Saved by Grace Lost by Works

By William T. Chance

How can one be assured of his or her salvation? This question has worried many Christians for centuries. Yet, the answer provided by the teachings of the New Testament is that every Christian can be certain that eternity will be spent with Christ and the Heavenly Hosts. Modern evangelical doctrine typically states that once a person recites the sinners prayer and accepts Jesus, there is nothing he or she can do to be eternally lost. Unfortunately, that idea is not supported by what one reads in the New Testament. Although Jesus said concerning His disciples I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of my hand, he also warned If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. Thus, the idea presented is that as long as one chooses to remain in Christ no force will be able to separate him or her from Gods grace. However, one does retain the freedom to walk away from Jesus and walk into being separated from His grace. Jesus effectively summarized His expectations in His message to the church at Smyrna: Be faithful until death.

A second question concerning salvation is What does it mean to be faithful? In the New Testament, John answers this question saying that a Christian needs to walk in the light, meaning that we live our lives within the light of Christ by following Him, maturing in Him and keeping His commandments. As we walk in the light several things happen to us to pull us away from being carnal beings. We are transformed by the renewing or our minds. We develop a Christian personality, which is not centered on self. We learn to worship and serve our Creator. We find peace and contentment that surpasses human understanding. In totality, we discover the best way to live the few years we have been given upon the earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475966428

William T. Chance

William Chance is retired from careers in surgical research and mental health counseling. He is a life-long Christian, and has written “Restoration Run Amuck” and “Saved by Grace-Lost by Works.” William’s hobbies are writing, antiques and astronomy. William lives in Franklin, Tennessee with Debbie, his wife of forty-eight years.

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Copyright © 2013 by William T. Chance.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-6641-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-6642-8 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 1/04/2013

Cover photograph: Between Heaven and Hell by Jim Warren. Used by permission. www.jwarren.com.

Unless noted otherwise, Scripture quotes are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Additional Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; and from the Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV). New York: Oxford Edition: 1769. Used by permission.

CONTENTS

Preface

1 Understanding

2 Satan’s Big Lie

3 Easy Grace?

4 Works

5 Judgment

6 Ifs

7 Transformation

8 Created To Worship

9 The Christian Personality

10 Dynamite

11 Contentment

Epilogue

Endnotes

PREFACE

The New Testament predicts that in later years, after Christ and the apostles are gone, a great apostasy or a falling away will occur in the church. Writing to Timothy, Paul said: The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth (1 Timothy 4: 1-3).

Writing to the church at Thessalonica, Paul penned these words: Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4).

Thus, the prophecy of the Holy Spirit was that there would be a great apostasy in the church, which will be characterized by people abandoning biblical faith and accepting false doctrines. According to the Holy Spirit, these false doctrines will be taught by hypocritical teachers with no consciences and will include forbidding marriage and prohibiting eating certain foods. In addition, this period will be characterized by the appearance of the man of lawlessness, who will seat himself in the place of God and will make laws as if he were God.

As one considers the history of the church over the past two thousand years, it immediately becomes apparent that these prophesies have been fulfilled, beginning with the union of the church with the Roman Empire and Christianity becoming the state religion of Rome in AD 380. Eating of meat on Friday became prohibited in 998, while celibacy for priests and bishops was instituted in 1079 by Pope Gregory VII. The Pope was declared infallible for decisions delivered from the Papal Chair in 1870. Therefore, the church digressed to the point where a human was recognized as speaking for God in absolute truth, which is a contradiction of Hebrews 1: 1-2 and Galatians 1: 8.

These as well as many other unbiblical teachings and practices by the Roman Catholic Church brought about the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, during which many of these abuses of doctrine were addressed and changed, resulting in the birth of Protestant churches. However, none of the reforms instituted by these churches corrected all of the abuses by the Catholic Church. Thus, many churches existed in which reformation was only partially accomplished. In addition, since interpretation of the Scriptures was done by men, opinions and personal doctrines were often substituted for scriptural teaching in areas of controversy. The eventual result of these partial reformations was that people could seek and find a church that taught doctrines which were comfortable for them, even though those teachings might not accurately reflect what God presents in the Bible. The situation seemed to be the fulfillment of what Paul wrote to Timothy: For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4: 3-4). Paul’s prophesy accurately reflects the state of religion in today’s world.

One may search religious institutions until a church is found which teaches doctrines that are compatible with his or her beliefs. Yet, we can only be certain that our beliefs are consistent with God’s teaching when we search the Scriptures, and use what we learn to challenge our faith. Much of what is done and taught in churches today is not the result of what can be read in the New Testament. Rather, what a specific church may teach and practice may be the result of one man’s interpretation and personal prejudices. Such is the case with the theology of John Calvin, whose beliefs form the basis of much that is taught by many of the Protestant churches that were birthed by the Reformation. In the present work, two of the stalwart beliefs of many Protestant denominations, once saved always saved and the nonessential nature of baptism, will be assessed in light of God’s Holy Scriptures. Hopefully, a review of the many verses on these topics will allow people to form their personal beliefs on these topics, uninfluenced by the creeds of any organized religious group.

CHAPTER 1

Understanding

The Bible is a very complex book. To even begin to make sense of what God-inspired men wrote, one needs to determine to whom a Scripture was addressed and in what context it was written. The Bible has two major divisions: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Although the Old Testament provides a valuable history of how God dealt with his people, its religious instruction was directed to the Jews alone (Romans 2: 17; 3: 1-2). Therefore, it would be wrong to try to force an Old Testament command on anyone today. Thus, dietary laws, such as not eating pork (Leviticus 11: 7-8) or catfish (Leviticus 11: 9-11), do not apply to us today (see Acts 10: 9-16). In a similar vein, we are no longer commanded to stone to death rebellious children (Deuteronomy 21: 18-21), or people who engage in incestuous or homosexual behaviors (Leviticus 20: 12-13). In addition, this truth means that the Ten Commandments are no longer in effect and are not binding on anyone living after the death of Jesus (Ephesians 2: 14-16; Colossians 2: 14). Much of Paul’s letter to the Galatians dealt with the problem of teachers trying to force Christians to follow the Law of Moses. Paul stated that anyone who was trying to be saved by keeping any set of commandments had fallen from God’s grace (Galatians 5: 4).

The application of New Testament commands or teachings follows the same constraints of determining to whom the teaching is directed and the context of the situation. Thus, Jesus’ instruction to his disciples to cast their nets to the right side of the boat in order to find fish (John 21: 6) has little direct application for fishermen today. Similarly, his instruction to the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give it to poor (Luke 18: 22) does not seem to be a prerequisite for all who wish to follow him. However, the principle of Luke 18: 22, that nothing can be given preeminence over him, applies to all who wish to be Jesus’ disciple.

One must also consider the entirety of teachings in the various books of the New Testament on a given subject. The instruction in the New Testament comes primarily from three sources: the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, the examples of the early church in Acts of the Apostles, and the letters written to various people or groups by Paul, Peter, John, James, and Jude. In each of these sources instructions are found concerning what God wants men and women to do to please him. Because of the context, some of the instructions may seem incomplete. Thus, in response to the people’s question, What shall we do? following his sermon on the day of Pentecost, Peter did not have to tell the people to believe in Jesus (Acts 2: 37), because they already showed their belief by their response to his sermon. Instead, he told them to repent and to be baptized, and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, our responsibility is to study the Bible thoroughly so we do not miss the complete teaching or commandment. Paul gave these instructions to the young evangelist, Timothy: Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2: 15, NASB). As Paul admonished Timothy, we should study the word diligently so our understanding and teaching are complete and free from errors.

The Bible is a complex book, with some passages being immensely difficult to understand. Peter recognized this fact and gave this advice concerning some of Paul’s writings: He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (2 Peter 3: 16). Peter recognized the human tendency to distort things which are not understood, rather than to study more to find the true meaning of the passage. This tendency still exists today, and many a preacher has created a new doctrine based on Scriptures which were taken out of context or were not readily understandable. It is much easier to twist Scripture a bit to make it fit one’s preconceived belief than to study and find that the meaning of the passage does not fit into one’s schema of beliefs. A good rule is to make sure that one’s interpretation of a particular passage does not contradict teaching on the subject found in another passage. If there is a contradiction, the interpretation must be invalid.

Another problem with some people’s study of the Bible is that they search for proof texts and ignore other passages, which may cast doubt on their own interpretation. This manner of Bible study allows people to maintain their narrow and personal interpretation of what the Bible says on a particular subject, while ignoring the broader picture of what the true meaning may be. One example of a proof text used today in some conservative churches is Paul’s admonition for women to remain silent in church (1 Corinthians 14: 34-35, NASB). This passage reads: The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church. The leaderships of some churches have determined that this verse prohibits women from saying anything during the assembly of the church. One problem with this interpretation is that it ignores 1 Corinthians 11: 4-5, which states: Every man who prays of prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. Obviously in these verses men and women were doing the same thing in worship—praying and prophesying. Both of these activities require speaking and communicating, so in this example women are obviously not silent. Furthermore, Acts 21: 9 informs us that Philip, the evangelist, had four daughters who prophesied. In Ephesians 5: 19, Paul instructs the church to: Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. Similarly, the church at Colossae was told to: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God (Colossians 3: 16). Thus, the whole congregation in these two verses was instructed to sing, which again involved both men and women being vocal in their worship of God. Although other views exist, perhaps the most logical interpretation of Paul’s request for women to be silent in the church at Corinth is that there was much confusion and controversy occurring during the worship service over such things as miraculous spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues, prophesying and the Lord’s Supper. Perhaps Paul was seeking to reduce the volume of the rhetoric by asking