So many people seem to have got the wrong end of the stick on what I have been saying, that I think it must have been my fault. My posts may not have been clear enough that far from asking “what is necessary from these things to be saved?” I actually believe that salvation itself is a gift from God.
Our faith is not what saves us, rather it is God’s grace in granting us the faith that is itself a gift of God. As soon as we introduce any element at all into our salvation that is down to us, it is impossible for us not to boast of it or to believe that we earnt the right to heaven. Galations 2 is a clear desctiption of this- although God intends us to do certain things after salvation salvation itself is granted us by him for no other reason than he chooses to.
I do believe that it is possible to be saved by a snippet of truth which is associated with a rebirth which leads to faith. But I still say that a thorough understanding of the gospel requires us to talk about sin, repentance, punishment, baptisms in water and the spirit.
Gal 2:1-10 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body [1] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But [2] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them
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