Salvation, Of God or of Man

God does not require my help in salvation--and you know what people say about assuming--don't you?

 

Not only is our salvation a gift of God, but our faith is as well. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God."

Either salvation is of God and God alone OR it is a joint process whereby God provides the means and you provide the faith and together you have salvation.

 

If I must chose to accept salvation, then yes I have taken part in my salvation, I have 'helped' God in my salvation. God is quite competent to make the decisions, He doesn't need me to play god.

 

I agree with that statement. Deciding to accept the gift of salvation does not make salvation works based. That's like saying if I give you a gift for christmas, it's works based, because you have to accept the gift from me.

 

I gave birth to my son and pushed him into the world. It required nothing on his part.

 

So, Linda64, with no malice intended, according to your logic, is Christ indeed Savior ? If yes, BUT, He must first be accepted, then on what grounds does He claim the title Savior ?

 

Christ is Savior whether one accepts Him as so or not.

A gift, otoh, is not a gift to you if you refuse to accept it. Does it negate that the price for that gift has been paid? Certainly not! The price has been paid nearly 2000 years ago on Calvary's mountain. But many will refuse Christ, thereby rejecting His gift of life and peace in Him.

 

Poll Results: Salvation, Of God or of Man (15 votes.)
Salvation, Of God or of Man
Choose 1

Notwithstanding the posted Scripture God could not have saved me without my help. 0% (0)

Salvation is the work of the Triune God alone. 100% (15)

 

But if he died for me, and I reject the gift of salvation, then his blood was shed for me in vain.

My Savior did nothing in vain and nothing, including my unbelief, can separate me from the love of God.

What a weak god he would be were he able to save us from all of our sins, except our sin of unbelief in not accepting his gift. That is not the God I worship. My God paid for all of my sins.

 

God is not going to force His Son on anyone. Many reject His Son, thereby rejecting that precious gift.

One cannot hold unbelief in one's heart concerning the truth of God's Word and expect to be part of God's eternal kingdom.

God is not going to accept people into heaven based on their life, but rather, Christ's life in them.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

To say that unbelief will not separate one from God is contrary to the above verse. Just because Christ died on the cross of Calvary does not excuse those that continue in unbelief from eternal damnation.

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

[ January 12, 2006, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: standingfirminChrist ]

 

If you use this to conclude that all unbelievers will be in hell, then must also conclude that all murderers and liars will be in hell.

I guess you and I will be in the company of Paul, David, Moses, et al in hell then, won't we?

Of course, we could conclude from Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God, since that's what it says, including our unbelief.

Again, I still don't see how a dead person, spiritually, can choose to accept something. We are made alive by the Spirit that God places within us. Once that Spirit is there, it is there always. God can not deny Himself, and His is the Spirit that indwells each of His children.

Could Lazarus have chosen to stay in the tomb when Christ called him forth? Could Adam have chosen not to accept the breath of life from God before he had even been given the life? Man can not turn down the gift of life when he has no part in and can have no part in its workings. Can the clay tell the Potter not to give it form? Did all these gifts I just referenced have to be accepted by the recipient before they could come about? Anything at all done on the part of a completely, spiritually dead person to receive anything is work.

If I have power to accept or reject that gift, then I have power over god. That is just not possible.

 

Then you refuse John 3:36 as truth and Ephesians 2:8, 9 as being truth and Revelation 21:8 as being trutn.

Man does not just wake up saved. Just as Israel was given a choice in 2 Chronicles 7:14, those that are Gentile have a choice to make as well. If man chooses to live in unbelief, man will end up spending eternity where man was never meant to live.

If I bought a car, and brought it to your house and said, 'James, this car is yours, I paid for it and all you have to do is take the key' and you refused the key, you would not be able to drive it. The car would not be yours, because you refused the key.

One must receive Christ and His gift of Salvation or one does not possess Salvation. Plain and simple.

One cannot possess something if they do not accept it.

 

I agree with you that Christ is Savior whether one accepts Him or not, just as there is no other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved, whether men know that Name or not, or whether the call on another god or not, just as Jesus is the Only door to heaven, whether men acknowledge it or not.

However, Christ IS the gift, don't you all get it ?

Salvation, as a gift, cannot stand alone and apart from Christ.

It is a gift because it was unsought by its recipients. The children of God did not ask for salvation, God in His sovereign mercy gifted them with it by Christ.

If Christ is Savior, and salvation is not a gift by and through Him, then who is He Savior of ?

I repeat that question.

If salvation, which is Christ, must be accepted before it actually takes effect for the sinner, and before Christ actually has a right to the title of Savior, then Christ must needs be crucified afresh everytime someone accepts Him as Savior.

But He IS Savior, of His people, and of His people alone, whom He foreknew, and called out by name, and whose Names His very hand wrote down in the Book of Life before the foundation of the world.

 

For by GRACE are ye SAVED through FAITH and that not of yourselves, IT is the GIFT of God; not of works lest any man should boast. What is the 'it' that verse is talking about? Jesus Christ is not an 'it'. Jesus is never referred to in the Bible as an 'it'. The 'it' is the gift of Salvation; God's gift to you. But you have to receive it, or it is not your's.

God gave His only begotten Son, true. But if man refuses His Son, man will not receive that gift of eternal life; SALVATION.