Jesus asked Martha... “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26).
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
Acts 16:30-31: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The reply was simple and direct: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household”
Acts 13:38–39 tells us that, “through this Man [Jesus Christ] is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
Belief and Obedience AND Faith are Connected
Many today seek to disconnect belief from obedience, and faith from works BUT the scriptures show the WHOLE picture of HOW they connect.
The law does not justify us. It teaches us the reason we need justification. It teaches us what sin is (1 John 3:4). Once we have sinned by breaking that law, it is through faith in the sacrifice of Christ that justification—forgiveness of past sins—takes place. The law defines sin. Faith in Christ’s sacrifice brings about justification.
This is summarized in Galatians 2:15–18: “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.”
Paul also said, “for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the
doers of the law will be justified” (by Christ) (Romans 2:13). We are justified to God
by Christ having paid the penalty for our past sins, but the Bible teaches that we should become diligent in keeping the commandments and (strive to) sin no more.
(James 2:19) James says “You believe that there is one God. You do well.
Even the demons believe—and tremble!” . “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that
faith without works is dead?” (v. 20). Then, using the example of Abraham offering up his son Isaac, he says: “Do you see that
faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (v. 22).
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?” (Hebrews 3:14–18). Then Paul sums up this passage by saying: “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (v. 19). He connects Belief with Obedience
Hebrews 11 is known as the “faith chapter” because it records example after example of men and women who exercised faith in the face of trials and stress. “Butwithout faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (v. 6).
Some conclude that the Apostle Paul taught against commandment keeping, but as Peter said, many have misunderstood some things Paul wrote: "as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures" (2 Peter 3:16). Paul never contradicted Jesus by teaching commandment breaking.
Some refer to
Acts 15 and claim it does away with the necessity to keep the law of God, but it says no such thing.
The subject under discussion in Acts 15 was: if circumcision is necessary; not whether the commandments were "done away." Later Paul, in a letter to uncircumcised Gentile Christians said
, "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters" (
1 Corinthians 7:19). Even the Apostle to the Gentiles taught commandment keeping!
If we truly love God, we will begin keeping His commandments,
"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (
1 John 5:3).
God's Grace
Grace is a “gift from God.” But, is this grace a
permanent state, such that “once saved, always saved”?
An often-misunderstood verse in Scripture.
Ephesians 2:8 tells us, “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” (KJV). The phrase “are ye saved” uses a
present-progressive verb. A “present-progressive” verb describes an ongoing action. Any good Bible concordance will verify that the
KJV correctly renders the tense of the original Greek verb. Sadly, many newer translations wrongly translate the phrase as “you have been saved”—which can wrongly imply a permanent condition—leading readers to infer wrongly the “once saved, always saved” doctrine. The most precise translation of
Ephesians 2:8, in light of modern English grammar, would be that we
“are being” saved through faith.
To sum up, Christians
have been saved from our past sins by the blood of Christ (justification); we are now “being saved” through faith (
Matthew 24:13), and we “shall be saved by His life” (
Romans 5:10).