Many focus strongly on Pauls iconic phrase salvation by faith, and while this is very true it isn't the whole picture of salvation. Once saved is there any responsibility of a person? I believe so and many on this forum seem to say that many in churches are teaching a cheap grace, or that there is no responsibility after faith. I do believe that there is a responsibility for people to try and be holy and find it a bit sad that some would imply that this teaching does not imply that.
If we look at John chapter 17 it is the end of Jesus farewell discourse. He finishes by praying for his disciples and those who would believe because of their message. In it he says in 17:2 that Jesus has authority to give eternal life to those whom the father has given to him. He then goes on to explain what eternal life means. In John 17:3, Jesus explains eternal life, salvation, as 'that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.'
One question that I think is important in understanding what Jesus is teaching here is, 'what does know mean?' Does this mean that we know things about God and the Jesus? Or does it mean something else?
In the Hebrew mindset, the idea of knowledge is experiential. In Gen 4:1 Adam 'knew' his wife Eve. They have sexual intercourse, they had intimate, experiential knowledge of each other. When Jesus talks of knowing the father, and knowing Jesus, he speaks of experiential knowledge, which comes from relationship.
If we accept this, then Jesus' teaching in John 17 is that salvation comes from having a relationship with the father and the son. This is again confirmed in his teaching in Matthew 7:21-23. Here we have the story of people coming up to Jesus, calling Lord, lord (having right theology) prophesying, casting out demons and doing many deeds of power (doing religious or righteous acts) and yet not entering the kingdom of heaven (being saved). Why not? The answer is that Jesus did not know them. Does this mean that there are people in the world that Jesus doesn't know about? Of course not! What it does mean is the idea of experiential knowledge, or relationship is at the heart of what Jesus is looking for in people.
(If you want to get very technical and academic about it the Johannine tradition and the synoptic tradition both agree that the concept of knowing Jesus is central to Jesus' understanding of being saved)
But this idea is not just limited to this two passages. In Paul the concept of being a child of God (technically a son – whether male or female - because in their cultural a son inherits and women didn't) is central to the idea of inheriting the promises of God, salvation. Consider Gal 4:6 – And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying “Abba†“Fatherâ€. The image of a parent – child is surely an image of a loving relationship.
Note that this idea of God's people being God's children was not new with Paul. In John 8:41 the Jews when arguing with Jesus say they have God as their father. They claim to be children of God.
But salvation is not just limited the image of the father – child. In Rev 21:9 we have the concept of the bride of the lamb, the bride of Christ, which is his church, those who are saved. Yet again the defining element of the metaphor is the idea of relationship. There is a loving relationship between the bride and the bridegroom.
Again this idea of marriage being a metaphor for the relationship between God and his people is not new. Hosea takes up this idea as well. ( Does God have two brides?)
But we can't just leave the idea of salvation as relationship at that. If we did, then some might twist this to say we can do whatever we like and not strive to holiness.
People were made to have relationship with God. However, as Gen 3 teaches us, people choose to go their own way. There was a break in the relationship. In order for any relationship to be re-established a few things need to happen. This is the same with people's relationship with God.
There needs to be acknowledgement of the wrong. We can never have true reconciliation with someone with they don't acknowledge the wrong they are done. And it isn't just a matter of acknowledgement but of truly owning that wrong. For example, if an alcoholic “confesses†being an alcoholic that confession means very little if the alcoholic continues to spent most of their time in a bar (which is the case of my father-in-law). The alcoholic in this situation really hasn't owned the fact that they are an alcoholic. The alcoholic isn't acting in a way that says, yes I'm an alcoholic therefore I need to change the way I live my life.
Part of the truly owning the wrong is to make restitution. Unfortunately when it comes to humanity's relationship with God there is really nothing that we can do that constitutes restitution. This is where Jesus' death on the cross comes into play. Jesus has made all the restitution that people could possibly need to make. John the Baptist (John 1:29) calls Jesus the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Nowhere in John does 'the world' mean only believers – mostly it means non-believers, of just all people, therefore I must conclude that Jesus' dead takes away the sin of all people!
However, as said before, in order for the reconciliation to take place, there needs to be confession of sins in order for reconciliation to take place. And in order for any person to be reconciled with God they must confess their sins, and truly own their failings, change their life to act in a way that truly acknowledges their failings.
Note that Paul saw himself as having a ministry of reconciliation – that is restoration of relationship, the relationship between God and people – (2 Cor 5:18-20)
But again the story doesn't end there. The idea of relationship is something that requires action. In order to maintain a meaningful relationship with anybody we need to be intentional in that relationship. If we continue to hurt somebody without any attempt to deal with that behaviour then the relationship breaks. We see this in the Bible in both relationship metaphors that the bible uses for those who are saved.
In Hosea God's relationship with Israel is pictured as a marriage but God decrees a divorce. The people fail to live out their relationship with God, so God ends the relationship.
The idea is also present in the parable of the prodigal son. The father freely allows the son (the heir) to leave. If that is what the son wants to do the father lets the son do it. The relationship is broken. God longs for restoration of the relationship but leaves that for the son to return.
If we look at John chapter 17 it is the end of Jesus farewell discourse. He finishes by praying for his disciples and those who would believe because of their message. In it he says in 17:2 that Jesus has authority to give eternal life to those whom the father has given to him. He then goes on to explain what eternal life means. In John 17:3, Jesus explains eternal life, salvation, as 'that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.'
One question that I think is important in understanding what Jesus is teaching here is, 'what does know mean?' Does this mean that we know things about God and the Jesus? Or does it mean something else?
In the Hebrew mindset, the idea of knowledge is experiential. In Gen 4:1 Adam 'knew' his wife Eve. They have sexual intercourse, they had intimate, experiential knowledge of each other. When Jesus talks of knowing the father, and knowing Jesus, he speaks of experiential knowledge, which comes from relationship.
If we accept this, then Jesus' teaching in John 17 is that salvation comes from having a relationship with the father and the son. This is again confirmed in his teaching in Matthew 7:21-23. Here we have the story of people coming up to Jesus, calling Lord, lord (having right theology) prophesying, casting out demons and doing many deeds of power (doing religious or righteous acts) and yet not entering the kingdom of heaven (being saved). Why not? The answer is that Jesus did not know them. Does this mean that there are people in the world that Jesus doesn't know about? Of course not! What it does mean is the idea of experiential knowledge, or relationship is at the heart of what Jesus is looking for in people.
(If you want to get very technical and academic about it the Johannine tradition and the synoptic tradition both agree that the concept of knowing Jesus is central to Jesus' understanding of being saved)
But this idea is not just limited to this two passages. In Paul the concept of being a child of God (technically a son – whether male or female - because in their cultural a son inherits and women didn't) is central to the idea of inheriting the promises of God, salvation. Consider Gal 4:6 – And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying “Abba†“Fatherâ€. The image of a parent – child is surely an image of a loving relationship.
Note that this idea of God's people being God's children was not new with Paul. In John 8:41 the Jews when arguing with Jesus say they have God as their father. They claim to be children of God.
But salvation is not just limited the image of the father – child. In Rev 21:9 we have the concept of the bride of the lamb, the bride of Christ, which is his church, those who are saved. Yet again the defining element of the metaphor is the idea of relationship. There is a loving relationship between the bride and the bridegroom.
Again this idea of marriage being a metaphor for the relationship between God and his people is not new. Hosea takes up this idea as well. ( Does God have two brides?)
But we can't just leave the idea of salvation as relationship at that. If we did, then some might twist this to say we can do whatever we like and not strive to holiness.
People were made to have relationship with God. However, as Gen 3 teaches us, people choose to go their own way. There was a break in the relationship. In order for any relationship to be re-established a few things need to happen. This is the same with people's relationship with God.
There needs to be acknowledgement of the wrong. We can never have true reconciliation with someone with they don't acknowledge the wrong they are done. And it isn't just a matter of acknowledgement but of truly owning that wrong. For example, if an alcoholic “confesses†being an alcoholic that confession means very little if the alcoholic continues to spent most of their time in a bar (which is the case of my father-in-law). The alcoholic in this situation really hasn't owned the fact that they are an alcoholic. The alcoholic isn't acting in a way that says, yes I'm an alcoholic therefore I need to change the way I live my life.
Part of the truly owning the wrong is to make restitution. Unfortunately when it comes to humanity's relationship with God there is really nothing that we can do that constitutes restitution. This is where Jesus' death on the cross comes into play. Jesus has made all the restitution that people could possibly need to make. John the Baptist (John 1:29) calls Jesus the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Nowhere in John does 'the world' mean only believers – mostly it means non-believers, of just all people, therefore I must conclude that Jesus' dead takes away the sin of all people!
However, as said before, in order for the reconciliation to take place, there needs to be confession of sins in order for reconciliation to take place. And in order for any person to be reconciled with God they must confess their sins, and truly own their failings, change their life to act in a way that truly acknowledges their failings.
Note that Paul saw himself as having a ministry of reconciliation – that is restoration of relationship, the relationship between God and people – (2 Cor 5:18-20)
But again the story doesn't end there. The idea of relationship is something that requires action. In order to maintain a meaningful relationship with anybody we need to be intentional in that relationship. If we continue to hurt somebody without any attempt to deal with that behaviour then the relationship breaks. We see this in the Bible in both relationship metaphors that the bible uses for those who are saved.
In Hosea God's relationship with Israel is pictured as a marriage but God decrees a divorce. The people fail to live out their relationship with God, so God ends the relationship.
The idea is also present in the parable of the prodigal son. The father freely allows the son (the heir) to leave. If that is what the son wants to do the father lets the son do it. The relationship is broken. God longs for restoration of the relationship but leaves that for the son to return.
