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NASB | Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever (completely, perfectly, for eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede and intervene on their behalf [with God]. |
Subject: Is Salvation lump sum? |
Bible Note: Dear Pastor Beja, Sorry to have just shown up. I need to rush my brother to the hospital and have just come home. Well anyway, thanks for what you posted. The following would hopefully explain what you want me to explain: 1. On why a person can be saved from sin yet not receive eternal life. Salvation from sin is God's work FOR man, that He accomplished through Christ. This is purely grace (Eph 2:4-9); not an iota of man's participation. Pls note that when man sinned, sin separated man from God (Isa 59:2), because before sin came man is not separated from God. There is then a need to remove what separates man from God, so that man might be reunited with God again. This, man can not do, so God took the initiative (Rom 5:2) and reconciled the world to Himself through Christ(2 Cor 5: 18,19). Because of that death on the cross, the sin-problem had been absolutely solved for all men (2 Cor 5:14, 15; Rom 6:7). All men are now part of the body of Christ (Eph 2:11-19). Unless removed by Christ Himself, man can not get his own self detached from being part of the body of Christ (John 10:28,29). Unless detached from Christ's body, man is bound to spend eternity with God. But is there a possibility that a man might be removed by Christ from being part of His body? Yes. Christ Himself mentioned in Rev 3:5 that only the names of overcomers will not be blotted out from the book of life. Blotting out of any name from the book of life can not occur if that name is not initially in the book of life. Rev 17:8 suggests that, with the exception of beast-worshippers, the writing of names in the book of life was from the foundation of the world. This has to be because Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:19,20). The blotting out of a man's name from the book of life effectively removes him as part of the body of Christ. To recapitulate, man was saved from sin through Christ, became part of His body with his name written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Bur if Christ blots his name from the book of life, he no longer is a part of Christ's body, and he will not inherit eternal life, instead his final destiny is the lake of fire (Rev 20:15). I hope this answers question #1. 2. On Question #2. Let me first quote Romans 2:3-11 (NASB): "3 And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God." These verses fully explain what I mean. But to be just specific relative to your question, yes, our righteousnes is not our own. It is counted to us through faith. A true believer is one who overcomes evil with good (John 14:12). The strength to overcome, the will to overcome, the opportunity to overcome - all these are from God. Our part is in using what God has given. Overcoming is the result of our positive response to God's work IN man (Phil 2:12, 13). This is in contrast to man's being saved from sin, which is God's work FOR man. Sincerely, dodoy |