We are continually saddened by quote "church leaders" that have not been able to grasp the basic Truth that everlasting life is the gift of God, bought by the precious blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ. They then go on to teach with quote "authority" error in the face of clear Biblical Truth. We want to show, from Scripture that salvation is a free gift, that God made sure through His Grace, and kindness to us by Christ Jesus. This free gift cannot be lost, forsaken, or forfeited in any way as The Scriptures tells us in Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. So God would never repent or take back or change His Mind on His Gifts and callings.
To prove that salvation is a gift and can not be earned let us consider the following Scriptures:
In Romans 5:15-16 The Word of God tells us: But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
We are also told in:
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
It is the very essence of love to give. Even sinful man and women manifest their mutual love by the exchange of gifts. Children, parents, and friends seize upon birthdays, weddings, and almost any festive season as opportunities for manifesting their love by gifts. The love of God has been shown for all time in The Gift of His Son:
John 3:16: 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.
Romans 3:24: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
We have been "justified freely", without charge, without cause, "by His grace". Here we need to pause again that we may receive the double emphasis upon the "grace" element of the gift. Grace is of such a nature that it is entirely made null and void by the intrusion of "works" or "wages".
Romans 11:6: And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Romans 4:4-5 explains: Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not our own crude sense of right and wrong rob us of the "freeness" of this gift of grace. When Romans 3:24 says clearly we are, "being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." it does not say that this freely given justification is through the fact that the Lord Jesus earned legal righteousness for us, by His obedience to the law of Moses. Such an idea robs The Gift of grace of its glory, and brings God down to the level of a bargainer with His Son, whereas it is God Himself Who loved the world, God Who gave and sent His Son, God Who justifies us freely, God Who provided the ransom which is payment in full for all sin, past, present, and future.
There are some schools of theology that teach justification through the "imputed obedience", under law, of the Lord Jesus,
Romans 3:24 declared that it is through the "redemption" that is in Christ Jesus. The same truth appears in:
Romans 5:8-9 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
And again in:
Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Christ's death dealt with our sin. His blood at once redeems, atones and makes us near to God. Redemption sets us free, and long before the administration of grace dawned, David realized that God would reckon righteousness where He forgave sin.
Romans 4:6-8 states: Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth (or assign) righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute (or assign) sin.
It was necessary that sin should be righteously dealt with, and that has been done, but it is the Glory of the Gospel that the same love that prompted our redemption and our deliverance can provide without charge, freely, and without cause (except in the great love of God Himself) "the righteousness of God apart from the law". So if the law of sin and death has been removed in Christ Jesus, how could we who the Lord will not count sin against break the law or sin?
Shall we reject this loving gift because WE do not understand how God could give it to us freely and without some external moving cause? We undervalue far too much the initial movement of God in our salvation. Who forced God in the first place to provide a ransom? What works of righteousness were accomplished, and by whom, before He would send His Gift of Love down to die? And all to a world that rejected Him and was dead in trespasses and sin.
If we take God at His Word and do not add to it or remove from it, do we not at once see that we may take the words of:
Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Here is God's own argument. The "free gift" of righteousness to the believer in The Lord Jesus is freely covered and provided for in the one great Gift of all, His own Son. Let none think that their righteousness is not resting upon a firm enough foundation-it is! It rests upon the uninfluenced grace of God, His favor to us that is unmerited by anything we have done or can do! Its bedrock is the love of God that changes not, and the fact of the Gift of Christ itself is sufficient pledge that having given Him, God will freely give, not grudgingly give, or have to be persuaded to give, but freely and without a cause, give all things that are necessary for life and glory. This does not refer only to the act of justification but covers all our needs, and our eternal blessedness.
Because of the free gift of life which is given to us and born within us, as a new man, a new nature, the Scriptures tell us:
1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
This gift of new life can not be lost nor can it be corrupted:
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
This gift or incorruptible seed can not sin. Our old nature, the flesh can and will continue to sin but the seed or new nature God placed within is incorruptible. Even in the famous comic books and movies about the fictional character Superman, the story tells us he was invincible but still corruptible. If superman was exposed to Kryptonite he would become weak then powerless and sick, and eventually die. But the gift God has given us in Christ can not be corrupted by us, the devil, or any force or action.
Let us carefully follow the instruction of Scripture in:
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Here we are told whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, why? because God's seed remains in him and the Word goes on to make a very bold statement, it says the believer cannot sin because he is born of God. Here it seems we have an apparent contradiction. We all know we have sinned since we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord in our lives and believed in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. In fact, in the first chapter of this same Book it says:
1 John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.
So if the Scriptures in Chapter 3 says we cannot sin and in this very same Book in Chapter 1 it says that if we deny we sin God's Word is not in us we certainly seem to have a contradiction. Well, this simply can not be, but many will say, "see The Scriptures are written by men and men make mistakes" or they will say "well it says that, but doesn't mean it". Others may say "there is no way to resolve such a contradiction". We say ALL Scripture is Perfect in God's Word and God can not error. We will we do to resolve apparent contradictions. First, we must understand an apparent contradiction must be in one of three places.
1. We could have a bad translation or
2. We could have a forgery or addition to Scripture that did not appear in the original text or
3. The apparent contradiction could be in our understanding.
Here the answer is simply that the apparent contradiction is in our understanding.
In Chapter 1 The Scriptures are speaking of our old nature also called the flesh or the old man. The old nature in every believer will remain until the day of their death and it is this nature that is sinful and imperfect.
In Chapter 3 The Scriptures are talking about the gift of the new nature which is perfect and incorruptible. If Christians could but learn The Truth of The Two Natures in the Child of God they would clearly understand not only their day-by-day failings or sins but the perfect saints God has made them through His blessed gift which can not sin. So the Scriptures tells us in the old nature we will continue to sin but in the new nature or seed within we cannot sin because it is born of God and is incorruptible.
1 John 3:9-10 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Verse 10 starts out saying In This, in what? in The Seed. In the seed are God's children and the devil's children. A person can have only one human father and likewise, a person can have only one spiritual father. Thankfully there are many Christians whose Father is God and only a few unbelievers who are of the seed of the wicked one. Most people around the world do not yet have a spiritual father, so tell them about Jesus Christ and how much He Loves them and all He has done to save them and give them the gift of life. To be born of the seed from above is to do righteousness, and then we can truly love one another.
Again The Word tells us in the same Book:
1 John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
The full confidence of God's Word and His Holy Apostles and saints tells us that once a person has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and believed in their hearts God has raised Him from the dead, nothing and no one, not even themselves can separate that individual from the perfect and finished work given them by God in the form of the gift of eternal life which is Incorruptible seed:
Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, 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 creature (created thing), shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
