The offer of Salvation is universal, but the application is only : "by Faith".

Ssalvation requires more than just faith which is but one element of salvation when all relative scripture is considered.
1. Belief/faith
2. Confession of belief (Romans 10:9)
3. Repentance (Acts 2:38)
4. Baptism ( Acts 2:38 and elsewhere)

Upon doing the above, you are saved, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and are added to the Lord's body by him, which is the church.

Faith really in God is all that is required for salvation.

Of course faith begats a whole host of things that proves that we truly are children of God. Peter in 2nd Peter states that in order to prove our salvation we should add to our faith these other things, things that cannot be added without faith.

2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
2Pe 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Eternal salvation is simple, and mankind dose not have to do anything to get it. God, by his sovereign grace choose an elect people before the foundation of the world, (Eph 1:4) and predetermined them to be adopted as his children (Eph 1:4) by giving them to his Son to be a sacrifice for the redemption of their sin on the cross. (John 6:39). Jesus said that he would not lose any of them, but will raise them up at the last day.

Eternal salvation is not an offering to mankind. Jesus was a sacrifice to God for the the redemption of the sins of those that God gave to him. The sacrifice was to God, for God's acceptance, and not to mankind, for mankind's acceptance.

After thinking through this very controversial topic especially between Calvinist and Armenians for quite a long time, I have concluded that most people will be lost because of this simplistic view of Christianity.
God chose us through predestination, yes, but in his foreknowledge he chose us. We also have to choose him.

We serve God with our minds and we cannot serve him mindlessly.
Paul says - Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2)

Also Paul says that we serve the law of God with our minds. (Romans 8)
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Peter gives us a clear picture of the process of salvation.
1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

God's grace is sufficient but we should not take it in vain. (i.e. ignore it).
Also sanctification is a process by the Holy Spirit and Paul warns us not to grieve or quench the Holy Spirit. Yes we can quench the Holy Spirit by not living circumspectly.

The most important ingredient of salvation for today is knowledge (faith is foundational) as it was in the days of the Old Testament. (It probably is much more important to day as we have to get that knowledge through the holy Spirit and the word of God.)

In the bible the people got their knowledge through God's emissaries, e.g. Moses, Jesus, Paul, Peter etc and still they messed up.

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Hos 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.


2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

2Pe 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins


Paul uses the word wisdom which is synonymous to knowledge.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Even Daniel brought out the importance of knowledge.
Dan 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Phil 1:29

29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

That doesn't answer the question

It comes close to hitting the mark, but it says that what is given (or granted as some translations say) is "to believe on him" The word "to" added there means a possibility is being introduced, a privilege, or a right. It doesn't say "You were given belief on Him."

It answers it in my opinion. God gives faith to believe in Jesus Christ.

The verse says "it is given in the behalf of Christ ".
What exactly is given. The only thing that could be given to those who are called by God is "grace".

Romans says we are saved by grace through faith.

I did not read the previous conversations but only this verse, therefore I am not privy to the objective of the conversation.

I just read the forum topic and it said "the offer of salvation is universal".
I would rather discuss myself and possibly yourselves as we know that we were called by God. We would not be here discussing bible doctrine if we were not called. Now whether we will be acceptable to God, that is another matter as it is God who judges, even ourselves and only time will tell if we have been faithful.

Recently I have come to believe that many are called (not all) but few are chosen. Therefore, logic suggests that not all are called.
Jesus was sent by God and he said he lost none that the father had given to him. Jesus sent his apostles and likewise they will do just as Jesus did, following his example, and will lose none that Jesus gave to them.
God's word does not return to him void.
The Old Testament is a preview of the New Testament. God's chosen people was Israel and not the heathen at the very beginning. The heathen were only called when the Jews began to fall away.

Of course God was pulling individual heathen people from the time of Rahab and Ruth but most were not called or chosen and thus were destroyed by God until later on during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem.

There are just too many verses that suggest that God is selective in the sense of those who names were written in the lamb's book of life.

So we should allow God to be God and only focus on ourselves as it would be a pity to see our most ungodly acquaintances (who later on changed their lives) enter into the kingdom and we left on the outside.

Jesus told the Pharisees this same thing that many will sit with Abraham (from the East and West) in the kingdom while they themselves will be on the outside.

pab

Right and it tells you what was given in behalf of Christ, two blessings #1 To believe on Christ amd # 2 to suffer for His sake

29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

That means Christs death for one is responsible for those He died for receiving those blessings.

Faith only is NOT all that's required at least not when you consider all pertinent scripture. If you cherrypick scripture as you are doing, then you can find one that says faith only. But you can also find another that says confession is all that's necessary such as Romans 10:9 if you only rely on one scripture and not all. The fact is, all scripture must be taken into consideration or you'll end up with false doctrine. When you take all scripture into consideration you end up with my short list previously posted.
1. Belief and faith
2. Confession of belief
3. Repentance
4. Baptism

Mark 16:15-16
15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Is faith only required by the above?

Acts 2:38

38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

How about the above? Are your sins washed away by faith only, or must you repent and be baptized as stated above?

Christs blood alone washes those He died for from their sins. Rev 1:5-6

5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

I do not debate bible verses because it calls into play the intellectual, carnal, element of man. Using the intellectual perspective of man, the bible has thousands and thousands of contradictions.

That was the reason why the bible states that it is impossible for the natural (carnal) man to understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned.

1Co_2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Yes. Completely agree.

I disagree here.

There is A LOT of work for a person to do to REALIZE they cannot do the things COMMANDED by God. If they don't come to this realization then there is never a reason for them to come to Christ to ask for His Help and to receive all the gifts that result in Salvation.


Right? What does the natural man understand? Working for his reward. He can't ever have a TRUE spiritual understanding until he completely abandons his natural understanding and Trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ. Which is Truly a Gift of God.

James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Repentance actually 'precedes' saving belief/faith in Christ.

Matthew 21:32 - For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Mark 1:15 - The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the gospel.

Acts 20:21 - testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. *Notice the order.

Romans 10:8 - But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (TOGETHER) that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, (notice the reverse order from verse 9-10) - that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Confess/believe; believe/confess. Confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead are not two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together.

We are saved the moment that we believe in/place faith in Christ for salvation and water baptism "follows." Acts 10:43 - To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him receives remission of sins.” 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, 47 “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

So salvation is received the moment that we place our faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. (Romans 4:5-6; Ephesians 2:8,9)

Psalms 53:2-3 - God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back, thay are altogether become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Yes, by his foreknowledge, he saw that no one would choose him. That is why he choose an elect people, and predetermined that Jesus would adopt them as his children (Eph 1:4-5).

There is the fleshly mind only that is within the unregenerate person, and there is the spiritual mind of those that have been born again, along with the baggage of the fleshly mind. Rom 8:7-9 - Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Eo then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you, how if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

The only persons that serve God with their minds are those that have been born again.

it's ok, it'll win souls

,,, the faith by which we are saved is a gift

Election is unto the church, the body of Christ, to be conformed to the image of God's Son, a people for the praise of God's glorious grace.

... others can still be saved.

faith is an impartation ... it energises the one who receives it to do of God's good will..