Salvation

3. I have read in your web site the following words: ‘Now, by the grace of God, I will show you that it is not by works that man is set free from sin, it is not by works that man is justified, it is not by works that man receives remission of sins, it is not by works that man receives eternal life, but only through faith; therefore by the grace of God (freely). Thus every human merit is absolutely excluded from salvation; every human effort done to gain salvation is useless and offensive toward Christ Jesus. Salvation is by grace, solely by grace; man can’t gain it, but he must receive it from the hand of God. If a Church does not teach this, it does not preach the Gospel of the grace of God but another Gospel. And the Roman Catholic Church is among those Churches who preach another Gospel. Now I am going to demonstrate it.’ Apart from the truthfulness of your thesis, and from the excellence of your demonstration, do you not think that the result of such a doctrine is that we don’t need to keep the commandments of God, since salvation is given by God according to His will, by grace, and we do not need to gain it? If the religious duties have nothing to do with our salvation, what is the use of keeping them?

As for salvation, I have said over and over again that it is free because man cannot receive it by works but only by the grace of God through faith. Obviously when one receives salvation, he starts a new path, that is, he starts to walk with God, and he must walk in a manner worthy of the holy calling with which God called him. And how can he walk in a manner worthy of God? By keeping the commandments of God. Therefore, for a Christian to keep the commandments of God is very important, for Paul says to the Corinthians that “keeping the commandments of God is what matters” (1 Corinthians 7:19 – NKJV). By keeping the commandments of God we lay up for ourselves a treasure in heaven, I mean that in that day we will receive our own reward from God according to our good works. This reward, however, is not eternal life, because eternal life is the gift of God, Therefore, when one repents of his sins and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he receives remission of sins and eternal life, and by keeping God’s precepts he lays up for himself a treasure in heaven.

To give you a practical example, I say to you this, ‘By believing in Christ one is saved from sin and hell, and by giving alms to the poor and by helping widows and orphans, and by visiting the sick, and by rendering good for evil, etc., he lays up for himself a treasure in heaven and in that day God will make this treasure known to each one of us. Therefore, the more we have laboured in the Lord, the greater our reward will be. Therefore we are very much encouraged to keep the commandments of God. On the other hand, if we say we have faith but we don’t have works, our faith will be a dead faith, a vain faith. However, I say it again, the salvation of our soul is by grace.

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