Now let's apply that same logic, which we both agree with, to what I'm saying: If I was saved by my trust in Jesus Christ then I must continue to trust in Christ to stay saved.
The logic being applied here is - The
absence of that which
causes your salvation, will result in you losing that very salvation.
I'll have to agree with the logic.
But is faith in Christ the very cause of our salvation - or is faith a necessary factor unto salvation where such faith itself is caused entirely and consistently by a
third cause?
If as a lifeguard, I swam towards a sinking person and decided to haul him ashore by placing a float over him, I could say that he was saved
by my effort
through means of a float. The root causation is just me - with the necessary accompanying factor being a float that I chose to use. Note, the float over the person too is caused by me. I could very well have decided to save him any other way - through means of a boat or through means of air-lifting him etc..but since I chose the sole means of a float, I can consistently correlate it with him being saved. For instance when I say, Every person with my float over him is saved - it is true and yet not indicative of the float being the cause of his salvation.
Of course, if my job were to simply throw a float around the sinking person, and not care if it's still around him as I drag it ashore - then I'd say it's that person's responsibility to ensure he's clinging on for dear life - a conditional placed over the float. But if I set out to save him, and guaranteed/promised that I'd get him ashore based on my ability to ensure he's always holding on to the float no matter his weakness or slip-ups, then the float serves as an indicative assurance of that guarantee/promise alone and not as a conditional. Its absence would also serve as an indicative evidence of those not being causatively saved by me.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, this is no new topic of discussion - it's simply the debate between synergism and monergism. I'm inclined to believe the latter since all causation of salvation is attributed to God alone and none to man - therein all glory to Him while the flesh is denied and decreases.
..at least show me where God did my trusting for me so it can be known that it was not something that I did to get the free gift.
I do not cling on to the float meant for the person I'm saving, just as God doesn't do our trusting...and yet I'm the one who was the primary and sole cause for him having it as well as the continuing cause that ensures it's always over him. As to how God similarly enables a sinner to have faith is by causing him to be born again with a heart that is not rebellious against God and with a renewed spirit that now begins to understand the things of God so as to believe in the Good News of Christ. This again is the old debate of whether regeneration precedes faith or not.
To have faith in a person is to assuredly know that the outcome which that person has promised to establish will be fulfilled, based on his ability to achieve/perform so. Faith, therefore, is not something I do of myself - it's rather a response that can be grown in me just by that person reassuring me constantly(as we see God's promises) and by displaying more of his ability to achieve/perform so(as we see God's works) and by giving understanding of His purposes such that we even know why it has to be as He has declared and by removing my blindness and negating my rebellion in the flesh. So we see that God both enables us and preserves us in such a response by simply what He alone does.
But as we know, no third entity is birthed The new birth is simply God's Spirit joined to yours. No new spirit is created when that happens.
I am in disagreement with the conclusion that nothing else happens apart from the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Of course, no new spirit is Created as such, but there is a new heart(core belief system) given and the existing spirit is renewed(made alive) such that we who were in the flesh before such regeneration, are now
no longer in the flesh but in the spirit (Rom 8:8-9)- such that an entire new personhood of the inner man is made alive to us. I do read the phrases "in the flesh" and "in the spirit" quite literally as denoting our souls being encapsulated by 2 very distinct natures.
It's hypothetical to guess what the state of the regenerated believer would be if God were to remove His Holy Spirit - since that would refute His purposes given that the Holy Spirit is the very pledge or guarantee of God's salvific work in us. No point assuring a believer that he will be saved as long as the Holy Spirit dwells within him and in the same breath saying the Holy Spirit may be removed any time dependent on that person's choices - that's just the old covenant which says I'll keep my end of the bargain as long as you keep yours. But the new covenant is that of promises alone and no conditionals - just compare Lev 18:5 and Eze 36:27.
