What must I do to be saved? #19

"Yet to all who received Him,

 to those who believed in His name,

He gave the right to become children of God"

John 1:12

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Ephesians 2:8-9 which says "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast". Another favorite is Galatians 2:21 which says " I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Salvation is a gift that can not be earned. We just have to believe and receive the free gift of God - pure and simple.

When it comes to the gift described in Ephesians, many Calvinists have a difficult time of accepting the idea a person can choose to accept or reject God's gift. Because if a person is given a choice to believe and put their trust in Christ then salvation would depend on their own works which Calvinists believe gives a person the power over their own salvation, which in turn becomes a work and ultimately detracts from the sovereignty of God; thus, Calvinists claim the gift described in Ephesians is not salvation, but rather faith. The subtle change from salvation to faith changes the entire meaning of what the gift mentioned in Ephesians represents. This change is necessary to support the teachings of John Calvin and what Calvinists believe.

The basic problem for the Calvinist is a failure to see that God could sovereignly give a person the power of genuine choice. … Giving a person the power to make a choice need not diminish God’s control over His universe. Being omnipotent and omniscient, God can so arrange circumstances as to keep a person’s rebellion from interfering with His purposes. In fact, God can and even does use a person’s free will to help fulfill His own plans and thus be even more glorified.

Furthermore, Calvinists have a difficult time accepting the idea that a person must put forth any effort in order to receive God's gift of salvation. . The idea is since God’s grace cannot be earned or merited, then anyone who claims that human effort is involved in its acceptance of the gift is in error. Clearly, though, many scriptures indicate that man’s efforts are not always categorized as works of merit.

To help illustrate this point, consider the following scenarios: If a friend wanted to give you $1,000,000, but said that in order to receive the million dollars you had to pick up a check at his house, take it to the bank, sign it, and cash it. Would any rational person conclude that this gift was earned? Of course not. Even though some effort was exerted to receive the gift, the effort was not a work of merit.

Similarly, consider a young boy who is on the verge of drowning in the middle of a small lake. If a man heard his cries, and then proceeded to save the boy by running to the edge of the lake, grabbing an inner tube, tying some rope around it, and throwing it out to the young boy who was struggling to stay afloat, would any witness to this event describe the young boy as “saving himself” (or “earning” his rescue) because he had to exert the energy to grab the inner tube and hold on while being pulled onto the bank by the passerby? No. A gift is still a gift even when the one receiving it must exert a certain amount of effort in order to possess it. The New Testament leaves no doubt that the grandest of all gifts (salvation through Christ—a spiritual gift that was in God’s mind “before the foundation of the world”—Ephesians 1:4; 3:11) is not the result of any kind of meritorious work on the part of man. The apostle Paul stressed this point several times in his writings.

Unfortunately, Calvinists have come to the conclusion that there is no response needed on behalf of the individual. They teach that man, who is totally depraved, is incapable of responding to the Gospel (because he is dead); thus, in order to be saved, a person must be regenerated first, which means to be "made alive". The first problem with this view is that God does not regenerate everyone, which means if a person is not regenerated, or made alive, then he will remain forever dead and suffer the full penalty of their sin which results in eternal death, or damnation. But how can a person be guilty of their sin if they are dead? The second problem I have with Calvinist teaching on this subject is that faith is not really a condition for salvation. Rather, regeneration is a pre-condition for faith. According to Calvinism, people are spiritually dead and therefore unable to respond to God's offer of salvation unless God first regenerates them, once they are regenerated, or "made alive" by God, they will be saved, there is no choice in the matter; thus unless a person is regenerated by God (or reprogrammed) the result is death and the person is dammed for all eternity.

The truth is, however, when it comes to the gift of salvation that God extends to the whole world (John 3:16), there is something that must be done on the part of the individual. They must receive the gift, and this is done by believing in Christ and Christ alone for thier salvation. When the jailor at Philippi, asked "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30), notice the response from Paul and Silas, they did not say “There is nothing for you to do. ..just wait, and the gift of faith will come to you.” But instead they responded by instructing the Philippian jailor and his household to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31).

John 3:16 is just one verse, but I believe it contains the essence of the Gospel message "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life". God's gift of salvation is for the whole world, it can not be earned. We just have to believe, and receive His precious gift, pure and simple!