May 19, 2007
Newsletter Archives

When we insist that salvation is a free gift, we also insist that those who receive God’s free gift will unquestionably live like they have received it.
The apostle Paul was accused of saying that salvation was so free that a person could “live like the devil” and still go to heaven. He distinctly denies that, saying, “And why not say (just as we are slandered and just as some imply us to be saying), let us do evil things so that good things shall come? Whose condemnation is deserved” Romans 3:8. The apostle James reiterated this, stating, “Even faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone” James 2:17. While neither Paul not James (nor any other Bible writer) believed good works save the soul, they firmly believed that a right relationship with God was a life-changing experience.
Salvation is not on a point system that once we accumulate enough “air miles” we get a flight to heaven. Salvation is free. Nevertheless, when people profess to be Christians and don’t live like it, they give us every reason to doubt their Christian profession. Most likely they were never genuine Christians in the first place.
Paul clearly and unequivocally preached against such behavior. Immediately after stating that eternal life is a free gift, he asks and answers the question, “what shall we say the? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:1,2.
Hence when we teach that salvation is free, we also teach that the free gift is a transforming gift. Someone put it succinctly, we preach “a belief that behaves!”

Russ Nesbit