Can someone explain scriptures regarding salvation to me?

Question

If we are saved by grace, what does it mean to work out our own salvation through fear and trembling?
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Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Philippians 2:12
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. "
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I am not trying to be argumentative I am really wondering. I have just been told different versions of what it means to be saved, and of course I want to make sure that I have been properly saved, (hell sounds so unpleasant).

I am curious how these scriptures work together. would someone mind helping me?

Also, can you lose your salvation?

Answer 1

You cannot earn nor lose your salvation. As far as the "work out your own salvation" it is analogous to working out the day at your job. You "work it out" you don't make the day exist, you simply work until it is realized, or fulfilled, or done. Same with salvation--we can't create it, but we are to work with good works until we are done with our earthly lives. :) I hope that helped. :)

Answer 2

Really, these scriptures work in light of each other. We are saved by grace, and our salvation is a gift of God. I am so thankful for this, especially when I read the rest of Ephesians 2 and think about the state I was in before the Lord saved me, so praise God. If you read Phil. 2 starting in verse 10 and 11, it talks a bit more about the Lord's sovereignty, that he is in control. In light of this, now that you have been saved (this letter is written to the church at Phillipi-- henced they are saved), you are to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling". This to me is all about perseverance. Knowing the Lord, growing as a believer in Jesus Christ, and learning about what the bible has to say and applying it to your life. I heard an analogy once about a man hanging from a 300-story high building. Even though it seems hopeless, he still hangs on, because the only other option is falling to your death. In the same way in the Christian life, we must hold on for dear life to the Lord, because the only other option is falling away. The encouraging thing is though, that the Lord is there with you guiding you and keeping you. If you understand that Christ is the propitiation for you sins, you repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus, and your heart is changed as a result of it, then it is safe to say that you are saved.
As for losing your salvation, I don't believe you can. I have encountered situations where people "walked away from the faith", but in hindsight you recognize that they never really had fellowship with the father in the first place. The Lord keeps those who are his.

Answer 3

Ephesians 2: 8,9
For by grace (God's grace) are you saved (from the bondage of sin) through faith (in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ). Not of works (any and every good deed) lest any man should boast. (so no one can claim they earned their salvation through doing good deeds).

Paul is reminding us that God is the "author and finisher" of our faith. This is where we as Christians differ with every other faith out there. We believe there is NOTHING we can do which will earn us holiness. Jesus did it for us.

Philippians 2:12
Paul is telling the recipients of this letter (the church at Phillipi) that they are not only obedient believers when he is there, they also behave in a Christian manner when he is not there to preach to them. "work out your own salvation (figure out what God has done for you) on your own, because I (Paul) can't be there every minute. (with fear and trembling) As you are figuring it out, always be very reverent and respectful of what was done for you. Do not take it lightly. It cost God everything and He expects you to live your lives like you know that. Don't ever forget that He is God.

I personally believe that when one truly repents and accepts God's plan of salvation, they will never lose God's salvation. Why? because if a person really converts, there is no way they would every give it up. It is the most precious relationship known to mankind, ever.

Answer 4

By learning from your mistakes and correcting them to be Holy like G-D is Holy, Is working out your salvation through fear and trembling. Though Salvation is given through grace we are to live by Yeshua's example. That means to work towards being who he wants us to be. I don't think you can lose your salvation. But you will have some expaining to do. G-D's mercy on us is fresh everyday. And most of us need it. So we can't boast that we are better than any one, we are all saved by grace, But G-D wants us to work at keeping His commandments, Not to boast in ourselfs but so He can boast about us (like Job). I hope this help some.

Answer 5

Getting saved is easy, but a person can loose their salvation if they go back to the worlds ways and ignore God. It wouldn't happen over night , but in time, so you work at being saved. Do Gods will and ask forgiveness when you mess up, He will forgive you, He loves you.Romans 3:10,23, Romans 10:13 ,John 3:16, John 14:6 ,John 1:12, Revelation 3:20 and Romans 10:9,10.

Answer 6

The fear and trembling part is referring to the wrath of God, but if you believe that Jesus is the Christ you will not be in fear or trembling, or suffer any wrath of God.
All that it takes is just to "believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and he died for your sins", not saying some made up prayer, or reading the Bible or doing good deeds. When you pray, tell Him you believe and trust Him to come into your life. Then you can read up and learn more because you would then understand more.

Once you are truely saved you can NEVER lose your salvation. Jesus said "I will never fail you or forsake you", and something along the lines of ".....noone can take them out of my hand...." sorry forgot the rest.

Answer 7

It takes fear and trembling at times to believe. I will show you how. When you are awakened in the middle of the night by a memory of something you said or did that wasn't quite right. You ask the Lord to forgive you of that thing. You remember and it makes you sad or upset. All of the things we have done at one time or another comes floating back into our memories, not God's. We need to find our salvation from these things. Some who live with post-traumatic-stress-disorder can attest to this. It will float in at the most inopportune moment. We need to make peace with ourselves.

Answer 8

I'm married to a minister and I'm not sure that I can adequately answer this, but if you believe that jesus died adn rose a gain adn asked him to forgive you , you are saved, some things take time to deal with people aren't perfect you will make mistakes the difference is what you do with them do you repent adn move on and learn from them or give up after mistakes? you are just as saved as anyone else. PS buy a strongs concordance it has really helped me to understand the true meaning of the bible as it was written in the origional textl.

Answer 9

Losing one's salvation is one of those subjects that gets debated in Christian circles. I don't take a stand on it because it isn't essential to my faith. Instead I take heed to passages like the one that tell us to make our calling and election sure because it contains guidelines for living your life according to God's will.

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

While we are saved by grace we are saved unto good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do as his children here on earth.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Answer 10

It's too bad that, in the world's most popular religion, someone with an honest question has to explain/apologize for asking. I've been in your shoes before.

The scriptures you're asking about are simply contradictory. If you look long enough, and remain honest, you'll find much in the Bible that simply doesn't make sense.

Would a loving God make it so difficult to be "properly saved"? No one can follow every directive in the Bible. (This begs the question of whether someone "saved by faith", with the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit, needs to follow any written directives at all!)

Would a loving God make a world in which most people are sure to suffer eternal punishment because they never heard the salvation message, or were too confused to understand it?

The answer to your question is that the Bible is a collection of religious writings, written by men (and perhaps some women), all of whom had different motives for their writings. What does it say that neither Matthew, nor Mark, nor John, nor 1 Peter, nor 2 Peter were written by the authors whose names are on the books, and all of them decades or even centuries (in the case of 2 Peter) after their supposed authors' deaths?

A little study will confirm for you everything that I've written here. If you're curious enough, and you follow your curiosity to the end, you'll learn yourself right out of mainstream Christianity, even if you retain a basic belief in Jesus.

It's a bit refreshing to know that Jesus says nothing about having to study any book to be "properly saved". Find his real words, if you can. Some of them are preserved in the Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of early Christian writings that were discovered in the 1940s. The Gospel of Thomas stands out to me in particular. The Gospel of Truth contains much early Christian teaching, but I don't think it has any of Jesus' actual words.

(Some of Jesus' words are still present in the Gospels, particularly Mark, despite later authors' tampering.)

The churches that produced the Nag Hammadi writings were persecuted out of existence by the early Catholic church, under the men who hijacked Jesus' real message and formed the basis of today's Christian denominations.

Another question to consider is: who was Paul? He never saw the living Jesus, and never mentions much about Jesus' life, but his writings and supposed writings form the basis of most Christian doctrine--much more so than Jesus' teachings.

These are my views, which have come out of much honest study and determination. I recommend a series of good Internet searches.