A free gift, is a free gift. If someone knocks on your door and you open it and standing in front of you is a man who is holding out a gold bar for you to take and says... "Here, Id like to give this gold bar to you as a gift. You owe me nothing for it, it is free. Please take it, I have plenty more." Then you open your hand and receive the gold bar and close the door. When your wife comes home you excitedly explain to her the nice man who showed up at your door and gave you free gold bar to do with as you wish!!" Your wife asks, "What? He gave it to you…free? You didn't have to pay him or do anything for it?" Of course you would answer "Nope, he just handed it to me as a gift!"
Of course you had to get up, walk to the door, open the door, and open up your hand to receive the gold bar. But you would spend the rest of your life telling people about the nice man who gave you a gold bar absolutely free, and you had to do NOTHING for it. Don't confuse "our receiving" with "our works".
Of course you had to get up, walk to the door, open the door, and open up your hand to receive the gold bar. But you would spend the rest of your life telling people about the nice man who gave you a gold bar absolutely free, and you had to do NOTHING for it. Don't confuse "our receiving" with "our works".
And yes, exactly, many confuse receiving with works. That is the whole point of this thread, to point out that for both the OS and the AS works are irrelevant. Don't getcha in, don't kick you out. What gets you in is belief, which we determined at the start was not a work. So now the issue is, is unbelief a work, and can unbelief in the form of apostasy kick you out?