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Are good works necessary for eternal life?

By Jeremy Myers
15 Comments

Are good works necessary for eternal life?

Lots of people wonder about the role of good works in the life of the believer. While I agree that good works are important, I do not believe that good works are the necessary result of faith, nor do I believe that good works are necessary to gain entrance into heaven.

What Happens if You Don’t Have Good Works?

Some claim that while good works do not help a person gain eternal life, if a person does not have good works, then this proves that they never had eternal life in the first place and will not enter heaven with God in eternity. (To see some quotes from people who believe and teach this, check out the lesson “Good Works Cannot Prove Eternal Life” in my online course on the Gospel.)

good worksBut this is the same thing as saying that good works are a necessary condition for entering heaven.

When good works are a necessary result of faith and justification, then good works become a condition for glorification and entrance into the eternal kingdom.

If someone has faith in Jesus, but they do not have the good works that some people think are necessary, then according to some systems of theology, those people will not enter into glorification.

In such a system, human effort and good works have entered into the chain of events so that if a person does not have the necessary good works, that person will not be glorified.

It is obvious that the only real difference between a person who has faith and good works and a person who has faith without good works is the good works.

If Good Works are a Necessary Result of Justification, then they are a Condition for Glorification

If someone teaches that only those who have both faith and good works will end up in heaven, this means that they see good works as a condition for entering into heaven and final glorification. In such theology, the chain of events is this:

Justification → Good Works → Glorification

In such thinking, if a person does not have the necessary good works, the entire chain unravels. The person will not get glorified because they apparently were not justified.

So the logical conclusion is that if good works are a necessary result of justification, then this makes good works a condition for glorification.

The following logical syllogism may help clarify this further.

1. If a, then always b (where b is something a believer is responsible for).
2. If a and b, then g.
3. Not b.
4. Therefore, neither a nor g.

If good works are a necessary result of justification, this syllogism would be read this way:

1.  If one is justified (a), then one will perform good works in life (b).
2.  If one is justified (a) and it has been proved by works (b), then one can be sure that one will get to heaven (g).
3.  One does not have the necessary works (not b).
4.  Therefore, one is neither justified (a) nor is going to heaven (g).

According to this logic, if a person does not have good works, he or she will not make it to heaven. And if a person does not make it to heaven, then he or she was not justified. So, a person who does not have good works is not going to heaven.

Logically then, the belief that good works are a necessary result of justification is equivalent to the belief that good works are a condition for entrance into heaven and glorification.

good works are necessary

Yes, Good Works are Important!

None of this means that good works have no place in the life of the believer. As I point out in my online course on the Gospel, good works are essential in the life of the believer for many things. But good works are not necessary to gain glorification into heaven, or to prove that we have truly been justified.

If we want to maintain the gospel truth that eternal life is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, then we must hold to the biblical truth that good works do nothing to help earn, keep, or prove eternal life.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, eternal life, faith alone, faith and works, free grace, glorification, good works, gospel, justification

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How Paul Teaches Eternal Security in Romans 8:29-39

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

How Paul Teaches Eternal Security in Romans 8:29-39

Paul was an outspoken proponent of God’s grace, and confronted legalism and works-based righteousness everywhere he went and with every letter he wrote. Paul’s magnum opus on the gospel, his letter to the Romans, has numerous clear statements about eternal security. One of these is Romans 8:29-39.

Romans 8:28-39 chain of eternal security

Almost every single verse in Romans 8:29-39 has something to say about our security as believers in Jesus, which can be seen in three parts. The first part, found in Romans 8:29-30, contains the eternal security chain.

1. The Eternal Security Chain (Romans 8:29-30)

In Romans 8:29-30, Paul looks at our future glorification in eternity from the perspective of God in eternity past. Paul shows that all those whom God foreknew from eternity past will ultimately and finally be glorified with God in eternity future.

Justification is in the middle of this chain, which means that those who believe in Jesus for eternal life, that is, those who are justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, are also those who have been foreknown by God from all eternity and who will also be glorified by God in the future.

What this means is that there is not one single person who can be justified by faith alone who will then fail to be glorified. All who are justified will arrive at glorification. In other words, once a person is justified, they cannot lose their justification.

While I do not like the phrase “once saved, always saved,” I am perfectly happy to join Paul in proclaiming “once justified, always justified.”

Note as well that the items which Paul mentions in this eternal security chain are all God’s parts in eternal life. Human faith is not mentioned anywhere, nor is the process of sanctification. Paul is very aware of both ideas as he has written extensively about both earlier in this letter (cf. Romans 4–7). So by writing this chain as he has, Paul is teaching that once a person is justified by faith alone in Jesus, there is nothing they can do to stop the rest of the chain from occurring.

Even if a person stops believing or fails to make much progress in sanctification, such failures do not stop God from bringing the person to glorification.

While faith in Jesus is the only “on ramp” to this eternal security chain, there are no “off ramps.”

Since the entire chain is up to God, there is nothing that can break it.

all who are justified will be glorified

Nevertheless, Paul knows that there are always some who cannot accept or understand such amazing grace. There are always grace critics. Paul goes on in Romans 8:31-34 to silence the critics.

2. Silencing the Critics (Romans 8:31-34)

Critics of grace always like to ask questions like, “But can’t Satan accuse us of sin before God? What about that really bad sin of murder and adultery? God can’t just cover those by grace, can He? Won’t Jesus be offended by certain sins I commit and remove Himself from me, so that God no longer sees Christ when He looks at me?”

These are all good questions, but to answer them, Paul has several questions of his own.

His first question is, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

In other words, is God greater than Satan, or isn’t He? Is God greater than the demons, or isn’t He? Is God greater than all your sin, or isn’t He? Do you really think that God is shocked by some sin you commit? He knew and saw this sin from eternity past and forgave it anyway out of His grace. Do you think now that you have actually committed the sin God has second thoughts about His love and forgiveness toward you? With this kind of God on your side, who can possibly be against you? Who or what do you have to fear?

The next question of Paul is even more pointed. He says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Paul says that since God freely delivered up His Son to die for us, won’t He also give us everything else freely too? Of course He will! This is the same truth Paul already mentioned back in Romans 5:8-10. Which is harder? To love and forgive a wicked, rebellious, wayward, wretched sinner, or to continue forgiving somebody who has been declared righteous by God and who has been identified with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection?

Neither is too difficult for God, but the point is that if God justifies us freely by His grace while we were yet sinners, it is no problem whatsoever for God, once we have been justified, to then glorify us and freely give us everything else we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3).

But what about when we sin willfully? What about when we do something really bad?  Or what about if we keep sinning over and over and just cannot break a bad sinful habit? Won’t that make God give up on us and hand us back over to Satan?

This is the next question Paul asks and answers: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”

In other words, he is saying, “You’ve sinned really bad? You’ve sinned repeatedly? Who is going to charge you? The only person in the entire universe who could possibly bring a charge against you is God Himself, and He’s not going to do that, because He already justified you.”

All sin is ultimately against God, and therefore He is the only one who can bring charges against us. But when we sin, God says, “Yep, I saw that one from before the foundation of the world, and I already forgave it. I will not bring charges against it.”  And if God doesn’t charge you for the sin you commit against Him, nobody will.

What about Jesus though? He is God too, and He’s the one who went to the cross for our sin. Won’t He get tired of us sinning, and eventually just throw up His hands in disgust and give up on us?

Paul answers this too in Romans 8:34: “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Many people read this text completely backwards. They read the question, “Who is he who condemns?” and think that the following words, “It is Christ” provide the answer to the question. When read this way, Romans 8:34 is thought to be saying that it is Jesus Christ who condemns us.

But this is not at all what Paul is saying. When the verse is read in context and the rest of Paul’s thought is read as well, we see that Jesus does not condemn us, but intercedes for us, which is the opposite of condemnation. Paul is saying is that the only person who could condemn us, namely Jesus, not only does not condemn us, but actually intercedes for us!

Jesus is not our accuser but our advocate. Jesus is on our side.

So if Jesus, the only person who could condemn us, is actually defending us, then there is no accusation against us which can stand. With Jesus as our intercessor, there is no way we can ever be condemned of anything before God. If Jesus won’t condemn us, nobody can.

In light of all this, we have nothing to worry about. This is how Paul closes out his thoughts on the subject of eternal security.

3. No Separation Anxiety (Romans 8:35-39)

Since God has forgiven us and Jesus intercedes for us, there is nothing which can separate us from the love of Christ. Neither “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ.

Quite the contrary, rather than being defeated and overcome and condemned by such things, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” These things cannot defeat us, because in Jesus we have defeated them.

The reason Paul mentions this specific list of items is because he knows that when these things happen to us, we believe it is because God has rejected us, is punishing us, or has stopped loving us. When we go through tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, our natural instinct is to believe that such things are evidence that God has abandoned us.

But Paul wants his readers (and us) to know that nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Bad things happen to us because we live in a sinful world; not because God has withdrawn His love from us.

Romans 89:38-39 is the conclusion of the matter, and are some of the most beautiful verses in the entire Bible. Paul writes “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul piles phrase upon phrase to include absolutely everything within the entire universe. There is nothing that does not fit within this description. Nothing in death or life can separate us from God. Not even angels, demons, principalities, powers, or Satan himself can separate us from God. Nothing in the height or the depths of creation, or any created thing can separate us from God.

nothing can separate you from Gods love

This description also includes ourselves.

Are we not also a created thing? Of course! Yet there are many people who teach that although nothing else in the universe can separate us from God, we can separate ourselves. Paul begs to differ. He says no created thing can separate us from God. If you are a created thing, then not even you can separate yourself from God.

In the end, Paul’s message in the first half of his letter to the Romans points to one single truth: Because God has done everything necessary as far as our eternal life is concerned, there is absolutely nothing we (or anyone or anything else) can do to lose our eternal life once we have it.

Eternal life is eternal.

Those who are justified by faith in Jesus are eternally righteous in God and 100% of them will be glorified.

If you have believed in Jesus for eternal life, there is nothing you can do to lose it, and so there is nothing you need to do to keep it.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: eternal security, everlasting life, glorification, gospel, justification, Romans 8:29-39

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“The Re-Justification of God” is now on iTunes, B&N, Google

By Jeremy Myers
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“The Re-Justification of God” is now on iTunes, B&N, Google

I know that many of you have already purchased my newest eBook from Amazon, but if you don’t have Kindle (or the Kindle app for a different device), I am happy to announce that The Re-Justification of God is now available on the following platforms:

Google Play
Google Play
Apple iTunes
Apple iTunes
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Amazon

So if you haven’t bought The Re-Justification of God already, but want to get it for your Apple or Android device (or whatever else you have) feel free to get it from one of the platforms above.

And hey, if you have already bought and read the book, would you mind leaving a review of it on Amazon? (#AmazonAdLink) Go here to leave a review. Even 2-3 sentences would work. Thanks!

God is Redeeming Books Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, election, justification, predestination, Re-Justification of God, Romans 9, TULIP

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Words that DO NOT Refer to Eternal Life (Part 3): Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification

By Jeremy Myers
12 Comments

Words that DO NOT Refer to Eternal Life (Part 3): Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification

justification sanctification glorificationIn previous posts we looked at several words that do not refer to eternal life: salvation and Kingdom of Heaven, and inheritance and reward. This post we will look at three more.

Justification

While it may be true that justification and eternal life are very closely related, they are nevertheless distinct in biblical theology.

To be justified is to be “righteousified.” That is, justification is to be declared or considered righteous by God. It is not the same thing as being “made righteous.”

It may be best to think of justification as being “in right standing” with God whereas eternal life is the actual reception of God’s life in us. The two are closely related and occur simultaneously when we believe in Jesus, but are still distinct.

The critical point to remember is that neither the reception of eternal life, nor the declaration of righteousness actually makes one righteous in all their thoughts, actions, and behaviors. If it did, we would never sin again. But we do sin, which brings us to the topic of sanctification.

Sanctification

It is because of this ongoing sin that we need sanctification. This is the life-long process of being sanctified, that is, of becoming more holy.

Sanctification occurs as we follow Jesus in discipleship and learn to love others like Jesus through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Sanctification often leads to the temporal experience of eternal life, but is not eternal life itself.

Through sanctification we begin to understand what it means to live under the rule and reign of God, and we begin to see other people as God sees them, and ourselves as well. Based on this brief description, you may realize that sanctification is vitally important for the Christian life.

Indeed, it is probably not an overstatement to say that the vast majority of the New Testament is concerned with Christian sanctification.

Glorification

Glorification then, is the future event when we finally gain our perfect, glorified bodies. It is with these redeemed and sinless bodies that we will live forever with God and will serve Him and one another for all eternity.

justification sanctification glorification

Though it is an oversimplification, we could say that if justification is deliverance from the penalty of sin, and sanctification is the deliverance from the power of sin, then glorification is the deliverance from the presence of sin.

So justification, sanctification, and glorification are not themselves eternal life, but maybe it would be safe to say that they are aspects of eternal life. Justification is when we receive eternal life; sanctification is when we learn to live within eternal life; and glorification is when we fully experience eternal life.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, eternal life, glorification, justification, sanctification, Theology of Salvation

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Free Grace Alliance Conference Panel Discussions

By Jeremy Myers
17 Comments

Free Grace Alliance Conference Panel Discussions

Free Grace Alliance Conference

I was a panel member at the Free Grace Alliance National Conference today on the subject of the death and resurrection of Jesus in relation to the gospel.

But before I write about that, let me write about a different panel which I attended. This other panel was on the issues of assurance, eternal security, and justification.

Assurance, Eternal Security, and Justification

The panel which I only attended was related to the issues of assurance, eternal security, and justification. The basic question was “Does a person have to know that what they get from Jesus can never be lost in order to receive it?”

Of the three panelists, I heard one, Tim Nichols, give a clear answer “Yes” and the other two were a little more evasive. This was not really their fault since many of the questions from the audience were not really on topic. Some questions were related to the death and resurrection of Jesus, or the deity of Jesus, and other things.

The last question, however, was very revealing. It was “If you are witnessing to an unsaved person, and you want to tell them how to be saved, what would you say?”

1. Dave Anderson answered first with two words: “Free Grace.” I’m not sure what he meant by that. I doubt the person he was evangelizing would understand it either.

2. George Meisinger said that he tells as much of the gospel as he can to the person in the time he has. If it’s on an airplane, he is able to tell them lots more than if he is sharing with someone on their deathbed.

3. Tim Nichols answered similarly to George Meisinger, but emphasized that the message we share with unbelievers must come from the Gospel of John.

All in all, it was a great conference session.

Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the Gospel

The second panel discussion I attended was the one in which I was a participant. It concerned whether a person had to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus in order to be born again. The following are terribly poor summaries of the views presented:

(Note that due to comments for clarification, edits have been made to what was originally written. These are the crossed out sections below.)

What is the Gospel

1. Ken Wilson said, “Yes. We don’t believe in Jesus for everlasting life, but we have to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who takes away our sins.” I’m not sure who in Christendom (including Catholics) doesn’t believe this, but maybe I misunderstood him.

2. Tim Nichols argued that since nobody would ever dream of not presenting the death and resurrection, the question doesn’t really matter. This is true. Sometimes, Satan’s greatest ploy is to get us talking about theology rather than living out the theology we do know.

3. Larry Moyer said, “Yes, because the death and resurrection is central to the Gospel, and we must always share the Gospel when telling people about Jesus.”

4. Tom Stegall argued similarly to Larry Moyer, but more emphatically.

5. I certainly do believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus are central to the Gospel, and that without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no Gospel. All the truths of the Gospel (of which there are dozens-if not hundreds) are for the purpose of getting a person to believe in Jesus and so receive everlasting life. So I always present the death and resurrection of Jesus when I witness to people. So I argued similarly to Tim Nichols–that it’s a moot point.

What is the Gospel

Some did Believe in Jesus, but not in His Death and Resurrection

However, I did point out that we do have examples of people in Scripture who believed in Jesus and received everlasting life, but did not know about the death and resurrection of Jesus, and even when presented with these truths, did not believe them (cf. Matt 16:31-32; Mark 9:31-32; Luke 9:44-45; 18:31-34; 24:19-26; John 20:9, 24-30). There may be some examples from Acts and the Epistles as well, but it’s almost 2 am, and I’m tired. But just one example: One reason Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15 is to persuade and convince the Corinthian believers about the resurrection of Jesus. It sounds like some of them had believed in the resurrection, but had turned away from it, but there apparently were others who had heard about the resurrection, but denied it as fiction. Paul is correcting these believers in Corinth about this.

So apparently, there are people who believe in Jesus, and lots of correct things about Him, but don’t have all their theological ducks in a row, but who are still considered by Biblical authors to be regenerate. It is possible to believe many wrong things about Jesus, but still receiver eternal life by believing in Him for it. I think it is possible there are people in the same category today. I may have talked with one a few weeks ago, which I mentioned in a previous post.

Due to the number of panelists, and the limited time, only one question from the audience was asked, and that one had nothing to do with the questions that I had come up with which I hoped to receive answers to. So I still don’t know how Tom Stegall would answer those questions. I refuse to speculate how he might answer them, because if there is anything more dangerous that theological speculation, it is theological speculation about someone else’s theology.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: assurance, crossless gospel, eternal security, evangelism, everlasting life, free grace, gospel, justification, resurrection, Theology of Jesus, Theology of Salvation

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