BWA6067@TAMAGEN (01/17/90)
BUT - this is the result of our being saved - not the cause; "For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God - not of works, so that no-one can boast."
(Ephesians 2:8,9)
That's why I am a "grace only proponent of salvation." Jesus sought me, not
the other way round... mind you He worked in me by His Spirit so that I did
seek Him - but not until He first sought me, for I was "like sheep going
astray, but now... have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul."
(1 Peter 2:25) "We love Him because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)
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Is it possible to fall from grace? If so, then there is
obviously something required beyond the grace itself. Flip
with me over to Matthew 25:14-30 for a moment. Here we have
three men that are indeed servants of the master. The master
gives them something that they could not provide for
themselves something that they obviously did not earn. The
Scriptures say that the master "entrusted" it with them.
When the master returned, the one who had not *done* anything
with what he was given was excoriated as a wicked, lazy
slave. The other two were praised for being faithful. Why?
Because they DID something with what they were given. Was it
any less a gift? No. Had they earned it? No, of course
not. It had been entrusted to them willingly by the master.
It had been essentially a free gift for which they were the
stewards--much as we are.
Was the issue how much interest had been earned? No, it's
very obvious also that such is not the case. The master
rewarded both faithful slaves similarly, even though they had
borne different amounts of fruit. (Except percentagewise, of
course 8-} ).
The UNFAITHFUL steward--the one who did nothing with his
free gift--fell out of favour with the master. James and
Paul don't disagree! They merely point out the two sides of
the same coin. The truth is that salvation comes neither by
works alone nor by grace alone, but by the two together. The
grace comes first, but the unfaithful steward--the one who is
lazy with regard to his stewardship--will not hang onto that
grace for long. Both are necessary elements, for it is by
submitting in faithful obedience to His will that we accept
the grace that He offers.
The two books, Romans and James, are often set opposed to one
another, and that is unfortunate. The two books affirm the
necessity of both grace and faithful obedience when taken in
their entirety...it's the bits and pieces taken out of
context that suggest that the two are in opposition. I'd be
willing to guess that God gave us both books so that we would
not emphasize one facet of salvation and neglect the other.
queue ball
In His love,
John Pickett