Are you saved?

Question

Has anyone ever asked you if you are "saved"? Some people promote a very attractive idea: All true Christians, regardless of how they live, have an absolute assurance of salvation, once they accept Jesus into their hearts as "their personal Lord and Savior." The problem is that this belief is contrary to the Bible & constant Christian teaching.

Recall this Scripture: "If we have died with him [in baptism; see Rom. 6:3-4] we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him" (2 Tim. 2:11-12). So, ff we do NOT persevere, we shall NOT reign with him. In other words, Christians can forfeit heaven. Jesus tells us, "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt. 24:13; cf. 25:31-46). Ergo, if you do not endure to the end, well........

The Bible makes it clear that Christians have a moral assurance of salvation (God will be true to his word and will grant salvation to those who have faith in Christ and are obedient to him [1 John 3:19-24])......

....but the Bible does NOT teach that Christians have a guarantee of heaven. There can be no absolute assurance of salvation. The Bible says, "See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off" (Rom. 11:22-23; Matt. 18:21-35, 1 Cor. 15:1-2, 2 Pet. 2:20-21).

Note that this includes an important condition: "provided you remain in his kindness." It is saying that Christians can lose their salvation by throwing it away. He warns, "Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall" (1 Cor. 10:11-12). , Paul admitted that even he could fall away: "I pummel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor. 9:27). In saying this he points out that even he cannot be infallibly sure of his own present state or of his future salvation.

As a Catholic, when someone asks me if I have been "saved," I answer: "I am redeemed by the blood of Christ, I trust in him alone for my salvation, and, as the Bible teaches, I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), knowing that it is God's gift of grace that is working in me."

Comments? Question?

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Answer 1

I wish someone would save me from religious people.

Answer 2

"As the Bible says, I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13)."

Answer 3

Yes, indeed. Past, present and future.

1) I was saved (33 A.D. - Good Friday afternoon around 3:00 P.M. Jerusalem Standard Time on a hill called Golgotha)

2) I am being saved by the Sacraments of Christ's One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church - most notably my own Holy Baptism on October 20, 1965.

3) I will be saved after my purifying time in Purgatory, and at the final Judgment when "He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead"

Answer 4

These are all understandable arguments, and the same arguments I would've used before I became a Calvinist. But I just want to point out a small error in reasoning in one of them.

You quoted 2 Tim 2:11-12, which says, "...if we persevere we shall also reign with him."

Then you said, "So, if we do NOT persevere, we shall NOT reign with him."

That doesn't follow from the passage you quoted. The contrapositive of 2 Timothy is this: "If we do not reign with him, then we did not persevere."

Let me make an illustration that hopefully will clarify why your inference doesn't follow from 2 Tim. Suppose three people are going camping. The leader says to the other two, "If you bring some french bread, you will have something to eat." Does it follow that if they do NOT bring french bread, they will NOT have something to eat? Obviously not. They could bring snickers instead, and they'd still have something to eat.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that your inference is incorrect. I'm just saying it doesn't follow logically from 2 Timothy.

Answer 5

I see that you are quoting from the letters that were written to those that were already saved through the Acts 2:38 process. If we don't follow what St. Peter said on the Day of Pentecost, we will not even have a chance at heaven. This is how we get rid of our sin nature. Then we receive the Holy Ghost the same way the Apostles did to help us overcome temptation. This is the way that God designed. Nothing else can get us in.

Answer 6

my friend, I am truly and deeply disturbed by your avatar. Crusades, instigated by pope Urban caused incredible death and suffering in the effort to take Jerusalem. We all know the result. Other than hundreds of thousand innocents slaughtered by the sword of the crusaders, the only thing gained was the hatred, distrust and deep hurt which remains till today in hearts of Middle Eastern population. I understand your intentions, but unfortunately your avatar only serves to reinforce misconceptions Moslems have about Christians. I know what I am talking about, as I lived in the Middle East for many years.
Love can not be imposed at the point of a sword. Never was, never will be.
May you find peace.

Answer 7

Well I think he was talking about being disqualified to preach! (Paul I mean)

how do you reconcile yourself with the scripture that Jesus will finish the good work he started in you? Do apple trees turn into thorn bushes? Do we start out in Grace and end up being Justified by the law? I don't think so.

Answer 8

What is this greatest lie ever told? What is this great deception that is being preached by ministers of Satan that are posing as great men of God across this country and the world? What is this lie that has deceived millions into believing that they are saved? The lie is the one that says that all you have to do is: "accept Jesus as your personal savior and you are saved."

There are slightly different versions and variations to the lie, such as saying a little prayer, or asking forgiveness for all your sins, or a prayer of repentance along with accepting Jesus as your savior, but they are all lies, all deception and all part of the greatest lie that Satan ever told.

You may say; "Wait a minute, isn't this in the Bible?" . . . Nope, not there. There is not one word in God's Word that says that all you have to do is accept Jesus as your personal savior and you are then eternally saved." There is not one word that says "simply say a little prayer and perhaps ask for forgiveness, or a prayer of repentance and you are saved." There is not one single verse that says that "if you believe in Jesus Christ you will be saved". . . not one.

So where did this come from? It came from Satan influenced, twisting of scripture and adding and taking away from the Word of God.

Here are some of the popular verses that you might be quoted that are in the Bible that Satan tries to twist to get you to swallow his lie:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16

They use this scripture to say that if you just believe in Jesus you'll be saved. The devil takes this one scripture, twists it and makes a doctrine out of it. What this verse is saying in truth is that if you believe in him, or in other words if you believe that he is Lord and Savior then with that belief you should obey the word of the Lord and be saved. If you indeed believe that He is Lord and Savior then you should not perish but act on what you believe and act on the gospel and be saved.

Jesus never said all you have to do to be saved is just believe in me. The Bible says that even the devils believe and tremble (James 2:19). What He did say is "except a man be born or water and of Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). What He did say was "...strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it". (Matthew 7:14) Paul said: "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

There's another scripture that says; "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12).

This may seemingly give credence to the belief that "if you'll just receive Jesus as your personal savior and you'll be saved". But that's not what it says at all! What it does say is that IF you truly receive Him as your Lord and Savior then you have the power to BECOME the son of God, even to them that believe on His name. It does not say if you believe in him you ARE saved, but that IF you believe on Him and IF you receive Him as your LORD and SAVIOR then indeed you HAVE the power to BECOME the sons of God and be saved.

Satan twists the meaning of Ephesians 2:8,9 which says: "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." He tries to get this to mean that we do not have to do anything including obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved. This doctrine claims that obeying John 3:5 or Acts 2:38, or any other scripture is a work and not required to be saved.

Yes, it is true that Jesus paid it all on the cross. It is true that we cannot earn our own salvation by doing good works or any other means. But obeying the Gospel of Jesus Christ is NOT a work, it is obedience. Neither can you earn it by obedience, but only it is only through obedience to the Gospel are you saved.

2 Thessalonians 1:7,8 says; ". . .when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

If indeed obedience to the Gospel is a work, if true repentance is a work, if being baptized in His name is a work and not necessary for salvation, then indeed praying the "sinners prayer" or "accepting Jesus as your personal savior" is also a work and not needed by the rules of this very same twisted doctrine.

No, we cannot earn salvation. We are not worthy of it no matter what we do. It is indeed by grace we are saved and not of ourselves lest any man should boast. However, if we truly accept Him as Lord and Savior, then being our Lord means that we are to be obedient to Him. If we are not obedient to Him then we are saying He is not our Lord thus we have NOT accepted Him as Lord and savior and we are liars.

We are either a slave to Satan or a servant of Jesus, there is no in between.

Answer 9

You are mistaken about the assurance of salvation. Salvation is a free gift paid dearly for by our Savior. Galatians is a book that really explains that. Acts says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. John says, These things I have written unto you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that you may know that you have eternal life. So I take God at his word. I'm saved because I believe in Jesus who died for my sins. I don't deserve it, but I believe God. If He says I am saved, then I am saved. And he says it abundantly in the scriptures. The just shall live by faith. It is never by works. Never. True faith will produce good works and will endure to the end. Faith is like the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit glorifies and points to Jesus. If the Holy Spirit is near, all you see is Jesus. Faith is like that. When we see Jesus, we are not aware of faith, yet faith at that point is really strong. All we experience is confidence in our Savior. Yes, God has called us to a holy walk and to repent of our sins, but our confidence is in Jesus. Our trust is in Jesus. If confidence is in our works and if we trust in our good works to save us, then we are trying to work our way into heaven. Galatians fights against that notion strongly. We don't perform to get to heaven, then we could never have assurance. We believe the promise of God and based on God's faithfulness we have assurance.
On the other hand when we realize that salvation is by grace, a gift of God, not of works, then we are perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ if we believe that that gives us a license to sin with impunity. True faith, real faith produces fruit. False faith produces no fruit. If we think we can believe on Jesus and sin to our heart's content, we are not saved. Some seed fell into stony ground and when the sun arose, the heat wilted the plant and it died. True faith endures to the end, through heat, drought, and storms. The just shall live by faith, and true faith does not draw back when it gets all dark and stormy, when God's presence feels a million miles away. True faith endures. Alas easy feel good salvation has been preached and has deceived many into thinking they are saved. You will know them by their fruit. But don't judge now, many wheat are looking like tares but in the end will show they are wheat. Teh steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. If he stumbles and falls the Lord will uphold him. The Lord will never forsake us. He wants us to judge ourselves, and he gives us the assurance that if we his children don't judge ourselves, then he will judge us so we won't be condemned with the world. I am saved by Jesus alone. He alone is my Savior. Daily I work out my salvation with healthy fear, but totally dependent on God my helper. But I never forget that salvation was paid for by Jesus. I never claim one work as being worthy. Jesus alone is my savior. He will keep me until the end. How great He is and how unworthy we are. Lord open our eyes.

Answer 10

I have always believe that Catholics are much closer to the original idea of salvation then other denominations. You accept Jesus as your savior and TADA. Somehow I'm pretty sure that's all Jesus would have wanted.

Answer 11

Thank you! Excellent points, but the people who need to read this, won't you realize. I suspect they are too comfortable in their fundamentalist knock-off of Christianity to do the hard work Jesus asked us to do.

I loved it, though.