Is Our Salvation Conditional?

[Christsfreeservant]

If We Continue in Faith
Hebrews 3:6 ESV

“But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”​

This is not taught much at all in the church. We are not usually taught the “If” verses of the Bible. What is usually taught is that we believe in Jesus once, and then we are good to go. We are now part of God’s family, we are bound for heaven, and nothing can take that away from us.

But if we read the New Testament, in context, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, asking the Holy Spirit to teach us what it says, then we can’t get away from the fact that the Bible does not teach a one-time belief which guarantees us eternal life unconditionally.

What the Bible teaches is very much a conditional salvation and eternal life with God. It is filled with “If” clauses. “If” we continue in his word, then we are the Lord’s disciples. God’s kindness is extended to us “provided” we continue in his kindness. We are saved “If” we hold firmly to the word of the gospel. We are reconciled to God “If” we continue in our faith, unmovable.

“If” we disown him, he will disown us. We are his house (his temple) “If” we hold on to our hope. We have come to share in Christ “If” we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at first. “If” what we heard from the beginning remains in us, we will remain in the Son and in the Father, and we will receive the promise of eternal life.

[Jn. 8:31-32; Rom. 11:17-24; I Co. 15:2; Col. 1:21-23; II Tim 2:10-13; Heb. 3:6, 14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; I Jn. 2:24-25]

But, we must begin with the correct foundation, for this is not speaking of continuing in just any belief we were taught. This is about continuing in the gospel as taught by Jesus and his NT apostles. And, they taught death to sin, living to righteousness, and obedience and submission to Christ as necessary components of believing faith.

In other words, we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God. We must deny self, and daily we must take up our cross (die to sin) and follow (obey) Jesus. We must leave our lives of sin behind us and now follow Jesus with our lives.

[Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Rom. 2:6-8; 2 Co. 5:10; Eph. 4:17-24; Eph. 5:3-6; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Co. 6:19-20; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Jn. 14:23-24; 1 Jn. 2:3-6]

Today, If You Hear
Hebrews 3:7-15 ESV

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”​

First we are informed that our salvation and our eternal life with God are conditional. We must continue in the word of God, in the grace of God, holding firmly to the word, and continue in our faith, unmovable. For, if we disown him, he will disown us.

Then, we receive this warning, which is not to the world, but to the church. It is a warning to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. “If” we harden our hearts after we hear the Lord speak to us, and we rebel against the Lord and against his commandments, we are in danger of falling away from God.

But it isn’t just that we might not be as close to the Lord as we were before, or that we might just have broken fellowship with him, but this is a warning that we could fall away from God to the point of unbelief because of disobedience to where we do not enter into God’s eternal rest.

And, we must take this seriously! We can’t just write it off or assign it to someone else. For this is talking to us Christians. The context makes that perfectly clear. And, he is paralleling what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness to what could happen to us today if we do likewise.

Thus, we must exhort (encourage, counsel, urge, spur) one another every day toward walks of faith in Christ in holiness, purity, honesty, morality, faithfulness, and righteousness in the power of God’s Spirit living within us, so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

For, again, our salvation and eternal life are not a sure thing if we are not walking according to the Spirit but according to the flesh. Our salvation and our eternal life with God are conditional, and we will be judged one day by our works (Rom 8:1-17; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10).

So, today, if you hear his voice speaking to you, do not harden your heart against him and against his word. Do not rebel against the Lord and against his word and his commandments. We cannot be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God if we are still living in sin (1 Jn 1:5-9).

Listen to Jesus calling out to you. Hear what he is saying. Turn away from your lifestyle of sin and let him transform you to where you now walk (in lifestyle) according to his Spirit and no longer according to your flesh. Then, you will be at peace with God and it will result in eternal life, not death.

Knowing You Jesus

By Graham Kendrick

All I once held dear, built my life upon,
All this world reveres and wars to own;
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
Spent and worthless now compared to this.

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing.
You're my all, You're the best,
You're my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.

*Caution: This link may contain ads

 

[mlepfitjw]

@Christsfreeservant, that was a very good article. Thank you for sharing all the verses.

My teacher has taught me that everything starts with the heart and mind. We all have thoughts, and desires from the mind and heart. When someone hears and starts reading more of the word of God that has been given to us so freely, and ask God for wisdom and understanding by the spirit should be able to grow in their faith.

As a believer in time seeks for the truth, and believes having faith and doing works (which is love) we receive that ability to Love because of being reborn again by the spirit and having a new life raised in Christ Jesus, and a renewing of our mind, and to grow in knowledge of God, as we are changed into a new creation in Christ and our hope is to be resurrected one day and be with God, and we will be judged by our works, because the works are all to do about faith and love.

 

[JIMINZ]

and we will be judged by our works, because the works are all to do about faith and love.

John 6:29
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

 

[Guojing]

If We Continue in Faith
Hebrews 3:6 ESV

“But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”​

This is not taught much at all in the church. We are not usually taught the “If” verses of the Bible. What is usually taught is that we believe in Jesus once, and then we are good to go. We are now part of God’s family, we are bound for heaven, and nothing can take that away from us.

But if we read the New Testament, in context, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, asking the Holy Spirit to teach us what it says, then we can’t get away from the fact that the Bible does not teach a one-time belief which guarantees us eternal life unconditionally.

What the Bible teaches is very much a conditional salvation and eternal life with God. It is filled with “If” clauses. “If” we continue in his word, then we are the Lord’s disciples. God’s kindness is extended to us “provided” we continue in his kindness. We are saved “If” we hold firmly to the word of the gospel. We are reconciled to God “If” we continue in our faith, unmovable.

“If” we disown him, he will disown us. We are his house (his temple) “If” we hold on to our hope. We have come to share in Christ “If” we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at first. “If” what we heard from the beginning remains in us, we will remain in the Son and in the Father, and we will receive the promise of eternal life.

[Jn. 8:31-32; Rom. 11:17-24; I Co. 15:2; Col. 1:21-23; II Tim 2:10-13; Heb. 3:6, 14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; I Jn. 2:24-25]

But, we must begin with the correct foundation, for this is not speaking of continuing in just any belief we were taught. This is about continuing in the gospel as taught by Jesus and his NT apostles. And, they taught death to sin, living to righteousness, and obedience and submission to Christ as necessary components of believing faith.

In other words, we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God. We must deny self, and daily we must take up our cross (die to sin) and follow (obey) Jesus. We must leave our lives of sin behind us and now follow Jesus with our lives.

[Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Rom. 2:6-8; 2 Co. 5:10; Eph. 4:17-24; Eph. 5:3-6; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Co. 6:19-20; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Jn. 14:23-24; 1 Jn. 2:3-6]

Today, If You Hear
Hebrews 3:7-15 ESV

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”​

First we are informed that our salvation and our eternal life with God are conditional. We must continue in the word of God, in the grace of God, holding firmly to the word, and continue in our faith, unmovable. For, if we disown him, he will disown us.

Then, we receive this warning, which is not to the world, but to the church. It is a warning to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. “If” we harden our hearts after we hear the Lord speak to us, and we rebel against the Lord and against his commandments, we are in danger of falling away from God.

But it isn’t just that we might not be as close to the Lord as we were before, or that we might just have broken fellowship with him, but this is a warning that we could fall away from God to the point of unbelief because of disobedience to where we do not enter into God’s eternal rest.

And, we must take this seriously! We can’t just write it off or assign it to someone else. For this is talking to us Christians. The context makes that perfectly clear. And, he is paralleling what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness to what could happen to us today if we do likewise.

Thus, we must exhort (encourage, counsel, urge, spur) one another every day toward walks of faith in Christ in holiness, purity, honesty, morality, faithfulness, and righteousness in the power of God’s Spirit living within us, so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

For, again, our salvation and eternal life are not a sure thing if we are not walking according to the Spirit but according to the flesh. Our salvation and our eternal life with God are conditional, and we will be judged one day by our works (Rom 8:1-17; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10).

So, today, if you hear his voice speaking to you, do not harden your heart against him and against his word. Do not rebel against the Lord and against his word and his commandments. We cannot be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God if we are still living in sin (1 Jn 1:5-9).

Listen to Jesus calling out to you. Hear what he is saying. Turn away from your lifestyle of sin and let him transform you to where you now walk (in lifestyle) according to his Spirit and no longer according to your flesh. Then, you will be at peace with God and it will result in eternal life, not death.

Knowing You Jesus

By Graham Kendrick

All I once held dear, built my life upon,
All this world reveres and wars to own;
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
Spent and worthless now compared to this.

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing.
You're my all, You're the best,
You're my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.

*Caution: This link may contain ads

That comes with the dispensation of grace made known to the Apostle Paul to the Body of Christ, we have salvation that is unconditional.

You can find that in Romans to Philemon.

If you don't rightly divide the word of truth and go to Hebrews to Revelations for your salvation doctrine, yes, you will go away with the impression that salvation is conditional.

 

[Carl Emerson]

If We Continue in Faith
Hebrews 3:6 ESV

“But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”​

This is not taught much at all in the church. We are not usually taught the “If” verses of the Bible. What is usually taught is that we believe in Jesus once, and then we are good to go. We are now part of God’s family, we are bound for heaven, and nothing can take that away from us.

But if we read the New Testament, in context, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, asking the Holy Spirit to teach us what it says, then we can’t get away from the fact that the Bible does not teach a one-time belief which guarantees us eternal life unconditionally.

What the Bible teaches is very much a conditional salvation and eternal life with God. It is filled with “If” clauses. “If” we continue in his word, then we are the Lord’s disciples. God’s kindness is extended to us “provided” we continue in his kindness. We are saved “If” we hold firmly to the word of the gospel. We are reconciled to God “If” we continue in our faith, unmovable.

“If” we disown him, he will disown us. We are his house (his temple) “If” we hold on to our hope. We have come to share in Christ “If” we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at first. “If” what we heard from the beginning remains in us, we will remain in the Son and in the Father, and we will receive the promise of eternal life.

[Jn. 8:31-32; Rom. 11:17-24; I Co. 15:2; Col. 1:21-23; II Tim 2:10-13; Heb. 3:6, 14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; I Jn. 2:24-25]

But, we must begin with the correct foundation, for this is not speaking of continuing in just any belief we were taught. This is about continuing in the gospel as taught by Jesus and his NT apostles. And, they taught death to sin, living to righteousness, and obedience and submission to Christ as necessary components of believing faith.

In other words, we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God. We must deny self, and daily we must take up our cross (die to sin) and follow (obey) Jesus. We must leave our lives of sin behind us and now follow Jesus with our lives.

[Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Rom. 2:6-8; 2 Co. 5:10; Eph. 4:17-24; Eph. 5:3-6; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Co. 6:19-20; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Jn. 14:23-24; 1 Jn. 2:3-6]

Today, If You Hear
Hebrews 3:7-15 ESV

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”​

First we are informed that our salvation and our eternal life with God are conditional. We must continue in the word of God, in the grace of God, holding firmly to the word, and continue in our faith, unmovable. For, if we disown him, he will disown us.

Then, we receive this warning, which is not to the world, but to the church. It is a warning to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. “If” we harden our hearts after we hear the Lord speak to us, and we rebel against the Lord and against his commandments, we are in danger of falling away from God.

But it isn’t just that we might not be as close to the Lord as we were before, or that we might just have broken fellowship with him, but this is a warning that we could fall away from God to the point of unbelief because of disobedience to where we do not enter into God’s eternal rest.

And, we must take this seriously! We can’t just write it off or assign it to someone else. For this is talking to us Christians. The context makes that perfectly clear. And, he is paralleling what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness to what could happen to us today if we do likewise.

Thus, we must exhort (encourage, counsel, urge, spur) one another every day toward walks of faith in Christ in holiness, purity, honesty, morality, faithfulness, and righteousness in the power of God’s Spirit living within us, so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

For, again, our salvation and eternal life are not a sure thing if we are not walking according to the Spirit but according to the flesh. Our salvation and our eternal life with God are conditional, and we will be judged one day by our works (Rom 8:1-17; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10).

So, today, if you hear his voice speaking to you, do not harden your heart against him and against his word. Do not rebel against the Lord and against his word and his commandments. We cannot be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God if we are still living in sin (1 Jn 1:5-9).

Listen to Jesus calling out to you. Hear what he is saying. Turn away from your lifestyle of sin and let him transform you to where you now walk (in lifestyle) according to his Spirit and no longer according to your flesh. Then, you will be at peace with God and it will result in eternal life, not death.

Knowing You Jesus

By Graham Kendrick

All I once held dear, built my life upon,
All this world reveres and wars to own;
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
Spent and worthless now compared to this.

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing.
You're my all, You're the best,
You're my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.

*Caution: This link may contain ads

Are you suggesting that it is impossible for any believer to know they will be saved?

 

[Christsfreeservant]

John 6:29
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

That is only one verse. Many others speak of works (plural) that God prepared in advance that we should do, and they speak of sowing to the flesh and reaping destruction and sowing to the Spirit and reaping eternal life, and there is the Scripture that talks about God's grace and how it instructs us to say no to sin and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives, and then there are the Scriptures which say we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God, and then the ones that say that to know God is to love God and to love God is to obey God, and if we don't obey God we don't love him and we don't know him, etc. etc. I posted a list of them on here.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Are you suggesting that it is impossible for any believer to know they will be saved?

No! That is not what the Scriptures teach. We can know, but that knowledge is based on the criteria of Scripture that we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and that we must not make sin our practice, and we must walk in obedience to the Lord, for if we are not obeying God we don't know God, etc. I gave a list of the Scriptures on here that describe what salvation is and what it isn't. It isn't OSAS. It is a walk of faith and a walk of obedience to the Lord. If we live according to the flesh, we will die in our sin.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Are you suggesting that it is impossible for any believer to know they will be saved?

No! That is not what the Scriptures teach. We can know, but that knowledge is based on the criteria of Scripture that we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and that we must not make sin our practice, and we must walk in obedience to the Lord, for if we are not obeying God we don't know God, etc. I gave a list of the Scriptures on here that describe what salvation is and what it isn't. It isn't OSAS. It is a walk of faith and a walk of obedience to the Lord. If we live according to the flesh, we will die in our sin.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

That comes with the dispensation of grace made known to the Apostle Paul to the Body of Christ, we have salvation that is unconditional.

You can find that in Romans to Philemon.

If you don't rightly divide the word of truth and go to Hebrews to Revelations for your salvation doctrine, yes, you will go away with the impression that salvation is conditional.

I listed a whole bunch of Scriptures here, most of which were not from Hebrews or Revelation, and most of them written by Paul, that teach conditional salvation. They speak of walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God, and that we must walk in obedience to the Lord or we don't know God, and that we will be judged according to what we do, for if we sow to please the flesh, we will reap destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, then we have eternal life with God, etc. Look the Scriptures up. See what they say. They do not teach OSAS.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

That comes with the dispensation of grace made known to the Apostle Paul to the Body of Christ, we have salvation that is unconditional.

You can find that in Romans to Philemon.

If you don't rightly divide the word of truth and go to Hebrews to Revelations for your salvation doctrine, yes, you will go away with the impression that salvation is conditional.

I listed a whole bunch of Scriptures here, most of which were not from Hebrews or Revelation, and most of them written by Paul, that teach conditional salvation. They speak of walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God, and that we must walk in obedience to the Lord or we don't know God, and that we will be judged according to what we do, for if we sow to please the flesh, we will reap destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, then we have eternal life with God, etc. Look the Scriptures up. See what they say. They do not teach OSAS.

 

[JIMINZ]

and then there are the Scriptures which say we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh

This is walking according to the Spirit.

1Jn. 3:9
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Gal. 5:16
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Gal. 5:17
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

The lust of the Flesh is to sin.
Walking in the Spirit is being free from sin.

 

[JIMINZ]

No! That is not what the Scriptures teach. We can know, but that knowledge is based on the criteria of Scripture that we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and that we must not make sin our practice, and we must walk in obedience to the Lord, for if we are not obeying God we don't know God, etc. I gave a list of the Scriptures on here that describe what salvation is and what it isn't. It isn't OSAS. It is a walk of faith and a walk of obedience to the Lord. If we live according to the flesh, we will die in our sin.

A Born Again Believer in Christ cannot walk according to the Flesh, because he is NOW walking in the Spirit.

The Believer is Dead to the Flesh.

Sorry I have to go to bed, finish tomorrow.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Sue - can we only be assured of salvation in a moment of time by looking back and seeing if we walked in His obedience?

What if we look back and see we slipped - but we repented - are we still assured of salvation?

Does then our salvation depend on repenting of every sin?

Do you believe our adoption into His family as sons and daughters can be reversed?

If we cant know the future how can we ever have any assurance of salvation? We could be faced with say martyrdom or torture and be overcome with fear and deny Jesus...

As for walking in the spirit - those who did works, even miracles in His Name would surely have believed they were 'walking in the Spirit' yet He will say I never knew you. How then can we be sure?

I ask these questions because I have also studied nothing but scripture for many years and have different conclusions that answer these questions.

I respect your intent, I hope you are comfortable addressing these issues.

 

[Guojing]

I listed a whole bunch of Scriptures here, most of which were not from Hebrews or Revelation, and most of them written by Paul, that teach conditional salvation. They speak of walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God, and that we must walk in obedience to the Lord or we don't know God, and that we will be judged according to what we do, for if we sow to please the flesh, we will reap destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, then we have eternal life with God, etc. Look the Scriptures up. See what they say. They do not teach OSAS.

Paul cannot be teaching conditional salvation since he already stated for all of us clearly in Romans 4:5.

He cannot contradict himself. If our righteousness did not come from our works, we cannot possibly lose salvation due to lack of works.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

This is walking according to the Spirit.

1Jn. 3:9
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Gal. 5:16
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Gal. 5:17
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

The lust of the Flesh is to sin.
Walking in the Spirit is being free from sin.

Walking according to the Spirit is walking in obedience to the Lord, it is dying to sin and to self daily, it is not living in sin, making sin our practice, but it is living in victory over sin and it is walking in holiness and righteousness in the power of God.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Sue - can we only be assured of salvation in a moment of time by looking back and seeing if we walked in His obedience?

What if we look back and see we slipped - but we repented - are we still assured of salvation?

Does then our salvation depend on repenting of every sin?

Do you believe our adoption into His family as sons and daughters can be reversed?

If we cant know the future how can we ever have any assurance of salvation? We could be faced with say martyrdom or torture and be overcome with fear and deny Jesus...

As for walking in the spirit - those who did works, even miracles in His Name would surely have believed they were 'walking in the Spirit' yet He will say I never knew you. How then can we be sure?

I ask these questions because I have also studied nothing but scripture for many years and have different conclusions that answer these questions.

I respect your intent, I hope you are comfortable addressing these issues.

Carl, I am just teaching what the Scriptures teach. This is not about what I think. The Scriptures are clear on this issue. I listed many which tell us that if we do this or that we don't have eternal life with God. Or, if we do this or that, we do have eternal life with God. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life, etc. If we love God we will walk in obedience to him, as our practice, but if we are not obeying him, then we don't love him and we don't know him. This is not talking about sinless perfection. This is speaking of our lifestyle. Do we live to please God? Or do we live to please the flesh? It can't be both. Either we are enslaved to sin or to Christ (Rom 6:16).

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Paul cannot be teaching conditional salvation since he already stated for all of us clearly in Romans 4:5.

He cannot contradict himself. If our righteousness did not come from our works, we cannot possibly lose salvation due to lack of works.

We have to read all of the New Testament. We can't pull one verse out of context and build a whole doctrine around it. The works Paul objected to were works of the flesh, not the works of the Spirit which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). We also have to define "faith" biblically and not in humanistic terms. Faith is not a feeling or a statement or a status. It is God-given and divinely persuaded and it submits to Christ as Lord, walks in obedience to his commands, and it forsakes a lifestyle of sin.

 

[Carl Emerson]

How do you see Jeremiah 32:40 fitting into the picture?

The promise of the New Covenant to come in which He would indwell believers with the fear of Himself to prevent falling away ?

39 I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

 

[Guojing]

We have to read all of the New Testament. We can't pull one verse out of context and build a whole doctrine around it. The works Paul objected to were works of the flesh, not the works of the Spirit which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). We also have to define "faith" biblically and not in humanistic terms. Faith is not a feeling or a statement or a status. It is God-given and divinely persuaded and it submits to Christ as Lord, walks in obedience to his commands, and it forsakes a lifestyle of sin.

I have heard of people who differentiate between "works of faith" and "works of the law".

Are you doing the same with yours?

Incidentally, if you read the KJV, Paul actually contrasted works of the flesh with fruit of the Spirit.

So your doctrine of "works of the Spirit" is not legit.

 

[d taylor]

One thing is for sure seeing post like this and they are many on this forum.

There are many people trying to work their way to eternal life.

Guess they think they can do better than just receiving Gods free offer of Eternal Life by faith, belief, trust in The Messiah.