have heard that he will come, and already he is in the world." (1 John 4:3) (ABPE).

"and every spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already." (1 John 4:3) (WEB).

"And every spirit which does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is not of God; and this is that spirit that is of Antichrist, of whom you heard that he would come. And even now already, he is in the world." (1 John 4:3) (NMB)

"and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son’s true nature] is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world." (1 John 4:3) (AMP).

"and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world." (1 John 4:3) (MEV).

The words "has come" is past tense.
Besides, how on Earth do you even understand or interpret 1 John 4:3 as talking in the present tense? What does that even mean to you in your universe? Most Christians believe that this is talking about the Incarnation (Which is pretty clear by a normal straight forward reading of the text). What do you think it says?

 

[Devin P]

As a matter of fact, no one in the OT of any importance thought the law was what saved them. If the law was the only thing that saved people, and only Jesus could keep it perfectly, how then didn't Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets die instantly when confronted by Him? Especially Moses. It's because of their faith. All of the OT, points to Jesus and Whom we should have faith in.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

As a matter of fact, no one in the OT of any importance thought the law was what saved them. If the law was the only thing that saved people, and only Jesus could keep it perfectly, how then didn't Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets die instantly when confronted by Him? Especially Moses. It's because of their faith. All of the OT, points to Jesus and Whom we should have faith in.

Paul spoke against the false Pharisee religion that turned God's grace and salvation into a form of works alone (When in reality they did not even keep all of God's commands; Especially the weightier matters of the Law). True faith always leads to proper and right action. For James says faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Jesus says if you will enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17). Does this mean Jesus wants us to focus on only law alone to save us? No. By no means. But Sanctification or holy living does play a part in our salvation. After a person repents of their sins and accepts Jesus as their Savior, they then allow the Lord to do the good work within their life. While it is important to believe in Jesus as one's Savior, one also has to do what Jesus says in order to continue in His love, grace, and faith.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

As a matter of fact, no one in the OT of any importance thought the law was what saved them. If the law was the only thing that saved people, and only Jesus could keep it perfectly, how then didn't Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets die instantly when confronted by Him? Especially Moses. It's because of their faith. All of the OT, points to Jesus and Whom we should have faith in.

As written in Scripture, TORAH is good, right, true, and faithful, leading to Christ.

So much is not understood, since "TORAH" is not translated in most english....

examples from biblegateway:
Romans 2:13-15Tree of Life Version (TLV)
13 For it is not the hearers of Torah who are righteous before God; rather, it is the doers of Torah who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah, do by nature the things of the Torah, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the Torah. 15 They show that the work of the Torah is written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts switching between accusing or defending them ... ... ..

Romans 2:14 - Bible Gateway
Romans 2:14 - Bible Gateway - Cached - Similar
For whenever Gentiles, who have no Torah, do naturally what the Torah requires, then these, even though they don't have Torah, for themselves are Torah! CEV.

Romans 10:4 TLV - For Messiah is the goal of the Torah as - Bible ...
Romans...version - - Bible Gateway... - Cached
For Messiah is the goal of the Torah as a means to righteousness for everyone who keeps trusting.

Romans 7:22-24 TLV - For I delight in the Torah of ... - Bible Gateway
Romans...24 - - Bible Gateway... - Cached
For I delight in the Torah of God with respect to the inner man, but I see a different law in my body parts, battling against the law of my mind and.

(etc etc etc ..... possibly over 100 occurences of "TORAH" in OT and NT)

 

[Bible Highlighter]

This used to confuse and irritate me too. The reason few will be saved is because most of Christianity professes a false doctrine of "the Torah isn't applicable to us". No one obeys God's commandments. Therefore no one loves God.

Only those that keep His commandments, and the doctrine of the Father will be saved, because only those that love the Father will be saved.

All throughout the NT (New Testament), the apostles keep Torah. Whether it's the 7th day Sabbath (one of the commandments that Christianity does away with because of a false doctrine started during the 3rd century that the majority still keeps today instead of what Jesus taught). Or the biblical feasts/holy days they also not only kept, but gave us instructions on how to keep with the revelation Jesus gave. Or even just the Torah's instructions in general that most say was done away with, when all of the NT, and Jesus says otherwise.

Few will be saved because few will be willing to put down the past 1700 years of man-made tradition to pick up the way Jesus and the apostles walked. In acts alone they kept the 7th day Sabbath over 80 times. Not to mention Passover, unleavened bread, and Pentecost twice.

We keep Torah because we're saved, not to save ourselves. Jesus was the only thing that could save us, but He asked us to walk as He walked - well, He kept Torah. I don't even think Him keeping Torah was what saved Him. The red heifer sacrifice was represented by Him. And according to Torah, a heifer can only be considered the red heifer if it does no work. Jesus was the red heifer, which means He never worked for His salvation, and understood that His obedience to the law wasn't what saved Him, but faith alone.

No. We do not go back to the Law of Moses so as to maintain our salvation. Circumcision, the Saturday Sabbath, the dietary laws, laws on animal sacrifices and the judicial laws have all been abrogated. Believers today are to primarily look to the commands in the New Testament to obey the Lord.