Works for Salvation: Humility

[07-07-07]

Jesus said that without the works of humility, one cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 18
[1] At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
[2] And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
[3] And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[4] Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Jesus said that without the works of humility, one cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 18
[1] At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
[2] And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
[3] And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[4] Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Read the passage again.
it says one must be converted.
We cannot convert ourself..
Jesus is speaking a truth. Unless we become humble like the child. we will never recieve christ in Gods terms.. Jesus said the same thing in his sermon. Unless we become poor in spirit (bankrupt) we will nto see the kingdom..

 

[07-07-07]

Read the passage again.
it says one must be converted.
We cannot convert ourself..
Jesus is speaking a truth. Unless we become humble like the child. we will never recieve christ in Gods terms.. Jesus said the same thing in his sermon. Unless we become poor in spirit (bankrupt) we will nto see the kingdom..

What? Jesus said there was something for a person to do, i.e., a work, to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

What? Jesus said there was something for a person to do, i.e., a work, to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

No

He said we must become like the child..

That is not a work. it is the work of God in our lives.. As he said in John 6. it is the work of God we believe

I suggest you not take credit away from God

 

[Randy Kluth]

Jesus said that without the works of humility, one cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 18
[1] At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
[2] And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
[3] And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[4] Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

We certainly must be humble and do works with a humble spirit. But I'm curious why you wish to character this as "works of humility?" It sounds as if you are in some kind of debate with those who believe in Grace without Works?

If so, this is a near-endless debate based on semantics where there is an unwillingness to recognize the difference between "atoning works" and "the ability to do good works." All men can do good works, but only Christ could atone for our sins.

In order to be saved men must apply for Christ's atoning benefits, not by working for them but by demonstrating by our works that we are willing to enter into the benefits of his atonement. To enter into the benefits of Christ's atonement we choose to show repentance from our dead works and our commitment to living in his good works. This is a choice to enter into Christian Salvation, but it is not a work to earn our Salvation.

Doing good works, therefore, is part of our commitment to enter into Christ's righteousness, which means only that we commit to works of Grace, and not to works of Atonement.

 

[07-07-07]

No

He said we must become like the child..

That is not a work. it is the work of God in our lives.. As he said in John 6. it is the work of God we believe

I suggest you not take credit away from God

You have created your own definition of work.

 

[07-07-07]

We certainly must be humble and do works with a humble spirit. But I'm curious why you wish to character this as "works of humility?" It sounds as if you are in some kind of debate with those who believe in Grace without Works?

If so, this is a near-endless debate based on semantics where there is an unwillingness to recognize the difference between "atoning works" and "the ability to do good works." All men can do good works, but only Christ could atone for our sins.

In order to be saved men must apply for Christ's atoning benefits, not by working for them but by demonstrating by our works that we are willing to enter into the benefits of his atonement. To enter into the benefits of Christ's atonement we choose to show repentance from our dead works and our commitment to living in his good works. This is a choice to enter into Christian Salvation, but it is not a work to earn our Salvation.

Doing good works, therefore, is part of our commitment to enter into Christ's righteousness, which means only that we commit to works of Grace, and not to works of Atonement.

Truth is, we must "do" things to inherit eternal life. This is merely one instance where Jesus said that there is something required to inherit the kingdom of God. Many, however, teach that Jesus finished everything at the Cross. No, the Cross is an open door that we could never enter without Jesus' great sacrifice. The Cross is an invitation, not the end of our Salvation.

 

[Randy Kluth]

Truth is, we must "do" things to inherit eternal life. This is merely one instance where Jesus said that there is something required to inherit the kingdom of God. Many, however, teach that Jesus finished everything at the Cross. No, the Cross is an open door that we could never enter without Jesus' great sacrifice. The Cross is an invitation, not the end of our Salvation.

You're just rehashing the argument I laid out for you. Did I fail to communicate the issue?

I do agree we must *do* things, but it depends on what you claim we're actually "doing?" We do not earn our own Salvation. But we do choose to repent of our own independent works, choosing instead to "abide in the vine."

Abiding in the vine does not earn our Salvation. But it is the choice we make to enter into the Salvation the atonement of which only Christ could work.

Choosing to do Christian works is not sufficient for Salvation unless the works we are choosing fall under the umbrella of Christ's atonement. We simultaneously choose to embrace Christ's atonement and his works. Then we are truly choosing Christ's atonement, since that atonement comes with the requirement that we repent of our own independent works.

 

[07-07-07]

You're just rehashing the argument I laid out for you. Did I fail to communicate the issue?

I do agree we must *do* things, but it depends on what you claim we're actually "doing?" We do not earn our own Salvation. But we do choose to repent of our own independent works, choosing instead to "abide in the vine."

Abiding in the vine does not earn our Salvation. But it is the choice we make to enter into the Salvation the atonement of which only Christ could work.

Choosing to do Christian works is not sufficient for Salvation unless the works we are choosing fall under the umbrella of Christ's atonement. We simultaneously choose to embrace Christ's atonement and his works. Then we are truly choosing Christ's atonement, since that atonement comes with the requirement that we repent of our own independent works.

If we are not diligent with applying Jesus' teachings to our lives from our hearts, which is work by the way, we will not inherit eternal life.

Philippians 2
[12] Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

 

[rwb]

If we are not diligent with applying Jesus' teachings to our lives from our hearts, which is work by the way, we will not inherit eternal life.

Philippians 2
[12] Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

This is a good verse to bring forth. Notice the verse says to WORK OUT, it does not say WORK FOR. How does one work OUT his/her salvation? For one with fear and trembling, and to understand the verse in context, we find that God, through His Spirit is working in us that after we have received salvation by grace through faith, we do good works not through ourselves for salvation but through God working in us because we are saved.

Philippians 2:13 (KJV) For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

 

[Randy Kluth]

If we are not diligent with applying Jesus' teachings to our lives from our hearts, which is work by the way, we will not inherit eternal life.

Philippians 2
[12] Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

If you are using the word "works" in this context, I would whole-heartedly agree with you. We have to take the initiative, and "work out our Salvation." This means we must do something. We must choose, and we must choose to *do* something.

Salvation requires that we freely choose it as an option, and do what is necessary to obtain that Salvation. We don't do the work of atonement, but we do do the work necessary to obtain that free gift.

If someone writes me a letter and sends it to my mailbox, that person does the work of writing me a letter. But to obtain that letter I have to choose to go down to my mailbox and retrieve that letter.

It's that way with Salvation. Christ made Eternal Life available to Man by doing the work of atonement. He died on the cross and made eternal life freely available to anybody who chooses to meet the conditions necessary to obtain it.

There are conditions necessary for us to meet in order to obtain Eternal Life. We must choose to give up our own natural life and choices to live by the Spiritual Life he has made available to us. This means we choose to repent of our own ways and opt to live exclusively by his Spiritual Life, which contains the legal grounds for Eternal Life.

We don't have to do it perfectly, but that's the choice we have to make. If you are defining this as a "work," then yes, we must make this choice and demonstrate that choice.