Contradictory Salvation
EXCERPT FROM A CHURCH DOCTRINAL STATEMENT
Apart from Jesus Christ, all people are spiritually lost and, because of sin, deserve the judgment of God. However, God gives salvation and eternal life to anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ and in His sacrifice on his or her behalf. Salvation cannot be earned through personal goodness or human effort. It is a gift that must be received by humble repentance and faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross.
RESPONSE
The following three observations seem needful:
Natural Incapacity - A natural man is incapable of trusting God for salvation given that he has no thought of God (Ps 10:4) and will not learn righteousness (Is 26:10). It follows that a plan where God gives eternal life to anyone who trusts, will result in universal damnation, because ma in his natural state lacks faith and is incapable of such trust (II Thessalonians 3:2, Galatians 5:22, Romans 8:7). God must regenerate a sinner in order for him to possess the spiritual capacities required to trust God. It is for this reason that Jesus Christ taught, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) Many in Christendom teach, “Except a man see the Kingdom of God, as represented in the gospel, he cannot be born again.” It is no undue hyperbole to point out that this is precisely the opposite of what Christ taught and it is taught in objection to sovereign election and limited atonement.
Trusting God is Good - Clearly trusting God is a good thing to do. It follows that if this good thing is required to obtain eternal life then the statement that, “salvation cannot be earned through personal goodness or human effort” is false. The doctrinal statements of many Christian churches in our time suggest that this contradiction is sound doctrine. It is not. The scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35) and thus logical contradictions are an indication of doctrinal error.
Gifts Do Not Require Reception - If the gift “must be received by humble repentance and faith in Christ” then it requires capacities that the natural man is utterly devoid of having. (Romans 3:10-18) What’s more, the idea that - a gift must be received in order to be in effect - is evidently false. Our natural lives are a gift from God, yet none of us had to willingly and actively receive it in order to become a beneficiary of that gift. Clearly a gift can be given that brings vital benefit without any wiling or active reception on the part of the beneficiary.
Over the years I have learned a LOT from studying the doctrinal statements of various Christian denominations. If one examines them with the requisite degree of biblical skepticism, I believe one finds that they often contradict themselves as in this example. For anyone who has any questions regarding some church’s doctrinal statement, I’d be glad to provide an analysis of any example you send my way.
Search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11).
- Elder Daniel Samons