Who Then Can Be Saved?

Chris raised an interesting topic in his last post on the story of Demas, a man who served with and eventually deserted the apostle Paul at a time when the early church was rapidly expanding and God’s power was frequently made apparent through the miracles done in His name. Chris’s conclusion was that Demas was probably never truly saved. He might have been attracted by the power of Christ that he saw working in Paul or the joy he felt in partaking in something that was much greater than himself but he never truly allowed Christ to be ruler of his life. The fact that someone could have served with Paul as a missionary and never have been saved is troubling because it would put into question the salvation of a lot of us who live in the US. Some might think it a blessing but I think we in the western world are plagued by an easy Christianity. For this reason, I want to spend some time on the topic of salvation, on what it takes to be saved, if we can lose our salvation, and finally if we can be assured of it.

As a reminder, the purpose of this blog is to separate truth from cultural conceptions of Christianity. I do not presume to have all the answers to these questions but I can lay out my arguments based on what I think the scriptures tell us. These questions are abstract and can hardly be proven. God alone knows the heart of man and many of these questions will not be answered until we die. Despite this uncertainty I still think it is vital to discuss since we are called to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5).

Salvation:

I think we are only kidding ourselves if we think that “raising our hands when all eyes are closed” or “walking an aisle” or even “praying a prayer” makes us a Christian. We have taken Romans 10:9-10 completely out of context and shaped it into what we want it to say. The NIV version says “if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” This verse is pretty comforting to a lot of people because they think all they have to say is “oh yea, of course, I believe in Jesus, I prayed a prayer” and that secures their ticket to Heaven. Sadly, I think the true meaning of this verse is lost to the masses, many of whom will probably never bother to actually read the Bible to see if there might be more required for salvation than what it seems on the surface of Romans 10:9.

I love reading the Amplified version of the Bible because of it’s emphasis on accurately conveying the true meaning of a word or passage. Look at the difference in Romans 10:9-10.. “Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the hear a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation”.

I think our inability to truly grasp the entirety of this verse’s message comes from the watering down of some words in certain translations of scripture. In particular, I think the word “believe” has lost much of the power it once had. To believe means to trust in or rely on something and when we say things like “I believe the Colts are going to win the superbowl this year” we dilute our belief into a casual hope that won’t really affect us whether we are proved right or wrong.

True belief necessitates change. Here’s a simple analogy. Let’s say I really love doughnuts and after eating half a dozen/day for a couple months I put on 30 pounds and almost have a heart attack. I go to see a doctor and he tells me, “you need to stop eating doughnuts because they raise your cholesterol.” I can agree with the doctor and say “yes, I agree with you, I believe doughnuts are bad for me,” but if I don’t stop eating doughnuts, I don’t really believe that they are bad for me.

So yes, I agree with Chris. I think there is a difference between a believer and a disciple and I would lean towards the idea that Heaven is reserved for disciples. Matthew 7:21 says “not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.” And in James 2:18 we see that “faith without deeds is dead” and that belief in itself doesn’t mean much. Verse 19 goes on to say “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.”

More to come..