These were the two questions:
- Yes it’s legalism. We are saved by grace.
- No, obeying the Lord is how we are saved, and how we remain “in Christ”.
Of course, no. 1 is correct in that we are saved by grace. If we obey God by doing many good works but do not really BELIEVE in God or love Him in some way that we understand personally,,,then our works will not save us. I tend to go to John 3:3,5...we cannot be saved unless we are born again.
BUT...number 2 is also right!
By obeying the Lord and responding to the call of God for every man to be saved....we become saved.
Also, AFTER we are saved we are required to obey God. Why?
Because before we're saved, it matters not if we obey or not...one cannot be anymore lost than lost. But after we become saved, we must obey God to REMAIN saved.
Some will reply that this is the same as believing that we are saved by works...but this is not my understanding. For this I go to
Johh 3:18
18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
IOW, he who does not believe in Jesus is ALREADY JUDGED, because he has not BELIEVED. He who believes in Jesus is not judged anymore because he has been saved by believing.
JLB stole my thunder because John 15:4-6 is my favorite scripture for the teaching of Jesus that we must REMAIN IN HIM, or abide in Him, in order that we may not be thrown away as a dead branch.
What does it mean to abide in Him?
To live as Jesus taught....
To change the world in our little ways by spreading His love to others.
This is doing HIS WILL,,,
doing HIS WORKS/DEEDS.
IF, we are not obeying then there is a problem with our discipleship.