Baqash : To Seek

I am here to address the topic of the Christian salvation in response to another online question broached by a young man who goes by the name “Admiral”. This is a weighty topic with an immense amount of disagreement as to the details. The reason this is important is because it not only determines where someone will live or not live for all of eternity, but how exactly one can be assured they are saved from death and their own selfish stupidity.

To some degree I addressed this in a previous article: https://baqash.org/2024/02/06/nothing-happens-when-i-pray-overcoming-your-lack-of-faith/ but from a roundabout way. Though it is less direct, it may be an article you should read after this one.

Paraphrased, this is the question directly from Admiral: “How are we saved by grace? Most Christians say that faith saves us and not our good works. However, Paul says that faith with no outward showing through works is dead. In the book of James, he makes it clear that Faith comes with works and you express your faith with good works. I have also thought it would be obvious that if a person believed in God then they would keep his commandments.”

What do people need to be saved from?

To know how to be saved you must understand what exactly you are being saved from. Plainly speaking, you must be saved from sin. “⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3 – Sin is the breaking of the Law of God. Romans 6:23: “²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Humanity exists in a state of sin and each one of us actively sins throughout our life. Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Isaiah 64:6: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” In Christianity, your pride, ego, and sinful self must die and be reborn with the desire only to please God and do good for His creation. Because of the plague of our sin, we are doomed to die and like Adam return to dust. Genesis 3:19: “for dust you are and to dust you will return“.

Many will argue another penalty for sin is Hell. Though it is not as clearly outlined in Scripture that “the wages of sin is Hell”, but indirectly there is reference that sin sends you to the “eternal fire.” I have an article here that presents different views on what exactly that means here. In addition to death, sin separates you from God. Isaiah 59: “…your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear“. It is not ideal to be hidden from God as Adam was in the Garden, especially when God is described as the epitome of Love. 1 John 4:7-8: “⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.“

There are many ways to understand the Law of God; one being the understanding that the natural world has an ideal setting for mankind and the rest of creation to flourish through and the breaking of that is to be contrary to the ideal. Another way to see this is simply through the Biblical lens, reading each Law listed throughout the Biblical text (including those used for the government of Ancient Israel) and trying to keep them. That is what the Jews do today, and have tried to do since their inception. A more applicable way of understanding the Law of God is to look at what was intended through the process of creation, the 10 commandments, and what Jesus’ “new” commandments are (Hint: They aren’t new at all).

Here is the 10 Commandments, as well as the “new” commands Jesus prescribes.

Commandments of Jesus: John 13:34: “³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Matthew 22:37-40: ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus also reworks and readdresses some “old” (ew those yucky old laws) laws and actually…makes them more significant.

Though some will say that both the 10 commandments and the two mentioned in Matthew are now obsolete and not applicable to Christians, most will agree that it is still bad to steal, as it is not loving to steal. Thus, this is at the very least a command that we can all agree(as people that want to be better people) should be kept.

Here in the Beatitudes He reveals that Adultery doesn’t simply apply to cheating on your wife, but that even Lusting over a woman is adultery. Matthew 5:28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:21-22: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.“

I do not have the patience to argue which laws should be kept, but I am only displaying the ones commonly pointed to as sins. Lust, Murder, Theft, Idolatry, Worship of other Gods, Hate, Lying, etc. It is interesting though, that many will keep nine of the commandments given to Moses, but exclude only one. The one with the most text of them all. I’ll leave the reader to come to their own conclusion there today, but a message to the Mormon readers. You try to keep that command, but not exactly as it is written.

The Old “New” commands

Jesus doesn’t present a new narrative when He speaks. Each and every bit of it can be traced through the “Old” Testament. In the example of these new commandments He gives…this is where to find them in the Law and Prophets. Deuteronomy 6:5: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

Leviticus 19:17-18: “¹⁷ “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. ¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.“

Jesus tells His followers to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” in the final verse of Matthew 5.

Woah, hit the brakes. Jesus is calling for his followers to be Perfect? Without blemish or spot? How could He possibly assume we could do such a thing?

Well, obviously He doesn’t assume that. If He did, I don’t think He would have willingly taken on the sin of the world (Your sin, Mine, and all the rest of humanity) and died for us. Most of us will still “die” but if you’re a follower of His then you are given “Eternal Life” or Immortality in a new body.

How to be saved from death, the fire, and be given immortality in a new body to exist forever in the presence of “Love”.

Denominationally this will change, but I will try to present the position that I personally find most logical and Biblical. What a person must “do” varies in each Christian belief system, but typically the first step is to “Believe”. John 3:16-18: “¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. “

A classic text for a classic topic. God so loved the world, that He gave his Son, so whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. But…is it really as simple as someone hearing about Jesus and believing He is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” Matthew 16:16? Or, must a believer adhere to a lifestyle and change the behavior they had previously partaken in?

Well, if we had read the entirety of John Chapter 3 we would see that simply “believing” has a bit more to it. Verse 3: “³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Verses 20-21: “²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” Here Jesus says you must be “Born again” and that those who live by the truth come to the light. He also says that one must be born of “water and the Spirit” reminiscent of the concept of Baptism. Romans 6:4: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” The text suggests that to enter the kingdom you must be baptized and enter a new life (Born again), but we do see there being exceptions to the rule. The most commonly used being the thief on the cross beside Jesus at the crucifixion. Luke 23:43: “Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise.”

With the woman caught in adultery, Jesus does not encourage the woman to continue with her life of sin and simply believe in Him to be saved. No, he says “go, and sin no more.” John 8:11. So clearly Jesus is actively calling her to change her behavior…Why would He not tell us to do the same thing?

Ephesians and James

Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Through Faith you are saved by the grace of God. It is a gift that you cannot and did not earn. This is so no one can claim that they were a good enough person that earned their way to Eternal Life.

James 2: “¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. The two segments of text I am presenting are seemingly in conflict and are often quoted by those on two opposing sides of Christian belief. When one person quotes Ephesians, the other quotes James leading to a conversation that simply can no longer be had since all they are doing is spitting proof texts. These texts and belief systems can and do co-exist in certain denominations but because of our pride and self centered ego, we must prove that we are correct. “¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.“

How can these two verses exist simultaneously? Those who believe works has nothing to do with your salvation must disregard the entirety of James Chapter 2, while accepting only the segment where it is said “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” which isn’t a new concept at all. Genesis 15:6: “ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Faith being accounted as righteousness was not a “new” concept in the time of Jesus, just as Jesus’ “new” commands were not new at all. If Jesus is God, the Word made flesh, the Creator…Then re-enforcing His commands is exactly what He would do, as He did when He declared adultery to be more than simply having sex with another woman other than your wife. Simply looking at a woman with lust is a sin and categorized as sexual immortality.

In James it says very clearly…”By works faith was made perfect.”. Abram believed and had faith in God, and because of his faith he did a work of faith. That action confirmed and proved the faith of Abram. It is also very clearly said “Man is justified by works, and not by faith only“. If you are to reject this statement, you must reject the words of Jesus when He says “ If you love me, keep my commandments.“. If you believe God when He says in Deuteronomy 6:4: ““Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!“, then the commandments given even before they were written on tablets of stone came from Jesus as well. If God is one, then each commandment given came also from Him.

I do feel it necessary to place a note for potential LDS readers in regards to this text…2 Nephi 25:23: “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”. The kicker here is the “after all we can do”…if you understand this to mean that you are capable of doing good…you cannot. Romans:7:18: “18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. 20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”…Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?“. If however you see the text and instantly understand that “all we can do” is nothing, and that you can do no good of yourself, good on you.

Not all who claim to be Christian will enter the Kingdom.

Jesus says ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Jesus says that claiming to work in His name without following His Law is not good enough, and that being a “worker of lawlessness” can be applied to even those who claim to do good in the name of Jesus.

Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians says this: “⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,^[c] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” verses 9-11. So clearly, you cannot behave in a particular way if you want to enter the Kingdom of God. Paul clearly shows that even the members of the church in Corinth were once all of those things and have gone through a process of cleansing, sanctification, and have been justified in the name of Jesus.

If you want to enter the Kingdom, if you want a new life, if you want to be better…You must be born again.

The Law and its purpose

The Law (Typically referred to as the law of Moses) regarding the sacrificial system for the atonement of sin that Ancient Judaism practiced in the desert and temple at the very least most can agree is done away with. Hebrews 10: “1For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.” However, the writer of Hebrews is clearly saying that even when those laws were in effect they were worthless and just a shadow. The Sacrificial system the Ancient Jews were participating in did nothing for them but provide a shadow to things coming in the future. If it did, then they would have been cleansed and not felt the guilt of sin. “3Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins”

The Law more broadly is the controversial area. Some will say that even the 10 commandments have been done away with and all you must do is “Love your neighbor as yourself”. However, the purpose of the law is this Romans 3:20:“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” Your failure to keep the law, makes you aware of your sin. Sometimes you will hear “The law condemns you”. Indeed it does, and that is it’s purpose according to the Biblical text. Your attempts not to lust after a woman or man will fail, and because of this you will be condemned to die.

Don’t worry…though the law points out your flaws…Isaiah 1:18: “
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” 1 John 2:2: “He (Jesus) Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”. Jesus forgives you of your sins, tells you to repent, then lean on Him so you don’t do it again. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me“

This brings me to a series of questions that the reader should consider.

If the purpose of the law is to condemn you, and point out your sin, but the law no longer exists, then what is there to point out your sin?

If you no longer sin because the law no longer exists, what do you need the blood of Jesus for?

If your works do not matter, and you can only believe and be given access to the Kingdom…do not the demons deserve entry?

Here is an article on Hell, and on Faith. One may be my best writing of my life and I am convinced I was led through the writing of it by One not of myself. Give them a read.

Hell

Faith