Salvation

Provision, election, atonement, faith, security. Most of the argument lives here.

121 questions answered, showing 18 on page 1 of 7. About this doctrine · All topics

Whosoever WillAre we saved by faith alone, or faith plus works? How do you reconcile Paul and James?By faith alone, apart from works (Eph 2:8-9). James is not adding works to faith for salvation; he is saying a faith that saves is a living faith that produces works as its fruit (Jas 2:17). Paul speaks of the root, James of the fruit.
Whosoever WillCan a Christian lose their salvation?No. A person who has truly believed is born of God (John 1:13), sealed (Eph 1:13), and kept by the power of God through faith (1 Pet 1:5). The new birth cannot be un-born.
With Chuck SmithCan a dead man have faith? (Colossians 2:12-13)Chuck Smith read the two verses together and put faith at the center: "Every trespass, every sin has been blotted out as a result of your faith in Him." Paul says the dead are raised "through the faith of the operation of God" (Colossians 2:12), and "you, being dead in your sins... hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:13). Read Chuck on Colossians 2:12 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithCan God forgive adultery and murder?Chuck Smith, The Unpardonable Sin (Matthew 12:22-32): So the unpardonable sin is not adultery. The unpardonable sin is not murder. David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba in trying to cover his sin only compounded it because he had her husband put to death. This is so true, sometimes in seeking to cover our sins only make things worse and we only compound the whole issue. The Bible says that he who seeks to cover his sin shall not prosper but whoever will confess his sin he will be forgiven. David tried to cover it with a murder. And yet the prophet said “God has forgiven your sin.” Scripture, King James Version: Proverbs 28:13, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."; 2 Samuel 12:13, "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.". From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithCan I get to heaven by being a good person?Chuck Smith, on the rich young ruler: "Man cannot save himself. The moralist cannot save himself. No man by good works can save himself." Paul: "For by grace are ye saved through faith ... Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Read Chuck on Matthew 19:22 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithCan your name be blotted out of the Book of Life?Chuck Smith, What the World Is Coming To, chapter 5: What does Jesus mean about blotting names out of the Book of Life? He means just that. Don't think I'm going to take away from this book. For in the final chapter it says that if any man shall take away from this book, his name will be taken out of the Book of Life (Rev. 22:19). I don't want mine blotted out! You say, "What did He mean by that?" I don't know but I won't try to explain it away. Scripture, King James Version: Revelation 22:19, "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.". From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillDid Christ die for everyone, or only for the elect?For everyone. "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). The atonement is sufficient for all and applied to those who believe.
With Chuck SmithDid God make Pharaoh harden his heart?Chuck Smith put the order this way: Pharaoh "exercised that choice in hardening his heart against God, and then God firmed up his decision." The text records Pharaoh's own act: "he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them" (Exodus 8:15). Read Chuck on Exodus 7:1 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithDid the fall destroy free will?Chuck Smith read the fall and the cross as two exercises of the same capacity: "you still have a free choice," and "God has ordained that you must exercise that capacity of choice by partaking of that tree of life through Jesus Christ." Long after Eden, God still set the choice before fallen people: "therefore choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19). Read Chuck on Genesis 3:7 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillDid this site teach prevenient grace?It used the phrase and it was the wrong label for the thing. The sentence described conviction of sin and drawing through the gospel, which is the word preached and the Spirit convicting through it, not a separate grace given before and apart from the word to restore a lost ability. The page now says the thing rather than the label. Conceded and fixed.
With Chuck SmithDo I have to earn God's blessing as a Christian?Chuck Smith's answer from Galatians: "No, God does not reward me for good efforts, or even good performance." Paul asks the same question of believers: "having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:3). Read Chuck on Galatians 3:4 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillDoes 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated' refer to individuals or nations?Whosoever Will, The Grammar of Romans: And the two Old Testament passages Paul quotes about Jacob and Esau are both about nations. The first one, before the twins are even born, says “two nations are in thy womb.” Four times in that one verse it says nations and peoples. And this is the fact that ends the individual reading. Esau the man never served Jacob the man. Between the two men it ran the other way. When they met again in Genesis 33, Jacob “bowed himself to the ground seven times” before Esau, called himself “thy servant,” and called Esau “my lord” five times in one conversation. The younger bowed to the elder. It was the nation Edom that served Israel, under David. The prophecy only came true at the level of nations. It cannot be about the two individuals, because at the individual level it never happened. The second, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” is from Malachi. And Malachi says in the very next verse that he means Edom. A whole nation. Addressed centuries after the man Esau was dead. Scripture, King James Version: Genesis 25:23, "And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger."; Malachi 1:2-3, "I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."; Romans 9:13, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.".
Whosoever WillDoes "chosen vessel" (Acts 9:15) mean Paul was chosen for salvation?No. Read what he was chosen FOR. The verse says Paul was a chosen vessel to bear Christ's name, a chosen commission, not a chosen soul. Chosen for service is not the same as chosen for salvation.
With Chuck SmithDoes "Christ died for all" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) mean all people?Chuck Smith followed Paul's own logic: "if Jesus died for all men, then it must be that all men were dead." The "all" who died and the "all" Christ died for are the same "all" in one sentence: "if one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Read Chuck on 2 Corinthians 5:14 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithDoes "not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9) mean all people?Chuck Smith read the delay of judgment as time given to everyone still outside: "And so this is just time that God has given men to get right with Him." Peter names the scope himself: "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Read Chuck on 2 Peter 3:9 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithDoes "ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6) mean everyone?Chuck Smith read the ransom inside its own sentence. Two verses earlier Paul names the God "who will have all men to be saved," and Chuck took it as written: "Here Paul tells us that God desires that all men be saved." The ransom is for that same all: "Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:6). Read Chuck on 1 Timothy 2:4 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithDoes 1 John 5:13 mean I can know now that I have eternal life?Chuck Smith summed up the verse as the reason the letter exists: "So the purpose of the epistle: to bring you assurance of that eternal life." John writes it in the present tense: "that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). Read Chuck on 1 John 5:13 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillDoes 1 Timothy 2:4 mean all kinds of men?All kinds is not in the passage. All men is, twice: prayer for all men in verse 1 and God will have all men to be saved in verse 4, the same words. Kings are named in verse 2 so that we pray for them too, not so that all can shrink to categories, and Paul finishes in verse 6 with a ransom for all. Titus 3:2 uses the same phrase and nobody reads it as a sample.