Are you saved?

The assurance of salvation is the most important thing in life. It should be the number one concern of every human being. Sadly, too often it is not.

The good news is, the Bible teaches that you can know for sure that you are going to heaven. I John 5:13 says: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE..." Notice that this verse doesn't say, "that ye may HOPE that you can GET eternal life." It says that you can know that you have it, as a present possession.

Acts 16:31 says: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." Notice again that it doesn't say, "Believe and you will someday be saved." It rather says, "Believe...and BE saved." Of course, the word "saved" makes a lot of people nervous.

A man told me once, "We don't speak in those terms at our church." But that's a shame, because the Bible uses this word over and over again. John Newton used it hundreds of years ago when he wrote that most beloved of all Christian hymns, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that SAVED a wretch like me." You've probably even sung that song! Well, it was written by a man who was saved, and you can be saved too. Ephesians 2:8,9 says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” “Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Here we see that people are saved "by grace," and "through faith." By God's grace. Through your faith. Faith and believing are the same thing. If you believe something, it means you have faith in it. Notice also the contrast to "works." Works are things that we can DO.

Most people think that they can be saved by the things that they do. If they don't do bad things, if they instead do good things, they think that they will be saved. The problem with this system is that you can never be SURE that you've done enough good things, and avoided enough bad things, to be saved. That's why the people who believe this are generally not sure they are saved. But Romans 4:16 says, "Therefore it is OF FAITH, that it might be BY GRACE, to the end THE PROMISE MIGHT BE SURE..." The only way you can be sure of salvation is by faith. If you had to do as little as lift your finger to be saved, you could never be sure that you had done it right.

But by faith we can believe that the Lord Jesus Christ did it right. We can be sure that He lived a sinless life. He never did anything wrong, He did everything right. A person like that didn't deserve to die. The Bible says that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). But He was no sinner. Why did He have to die? Ah, He died OUR death. He died our death so that we could have His righteousness and be saved. II Corinthians 5:21 says: "For God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

Two thousand years ago, God laid all of our sins on Christ as He hung on Calvary. But that doesn't mean that everyone is saved! Two thousand years later, WHEN YOU BELIEVE that Christ paid for all of your sins, God then takes Christ's righteousness and puts it on you, completing the transaction that must be completed for the redemption of your soul.

I like to explain it this way. God says to us in the Bible that Christ paid for all of your sins. The only question is,

Do you BELIEVE God when He says that all of your sins are paid for? Do you TRUST Him when He says that?

If you don't, well, you just have to go on trying to pay for your sins in your own way. By being good. By not being bad. But these are things the Bible says you can't do well enough to be saved. Romans 4:5 says: "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, HIS FAITH is COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Titus 3:5 says: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."

That big word "regeneration" is just a big word that means to be "born again," as the Lord talked about in John 3. But in both of these verses, you can see that salvation is by faith alone, and has nothing to do with your conduct. Most people think that we are all born GOOD, and on our way to heaven, and that we have to do something REALLY BAD to blow it and go to hell. But the Bible teaches the opposite. The Bible teaches that we are all born bad, and have to get saved by faith to go to heaven. Sometimes when we explain this, people then ask, "Why then should I be good?"

The answer to this question is, we should be good out of gratitude for God for saving us. Earlier I quoted Ephesians 2:8,9 to show that we are saved "by grace" and "through faith." But the NEXT verse in Ephesians 2 tells us where "being good" comes in: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

When we are saved, we are made "new creatures" in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). But Ephesians 2:10 here says that we were "created in Christ Jesus UNTO good works." That is, we were saved by faith, but we were saved FOR A PURPOSE, for a reason. God saved us and made us new creatures in Christ so that we would THEN do good works.

Most people get the cart before the horse, as the saying goes. Most people think you do good works, then God saves you. The Bible teaches that instead we are saved by believing, then we SHOULD do good works. Right after Titus 3:5 says we are saved "not by works of righteousness," three verses later it says, "...these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS. These things are good and profitable unto men."

Do you see it? We are not saved by good works, but after we are saved by faith, we are told we should do good works to please the One who saved us. Romans 6:23 says: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Here there is a contrast drawn between "wages" and a "gift." Wages are something that we EARN. We go to work, and work all week, and the boss pays us. If we want to be polite, we can say "thank you" when he hands us the check, but we don't have to. He OWES us that money, we EARNED it.

But a gift is something altogether different. You can't earn a gift. If you did, it wouldn't be a gift. That's why the verses BEFORE Romans 4:5 says, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." You can't earn a gift, you can only receive it. And the way you receive the gift of salvation is by faith, by believing God when He says your sins are paid for. Suppose you were a gambler, and racked up a debt of a million dollars to the Mafia. They threatened to kill you unless you paid up. A wealthy friend learns of your plight and comes to you and says, "Don't worry, I've paid your debt."

Now in this case, you must REALLY BELIEVE that your friend paid your debt. You must really TRUST your friend when he says that. That's why the other word that the Bible uses besides "believe" is "trust." Ephesians 1:12 talks about people... "...who first TRUSTED in Christ "In whom ye also TRUSTED, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13).

If you DON'T trust that your friend paid your gambling debt, then you will most likely continue to make payments to your bookie or loan shark. But if you DO trust your friend when he says that your debt has been paid, then you will rest comfortably in that knowledge, knowing that you've been "saved" from an awful fate, and you will be forever grateful to the one who saved you. That's how salvation works too.

In John 5:24, the Lord said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE, and SHALL NOT COME INTO CONDEMNATION, but IS PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE." Here we see that the Bible teaches that not only are you saved if you believe on the Lord, you already possess eternal life, and it is NOT POSSIBLE for you to ever be condemned for your sins, for you are ALREADY passed "from death unto [eternal] life." Remember, Acts 16:31 says, "believe...and...be saved." It DOESN'T say, "Believe and be good." It doesn't even say, "Believe and be religious." It just says believe and be saved.

If you believe that Christ died to pay for all of your sins, and that you don't have to pay for any of them, the Bible says you are saved. In I Corinthians 15:1-4, the Apostle Paul identifies “the gospel” that he preached to the Corinthians, by which they were “saved”: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; “And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” You too can be among those who are “saved,” if you will simply put your faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:25).

"Only God knows who is saved and therefore who will sit next to him in the next life. No human knows....Proclaiming it out loud is the heighth of arrogance; pride comes before the fall."

1st Cor 1: 30-31

“By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’”

Psalm 35:2-3

My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!

If a believer finds himself frustrated by other believers who rejoice in their salvation, it is an indication that he is out of fellowship. Hebrews is an outstanding study regarding our eternal security and how God provides a system of check and balances in our conscience which are manifest when we backslide. One of our first disciplines when we backslide is lack of joy. Frustration is a symptom of thinking independent of Him, when we are confronted with reality that isn't consistent with our thinking independent of Him.

The Cosmic system is a system of good and evil which seeks to produce a counterfeit paradise independent of God. The cosmic system (COSMOS(Greek) = WORLD(English) defn = making order out of disorder) begins in our thinking. When we think independent of God (sin) we are tempted to place our hope in ourselves rather than in Him. On the contrary, when we initially place faith in Him, our first hope is realized when the Holy SPirit makes our faith efficiacious for salvation. There is a joy associated with our rest in Him.

The person who fails to realize their first hope in their salvation may be tempted to place their hope in a counterfeit system of thinking and or works to satisfy their hope. Such is a misplaced hope because only He is eternally trustworthy, worthy of faith. Nevertheless, to the backsliden believer, we might become frustrated that other believers are not sharing the same misery the backsliden believer might experience.

The starting place for this malady is the same for every problem a believer will ever face in eternal life, namely, first we place a simple faith in God on His grounds and let Him handle the situation. We might also natrally sacrifice the old man, the natural man, by simply returning to God and placing anything known or unknown which was independent of Him, back into His hands. By faith we simply rest and allow Him to do all the work.

A consequent of the new life is a freshness through faith in Him.

I rejoice in my salvation through faith in Him, in the hope He has made real, and in the new hope He provides by my remaining in fellowship with Him allowing Him to further sanctify my thinking so that I might be more prepared to be in the right time and place equipped with the armamnet to perform work per His will,..that I might be an agent in His plan, which might mean even being an invisible warrior not known to any other person in the performance of His will. It is all in His hands at all times. Thank you Lord!

Sanctifiction is a continuing process. God the Father creating the human spirit is a one time event. Our rebirth by His creation of our new life is a one time event. Our renewing of our mind in a continuing process becasue our body and soul has been scarred from a previous lifetime as the natural or old man.

I agree with you that we continue to 'work' our salvation by remaining in fellowship with Him, where God does all the work in us, LOGOS to human spirit, human spirit to Mind (soul, NOUS portion), Mind to Heart (GNOSIS to EPIGNOSIS from NOUS part of our soul to the KARDIA part of our soul), then EPIGNOSIS categorizzed in our heart ready for us to exercise our volition and choose to remain in fellowship with Him and abide by His will. When we abide by Him in our volition using the tools now placed in our heart by the Holy Spirit, we become doers of the Word and produce good works per His plan, thereby working our salvation.

Our eternal life, though was created by an act of God in an instant, just as in the future we will be caught up with Him in a twinkling of an eye.

You have not lived an uninteresting life :) I know you believe you are guided by the Holy Spirit which makes mounting an argument a rather unpleasant and, likely, unworkable task. So, brother..I will just say I love you and I pray the Holy Spirit does guide you to the Church Jesus established. God Bless you

I told you but a small part of it. I know the power of prayer and the mercy of GOD. Many other events have happened and GOD has been faithful to answer and be there. Christ is not RC, Baptist, Methodist, or any other Christian Church Sect. He is the Head of the Church and His followers from all walks all flocks who call on His name and believe are his Church, His Brothers, His Sister, and the membership.

Like I said it's a shame an argument as old as Christ time on earth of the jealousy of who are the chosen the greatest in Heaven still exist. A Church? What constitutes a church? Where two or more are gathered in His name there Christ is also.

I am familiar somewhat with the Roman Catholic Church. My cousin is a Priest and Vicar General in a major Southeastern U.S. City. About half my dads family is RC. We agree on much and not one second is wasted on trying to convert one to another's church. None of us see it as being an issue as we serve the same Lord and Savior. If the Roman Catholic Church is attacked by heretics who wish to say for example the the Pope is evil and RC's are going to hell I will take them on and call their hand. I'll send you the proof of such :>} I also know some Southern Baptist who think only SB's will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It's sad. The churches should live and work together. But remember this even the chosen of Christ except at specific times mentioned in the Bible were not of one accord. No indeed they had major differences. They as well became entangled to the legalism's of their day.

I consider myself a fortunate person. Had I not listened to the callings given me? My life and many others lives involved in it would have not had the positive change that happened. I would most likely not be posting this. GOD works through all churches and all miniseries. I can give you many examples but one that comes to mind is a woman named Joni Erickson Tada. If you have never heard of her read the book Joni. It is a real eye opener. She is a very devout follower of the Lord and her ministry reaches many persons the churches simply can not. Many Flocks brother but only one Shepherd who guides us all.

GOD Bless You too.

The whole article--and indeed the whole protestant notion of 'assurance of salvation'--turns on a faulty understanding of Greek verb tenses. English has not equivalent of the aorist tense, which indicates an action begun in the past and ongoing in the present. The nearest one can get in English is the slightly awkard "are [or am] being saved", which only suggests continuing action in the present.
Being aware of when the Evangelists or Apostles (or Our Lord as recorded by them) are using the aorist tense can be important to correct Scriptural exegesis. There is, for instance, a passage in one of St. John's Epistles, where he speaks of Christ being made known in 'the water and the blood', and uses the aorist tense. This makes it clear that he is referring to the ongoing action of the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and the Eucharist, rather than the flow of water and blood from Our Lord's side on the occasion of His Saving and Ever-Memorable Death.

158 posted on 12/31/2006 9:11:20 AM MST by The_Reader_David

As in :
Aorist Tense
The aorist is said to be "simple occurrence" or "summary occurrence",
without regard for the amount of time taken to accomplish the action.
This tense is also often referred to as the 'punctiliar' tense.
'Punctiliar' in this sense means 'viewed as a single, collective whole,'
a "one-point-in-time" action,
although it may actually take place over a period of time.
In the indicative mood the aorist tense denotes action
that occurred in the past time, often translated like the English simple past tense.

b'shem Yah'shua

Just as a matter of curiosity, which Fathers do you believe opposed the veneration of the saints? By the way, I personally don't hold by purgatory or indulgences

There is a vast difference between respecting those faithful Christians who have gone before us and asking them to intercede for us. I do not believe there is any evidence of Paul, John or Peter running to Mary to ask if she would intercede to Christ on their behalf. I find the Mariology doctrine an ever evolving one throughout history. You can also apply this to the veneration of the saints.

I do find it curious that the Orthodox don't hold by purgatory or indulgence yet the Catholics do. If the traditions of the church fathers were so well defined, there really shouldn't be any confusion, should there? Either the church fathers believed it or they didn't.

"I find the Mariology doctrine an ever evolving one throughout history."

In the West, I think perhaps you may be right, but what looks like an evolving doctrine may in fact only be another example of Rome's fixation, perhaps justified, with defining everything.

"You can also apply this to the veneration of the saints."

I don't think so. The veneration even of relics of saints is very early 2nd century. At least in Orthodoxy, and I believe also in the West, the veneration of saints goes back virtually to the beginning and so far as I know has never changed in The Church.

"I do find it curious that the Orthodox don't hold by purgatory or indulgence yet the Catholics do. If the traditions of the church fathers were so well defined, there really shouldn't be any confusion, should there? Either the church fathers believed it or they didn't."

I am surprised you find that curious. Western theological thought here is influenced very heavily by +Augustine and in this area he is outside the consensus partrum. The utter depravity of mankind after the Fall is a Western notion which the East has never accepted. The idea of indulgences, a sort of get out of purgatory free card, has no place in Orthodoxy because we don't accept the idea of purgatory. We don't believe that we have to propitiate God because we have failed to become like Christ. God loves us and that love creates Paradise for those who have a similitude to Christ and a scourging torment to those who have refused to become like Christ. Paying some price to God for our failures just isn't part of the equation. You might also understand that as a general proposition, Orthodoxy believes in two Judgments, the Particular and the Final and the overwhelming majority of us won't know our eternal place until the Final Judgment. Once we are dead, there is nothing we can do to change where we will end up. While we are alive we can pray that God will show mercy on the souls of the departed, but that's about it.

Indulgences do have an ancient pedigree, however. In Alexandria, during the Roman persecutions, some Christians sought some sort of spiritual benefit from the sufferings and deaths of martyrs, whether in the here and now or the hereafter I don;t remember. I suspect that's where the idea of indulgences came from. Orthodoxy would argue that that was a misunderstanding of the nature of grace (created versus uncreated), but it did happen. In any event, the idea never caught on in the East.

To tell you the truth, HD, I find it surprising that Protestantism doesn't hold by indulgences and purgatory given the predominance of atonement theology among you guys.

Jesus came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. His ministry was not to the gentiles. He came to his chosen people and they would not have him rule over them.

John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

We were without God until he sent Paul to the gentiles.

Eph 2:11
Wherefore remember, that ye [being] in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us]

We were without God in the world. You have to actually read the bible for yourself to see these things in black and white. Only when Jesus saved Paul and sent him to us gentiles were we able to know God. Paul is the apostle of the gentiles. You can't just pick and choose verses not knowing who the writer was talking to or in what context.

Jesus was speaking to Jews under the law. Paul is the apostle we are to get our doctrine from not Peter. He was the apostle of the circumcision. Paul writes to us by inspiration from the risen Lord Jesus himself.

Rom 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

I don't make up any of my information. Its in my bible that I go by. Faith and faith alone is going to get you to heaven. Not Mary,a priest,a pope or a preacher will ever cleanse you from your sins. Only by Jesus' death,burial and resurrection will you be saved.

1Cr 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

My post comes from the bible. I spent most of my life taking someone else's word for what was in the bible and thinking that I knew what was it but when you actually read it for yourself you see a lot of things you always thought were in there that is not. Faith is not going by a denomination, it's about Jesus. If you don't have faith in what Jesus did on the cross, you are lost.

The "Once Saved, Always Saved" doctrine is fundamentally flawed. The perfect example of how this doctrine is false is Judas Iscariot. He believed in Jesus Christ, walked with Him, was one of the Twelve and was given the same powers from Him as the others. Yet what Christian believes that Judas Iscariot went to Heaven?

Yes, I would agree the doctrine of OSAS is fundamentally flawed. That is why I don't believe it. Instead I believe that God gives us grace and God continues to guide us until we are glorified. It isn't our work that drives us home but the work of Christ and it is His continuing work that sanctify us. We could technically lose our salvation but Christ promises that He won't let that happen. We persevere because of Christ, not because of our actions.

As far as Judas Iscariot, Christ choose those who He will. He chose Judas for a particular mission. God could have granted Judas faith. He didn't.

I don't think so. The veneration even of relics of saints is very early 2nd century.

There are only scant writings on the subject that I'm familiar with. OTOH, there is direct biblical evidence that condemns the practice. Saul praying for Samuel to intercede is one example. Moses tried to intercede for Israel but God said no.

I am surprised you find that curious. Western theological thought here is influenced very heavily by +Augustine and in this area he is outside the consensus partrum. The utter depravity of mankind after the Fall is a Western notion which the East has never accepted. The idea of indulgences, a sort of get out of purgatory free card, has no place in Orthodoxy

It isn't the theology that I'm curious about. Rather it is the claim that Orthodox and Catholic represents the "true" church when, in fact, their theologies are substantially different. As you state, western theology is based upon Augustine's principles (although I would say that was true up until 600 AD). Orthodox theology is not. How can Catholics and Orthodox claim to be united when their theologies are significantly different?

Do you not ask your friends to pray for you? Do you take to task FReepers who post prayer requests? If not, then at least you are self-consistent.

'Jesus and me' spirituality without the rest of the Church, His Mystical Body, is not the approach the Holy Apostles, who wrote of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, took. We are all one body, with one head, Christ. That I communicate with Him in prayer, and also ask the intercessions of His Mother, or of St. David of Wales, or of St. Basil the Great, is no stranger than that the muscles in my arm communicates with my brain by way of the nerves that bind it to my will and implement my kinesthetic sense, and with the bones to which it is connected by way of my ligaments. It must be rather lonely spending your time with Jesus only, without the great cloud of witnesses cheering you on. The Kingdom is a continuation of the Church, and I do expect a fair lot of folks to be there besides Jesus, and, if God is merciful to us sinners, me and you. It seems natural to talk to those the Church fully expects to be there.

I talk to Jesus, and the Father, and the Spirit, and to His friends, the saints. (Among whom I, as an Orthodox Christian, number neither Francis of Assisi, whom many Orthodox commentators, including some saints, hold to have been a severe victim of prelest, or spiritual delusion, nor Thomas More, whose actions in protest of Canterbury's annulment of Henry's marriage seem more political than proof of sanctity.)

Finally, Saul did not ask Samuel's intercession with God, but sought Samuel's advice through witchcraft--a sin which was punishable under the Old Covenant by death, and which is still (with murder, incest, male-male anal sodomy, and adultery) in the class of sins for which the canonical penance amon the Orthodox is life-long excommunication with communion of the Holy Mysteries permitted on the deathbed only.

No answer to the challenge? Can you find no Church Father to support your position? You asserted there were some.

It is a Latin claim that they and the Orthodox both constitute the Church. It mystifies many of us Orthodox as well, as can be seen in the asymmetry between our harsher polemics: their hardliners call us "Greek [or Eastern] schismatics", ours call them "Latin heretics".

To my way of thinking the Latin faith is more-or-less a 'best Aristotelian approximation' to the Orthodox faith. They have permitted rationalism to override the experience of the Church in many areas, while trying to stick close to the concensus patrium. From their point of view, it is, thus, difficult to see the distinctions between their faith and ours, except in the matter of ecclesiology. From ours, we see a large gulf (though narrowing somewhat since the accession to the papacy of Benedict XVI).

Do you not ask your friends to pray for you?

Do you take to task FReepers who post prayer requests?

The only time I take Christians to task is when I insert my unwanted opinions here. ;O)

It must be rather lonely spending your time with Jesus only, without the great cloud of witnesses cheering you on.

I talk to Jesus, and the Father, and the Spirit, and to His friends, the saints. (Among whom I, as an Orthodox Christian, number neither Francis of Assisi,...

Saul did not ask Samuel's intercession with God, but sought Samuel's advice through witchcraft...

Isa 8:19 When they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

No answer to the challenge? Can you find no Church Father to support your position? You asserted there were some.

a few early writings

early

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