Website owner:  James Miller

       NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR SALVATION                4/85


                               
  Repentance stated to be a necessary condition for salvation.
      
     Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of 
     heaven is at hand.   (Matt 4:17) 

     I came not to call the righteous but the sinners to 
     repentance.  (Mark 2:17) 

     They went out and preached that men should repent.   (Mark 
     6:12) 

     I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one 
     sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just 
     persons which need no repentance.   (Luke 15:7) 

     ... that repentance and remission of sins should be preached 
     in his name among all nations.   (Luke 24:47) 

     Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be 
     blotted out ...    (Acts 3:19) 





  Obedience to God's commandments as a necessary condition for 
     salvation. 

     For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in 
     heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.    
     (Matt 12:50) 

     If a man love me he will keep my words.  And my Father will 
     love him and we will come into him and make our abode with 
     him.   (John 14:23) 

     If you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love.  Even 
     as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his 
     love.   (John 15:10) 

     Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.   (John 
     15:44) 

     Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his 
     commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his 
     commandents is a liar, and the truth is not in him.   (I John 
     2:3,4) 

     Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into 
     the kingdom of heaven.  But he that doeth the will of my 
     Father which is in heaven.   (Matt 7:27) 

     If we walk in the light ... the blood of Jesus Christ his son 
     cleanseth us from all sin.   (I John 1:7) 

     Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is 
     good.  He that doeth good is of God.  But he that doeth evil 
     hath not seen God.  (III John 11) 

     For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.  
     And his commandments are not grievous.   (I John 5:1) 

     What does it profit, my brethern, though a man say he hath 
     faith, and have not works?  Can faith save him?  ... faith, 
     if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  Yea, a man may 
     say, You have faith and I have works.  Shew me thy faith 
     without thy works and I will shew you my faith by my works.  
     Thou doeth well.  The devils also believe and tremble.
     (James 2:14, 17-19) 





  Believing that Christ was the messiah.

     In many of the statements that Christ made he seems to assert 
     that believing that he is the messiah or that he is the Son 
     of God is a necessary condition to salvation.  For example, 
     he told the Pharisees, "So I said to you that you will die in 
     your sins.  For if you do not believe that I am He, you will 
     die in your sins."   (John 8:24) 


      



  "Believing in God" stated as a condition for salvation

     Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and 
     believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and 
     shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death 
     into life.   (John 5:24) 







  "Believing in Christ" stated as a condition for salvation.

     For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
     Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
     have everlasting life.  He that believeth on him is not 
     condemned.  But he that believeth not is condemned already, 
     because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten 
     Son of God.   (John 3:16,18) 

     Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath 
     everlasting life.   (John 6:47) 

     Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.  He 
     that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live.  
     And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.   
     (John 11:25,26) 

     But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is 
     the Christ, the Son of God.  And that believing ye might have 
     life through his name. (John 5:24) 





     The most of the scriptures above that present "believing in 
     Christ" as a condition for salvation present it not only as a 
     necessary condition for salvation but also as a sufficient 
     condition i.e. they imply that nothing more is needed.  No 
     repentance from sin, no departing from evil, no obedience to 
     God, no godliness or righteousness are specified as being 
     required.  Just "believing" is sufficient to get us into 
     heaven.  This is perplexing, however, because we also know 
     that even the devils believe and tremble.  (James 2:19)  
     There is here a conflict, an inconsistency, a paradox, a 
     source of intellectual confusion, that has plagued 
     Christianity down through the centuries.  Even the early 
     apostles (Paul, John, James, etc.) seemed to spend a great 
     deal of time and effort grappling with it.  The cause is the 
     difficult inconsistency in the words of Christ himself.  On 
     the one hand he taught repentance, departing from evil and 
     obeying God.  On the other hand, he often appeared to say 
     that just "believing in him" was a sufficient condition for 
     salvation (which just doesn't seem right or to make good 
     sense).  Out of this has come all that the apostle Paul had 
     to say on the subject of Faith and Works, out of it rose 
     Martin Luther's break with the Catholic Church and the rise 
     of Protestantism, out of it has risen the teachings of John 
     Calvin, John Knox and the doctrines of modern evangelicalism.  
     Through the ages it has been the root cause of basic 
     disagreement and conflict between Christians.