Yes, God said "Believe and you will be saved."
Believing itself does nothing.
God is the one who made getting saved possible through His death, burial, and resurrection. God determined that in order for anyone to access that salvation, they must put their trust in Him.
Believe, and you will be saved
Repenting of sin will not net you salvation.
Nope.
That's a work.
"To him who works, his wages are not counted as grace, but as debt."
BELIEVE, and God will grace you out.
So, what tribe of Israel are you from, again?
"To him who works, his wages are not counted as grace, but as debt."
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.
Salvation of mankind has been achieved. But whether someone is saved is conditioned (iow, God has set the conditions for His applying that salvation to someone) on whether they have put their faith in Him.
Wrong.
"To him who works, his wages are not counted as grace, but as debt."
"By grace you have been saved."
I used meritorious for a reason, Hoping, because words mean things.
Meritorious means "deserving of reward or praise."
You, Hoping, are attempting to "endure to the end" so that, come judgement day, you "deserve" (aka, "a debt to be paid") to have your name written in the Book of Life.
No matter how you try to reword it to try to make it seem more palatable, to try to get around the scripture that clearly contradicts your beliefs, that is your position.
And it is, in fact, contrary to scripture.
All have sinned, have fallen short of the glory of God.
The wages of sin is death.
You, Hoping, deserve death, eternal separation from God because of your sins.
The law condemns you, because you have violated God's law.
Since you have already violated God's law, you WILL receive your just desserts.
Mercy and grace are two sides of the same coin.
Do this, DON'T get that. Mercy is not getting what you DO deserve. You deserve death. God has provided a way, not of works, but out of mercy, to have your sins paid for ("wages," "debt").
Don't do this, DO get that. Grace is getting something you DON'T deserve. You do not
deserve to have eternal life. But by NOT working, and instead, placing your trust in God to save you, God will give you life.
The confused one here is you, since you think that whenever "works" are mentioned without it mentioning the Mosaic Law, it must automatically mean "keeping the Mosaic Law," when that's just not the case.
Under the current dispensation, you cannot be obedient to God if you have not first placed your trust in Him.
You keep trying to apply the house rules of the previous dispensation to the current.
Nope.
Trying to reach heaven, acquire eternal life, through the practicing of the law, is like trying to shoot a musket here on Earth to try to hit a target in the most distant star system.
It is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE.
YOU CANNOT obey enough to earn your salvation.
Paul says in Romans 3:
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
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The effects of real faith are that one is saved, and that a relationship between the one who believes and God is restored, making it possible for him to love God.
Your self-righteousness is showing.
You still live in your flesh, and as such, are subject to the desires of the flesh.
The gift of God is acquired by grace through faith, not of works, not of repentance from sin.
It is by putting your faith in the one who can save you.
You certainly have the "gift" of self-righteousness.
Or, I just don't appreciate you (as anyone would not) making ambiguous comments that could be interpreted as such.
Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.
If you have something to say, SAY IT, don't beat around the bush making (not so subtle) innuendos about our beliefs.
See below.
In what insane world do you exist in that a murder indictment against someone is "good news"?
In other words, "I like my doctrine that makes it seem like I am now sinlessly perfect, and that I am being a good person."
Who's position is truly accommodating sin, Hoping?
The one which recognizes that sin is still a problem in our lives, and tells its tenants to seek God? OR the one simply denies it happens, while being utterly self-righteous, not relying on God to save, but rather on one's own merits?
You were addressed in my post below.
That's rich, coming from someone who is so self-righteous he denies that commits sin!
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Here, I'll compromise, because I really do want you to answer my challenges to your position.
I'll remove the Scripture from my post, and all the minor points that have nothing to do with the main thrust of my argument, so that you can see that it really is not very long, and that what makes it "long" is the fact that I'm literally quoting large passages of scripture to support my points.
However, I'm not going to edit my original post.
If you want to respond to the short post I made, then you'll need to quote it, and remove the portions that don't need to be responded to. No, that does not mean you get to pick and choose willy nilly what you get to respond to. It means that you need to respond to the direct points I made about your position.
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