You are so right. Salvation is without reference to popes and preachers, dogmas and doctrines. Salvation is in Christ and Christ alone. In the book of Jonah we read, “Salvation is of the Lord.” Martin Luther rocked the world after God opened up the simple phrase from Romans 1:17 “the just shall live by faith,” which was quoting Habakkuk.
I see all manner of unbiblical assertions in this discussion thread. People asserting what they believe, what churches teach, what popes say. None of that matters. All that matters is what God said on the issue in His Word.
To that end, Romans 9 says this: “For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”
Salvation isn’t a matter of man’s will (decisions of men) or man’s running (actions of men), but upon the Lord showing mercy upon whom HE will.
And then from Ephesians 1:
“3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
That passage is clear. Salvation is a matter of HIS will, HIS love, HIS predestinating choice, and all for HIS glory.
His sheep hear his voice and they will eventually believe and follow him. (my paraphrase of John 10:27) All who were chosen before the foundation of the world will hear the truth and they will respond with saving faith.
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” (John 6:37)
But natural men cannot come to Christ, only those drawn by the Father.
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44)
Salvation is, from beginning to end, a matter of grace. Those who are saved were chosen before the foundation of the earth, they respond to the gospel, which is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16) and they are sustained in their belief by grace. Christ declared “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Can there be anything clearer than that? Nothing can pluck them from His nail-scarred hands!
In II Tim. 1:12 we read, “...for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” Notice how Paul speaks. He does not say, “I am persuaded that I am able to keep that which I have received unto that day;” but, “HE IS ABLE.” That is God Who is greater than all. He keeps us in the way of life. He preserves the saints so that they are assured that they shall persevere.
We read in Romans 8:29-30, “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” You notice, God did not tell His church that He maybe will glorify them, conditioned upon their own action; but God declares, “Your final salvation is already an accomplished fact.” God foreknew; God justified; God glorified. According to the eternal counsel of God that stands. We are preserved by our God.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
AMEN!