Is Obedience to God necessary for salvation?

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Permalink Reply by RoyW on January 11, 2018 at 7:18am

Chip,

Do you actually believe that all children of God that fail to obey all that He has commanded will be cast into hell? If so, hell is warming up and opening its arms to welcome you in. lol Actually, Chip, I just want to say "hi" to a friend in Christ. I want to say God bless you and I am praying that God meets the needs of your family. I have seen your posts on Facebook and was moved by them. Bless you, my brother. On the other hand, I continue to give all glory and credit to Jesus my Savior for my salvation. I am so undeserving of all that He has given me. However, I don't believe either of us are headed to hell, only because of God's great mercy and the work of Christ on our behalf. I continue to love Him more and more. 

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Permalink Reply by Carla on January 12, 2018 at 9:54am

Yes.  We have to be careful with this topic, because people can so easily be pulled into a legalistic way of belief. Biblical obedience doesn’t mean being ‘good enough’ or ‘doing all the right things’. Biblical obedience means believing and trusting Jesus. The natural outflowing of this will result in love for Him and naturally, changes in who we are and how we do things will follow suit. We’re not striving to be ‘good enough’. As a matter of fact, psalm 46:10 says ‘cease striving and know that I am God’.

Acts 16:31 says “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household”. They all must believe to be saved. Once they all believe, they’ll be saved. However, mental acknowledgement is not enough. See James 2:19.

Romans 10:9-11 says ... ”If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED”

It’s incredibly important to mention that you must believe in the RIGHT Jesus. Matthew 24:23-25 says “…If anyone says to you ‘Behold here is the Christ, or There He is, do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold I have told you in advance.” 

So, who is the real Jesus? https://www.gotquestions.org/real-historical-Jesus.html

John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being thru Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

Colossians 2:9-10 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”

Hebrews 1:8 “But of the Son He says “YOUR THRONE O GOD IS FOREVER AND EVER AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTOR IS THE SCEPTOR OF HIS KINGDOM. YOU HAVE LOVED RIGTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS. THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD HAS ANNOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.” We see many times in scripture that God hates lawlessness. We also know by Romans 7:7-10 that the law aggravates our sin nature. In other words, because of our sin nature, when we read the law, it causes us to do the things we know are wrong.

We’re prone to just adding more rules, but that’s not the answer. Verse 16, we agree that the law is good, but we still do the things we hate. Verse 21 we see the truth that evil is present in each of us.. Verse 24 pleads ‘Who will set us free from the body of this death?” Verse 25… Jesus Christ. Romans 8 goes on to tell us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… This is an important chapter, too long to post on my already long post.

Mark 1:15 says “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

What’s the gospel?

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

 

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

 

This is biblical obedience. We trust in the sin sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.

Romans 3:20 ”…for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

We need the law so that we can see our sin.

Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” (Read this whole chapter, it’s gold).

In a nutshell, believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. Trust Him that He can do what HE says He can do. Depend on Him and His sacrifice on the cross. It’s not burdensome, It's simple enough for a child to understand.  

1 John 5:3 says “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”

Justification by Faith

Romans 3:21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

So--- all this to say, biblical obedience is to repent of your sin and believe the gospel. Once we do, the Holy Spirit is given to us to help us, keep us, guide us, comfort, council and direct us. Our maturity and growth as a Christian depends on our obedience to the Holy Spirit. He won’t let us go (John 10:26-29).  1 Peter 1:13-16 talks about how we are to be obedient children.... We're still His children, don't be a disobedient child. 

The Holy Spirit has recreated us, and therefore our desires have changed. If they haven’t changed, they are changing. We each must learn to walk it out.  It doesn't mean we won't sin.  There is Grace for when we do.  Don't take advantage of God's Grace, it isn't a license to sin (see Romans chapter 6).

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