As with all Bible Study, first return to fellowship with God through faith in Christ and confession of sin to Him by 1stJohn 1:9. Then, without ceasing in prayer continue to intake the Word and let God perform His work in us. God Bless.
G.3. Rom 4:4-5, the person who works for salvation receives nothing from God because the justice of God is not free from grace to give him anything. Instead their works are credited to them as debt. Cf. Rom 9:30-32.
I know we go back and forth with some on this forum concerning this very doctrine. My belief, based upon many years of fervent Bible study, is that we cannot add our works into the equation of grace - not at any point. So the question I ponder is if someone believes in Jesus Christ as God incarnate, Son of God, second person of the Trinity and Savior, but also believes that they are saved by grace PLUS their works, then are they really saved? I used to hear the line, "If you're not sure you're saved, you can be sure you're not.". This is based on someone not having an assurance of their salvation because they think they can somehow lose it if they sin or fail to follow a set of rules.
Now, I DO have the assurance I am saved and, that when I die, I am going to Heaven. I base this assurance on the promises of Almighty God spelled out in Holy Scripture. When I placed my faith in Jesus Christ as my savior, I was reborn into the family of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, justified, sanctified and found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of God in Christ. What I find so heartbreaking is that there are some people who read what I just wrote and call me "self-righteous". They say I have committed the sin of "presumption". That is where I find the sticking point. I understand fully that I am saved by God's amazing grace and there is NOTHING that I can do to save myself - which is why Christ came to save us. But to others I am bragging or claiming I am perfect.. How can we get people to grasp that knowing I am saved is NOT presumptuous of me and my meriting, but is a complete surrender to God, resting upon his grace to save me as he said he would.
I have loved ones who really believe that they must be good or they won't go to Heaven. They say they believe in Jesus and that he died on the cross, but, somehow, it has not sunk in that they can trust in God to take them all the way to heaven based on that faith. Are they saved, or not? If they think they must earn or "cooperate" with the grace of God to have a chance at Heaven, can they be saved thinking that way? My thoughts are no, because they aren't really trusting in Christ. But will God's mercy and grace STILL save them anyway if they have been confused by a lifetime of false dogmas? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Live Source please or did you write it?
The Early Church Fathers on Justification - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
What is the source?
It sounds like it came from an R.B. Thieme work.
Disregard my last post, I didn’t see that it had R.B. Thieme posted at the top.