What must I do to be saved

DOING or ACTING is something we intrinsically ARE. Doing, or acting can't get you saved. Only being born again can do that. IF you are a Child of God you WILL DO or ACT like you were BORN to be. So His Children WILL love Him, and WILL love their neighbor. This may take time to manifest through the indwelt Presence of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, but it WILL happen because it's who we are now.

Sheep to the Shepherd. "What must I do to be a sheep?" Shepherd responds, " Bear wool, Baa with your mouth, harm no one, give birth to lambs, and follow my voice".

Is that sheep a sheep BECAUSE he DOES those things, or does he do those things BECAUSE he is born a sheep?

Justification- Redemption

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the richness of His grace. (Eph. 1: 7)
In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1: 14)

And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6: 11) And now why do you wait? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22: 16) You are confusing spiritual washing/purification of the soul (which is accomplished by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation through repentance/faith BEFORE water baptism - Acts 10:43-47; 11:17,18) with water baptism. The "washing away of sin" in water baptism was only "formal" or symbolic. As Greek scholar AT Robertson points out - baptism here pictures the washing away of sins by the blood of Christ. Water baptism does not cleanse the soul from sin.

Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary makes not of the importance of the Greek in Ananias' statement. When Ananias tells Paul to "arise, be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord," the tense of the last command is literally "having called" (aorist middle participle). "Calling on [epikalesamenos] --- 'having (that is, after having) called on,' referring the confession of Christ which preceded baptism." [Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, vol. 3 pg. 160]. Kenneth Wuest picks up on this Greek nuance and translates the verse as follows: "And now, why are you delaying? Having arisen, be baptized and wash away your sins, having previously called upon His Name." (Acts 22:16, Wuest's Expanded NT).

*No Scripture is to be interpretated in isololation from the totality of Scripture. Practically speaking, a singular and obscure verse is to be subservient to to multiple and clear verses, and not vice versa.

Repentance is a "change of mind" and the new direction of this change of mind is faith in Christ for salvation. Two sides to the same experience. Acts 20:21 - testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you understand what "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" means? Sanctification begins with justification (when the new believer is accounted as righteous through faith and set apart/made holy positionally in Christ) and progressive sanctification continues as a process in which the reality of that holiness becomes more and more evident in our actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives. Believers are set apart for obedience to Christ. The shedding of Christ's blood on the cross gives the believer atonement for sin and brings the believer into covenant with God.

Hebrews 10:22 in the NASB reads - let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. *Notice the order. Reference to this verse as proving regeneration, or the new birth, by water baptism ignores the point of the contrasting of that sprinkling which affects the heart, removing from it an evil conscience, and that washing of the body with pure water. It is the sprinkling (with the Blood of Christ- Hebrews 9:14; I Peter 1:2) which touches the heart. The washing of pure water affects the body.

The writer of Hebrews shows us that no outward ceremony affects the heart (Hebrews 9:13ff.). He would not, and does not contradict himself here by teaching that the washing of the body in water accomplishes an inward cleansing. The former is inward and spiritual, "of the heart" (Romans 2:28-29), and the latter is outward and physical, or "of the flesh" (Romans 2:28-29). The washing of the body in pure water does not present baptism as the means of the cleansing or purifying of the heart. The sprinkling with the Blood of Christ is, and washing our bodies with water is expressly distinguished from sprinkling with the Blood of Christ. Since water baptism is not the means of purifying the heart from sin, it is not the means of regeneration, and it is not absolutely necessary for salvation.

God does not lie, but man does not always correctly interpret God's word (1 Corinthians 2:14). When we obey Jesus Christ by choosing to believe the gospel, we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ and receive cleansing from sin BEFORE water baptism. You continue to confuse the picture (water baptism) with the reality (Spirit baptism).

Born Again

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3: 5)

We must be born of water and Spirit. When do we encounter these two items? “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit with in you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ez. 36: 25-27) Now compare that with Acts 2: 38. “And Peter said, Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In each case there is a cleansing with water followed by the giving of the Spirit.
We cannot be born (come out of) water and Spirit unless we are first immersed in both, that is the one baptism. When we are baptized in water, in the name of Christ, we are immersed in water. Jesus then pours the Spirit out upon us richly and abundantly (Titus 3: 5, 6), immersing us in the Spirit. (1 Cor. 12: 13) So we receive the benefits of both water and Spirit.

When we come forth from this one baptism, we are born of water and the Spirit and we enter the kingdom of God. This saves us from having to make water into marmalade or some other thing.
God bless

Abraham now has faith the Word of God".

In the passage, the in which also you stand' makes it impossible that 'unless you believed in vain' means in case they never 'really' believed to begin with:

The verb 'stand' in 'in which also you stand' in verse 1 is in the perfect tense and in the indicative mood. That means the action (standing in the gospel) has happened already. That means they really did believe. He's affirming that they have indeed been saved and were standing on the gospel message they heard and received from him. So the veracity of their believing, whether it was real or fake, is not what is in question here.

What is in question here is if Christ has really been raised from the dead (they are being told that he did not rise from the dead), and if they are going to continue in the true gospel and be saved, the one he preached that says he was raised from the dead.

Christ being risen or not is what determines if their real faith in the gospel is in vain or not. If Christ did not really rise from the dead there is no basis for the real faith they started out with when they received and stood on Paul's gospel message, therefore, that believing would be in vain.

We can see for ourselves that the meaning of 'unless you believed in vain' comes right from the passage itself. We know what 'believed in vain' means from vs. 14 and 17:

"14and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain."

"17and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. "

1 Corinthians 15:14,17

Believing in vain does not mean them not 'really' believing the gospel in the first place as you say.

Paul plainly says they did really believe his gospel (vs. 1).

What is in question is if they are going to stick to the original message they heard and received and be presently saved, and if Christ really was raised from the dead, for if he wasn't then the true believing they have done will have been in vain. Even continuing in true believing can't make a false gospel (Christ is not risen) able to save.

False. "in which you stand" by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you" is in CONTRAST to - "UNLESS you believed in vain."

Standing in the truth of the gospel has already happened for those who truly believe the gospel and are saved and holding fast to the word Paul preached to them was the demonstrative evidence that confirmed their salvation status, yet Paul knows that is not the case for those who believed in vain/without cause or without effect, to no purpose.

Those who truly believe that Christ really has been raised from the dead demonstrate it by continuing to believe. Those who fail to continue demonstrate that their shallow, temporary belief was never firmly rooted and established in the gospel message from the start.

The problem is you are contrasting it with the wrong thing.

The thing that makes the salvation that Paul says they have in vain is if Jesus has not really risen from the dead. Paul explains this right in the passage.

First you used 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 as a prooftext that there are those who start out truly believing the gospel and are saved, but later stop believing the gospel and lose their salvation. Yet now you are back peddling? That is not the scenario in vss. 14 and 17.

The problem is you are contrasting it with the wrong thing.

The thing that makes the salvation that Paul says they have in vain is if Jesus has not really risen from the dead. Paul explains this right in the passage.

Don’t confuse vss. 14 and 17 with verse 2. In verse 2, Paul said we are saved by the gospel if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

I believe Abraham already had faith

You're grasping.

I used 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 to show that the believer has to keep believing to keep being saved.

Paul is telling us plainly that the Corinthians believed his gospel. And he says they are saved as long as they are clinging to his gospel..................unless Jesus did not really rise from the dead, which makes their believing vain.

You are grasping by trying to force versus 14 and 17 to fit with verses 1 and 2. Believing in vain by failing to hold fast to the gospel that Paul preached (vs. 2) and believing in vain in verses 14 and 17 if there is no resurrection are two different scenarios.

*Again to believe in vain is to believe without cause or without effect, to no purpose.

They believed in vain because they didn't hold fast.

They believed in vain because they didn't hold fast to it. Compare with "You dieted in vain because you didn't stick with it."

You cannot hold fast to that which you cannot attain.

It is Christ Who hold me not me holding Christ.

For the cause of Christ
Roger