Title: Salvation by Faith by Grace
Content 痢??We believe that salvation is a gift from God, which comes to man through God's grace, and that we receive personally through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed His precious blood on Calvary's cross for the forgiveness of our sins. (Eph 2:8-10; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Pet 1:18, 19). - IFCAI Article 4.1.
I. The problem of faith that does not lead to salvation
Some people say they believe in Christ, but do not trust only in Christ and what He has done. This kind of faith will not bear witness to the Christian's spiritual life.
One must make a decision to believe in Christ. Like the jailer in Philippi, he must know that he needs his salvation (Acts 16:30). He must recognize that he is a hopeless person apart from God and that he is a sinful man who has led to this hopeless separation (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10, 11, 18, 23; Ephesians 2:12). ). He must also know about Christ's death and resurrection, and the fact that Christ's death paid the full price for sin. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
True salvation requires God to work. The spiritually dead, unsaved person must be made to believe by the Spirit of God. This must be accompanied by the Holy Spirit's convincing work of sin and unbelief, and it includes God's righteousness that can be given to each individual and that Christ died for the sins of the world (John 16:7-11; 1 John 1). 2:1,2).
The unbeliever must find grace from God and through faith from God, as in Ephesians 2:8-10, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this does not come from yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is not of works, so that no one can boast." This verse is saying that salvation is not man's work, but God's work.
II. definition of faith
Faith that leads to salvation has two essential elements.
first. There must be an intellectual awareness of the facts of the gospel. In particular, there must be an intellectual awareness of the sacrificial death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ for sin and the conviction that these facts are true (1 Corinthians 15:3-8);
second. You must voluntarily depend on Jesus for everything. We must trust in His death to atone for sins and to give us eternal life (John 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 16:31; Romans 1:16; 3:21-26). Therefore, faith leading to salvation in Christ is an action of the individual heart and will.
If either of these two factors is lacking, the faith of the seeker falls short of the faith that leads to salvation.
An intellectual understanding of orthodox doctrine alone is of no avail (James 2:19). A volitional belief in the wrong object is useless (eg, John 2:23-24; 6:26-27; 8:31, 44). To be saved, faith must be rightly directed to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22).
Other suitable expressions for trusting in Jesus for salvation are "believe in," "trust in," "depend on," and so on. In addition, the following terms may be misunderstood to describe this relationship: submit to .. yield to .. dedicate [oneself] to and Jesus Make Jesus Lord of one's life. These terms better fit the process of sanctification. The next two terms, make commitment to and come a disciple of, are ambiguous terms as they may or may not be used to trust in Christ, depending on how they are defined.
Repentance is an essential and indispensable part of turning to God in salvation. However, this term is not an all-encompassing term to describe faith that leads to salvation, for it only expresses a part of our dependence on Jesus.
III. responsibility for faith
It is the responsibility of sinners in need of salvation to exercise the faith that leads to salvation.
Faith unto salvation is (1) not difficult or uncomplicated to those who come to Christ (Acts 16:31). He decides to entrust all the existence of his eternal life into the hands of his Savior, Jesus. After a new regeneration, he learns more and more over time of the effect of what he has done, but the full understanding implied by a saving faith is not a condition for salvation.
(2) Responsibility rests with himself. The responsibility for the choice rests entirely with the person himself. At or after regeneration, he realizes that the whole process of salvation is a gift from God, including God's grace and his choice to believe (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is not something you can brag about that you have done well.
IV. The Implications and Implications of Faith unto Salvation
The faith that leads to salvation contains certain certainty which it implies. When you first believe and trust in Jesus, you may or may not be conscious of it. The penitent and repentant person is convinced and convinced that what Christ has done is enough, and nothing else is needed. By the time he makes up his mind, he becomes absorbed and thrilled with his dependence and trust in Christ, and what such dependence and trust implies is not his primary focus. However, if he lacks the following few hints, it can be seen that his dependence and trust are not solely in Christ.
1. Christ is God and consequently has absolute sovereignty over all things, and is the object of faith that leads to salvation (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9; Hebrews 1:8). Few people at the moment of salvation understand all that Christ's sovereignty over their lives according to Romans 12:1-2 says.
2. Obedience to the gospel command to believe in Christ (Romans 1:5; 10:16) is another way to see faith that leads to salvation. But obedience in the early days of faith means not rebellion against Christ (John 3:36). It is impossible to place full trust in Christ while harboring animosity toward Christ or predisposition to Christ.
3. Repentance is a change of heart toward sin, oneself, and the Lord of salvation (Acts 2:38;
17:30; 1 Thessalonians 1:9). It is not easy for a person to ask for forgiveness for something that he or she hates very much (Acts 2:36; 11:18; 20:21; 26:20; 1 Peter 2:24).
V. Consequences of Faith
(1) Doing good (good deeds) (good deeds)
When we have faith that leads to salvation, believers are born again by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5), indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), You are baptized with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). Faith that leads to salvation always has to do with the believer being renewed (Colossians 3:10 - 'put on the new man') (Romans 6:5-7; Gal 2:20; Col 3:9-10).
What is renewed is revealed through good works (1 Corinthians 4:5; James 2:18, 21-26). For some people, doing good right away may not be conspicuous. But doing good is an indispensable result of the new birth of faith unto salvation. (John 3:3, 5; Eph 2:10; Titus 2:11-12, 14; 3:8; 1 Pet 1:3, 23). But salvation is never conditional on doing good before being saved.
Consequently, faith without doing good is not faith in Christ unto salvation (Ephesians 2:9-10), it is dead faith (James 2:17, 20, 26). The lack of such belief may be an intellectual component of misunderstanding the gospel, possibly because the facts about the gospel were not understood or accepted. It could also be a volitional factor, perhaps because of a lack of full trust in Christ for forgiveness of sins. Failing to fully trust in Christ may be trying to accumulate praiseworthy achievements through human deeds in addition to what Christ has accomplished and finished.
(2) sanctification
Sanctification in the believer's life is the continuation of faith leading to salvation, mainly,
1. The believer is obedient to Christ, with Christ as Lord in all aspects of his life. (Rom. 6:11-13; 12:1-2).
2. Obedience to Christ means active obedience to the commands of Christ.
3. Repentance means that the repentance must be certain and result in the removal of sinful acts or attitudes (1 Corinthians 5:7; 6:9-10, 18; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 1 Peter 4:15- 16).
Those who do not see this process in sanctification are still natural (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). God may be patient for some time with those who do not have the above sanctification process due to lack of response to the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. But in the end, God will discipline, punish, and discipline the saved saints who commit negligence and sin. This faith, professing to believe in Christ, despite continuing negligence and sinning without correction, may not be saving faith (1 Corinthians 11:30-32; Titus 1:15-16; Hebrews 12:5-11). .
The biblical way to deal with carnal believers or those who pretend to believe and believe without faith that leads to salvation because they lack faith is to present the fact that God judges sin (Matthew 16:24-28; 1 John 1). 3:6, 9; 5:18). The carnal Christian is confronted with the inconsistent nature of his actions and must re-evaluate his spiritual condition. Those who pretend to believe and profess to believe will come to realize that they have never been saved.
The assurance of eternal life is provided by the written Word of God (1 John 5:13). However, the Bible allows professed believers in Christ to examine themselves with reminders and tests (1 Cor. 11:28; 15:2; 2 Cor. 13:5; 2 Pet. 1:10). When fleshly things enter a believer's life, he cannot check himself by observing himself, and he doubts whether his or her belief is appropriate to the biblical standard for faith that leads to salvation. The solution to this doubt is for the believer to confess to God the sins that have damaged his fellowship with God. (1 John 1: 5-10).
Article 4, paragraph 1, clause 7, of the IFCKInternational Constitution,
We believe that once saved, that is, all those who are redeemed by Christ cannot be separated from that salvation by the power of God and are eternally secure in Christ. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38, 39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8; 1 Pet 1:5).
We believe that it is the privilege of the believer to rejoice in the assurance of salvation through the witness of the Word of God; But the use of Christian liberty in the case of bodily opportunity is expressly forbidden. (Romans 13:13, 14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).
*This article was written on August 21, 1990 based on the Bible by IFCAI Research Fellows (Dr. Robert Thomas and five other theologians) on Faith Leading to Salvation, and was adopted by the IFCAI in November 1990. It is an article about faith that leads to salvation.
Note; IFCAI is an abbreviation for Indipendent Fundermental Churches of America- International.