What is your church's teaching on justification/salvation?

Question

How are we saved or justified with God? Is it by a mere legal act by which God declares the sinner to be meriting heaven even though he remains in fact unjust and sinful?

Is it a real eradication of sin, or just a covering or non-imputation? Is it an inner renewal and a real sanctification or only an external application of Christ’s righteousness?

Please state your church and teaching.

Scripture understands justification differently. It is a true eradication of sin and a true sanctification and renewal of the inner man, for "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" and "if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (Rom. 8:1 and 2 Cor. 5:17). Thus God chose us "to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13).

Scripture conceives of forgiveness of sins as a real and complete removal of them. The words used are "wipe out," "blot out," "take away," "remove," and "cleanse" (Ps. 51:2[50:3]; Is. 43:25; Mic. 7:18; John 1:29; Ps. 103 [102]:12). Scripture shows justification as a rebirth, as a generation of the supernatural life in a former sinner (John 3:5; Titus 3:5), as a thorough inner renewal (Eph. 4:23), and as a sanctification (1 Cor. 6:11). The soul itself becomes beautiful and holy. It is not just an ugly soul hidden under a beautiful cloak.

Chris
If what you say were true I would be the first to leave the Catholic church. Why don't you post your comments so that we can answer them properly? Anything can be attacked using fallacy. Proving your allegation is another thing.

Leepipes,
What is the church of the Nazarene?

I would like to get answers from fundamentalists, pentecostals, evangelicals, JW, LDS, adventists, etc.

It seems Christians cannot even agree on how a person is saved!

Answer 1

The Council of Trent describes the process of salvation from sin in the case of an adult with great minuteness (Sess. VI, v-vi).

It begins with the grace of God which touches a sinner's heart, and calls him to repentance. This grace cannot be merited; it proceeds solely from the love and mercy of God. Man may receive or reject this inspiration of God, he may turn to God or remain in sin. Grace does not constrain man's free will.

Thus assisted the sinner is disposed for salvation from sin; he believes in the revelation and promises of God, he fears God's justice, hopes in his mercy, trusts that God will be merciful to him for Christ's sake, begins to love God as the source of all justice, hates and detests his sins.

This disposition is followed by justification itself, which consists not in the mere remission of sins, but in the sanctification and renewal of the inner man by the voluntary reception of God's grace and gifts, whence a man becomes just instead of unjust, a friend instead of a foe and so an heir according to hope of eternal life. This change happens either by reason of a perfect act of charity elicited by a well disposed sinner or by virtue of the Sacrament either of Baptism or of Penance according to the condition of the respective subject laden with sin. The Council further indicates the causes of this change. By the merit of the Most Holy Passion through the Holy Spirit, the charity of God is shed abroad in the hearts of those who are justified.

Against the heretical tenets of various times and sects we must hold

* that the initial grace is truly gratuitous and supernatural;
* that the human will remains free under the influence of this grace;
* that man really cooperates in his personal salvation from sin;
* that by justification man is really made just, and not merely declared or reputed so;
* that justification and sanctification are only two aspects of the same thing, and not ontologically and chronologically distinct realities;
* that justification excludes all mortal sin from the soul, so that the just man is no way liable to the sentence of death at God's judgment-seat.

Other points involved in the foregoing process of personal salvation from sin are matters of discussion among Catholic theologians; such are, for instance,

* the precise nature of initial grace,
* the manner in which grace and free will work together,
* the precise nature of the fear and the love disposing the sinner for justification,
* the manner in which sacraments cause sanctifying grace.

But these questions are treated in other articles dealing ex professo with the respective subjects. The same is true of final perseverance without which personal salvation from sin is not permanently secured.

What has been said applies to the salvation of adults; children and those permanently deprived of their use of reason are saved by the Sacrament of Baptism.

Answer 2

I am with the Church of the Nazarene...salvation is from Jesus...here are some tips to be saved..
1. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and for the wages of sin is death..
2. Acknowledge that you need Jesus as our lord and savior for He is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except by Him...
3. Confess your sins and dont set aside any sins you did..
4. Repent and turn from sinning...
5. believe that God will give you second chance and He will forgive sins and God gives us eternal life...
6. Finally live a new life and follow christ....GOD BLESS YOU!

Answer 3

I am Southern Baptist but my beliefs concerning justification and salvation come from personal experience and the truth of the Scriptures rather than any religious connection.
Salvation occurs in a spiritual re-birth when a person accepts the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and sincerely asks for God's forgiveness.
Justification puts me in a position of "just-as-if" I had never sinned in God's sight.
However, I will continue to be subject to the CONSEQUENCES of my sins (past, present, and future) in the natural order of God's creation unless God chooses to intervene.
Sin will not be eradicated until God binds Satan and renders him ineffective, as he is the author of rebellion against God (which is the definition of sin).

Answer 4

I'm a Unitarian Universalist. We don't have a creed regarding salvation but we come from a tradition that believed in universal salvation by an all-loving God. The belief that all people are worthy of salvation is still present in our first principlal - that ALL people have inherent worth and dignity and also, that being the beneficiaries of salvation by a loving God, it is our duty to do good on Earth, to help others and to seek justice for all.

Answer 5

there is none. god is a god of the living, not the dead.

punishment and rewards are for the living, not the dead. there is no righteousness aside from what you do to improve the lives of others whether they believe as you do or not.

christianity is based on religious texts that cannot be proved for validity. if the bible is true, then lets see you make fleas from sand as the egyptians did for Moses. In fact, you cannot even prove Moses or other stories of fiction but you will lay you life on the line over a story about how a girl was given a magic fruit from a talking snake and this made god so mad he condemned all of humanity? a delusional religion for simple-minded weak-willed people.

church of spiritual humanism.

Answer 6

It is through grace that we are saved, and we are justified through faith.

"The Holy Ghost testifies through St. Paul: "There is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Rom. 3:23, 24. And again: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law," Rom. 3:28."

We reject as apostasy from the Christian religion all doctrines whereby man's own works and merit are mingled into the article of justification before God."

Assurance of salvation is to be sought by looking to God's Word and promises in Christ (which create and strengthen the faith through which one is saved), not by looking inward at the strength or weakness of one's own faith (which creates either pride and false assurance or doubt and lack of assurance)."

Answer 7

Read John 15:5. It's the parable of the Vine, theVinedresser, and the branches. The branches not producing fruit will be cut out and burned!

These are so called christians. Or at least they thought they were. If you are a christian and question yourself, do what Galatians 6 says and examine yourself. If you have no fruit on a regular basis, YOU ARE NOT SAVED AND YOU WILL BE CUT OUT OF THE VINE AND THROWN INTO THE FIRE!

Answer 8

it form of feels which you haven't any longer understood the Trinity of God. Father in Heaven is God, so do Jesus and Holy Spirit. Father in Heaven is God the daddy. Jesus Christ is God the Son. Holy Spirit is God the Spirit. What does this all mean? God have 3 varieties of appearances, yet they're one. this is what we referred to as the Trinity of God. How come? God the daddy, Jesus and Holy Spirit have the comparable skill, inspite of the indisputable fact that their appearances and missions are diverse. some human beings mentioned that God the daddy's era is interior the old testomony, then Jesus' era is in the process the time he born till he reached Heaven, and Holy Spirit's era is from the e book of Acts till the tip of the international. Is it actual? under no circumstances! this is definitely fake. examine Genesis and you will discover that God the daddy, Jesus and Holy Spirit are there even till now the international grew to become into created, then they deliberate to create the international jointly. could God provide you very own understanding approximately Him.

Answer 9

The only true church is the body of saved believers, according to the Bible.

You throw off truth, to have your "traditions" of man.

The only way to be saved is to BELIEVE that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose again, without adding our own works. Faith alone saves.

Catholicism teaches a false gospel of works that leads to eternal hell (Galatians 1).

Answer 10

What's more important than the minutia of your church, is what you feel, deeply in your God given heart. I think all people are saved, regardless.