The Kerygma - God's Requirement for Salvation

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
Another thread about Apologetics explains why Christian theism is the best belief or most logical answer to truthseekers’ questions concerning ultimate reality, because the New Testament (NT) God provides the only credible hope for attaining heaven and justice, the “duo of desirables” (DOD). The purpose of this thread is to delve more deeply into God’s requirement for salvation (GRFS).

The Old Testament (OT) indicates that God chose the Jewish culture for the purpose of providing Messiah, through whom the world would be blessed or saved (GN 22:18, IS 42:6, 49:6, JL 2:28& 32, MIC 4:2-3, ZPH 3:8-9, ZCH 2:11, 14:9&16), and the NT proclaims that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah or Christ (ACTS 2:36, RM 1:1-4, HB 1:1-4, 3:3-6). It is tragic that the person God has ordained to be the head of one worldwide body of believers (JN 17:20-23, EPH 1:9-10 & 3:6, CL 1:18-20, PHP 2:9-11) is rejected by so many who claim to be theists. And it is ironic that this gemstone, which is the foundation and cornerstone of ultimate reality (EPH 2:20), is the stumbling-stone (1PT 2:6-8) to faith in GRFS for many souls (1CR 1:22-25).

A crisis that threatened a Philippian jailer with death prompted him to ask Paul and Silas the most important question in life: “What must I do to be saved?” (ACTS 16:30) This question is most important, because—as sinful and mortal souls—we need saving from corruption, both moral and physical. We need saving from physical death if we value or enjoy life, and we need saving from immorality or evil-doing if it results in unhappy existence, especially after this lifetime.

The reply of Paul and Silas was this: “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” (ACTS 16:31) This is GRFS in a nutshell. Jesus expressed GRFS even more succinctly: “Ask… seek… knock…” (MT 7:7). This indicates that God graces every sinful soul with the ability or opportunity to understand how to be saved (MT 7:7, cf. 1TM 2:3-4), which might be called “seeking grace“. As Hebrews 11:6 states: “he [God] rewards those who earnestly seek him” (cf. IS 45:19). Seeking God is the beginning of saving faith, and not seeking God or rejecting His salvation in Christ is the essence of evil atheism or faith in I-dolatry (RM 3:11, 1:18-23).

Thus, sinful humanity retains the image of God or moral free will (MFW), so every normal adult soul is able by God's grace through faith to choose to seek salvation–or not (cf. DT 30:19). Jesus lamented those who did not but instead resisted God's will (in MT 23:37), and he expressed frustration at their obstinacy (in MT 13:14-15).

Paul went “every Sabbath to the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (ACTS 18:4)! “He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus.” (ACTS 28:23b) “Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe." (ACTS 28:24) They disagreed and began to leave after Paul expressed the same frustration as Jesus and quoted the same Scripture: The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving, for this people’s heart has become calloused.” (ACTS 28:25-27a, cf. 2TM 3:7)
The last paragraph indicates that the crucial disagreement with Jesus and Paul was regarding their kerygmatic claim that Jesus is Messiah who would (J)/did (P) resurrect, whereas the main disagreement on CC seems to be whether MFW or TULIP best accords with the Gospel, a doctrinal dispute that is didachaic (downstream of saving faith).
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
To clarify what was just posted, the fifth point of the elaborated kerygma is: 5. God’s Holy Spirit will establish a saving relationship with those who freely accept Him (RV 3:20) that will eventually achieve heaven when by means of persevering in learning Truth/God’s Word/sanctification everyone cooperates fully with His will (JN 14:6, 17&26, RM 8:6-17, GL 6:7-9, EPH 1:13-14, HB 10:36, 12:1, JM 1:2-4).

Although perfection is not achieved in this life, the necessity of learning the didache in order to strive for perfection indicates the need for perseverance or to keep on learning and growing spiritually until we die physically (PHP 3:12-14). Thus, although learning any specific part of the didache is not GRFS, a person who does not “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (MT 5:6) or want to learn “every word that comes from the mouth of God” (MT 4:4) fails the self-examination Paul commanded and Jesus implied (mentioned previously). Perseverance is didachaic fruit/faithfulness (GL 5:22) following (EPH 2:8-10) and building on kerygmatic faith (1CR 3:10-15).

IOW, the need for perseverance is part of the simple and essential kerygma, but the debate regarding whether/why it is possible not to persevere gets complicated and is part of the secondary doctrines to be learned beyond the Gospel. Is it possible for a Christian to repudiate his/her saving faith and become apostate or again bound for hell?

Before seeking to answer this question, we should remember that although perseverance is an implicit part of the creed, understanding the details of this or any doctrine is not necessary in order to remain saved, because the kerygma is simple enough for a young soul to understand (cf. MT 18:3), and didachaic details can become rather complicated and controversial.

Thus, a Christian needs to be humble or Spirit-filled before tackling such issues, keeping in mind that whichever position a Christian takes on any secondary doctrine, he/she should fellowship with those having a different interpretation who affirm the kerygma both verbally and by typically manifesting divine love.
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
I am starting a systematic discussion of the doctrine of election on the Hermeneutics thread
for the purpose of attaining a consensus regarding all relevant Scripture. Please participate
if you have a heart for achieving harmony/unity in the faith rather than arguing only one side of the issue.
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
Systematic study of the doctrine of salvation yields connections such as the following:

God saves sinners who repent (1Tim. 2:3-4, Matt. 4:17). Repentance means accepting Jesus as Messiah and Lord (Acts 16:30-31, Col. 2:6). God enables all sinners to repent, seek salvation and find the LJC (1Tim. 2:3-5, Heb. 11:6). God's enabling is resistible so souls may choose instead to serve Satan (Matt. 13:14-15, John 8:42-44). God's enabling of volition (Deut. 30:19) may be called seeking grace (Eph. 2:8). Souls who choose to reject God/Christ are justly condemned (Rom. 1:20, 2:5-11). Accepting God's grace by faith is not a meritorious work (Rom. 3:21-28, Eph. 2:8-9). Even loving works motivated by God's HS manifest faith rather than merit (Eph. 2:10), because there is no qualitative difference between faith that accepts God’s saving grace at conversion and faith that accepts God’s working grace while walking/living (John 6:29, 2Cor. 5:7, Rom. 1:17), but only a quantitative difference as each additional moment passes. The only contradiction comes from those who are spiritually blind (Matt. 13:15, 2Cor. 4:4, John 9:41).
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
In the study of Ephesians, it was pointed out that Eph. 2:10 "walk" can be translated as "walking with God",
which is an apt (KJV) way of indicating working grace that enables saved sinners
(those who exercised seeking grace to choose saving grace) to cooperate with the HS
by reflecting divine love variously (Rom. 5:5-8, Gal. 5:22-23, Rom. 12:6-8, 1Cor. 12:4-11).
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
The SBS of election on the Hermeneutics thread yielded the following insight regarding GRFS:

Human nature was created good but not perfect, and Jesus had a human nature that was perfected
during his earthly life (Hebrews 5:8-9), which moral perfection should be every Christian’s goal (Philippians 3:12-15).
All humans sin, but every sinner has the opportunity to repent/have saving faith. (Romans 1:20, 2:7, 3:21-22, 4:16-17, 5:8-19)
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
This thread introduced the often-ignored question, “What is GRFS for those who have never heard of Jesus?”, and in the HOB thread it was noted that this cohort included everyone living B.C. and millions of people who lived A.D. until the invention of the printing press and world-wide travel after 1500 made it possible for more souls to LGW.

Even though some Scriptures such as Romans 1:20 & 2:14-15 indicate it is possible for sinners to perceive the existence of God and His moral nature/will via what is called general revelation, to seek salvation, find faith and thereby be spiritually like Abraham (Romans 4:11b-18), knowledge of the HOB reveals that relatively few folks were not polytheists and even in modern times I-dolatry is prevalent, so the next question becomes. "Does God love everyone in the world, so His POS saves the most people possible?"

What is your answer?
 

Kroogz

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2023
2,181
1,029
113
This thread introduced the often-ignored question, “What is GRFS for those who have never heard of Jesus?”
This question is not ignored. What is ignored is........

John 16~~5“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, grief has filled your heart. 7 But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: 9 regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me;

You are assuming that the Holy Spirit didn't do His Job with these people.
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
This question is not ignored. What is ignored is........

John 16~~5“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, grief has filled your heart. 7 But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: 9 regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me;

You are assuming that the Holy Spirit didn't do His Job with these people.
You state what I assume {{Even though some Scriptures such as Romans 1:20 & 2:14-15 indicate it is possible for sinners to perceive the existence of God and His moral nature/will via what is called general revelation, to seek salvation, find faith and thereby be spiritually like Abraham (Romans 4:11b-18), knowledge of the HOB reveals that relatively few folks were not polytheists and even in modern times I-dolatry is prevalent}} but not what YOU assume, so please explain that.

And then what about the next question?:

"Does God love everyone in the world, so His POS saves the most people possible?"
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
You state what I assume {{Even though some Scriptures such as Romans 1:20 & 2:14-15 indicate it is possible for sinners to perceive the existence of God and His moral nature/will via what is called general revelation, to seek salvation, find faith and thereby be spiritually like Abraham (Romans 4:11b-18), knowledge of the HOB reveals that relatively few folks were not polytheists and even in modern times I-dolatry is prevalent}} but not what YOU assume, so please explain that.

And then what about the next question?:

"Does God love everyone in the world, so His POS saves the most people possible?"
The answer to the first part is "yes" per Scripture, so the answer to the second part must also be "yes".

It might be tempting to think that God could save more people by proving His existence to people,
but people only exist when they have MFW. God could not prove His power exists without abrogating their humanity.
If God were to zap ungodly souls, it would be tantamount to forcing conversions at gunpoint, which would not be free and genuine.
If God were to prevent people from behaving hatefully, then He would need to prevent them from thinking evilly, which would make human souls programmed automatons. Thus, God designed reality so that experiencing His presence is less than compelling, so that even Jesus (God the Son) on the cross cried out “My God [the Father], why have you forsaken [taken God the Spirit from] me?” (MT 27:46, PS 51:11) This phenomenon is sometimes called “distanciation”, because we experience God as distant from us and “unknown” (ACTS 17:23), even though He is close or immanent, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (ACTS 17:28). Distanciation is not forsaken. Apparently God performs miracles only as necessary to accomplish His plan of salvation.

It seems logical to assume that the all-loving God would create the best possible world or one in which the greatest percentage of persons may attain ultimate joy, and this logical assumption is also biblical (1Tim. 2:3-4, 2Pet. 3:9). God may have created all possible kinds of worlds simultaneously: the world of dead matter, the world of living plants, the world of intelligent animals, and the world of morally accountable souls/humans. God’s world/way is best.
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
TULIPists are confused because they do not ponder the difference between intelligent animals and morally accountable humans,
which the creation story implied but unfortunately did not make explicit. In Gen. 1:26-27 we are told that mankind was made in the image or likeness of God, so they could rule over animals, and in Gen. 2:16-17 we learn that man would die on the day they knew good and evil, which must mean spiritually since in Gen. 3:6-10 they did not die physically but only became fools/liars, but it is not until Gen. 3:21-24 that godlikeness is described as knowing good and evil.

God's provision of salvation or the covering of sin is portrayed by the sacrifice of animals in Gen. 3:21 (cf. Heb. 9:28), God's prevention of eternal death/damnation is indicated by not allowing A&E to live forever as sinners per Gen.3;22-24 (cf. 1Tim. 2:3-4), and God's condition for salvation is mentioned in Gen. 4:7, If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" Paul explains what is right to do in Rom. 3:21-5:19, which is to believe Jesus is Messiah and in Christ's righteous atonement (Rom. 5:1-9).

After clearly explaining God's provision for the salvation of all if they believe, Paul muddied the water in Rom. 9:10-24 by saying God is just to hate Esau, and so UGE is born!
 

GWH

Groovy
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
Christianity qualified OT theism, which emphasized God’s love for some people (descendants of Abraham), with a universal moral imperative (UMI) aka a command to love everyone by reflecting His love, beginning with God and continuing with one-self and one’s neighbors (whether Jew or Gentile--and even including one’s enemies (per Matt. 22:37-39 & 5:44). The best reason to hope in God is Christ. Paul calls those who have saving faith/cooperate with God’s will the spiritual or righteous children of Abraham (Rom. 3:28-30 & 4:9-16).
 
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
The kerygma is the subject of Paul's Sermon on Salvation (and election) in Romans 1-11, especially the first part shared here:

A study of Scripture regarding salvation/election (s/e) might well begin with Romans 1-11 as follows:

1. Romans 1:16 says the Gospel reveals that (s/e) is for “everyone who believes”, both Jew and Gentile.

2. Romans 1:17 describes s/e as “righteousness from God” that is by faith “from first to last” or from creation until the end.

3. Romans 2:4 teaches that God’s kindness or patience with sinners is meant to lead them toward repentance, which implies that sinners are able to repent because of God’s leading.

4. Romans 2:5 warns that those who do not repent but instead stubbornly resist God’s leading are storing up wrath against themselves for the day when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed, which implies that God enables sinners to repent–or not (cf. Deut. 30:19).

5. Romans 2:6 affirms what is called karma by saying that “God will give to each person according to what he has done”, which (in Gal. 6:7-9) is called reaping what a person sows.

6. Romans 2:7 speaks of the need for “persistence in doing good” and seeking glory, honor and immortality in order to receive s/e or eternal life, which echoes what Jesus commanded (in Matt. 7:7) and connects with the doctrine of perseverance (cf. Heb. 10:36 & Jam. 1:3-4).

7. Romans 2:11 teaches that “God does not show favoritism” (cf. Eph. 6:9, Col. 3:25, 1Pet. 1:17), which is how God judges people justly, so the fact that some sinners ignore God’s Gospel indicates that His will or leading is resistible because of MFW.

8. Romans 2:15 teaches that sinful souls have a conscience or awareness of “the requirements of the law”, which may be combined with Romans 1:20 to teach that God’s power and moral nature or will may be perceived via creation and conscience (called natural revelation), thus those unfamiliar with God’s Word in Scripture have no good reason for resisting divine leading and choosing atheism/evil.

9. Romans 3:20-21 states the law makes souls conscious of sin and that “the Law and Prophets testify” or prepare the way for the new revelation of righteousness from God apart from the Law, which takes up where Romans 1:17 left off.

10. Romans 3:22a says that “righteousness from God” or s/e comes through faith “in Jesus Christ” (cf. Eph. 2:8), a phrase Paul used eleven times in Ephesians 1:3-14 to indicate s/e.

11. Romans 3:22b says that God’s righteousness is given “to all who believe—there is no difference”” signifying that all sinners may believe or be s/e (cf. 1Tim. 2:3-4, John 3:16, Tit. 2:11), because there is no favoritism (#7).

12. Romans 3:23 teaches that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, meaning that no one can be good enough to earn salvation because of their own merit.

13. Romans 3:24 says sinners “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (via faith per v.22, cf. 3:27-28); s/e is free because Christ paid the price/cost.

14. Romans 3:25a explains redemption as being “a sacrifice of atonement” for those who have faith in Christ’s work of dying in their place.

15. Romans 3:25b further explains that God demonstrated his just patience (#3) or forbearance in leaving unpunished those sins committed before the revealing of the Gospel (foreshadowed in Gen. 22:8 & 13), implying that sinners had/have the opportunity to believe and be s/e thereby demonstrating God’s justice/not showing favoritism (#11).

16. Romans 3:26 continues to emphasize divine justice by declaring it three ways (“justice…, just…, justifies”), which justness is synonymous with righteousness (2Thes. 1:5-6, Heb. 6:10).

17. Romans 4:1-25 presents Abraham as a Gentile who became the physical father of the Jews and the spiritual father of all who choose to have faith in God/Christ.

18. Romans 5:1 echoes Eph. 2:8 by describing s/e as justification through faith, Eph. 1:5 & 7 by using the phrase “through Jesus Christ”, and Eph. 2:14 by describing s/e as having peace with God.
 
Oct 19, 2024
5,925
1,188
113
USA-TX
Comparable to physicists seeking a unified theory of relativity, a unifying theory of spirituality is proposed in this thread based on Lesson 1 of our website <truthseekersfellowship.com>

Hope we essentially agree sufficiently to achieve relational oneness.