Questions & Answers
Answers to Your Bible Questions
by Dave Armstrong
Note: The questions below were submitted in response to the article titled "Christianity's Best Kept Secret" written by Dave Armstrong.
Q: In your article you said that the Bible teaches that salvation is "free" and "apart from works". If this is true why should anyone bother to try and live a good life?
A: As we have seen in Ephesians 2:9, salvation is “the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast.” If you continue to read verse 10, it says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” In other words, God’s purpose in saving us is to enable us to do works that are pleasing to Him. Someone has correctly said, "good works are the fruit of salvation, not the root" and "good works are not the cause of salvation; they are the effect". In addition, the Scripture indicates that God will discipline the believer who lives in disobedience to Him (see Hebrews 12:6, Psalm 89:32).
Q: What about the statement “faith without works is dead” in James 2:17?
A: The basic idea in this passage in James is that if a person has real faith, the kind that justifies and saves, he will show it to others by his works. We can’t see a person’s faith but we can see its results. Any true child of God will experience a changed life. James illustrates the principle that saving faith always manifests itself by good works. Using the lives of Abraham and Rahab, he shows that, sometime after receiving salvation, they demonstrated their faith to others by their works.
Q: Will I be saved if I am a member of the right church?
A: When I ask people the question "If you were to stand before God and he were to say to you 'Why should I let you into my heaven?", I sometimes get a response like; "Well I’m a Catholic or I’m a Lutheran or I have godly parents". Sorry, that won’t do. You can’t hide behind your church or your family. God will judge us as individuals, not as families or groups. Romans 14:12 says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God”.
Q: What about baptism? Is it a requirement for salvation?
A: In Bible times people were baptized in water after believing in Christ. Just like good works, baptism follows salvation. Nowhere in scripture does it say one is lost if he is not baptized. It does say repeatedly however, that one will be lost if he fails to believe in Christ (see Mark 16:16, John 3:18&36). The story of the thief on the cross shows that one is saved without baptism; Jesus told him, “today you will be with me in paradise”. The thief died that same day and was never baptized.
Q: What about the people that have never heard about Jesus?
A: The Bible answers this issue in principle and by illustration. God says in Jeremiah 29:13, “You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart”. Acts 17:27 conveys the same idea; “...if perhaps they might feel for Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us”. Psalm 27 describes how creation shows men things about God and that His message has gone out “to the ends of the earth”. Romans 1:18 says that people who do not respond to these Divine overtures are “without excuse”. There are many instances recorded in scripture where God went to great lengths to get the gospel to a seeking individual (see Acts 8:26-29, Acts 10:1-6, Acts 16:9-10).
Q: Aren’t there other ways to heaven besides Jesus? What about Mohamed, Buddha or Confucius?
A: Most religions recognize man’s separation from God. This separation is caused by the huge moral gap between God’s holiness and man’s sinful nature. Only Christ offers an acceptable solution to our sin problem. Sin must be punished. Both the Old and New Testament teach that the penalty for breaking God’s law is death. Jesus’ death was unique because it paid the penalty. Jesus is both man and God and therefore sinless. Since He was sinless he could take our sins upon Himself and die as our substitute. His resurrection from the dead is proof that God the Father accepted His payment for our sins. No other person in history was sinless. No other person died for our sins. No other person rose from the dead.
Q: What about purgatory?
A: Neither the term purgatory nor the concept of spending our afterlife in a place that is better than hell but worse than heaven appear in the Bible (Note: There is reference to praying for the dead in the apocryphal book of II Maccabees but the majority of Christians and all Jews do not accept these books to be part of the Bible. It’s not a good idea to base a belief on a questionable source.) What I find so troubling about the teaching of purgatory is that it directly contradicts the clear and important teaching in the Bible regarding the finished work of Christ. Jesus himself claimed that our sin-debt was “paid in full” (John 19:30). Hebrews 10 emphasizes that Christ’s death was “once for all” and “for all time”. To suggest that the suffering of Jesus was insufficient to pay for all sin for all time denies the Biblical teaching of propitiation---the doctrine that God’s wrath toward our sin was completely satisfied at the cross (see I John 4:10, Isaiah 53:11).
Q: Did Jesus tell the rich young ruler it was necessary to keep the commandments to receive eternal life (Luke 18:7-23)?
A: The young man approached Jesus with the presupposition that he could do something to save himself (see John 6:28-29). Jesus directed his attention to the Commandments, a standard that everyone has broken (see James 2:10). Jesus demonstrated that the young man had broken the commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” because he was unwilling to sell his possessions to help the poor. The man would not admit he was a sinner and refused to follow Jesus.
Q: You have stated in you article that based on Ephesians 2:8&9 and other passages from the Bible, salvation is "a free gift received by faith in Christ alone". This seems like a 'get out of jail free' offer. Does this mean that someone can just believe in Christ and then live any way they want?
A: The answer is yes and no. Yes, we do get out of jail free. Salvation is offered by God freely to anyone who depends on Christ’s death to save him (see Romans 3:24, Romans 6:23). It is free to us because someone else (Jesus) paid the awful penalty that we deserve. But the part of your question about living anyway you want demands an emphatic “NO” for several reasons. First, we must realize that when a person puts his trust in Christ, he becomes a child of God. God is particularly concerned about how his children live and act because they represent Him on earth. God goes to great lengths to produce maturity and character in his children. The believer who thinks he can live however he wishes, and who fails to mature in his faith, will quickly discover the principle of divine discipline. "Whom the Lord loves he disciplines" (see Psalm 89:32, Hebrews chapter 12:6). God will make life miserable for a disobedient, rebellious child. Secondly, when a person becomes a child of God, he receives the Holy Spirit. This means that God actually lives inside the believer through His indwelling Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is designed by God to produce behavior that is pleasing to God. Galatians 5:22 states: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faith”. Third, Jesus said “Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven…”. Clearly there are those “that profess to know God but by their works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). The apostles Paul, James and John all give us reason to doubt the reality of a person’s faith if it does not produce a positive change in behavior (see 2 Corinthians 5:17, James 2:15-17, 1 John 2:4).
Do you have a question about Christianity and the Bible or about your relationship to God? We welcome you to submit your question.
Answers to Your Bible Questions
by Dave Armstrong
Note: The questions below were submitted in response to the article titled "Christianity's Best Kept Secret" written by Dave Armstrong.
Q: In your article you said that the Bible teaches that salvation is "free" and "apart from works". If this is true why should anyone bother to try and live a good life?
A: As we have seen in Ephesians 2:9, salvation is “the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast.” If you continue to read verse 10, it says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” In other words, God’s purpose in saving us is to enable us to do works that are pleasing to Him. Someone has correctly said, "good works are the fruit of salvation, not the root" and "good works are not the cause of salvation; they are the effect". In addition, the Scripture indicates that God will discipline the believer who lives in disobedience to Him (see Hebrews 12:6, Psalm 89:32).
Q: What about the statement “faith without works is dead” in James 2:17?
A: The basic idea in this passage in James is that if a person has real faith, the kind that justifies and saves, he will show it to others by his works. We can’t see a person’s faith but we can see its results. Any true child of God will experience a changed life. James illustrates the principle that saving faith always manifests itself by good works. Using the lives of Abraham and Rahab, he shows that, sometime after receiving salvation, they demonstrated their faith to others by their works.
Q: Will I be saved if I am a member of the right church?
A: When I ask people the question "If you were to stand before God and he were to say to you 'Why should I let you into my heaven?", I sometimes get a response like; "Well I’m a Catholic or I’m a Lutheran or I have godly parents". Sorry, that won’t do. You can’t hide behind your church or your family. God will judge us as individuals, not as families or groups. Romans 14:12 says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God”.
Q: What about baptism? Is it a requirement for salvation?
A: In Bible times people were baptized in water after believing in Christ. Just like good works, baptism follows salvation. Nowhere in scripture does it say one is lost if he is not baptized. It does say repeatedly however, that one will be lost if he fails to believe in Christ (see Mark 16:16, John 3:18&36). The story of the thief on the cross shows that one is saved without baptism; Jesus told him, “today you will be with me in paradise”. The thief died that same day and was never baptized.
Q: What about the people that have never heard about Jesus?
A: The Bible answers this issue in principle and by illustration. God says in Jeremiah 29:13, “You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart”. Acts 17:27 conveys the same idea; “...if perhaps they might feel for Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us”. Psalm 27 describes how creation shows men things about God and that His message has gone out “to the ends of the earth”. Romans 1:18 says that people who do not respond to these Divine overtures are “without excuse”. There are many instances recorded in scripture where God went to great lengths to get the gospel to a seeking individual (see Acts 8:26-29, Acts 10:1-6, Acts 16:9-10).
Q: Aren’t there other ways to heaven besides Jesus? What about Mohamed, Buddha or Confucius?
A: Most religions recognize man’s separation from God. This separation is caused by the huge moral gap between God’s holiness and man’s sinful nature. Only Christ offers an acceptable solution to our sin problem. Sin must be punished. Both the Old and New Testament teach that the penalty for breaking God’s law is death. Jesus’ death was unique because it paid the penalty. Jesus is both man and God and therefore sinless. Since He was sinless he could take our sins upon Himself and die as our substitute. His resurrection from the dead is proof that God the Father accepted His payment for our sins. No other person in history was sinless. No other person died for our sins. No other person rose from the dead.
Q: What about purgatory?
A: Neither the term purgatory nor the concept of spending our afterlife in a place that is better than hell but worse than heaven appear in the Bible (Note: There is reference to praying for the dead in the apocryphal book of II Maccabees but the majority of Christians and all Jews do not accept these books to be part of the Bible. It’s not a good idea to base a belief on a questionable source.) What I find so troubling about the teaching of purgatory is that it directly contradicts the clear and important teaching in the Bible regarding the finished work of Christ. Jesus himself claimed that our sin-debt was “paid in full” (John 19:30). Hebrews 10 emphasizes that Christ’s death was “once for all” and “for all time”. To suggest that the suffering of Jesus was insufficient to pay for all sin for all time denies the Biblical teaching of propitiation---the doctrine that God’s wrath toward our sin was completely satisfied at the cross (see I John 4:10, Isaiah 53:11).
Q: Did Jesus tell the rich young ruler it was necessary to keep the commandments to receive eternal life (Luke 18:7-23)?
A: The young man approached Jesus with the presupposition that he could do something to save himself (see John 6:28-29). Jesus directed his attention to the Commandments, a standard that everyone has broken (see James 2:10). Jesus demonstrated that the young man had broken the commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” because he was unwilling to sell his possessions to help the poor. The man would not admit he was a sinner and refused to follow Jesus.
Q: You have stated in you article that based on Ephesians 2:8&9 and other passages from the Bible, salvation is "a free gift received by faith in Christ alone". This seems like a 'get out of jail free' offer. Does this mean that someone can just believe in Christ and then live any way they want?
A: The answer is yes and no. Yes, we do get out of jail free. Salvation is offered by God freely to anyone who depends on Christ’s death to save him (see Romans 3:24, Romans 6:23). It is free to us because someone else (Jesus) paid the awful penalty that we deserve. But the part of your question about living anyway you want demands an emphatic “NO” for several reasons. First, we must realize that when a person puts his trust in Christ, he becomes a child of God. God is particularly concerned about how his children live and act because they represent Him on earth. God goes to great lengths to produce maturity and character in his children. The believer who thinks he can live however he wishes, and who fails to mature in his faith, will quickly discover the principle of divine discipline. "Whom the Lord loves he disciplines" (see Psalm 89:32, Hebrews chapter 12:6). God will make life miserable for a disobedient, rebellious child. Secondly, when a person becomes a child of God, he receives the Holy Spirit. This means that God actually lives inside the believer through His indwelling Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is designed by God to produce behavior that is pleasing to God. Galatians 5:22 states: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faith”. Third, Jesus said “Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven…”. Clearly there are those “that profess to know God but by their works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). The apostles Paul, James and John all give us reason to doubt the reality of a person’s faith if it does not produce a positive change in behavior (see 2 Corinthians 5:17, James 2:15-17, 1 John 2:4).
Do you have a question about Christianity and the Bible or about your relationship to God? We welcome you to submit your question.
