"Saved By Grace, But..."
An excellent Q&A from Greg Albrecht, in the latest newsletter from his Plain Truth Magazine...
Q. I agree that we are saved "by grace . . . through faith . . . not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8). But what about scriptures like -- "If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell" (Matthew 18:9)?
I believe I am saved by grace but what about backsliding? Do I stay saved by grace? If so, give me a scripture reference. Don't we have our side of the covenant to keep as well? Don't we have a responsibility to repent? How can we stop sinning? We are not to use grace as a license to sin either -- right?
A. "If your eye causes you to sin . . . . " What does this have to do with salvation by grace? Jesus is merely teaching the principle that two can not walk together unless they be agreed, that unity must characterize our life, that our goal must be single in life. Nothing is said in this passage about "if you do this I will save you but not until."
Backsliding? Do you mean that we can lose our salvation once it is given to us by grace? Is it possible that some will be saved and then become as sinful or even more so than they were before they were saved? The Bible says no. The Bible says that when we are saved we are still in the flesh, and we will still sin (1 John 1:8) but we have now crossed from death to life (John 5:24) and that Jesus now lives his resurrected life in us (Galatians 2:20). If we have been saved we are now alive in Christ -- before we were dead. Dead people can't produce any good works. But those who are alive in Christ are his workmanship, "created in Christ Jesus to do good works" (Eph. 2:10). That means that God saves us not because of what we have done or will do, but so that he can do good things in and through us. We are not saved BY works, but FOR works. God then brings forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-25). This means that he will produce fruit in us, because he has saved us.
How do you "stay" saved by grace? Our salvation is called "eternal" salvation (Hebrews 5:9). Nowhere in scripture do we read that God gives us conditional salvation. If we need to ensure that we "stay" eternally saved by what we do -- then why is it called "eternal"?
But, don't we have "our side" of the covenant to keep as well? The root of this question is the presumption of equality -- God does something, we do something. Problem. What we do can never, never in a lifetime of good deeds, come anywhere close to the perfect work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Salvation is not a partnership. If Jesus doesn't save us, we are sunk. End of story.
Don't we have a responsibility to repent? Repentance is a gift. We can not repent just because we decide, on the basis of our goodness or initiative that we will repent. We repent because God gives us, by grace, repentance. What we have to do is accept his free gift -- that is what we have to do. And many will not -- because they prefer to pay their own dues, and attempt to earn their own salvation so that they won't be indebted to anyone, including God (for more on this see my new book, "Bad News Religion.")
How can we stop sinning? We have peace and fellowship with God when the blood of Christ covers our sin. So how can we "stop" sinning so that we can be at peace with God? We never stop sinning, as long as we are in this flesh (see Romans 7).
Of course we are not to use the excuse that God will always forgive us and that we are under grace to sin -- Paul does speak to this, specifically in Romans 6:1 -- but to adequately understand that verse you need to start reading in Romans 1:1 and then you will know what Romans 6:1 means. Again, a chapter in my book covers what some call "easy believism."
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht
Q. I agree that we are saved "by grace . . . through faith . . . not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8). But what about scriptures like -- "If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell" (Matthew 18:9)?
I believe I am saved by grace but what about backsliding? Do I stay saved by grace? If so, give me a scripture reference. Don't we have our side of the covenant to keep as well? Don't we have a responsibility to repent? How can we stop sinning? We are not to use grace as a license to sin either -- right?
A. "If your eye causes you to sin . . . . " What does this have to do with salvation by grace? Jesus is merely teaching the principle that two can not walk together unless they be agreed, that unity must characterize our life, that our goal must be single in life. Nothing is said in this passage about "if you do this I will save you but not until."
Backsliding? Do you mean that we can lose our salvation once it is given to us by grace? Is it possible that some will be saved and then become as sinful or even more so than they were before they were saved? The Bible says no. The Bible says that when we are saved we are still in the flesh, and we will still sin (1 John 1:8) but we have now crossed from death to life (John 5:24) and that Jesus now lives his resurrected life in us (Galatians 2:20). If we have been saved we are now alive in Christ -- before we were dead. Dead people can't produce any good works. But those who are alive in Christ are his workmanship, "created in Christ Jesus to do good works" (Eph. 2:10). That means that God saves us not because of what we have done or will do, but so that he can do good things in and through us. We are not saved BY works, but FOR works. God then brings forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-25). This means that he will produce fruit in us, because he has saved us.
How do you "stay" saved by grace? Our salvation is called "eternal" salvation (Hebrews 5:9). Nowhere in scripture do we read that God gives us conditional salvation. If we need to ensure that we "stay" eternally saved by what we do -- then why is it called "eternal"?
But, don't we have "our side" of the covenant to keep as well? The root of this question is the presumption of equality -- God does something, we do something. Problem. What we do can never, never in a lifetime of good deeds, come anywhere close to the perfect work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Salvation is not a partnership. If Jesus doesn't save us, we are sunk. End of story.
Don't we have a responsibility to repent? Repentance is a gift. We can not repent just because we decide, on the basis of our goodness or initiative that we will repent. We repent because God gives us, by grace, repentance. What we have to do is accept his free gift -- that is what we have to do. And many will not -- because they prefer to pay their own dues, and attempt to earn their own salvation so that they won't be indebted to anyone, including God (for more on this see my new book, "Bad News Religion.")
How can we stop sinning? We have peace and fellowship with God when the blood of Christ covers our sin. So how can we "stop" sinning so that we can be at peace with God? We never stop sinning, as long as we are in this flesh (see Romans 7).
Of course we are not to use the excuse that God will always forgive us and that we are under grace to sin -- Paul does speak to this, specifically in Romans 6:1 -- but to adequately understand that verse you need to start reading in Romans 1:1 and then you will know what Romans 6:1 means. Again, a chapter in my book covers what some call "easy believism."
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht
posted by Bob at
4:57 PM
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