Not By Works

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Dec 12, 2013
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Compare the verse you are aluding to with Romans 3:3

I don't know if you can reconcile believers permenantly losing faith with Hebrews 3:6 and Hebrews 3:14
There are no scriptures in context that teach a believer losing faith to the point of losing salvation....NONE!
 

PS

Senior Member
Jan 11, 2013
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Grace is a FREE GIFT.

And Faith is not of ourselves.


Philippians 2:13 (HCSB)
13 For it is God who is working in you, ⌊enabling you⌋ both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
The gift is not grace, but salvation.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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We are saved by Grace through faith.

Faith is a gift

The gifts of God are irrevocable.

This is the logical conclusion of osas doctrine.
1) OSAS lifts Romans 11:29 out of it's context. The context is God not changing his mind about doing for future Israelites what past and present Israelites have rejected. It has nothing to do with a person continuing to be saved because God can't take back the gift he gave them.

2) Matthew 18:23-35 shows us how in the kingdom of heaven the free gift of forgiveness will be taken back by the Father.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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We are saved by Faith. But not just any Faith, but TRUST which is more than just believing. But works are NECESSARY as evidence of the salvation.
...
But what many don't realize is that Faith is the ACCESS to Grace.
With the exception of being saved by faith, all of these have been categorically denied in this thread.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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So now to see if we’re All on the same page, someone define faith as it is used in Ephesians 2:8
"the evidence of things not seen" - Hebrews 11:1

We are saved through the evidence of things not seen, if you believe in that evidence. Most people don't believe in the evidence of things not seen that God has shown them by the Holy Spirit and reject it, calling Him a liar. A few do believe it and are saved as a result.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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So if faith is a gift, and a gift is irrevocable, how can a believer permenantly lose their faith. They may fail to exercise it at times, but do they lose it?
How?
For starters, your premise is wrong.
The gifts are able to be revoked for the individual person (Matthew 18:23-35).
As Jesus himself says, God is able to change his mind about giving someone the free gift of forgiveness.

What he will not change his mind about is the promises he has made to the descendants of Abraham even though most of them have rejected the promises and are lost.
That chapter about the promises still being good for unbelieving Israel has nothing to do with an individual person being in unbelief and somehow still being saved.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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Our belief does not make Jesus faithfulness real.
Right.
Your belief makes Jesus' faithfulness applicable to you.
Faith is how you access the faithful and never ending ministry of Christ (Romans 5:1).
That's why you have to continue to believe in it to continue to have the benefit of it.
That's what he told the Galatians.

Just the opposite. The faithfulness of Jesus is the basis of our faith and makes our holding fast the hope of our confidence to the end a reality
Believers do not lose the choice to hold fast to Christ in faith.
The saved Galatians exercised their freedom to depart from faith in Christ for justification and went back to the law for justification.
And Paul expressed concern that he had wasted all his effort on them.
Which shows us he did not believe 1) that they remained saved despite their rejection of Christ, or 2) that they would categorically and without exception come back to faith in Christ.
See, in osas, there would be no consideration whatsoever about having wasted time and effort on saved people who fall because they always, in the end, will be saved. Obviously, Paul did not believe that.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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When Jesus called them faithless, (the disciples who could not cast out a devil), He was not saying they no longer believed, was He?
He was not saying they no longer believed in Him as the Messiah.
They lacked faith in the power to expel demons.

I noticed years ago that this was a common misunderstanding among Christians. There is faith in Christ for salvation, and there is faith in Christ for daily provision. You won't go to hell for lacking in faith for daily provision (he remains faithful when we are faithless). But you will go to hell if you lack faith in Christ for salvation (if you deny him he will deny you).
 
Nov 16, 2019
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April 2006 will be 14 years since the glorious day I was regenerated spiritually. To those here who have
experienced the same, grace mercy and peace be multiplied to you!

What a awesome, all loving, and merciful God we serve.

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love:
January 28th will be 34 years for me.
And it went something like this...

"God be merciful to me a sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified" - Luke 18:13,14
 
Nov 16, 2019
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Of course, but there is grace that comes before faith.
It is entirely an act of God's grace that he showed us 'the evidence of things not seen' through the testimony of the Holy Spirit in our hearts so we could then place our trust in the unseen and be saved.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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Clear enough for me also that it is not OUR works that save us.
Anybody who's tried will find that out, if they're honest.
That's why I got saved.
I realized I had no place with God when I died, and that I couldn't do the righteous things God required.
So by faith I cast myself on his mercy, and he saved me.
The change occurred immediately.
I've been growing in righteous works ever since.
And I found out that the key to having good works is to have the fruit of the Spirit flourishing inside of you first.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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I don't know if you can reconcile believers permenantly losing faith with Hebrews 3:6 and Hebrews 3:14
This just made me realize that you too believe that a person can go back to unbelief and they are still saved. Because you believe that the unbelief will not be permanent in the one who has genuinely believed and been saved.

I only believe that there is still hope for the person who has gone back to unbelief if they respond to whatever attempt, if any, God makes to bring them back. But after that......they're out for good with no opportunity to come back. That's why we shouldn't play around with unbelief, like the Galatians did. We will find out one day if they responded to God's call to come back to faith in Christ for justification. Paul wondered if they would. He didn't say they would.
 
Nov 16, 2019
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There is a kind of Grace given to all
And that grace is being given "the evidence of things not seen". He is gracious that way to all men, so they can then place their trust in what they can not see and be saved. But most cast the evidence they have received aside and are lost.
 
Dec 6, 2019
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There are no scriptures in context that teach a believer losing faith to the point of losing salvation....NONE!
Correct. They may lapse, but Jesus heals their backsliding. 🙂. Btw, I never said “lose salvation” 😉
 
Dec 6, 2019
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With the exception of being saved by faith, all of these have been categorically denied in this thread.
Not by me. But why did you omit the parts about the necessary works being Christ’s works. That was the best part of the post? 😉
 
Dec 6, 2019
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Right.
Your belief makes Jesus' faithfulness applicable to you.
Faith is how you access the faithful and never ending ministry of Christ (Romans 5:1).
That's why you have to continue to believe in it to continue to have the benefit of it.
That's what he told the Galatians.


Believers do not lose the choice to hold fast to Christ in faith.
The saved Galatians exercised their freedom to depart from faith in Christ for justification and went back to the law for justification.
And Paul expressed concern that he had wasted all his effort on them.
Which shows us he did not believe 1) that they remained saved despite their rejection of Christ, or 2) that they would categorically and without exception come back to faith in Christ.
See, in osas, there would be no consideration whatsoever about having wasted time and effort on saved people who fall because they always, in the end, will be saved. Obviously, Paul did not believe that.
What the Galatians did was add things to Christ. Syncretism.
 
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eternally-gratefull

Guest
Provided the sheep do not think the grass is greener on the other side.

If you have ever watched sheepdog trialling, you will know how wilful sheep can be.
A sheep is still sheep, and belongs to god

a dog is still a dog, and belongs to satan, he enjoys eating his vomit (the fruit of his sin)
 
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eternally-gratefull

Guest
We are saved by Faith. But not just any Faith, but TRUST which is more than just believing. But works are NECESSARY as evidence of the salvation. And those works are not OUR works but His Works. Jesus Christ has the copyright on ALL GOOD WORKS. If an evil man does a good thing, even that work belongs to Christ.

Bible tells us that Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God.

But what many don't realize is that Faith is the ACCESS to Grace. Grace is not mere favor for God favors everyone and works toward the Good of Everyone. But rather Grace is Approval and God doesn't yet approve of everyone.

So the gift of Repentance towards Faith is a Gift of God as is the Faith, Works and the Grace.
If works are NECESSARY, and not a natural pay product of faith, then we are and continue to save ourselves by works.

the word necessary is a dangerous word my friend
 
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eternally-gratefull

Guest
Not by me. But why did you omit the parts about the necessary works being Christ’s works. That was the best part of the post? 😉
Again

works are not necessary, they are natural

saying they are necessary makes them a requirment for salvation. Makes it salvation by works.

Don’t be fooled by Ralphie here, he is promoting works as amens of maintaining salvation, not as the natural result of entrusting our lives to Christ and learning to trust him in areas of our life. Ie, true saving faith not just mere belief.