Subject: And what about those who will die before |
Bible Note: Greetings Friend of God! Welcome to the forum and to the Family of God! :-) I would respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the response to your post. You were not wrong. Eph. 2:8-9 is perfectly clear my friend that we can do nothing to 'earn', 'deserve', or 'work' for salvation. It is a free gift. There are many things that we as Christians are commanded to do in Scripture. To borrow Hank's terminology, these have to do with our sanctification, not our salvation. We are not saved by being baptized. We are not saved by going to church. We are not saved by witnessing. We are not saved by loving one another, ect.... However, we are commanded to do all of these things because we are saved. This is an important issue for you to come to grips with as a new Christian. Read the entire book of Galatians. Paul called the attempt to attach 'works' to salvation 'a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all'. Read Romans 1-8 (especially note chapter 4). Do a word search on this forum for the words 'faith' and 'works', and read some of the posts on this issue by myself and others like Hank and Makarios. Our salvation is complete in the cross of Christ. As Christians, we do not have to go through life always wondering if we have been 'good' or 'obedient' enough to make it. Why? Because, our salvation is not based upon works. We do not receive salvation because of what we did, nor do we keep salvation because of what we do. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |