Does God Place Conditions on His Gift of Salvation?

phipps

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No one will ever be able to boast that he or she has earned or deserves the gift of eternal life. But does God set conditions for us to receive this gift? According to the Bible, yes, He does!

If we must do something to receive God’s gift of salvation, how can it be a gift?

To use an analogy, if someone offered to send you a $100 bill if you would send him a self-addressed stamped envelope, he would be offering you a gift. Simply believing that he would send you the money would not actually get you the money. And if you failed to send the envelope, you likewise would not receive the money. You might complain, but you still would not receive the gift because you would not have met the conditions.

On the other hand, if you sent the required envelope and received the $100 bill, this does not mean you earned the gift. You simply met the necessary conditions. Without the offer of the undeserved gift, you could’ve sent hundreds of envelopes and received nothing, as you would have been entitled to nothing. The fact that conditions are attached to receiving a gift makes it no less a gift. Millions of people fail to understand this simple fact, and as a result have a very distorted view of what God requires of those who would follow Him.

Note this statement from Hebrews 5:9: “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

Since salvation is God’s gift, what does this passage mean when it speaks of “eternal salvation to all who obey Him”? Salvation is clearly a gift. Yet if we must do something to receive it, then it is a gift that comes with conditions.


What must we do?

Let’s examine a few of Jesus Christ’s own statements that tell us what we must do to receive that gift of salvation.

In Matthew 7:21 Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.Jesus made it clear that merely acknowledging Him as Lord and Master—saying “Lord, Lord”—is not sufficient. To inherit the Kingdom of God, we must do the will of the Father, as He clearly stated.

Jesus wants us to understand that there is more to receiving eternal life than just belief or mental acceptance. Our conviction that He is our Savior must be more than just a warm, comforting thought or intellectual concept. Jesus warns that simply calling on His name or recognizing Him as “Lord” is not enough.


Obedience to God’s commandments

At one point a wealthy young man asked Jesus how he could receive eternal life. “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). Christ’s reply might shock some who think obedience to God’s law is unnecessary—that He has done that for us so we don’t have to do anything. Jesus responded, “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17).

Jesus didn’t answer that nothing is required other than believing in God or in Him. He told the young man he must obey the commandments of God to receive the gift of eternal life. How plain!

As the apostle James points out, belief is pointless unless it is backed up by action and obedience: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe —and tremble” (James 2:19). If we think that belief is all we need for salvation, we are sorely mistaken. As James tells us, the demonic spirits fully believe in God and know that Jesus is the Son of God raised from the dead. But that doesn’t mean they are saved!

James goes on to explain that faith and obedience go hand in hand, using the example of Abraham, whom God told to sacrifice his son Isaac before stopping him from going through with it: “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (James 2:20-22).

James thus explained that works of obedience as a result of our faith maintain our relationship with God and lead to greater faith and obedience, as God requires. Without works as evidence and the living out of our faith, that faith is “dead”—worthless and useless.
 
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phipps

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....continued.

Baptism

Jesus gave another condition for God’s gift of eternal life in Mark 16:16: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Water baptism—by full immersion—is a symbolic act representing the death and washing away of our old sinful self and the beginning of a new life of serving God and striving to avoid sin (Romans 6:1-23). Through this act we symbolically put to death and bury the old person and rise from that watery grave to a new life as a new person.

Baptism is to be followed by the laying on of hands by a true minister of Jesus Christ (this is not always possible), which allows us to receive God’s Holy Spirit and truly belong to Him (Acts 8:17; Romans 8:9). Unless we surrender our lives to God through baptism and and receiving the Holy Spirit as instructed, we fail to meet His prerequisites for receiving His gift of salvation.

The apostle Peter affirmed these conditions for receiving God’s Spirit, declaring, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Repentance means to turn from disobedience to God to obeying Him. So again, committed obedience and baptism are shown as requirements in the salvation process.

To those who would brush aside these and other plain biblical instructions Jesus replies, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? (Luke 6:46).

In Matthew 10:22 and Matthew 24:13 Jesus gave another condition we must meet to receive God’s gift of salvation: “He who endures to the end will be saved.” As Jesus plainly and directly implied here, we can lose out on salvation if we fail to endure to the end. Once we have committed ourselves to obeying God and surrendering ourselves to Him, we must stay the course to the end and not look back (Luke 9:62).


Salvation is free, but not cheap

You may have heard the expression, “Salvation is free, but not cheap”—in contrast to the “cheap grace” so many seem to effectively believe in. God’s gift of life to us cost Jesus Christ His life. He, the very Son of God, willingly surrendered His life so that we might receive God’s wonderful gift of eternal life. And it cost the Father, who “gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

But God expects us to surrender our lives in return, as Jesus states in Luke 14:33: So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."

Accepting God’s gift of eternal life comes at the highest cost we can imagine. As Jesus Christ gave His life for us, we must be willing to give our lives to follow Him!

So returning to the question at the beginning, does God place conditions on His gift of salvation? Clearly the answer is yes. His Word spells out the conditions. Let us be sure, as Hebrews 2:3 exhorts us, that we not “neglect so great a salvation”!


 
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Lisa

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I was listening to someone say that Salvation is an ongoing experience..not a one time experience. I think that’s rather true. We are being saved..not we are saved.
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.​
 

floss

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That's the reason why I don't trust any other "per"version of the Bible. It's clear the devil had perverted the true message of the Gospel. Why wouldn't he? Salvation happened in a twinkling of an eye. That's true the power of the Cross.


“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭KJVA‬‬


“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭5:13‬ ‭KJVA‬‬
 

Lisa

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That's the reason why I don't trust any other "per"version of the Bible. It's clear the devil had perverted the true message of the Gospel. Why wouldn't he? Salvation happened in a twinkling of an eye. That's true the power of the Cross.


“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭KJVA‬‬


“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭5:13‬ ‭KJVA‬‬
Sure but you have to go on believing don’t you? If you stop believing are you still saved?

The NASB says being saved in the 1Corinthians verse.
 
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floss

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Sure but you have to go on believing don’t you? If you stop believing are you still saved?

The NASB says being saved in the 1Corinthians verse.
Salvation is not a progress, it was never meant to be. You get saved once you repented. You were an unbeliever now you believed, you were unsave now you're saved. There are NOTHING in between. There is a huge different between saved and being saved. Just about every new perversion of the Bible said you're being saved and KJV said otherwise... so I really wonder which Bible the devil had perverted? It's very clear to me the devil had inserted the word "being" saved to change the whole message of the powerful Gospel...discernment discernment, people need to open their eyes.
 

Lisa

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Salvation is not a progress, it was never meant to be. You get saved once you repented. You were an unbeliever now you believed, you were unsave now you're saved. There are NOTHING in between. There is a huge different between saved and being saved. Just about every new perversion of the Bible said you're being saved and KJV said otherwise... so I really wonder which Bible the devil had perverted? It's very clear to me the devil had inserted the word "being" saved to change the whole message of the powerful Gospel...discernment discernment, people need to open their eyes.
Maybe..but did the devil also insert..
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4:1‬ ‭
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.​

I think being saved is more accurate because people can fall away from the faith..if you are being saved that makes more sense rather than you are saved. Scripture also doesn’t really support once saved always saved.
 

floss

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Maybe..but did the devil also insert..
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4:1‬ ‭
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.​

I think being saved is more accurate because people can fall away from the faith..if you are being saved that makes more sense rather than you are saved. Scripture also doesn’t really support once saved always saved.
You cannot be unsaved once you're saved, unsealed once you're sealed. There are nothing new under the sun, even back in Jesus's day there were many "disciples" that you think were once saved but they NEVER believe from the beginning.

“Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭6:60-66‬ ‭KJVA‬‬

Those that are saved, born again will NEVER walk away from Jesus, period.
 

phipps

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You cannot be unsaved once you're saved, unsealed once you're sealed. There are nothing new under the sun, even back in Jesus's day there were many "disciples" that you think were once saved but they NEVER believe from the beginning.

“Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭6:60-66‬ ‭KJVA‬‬

Those that are saved, born again will NEVER walk away from Jesus, period.
So you believe in Predestination too do you? So if these saved people steal, lie, murder etc is it okay? What if they die in their sins without having repented and never turned from their lives of sin, will they still be saved? Will they still have eternal life?
 

floss

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So you believe in Predestination too do you? So if these saved people steal, lie, murder etc is it okay? What if they die in their sins without having repented and never turned from their lives of sin, will they still be saved? Will they still have eternal life?
Repentence of your sins salvation is a Catholic teaching, the one that you condemned.

Samson killed 3000 people before his death.
 

phipps

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Repentence of your sins salvation is a Catholic teaching, the one that you condemned.

Samson killed 3000 people before his death.
So repentance of sins is not biblical? When David who was saved repented of his sins, did he do that because he was Catholic?

Yes Samson killed people, what's your point?
 

Lisa

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You cannot be unsaved once you're saved, unsealed once you're sealed. There are nothing new under the sun, even back in Jesus's day there were many "disciples" that you think were once saved but they NEVER believe from the beginning.

“Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭6:60-66‬ ‭KJVA‬‬

Those that are saved, born again will NEVER walk away from Jesus, period.
Yet we have verses saying that believers will fall away from the faith and when they do they won’t be able to be saved again because that would be putting Jesus to open shame to crucify Him again. With verses like that..I really don’t know how you can believe in once saved always saved..honestly. Scripture that actually goes against that..really trumps anything you can find for it. I would also say that verses for it...really aren’t for it too.

I think those verses in John show that anyone can walk away/fall away from Jesus. God doesn’t make you believe and He won’t keep you if you don’t want to stay.
 

Thunderian

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....continued.

Baptism and laying on of hands

Jesus gave another condition for God’s gift of eternal life in Mark 16:16: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Water baptism—by full immersion—is a symbolic act representing the death and washing away of our old sinful self and the beginning of a new life of serving God and striving to avoid sin (Romans 6:1-23). Through this act we symbolically put to death and bury the old person and rise from that watery grave to a new life as a new person.

Baptism is to be followed by the laying on of hands by a true minister of Jesus Christ, which allows us to receive God’s Holy Spirit and truly belong to Him (Acts 8:17; Romans 8:9). Unless we surrender our lives to God through baptism and the laying on of hands to receive His Spirit as instructed, we fail to meet His prerequisites for receiving His gift of salvation.

The apostle Peter affirmed these conditions for receiving God’s Spirit, declaring, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Repentance means to turn from disobedience to God to obeying Him. So again, committed obedience and baptism are shown as requirements in the salvation process.

To those who would brush aside these and other plain biblical instructions Jesus replies, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? (Luke 6:46).

In Matthew 10:22 and Matthew 24:13 Jesus gave another condition we must meet to receive God’s gift of salvation: “He who endures to the end will be saved.” As Jesus plainly and directly implied here, we can lose out on salvation if we fail to endure to the end. Once we have committed ourselves to obeying God and surrendering ourselves to Him, we must stay the course to the end and not look back (Luke 9:62).


Salvation is free, but not cheap

You may have heard the expression, “Salvation is free, but not cheap”—in contrast to the “cheap grace” so many seem to effectively believe in. God’s gift of life to us cost Jesus Christ His life. He, the very Son of God, willingly surrendered His life so that we might receive God’s wonderful gift of eternal life. And it cost the Father, who “gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

But God expects us to surrender our lives in return, as Jesus states in Luke 14:33: So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."

Accepting God’s gift of eternal life comes at the highest cost we can imagine. As Jesus Christ gave His life for us, we must be willing to give our lives to follow Him!

So returning to the question at the beginning, does God place conditions on His gift of salvation? Clearly the answer is yes. His Word spells out the conditions. Let us be sure, as Hebrews 2:3 exhorts us, that we not “neglect so great a salvation”!


When was the thief on the cross next the Jesus baptized?
 

phipps

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When was the thief on the cross next the Jesus baptized?
You've asked me this question before. Have you forgotten my response in which I used the Word of God or are you being annoying deliberately?

There are exceptions. Some people can't get baptised due to their situations. Some are ill, some like the thief on the cross could not get out their situation to be baptised. God knows our individual situations and looks on the heart too. He is not going to say to the thief on the cross that he can't get eternal life because he didn't get baptised. Jesus knew had the thief had the opportunity, he would have been baptised, that is why Jesus accepted him and assured him of his salvation. However most of us can get baptised and should, because its one of the conditions to being saved. Jesus Himself got baptised and He is our example in how to lead a Christian life. Its Jesus who said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15-15) and “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). We have to have a conversion which is the inward change by the Holy Spirit, and water baptism is the outward physical sign that the change has taken place.

Please don't ask me this question again.
 
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floss

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Yet we have verses saying that believers will fall away from the faith and when they do they won’t be able to be saved again because that would be putting Jesus to open shame to crucify Him again. With verses like that..I really don’t know how you can believe in once saved always saved..honestly. Scripture that actually goes against that..really trumps anything you can find for it. I would also say that verses for it...really aren’t for it too.

I think those verses in John show that anyone can walk away/fall away from Jesus. God doesn’t make you believe and He won’t keep you if you don’t want to stay.
Jesus made it super clear in John6, those who walked away NEVER believe from the beginning. The DISCIPLES of Christ never believe at all...hmm what does that tell ya?
 

floss

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So repentance of sins is not biblical? When David who was saved repented of his sins, did he do that because he was Catholic?

Yes Samson killed people, what's your point?
God repented in Genesis, did he need saving?

Was Samson save or not? I'm sure he did not repent while killing 3000 folks.
 

phipps

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God repented in Genesis, did he need saving?

Is Samson save or not? I'm sure he did not repent while killing 3000 folks.
I see, so now you are changing the topic. If you have nothing to say, its best not to say anything.

You know God meant He regretted creating mankind because of how evil they were. He did not repent any sin because He doesn't need to. So this point of yours is moot.

Only God knows if Samson is eternally saved but he is mentioned in Hebrews 11:32-34 where Paul is talking about those who overcame by faith, if that's any indication.

"And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens."
 

floss

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I see, so now you are changing the topic. If you have nothing to say, its best not to say anything.

You know God meant He regretted creating mankind because of how evil they were. He did not repent any sin because He doesn't need to. So this point of yours is moot.

Only God knows if Samson is eternally saved but he is mentioned in Hebrews 11:32-34 where Paul is talking about those who overcame by faith, if that's any indication.

"And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens."
Nope still same topic. Repented clearly mean change one's mind. When someone get save by repentance, there's a change of belief. They goes from unbelief to believed, this is the moment they goes from unsave to saved. It does not mean they gotta repent of ALL their sins, that is impossible.

Nope, not only God know if Samson was save or not. If you're not so blinded of the true Gospel, you would know SAMSON WAS SAVED, the same for King Saul.

Repentance of your sins is a false Gospel that will damn you to hell. Jesus is the completed works of salvation. Maybe you should do less copy and paste of these damnable doctrines and get born again by putting all your faith in Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit wil guide you into all truth.
 
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