{"id":673,"date":"2011-09-07T11:28:58","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T15:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/?p=673"},"modified":"2011-09-07T11:28:58","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T15:28:58","slug":"maintaining-salvation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/?page_id=673","title":{"rendered":"Maintaining Salvation"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a lot of debate in church circles concerning salvation and whether or not it can be lost or forfeited.\u00a0 Salvation is free because it does not cost us anything.\u00a0 Salvation is a gift; Eph. 2:8, \u201c\u2026..by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God\u2026..\u201d\u00a0 One obtains the gift of salvation through faith and it is impossible to please God without faith; Heb. 11:6, <\/span>\u201c\u2026..without faith it is<\/em> impossible to please him.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>Now that we have been given this free gift of salvation, is there anything we have to do to retain possession of it, or is it guaranteed forever?\u00a0 We took possession of salvation through faith; therefore is stands to reason that we have to remain faithful in order to retain possession of our salvation. \u00a0\u00a0If one does not have to remain faithful; that implies he can never lose or forfeit his salvation.\u00a0 If one cannot lose or forfeit his salvation; that implies that he is free or immune from sin; therefore requiring no effort on his behalf.\u00a0 If that is the case, why does scripture clearly warn us that we are to protect our selves at all times; Eph. 6:11, <\/span>\u201cPut on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that salvation is not effortless; it requires action.\u00a0 We received our salvation through faith.\u00a0 We retain salvation by faith. We show our salvation by our works; James 2:17, \u201cEven so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.\u201d\u00a0 Without works; our faith is dead; therefore without works our salvation is dead or ceases to exist.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The works mentioned here is not some great act.\u00a0 It is the simple act of love; giving your neighbors the things necessary to sustain life; James 2:15-16, <\/span>\u201cIf a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye<\/em> warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it<\/em> profit\u2026..\u201d\u00a0 This is best summed up in; James 4:17, <\/span>\u201cTherefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.\u201d\u00a0 Yes salvation can be forfeited.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a lot of debate in church circles concerning salvation and whether or not it can be lost or forfeited.\u00a0 Salvation is free because it does not cost us anything.\u00a0 Salvation is a gift; Eph. 2:8, \u201c\u2026..by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God\u2026..\u201d\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-673","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":674,"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/673\/revisions\/674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epistleofchrist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}