Do we earn our salvation? Definitely no.
(But you people consistanly say you must do gook works to inherit the kingdom of heaven, when good works are FRUITS of the SPIRIT that one bears that is saved and can do no other)
In Romans 6. 23:“The wages of sin [what we earn] is death, the free gift of God [what we do not earn] is eternal life.” And several times in St. Paul, e.g., in 1 Cor 6. 10 we see that we “inherit” the kingdom. Now when we inherit from our parents we do not say we earned the inheritance, though , on the other hand, by being bad enough long enough we could have earned to lose it. So, as a student put it, as to salvation,“you can’t earn it, but you can blow it.”
( So what you are saying is your GOD is so weak that once he saves you and counts you one of his sheep, he is not a good enough Shepard to keep you with the flock?- What a powerless god that would be!!! So you say God is sitting in heaven sitting and wondering , OH geeze I REALLY hope that he does his good works so that he can continue to be one of my sheep! Utter Nonsense!!! What a unforeseeing, unforgiving, unknowing god that you worship!)
So we get justification, being right with God, without any merit at all. But, when we have that, it makes us sons of the Father, and brothers of Christ - as such we have a claim to inherit.
( So I guess if you are a sinner ,as you are and as am I, after you are saved if you continue in this pattern of behavior you will uninherit it huh? What a powerless unforgiving God that would be to make a promise to save then unpromise it!!!)
We did not earn that claim, but we could earn to lose it.
(Utter unscriptural nonsense!!)
So in 1 Cor 6:9-10 St. Paul gives a list of the chief great sins and sinners, adds that they "will not inherit the kingdom."We are not saved as individuals, or by our own power, but we are saved inasmuch as we are members of Christ. That means we must be like Him.
(To be like Christ will irresistibly become the will of whom He calls and those whom He calls WILL bear fruits as the FRUIT of the Spirit in him!)
Hence in Gal 5:13-26 Paul gives two lists: the fruits of the Spirit, and the works of the flesh. If we follow the flesh, we will die. We will not inherit. But we must follow the Spirit. Romans 8:9:“If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” -
(And will continue to live a life of sin without repentance as he was foreordained to do so!!!
Romans 9:21- Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?-meaning: God has full autority to make one for righteousness and one for unrighteousness!!! He can because he is GOD. who are you to question that?!)
that Spirit leads us to do as Christ did, which means to avoid sin.
(So are you perfect as Christ and you avoid your sinful nature perfectly as Christ did?)
We cannot say: If we have taken Christ as our Savior we can sin as much as we want. For faith includes obedience - cf.
(But are you perfectly obeying His law everyday of your Sinful little life?
Matthew 5:48 - “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
So are you so perfect? and are you perfectly obedient? then I guess you dont have assurance of your salvation and once you have been forgiven and saved from God’s wrath on the day of judgement.)
Romans1:5. We cannot say if we have faith we can disobey, for faith includes obedience.This is really the syn Christo theme of St. Paul: We must suffer with Him, die with Him, be buried with Him, rise with Him, ascend with Him (cf. Romans 8. 17; 6:3-8; Col. 3:1-4; Eph. 2:5-6; Rom 8:13. We should notice too the fact that there are two stages, sometimes called objective redemption and subjective redemption. The objective redemtion is the work of earning a claim to all forgiveness and grace – we do not contribute to that at all, Christ did it for us.
( SO you are Right!!! Christ did do it for us and yet you still lay claim that one must be perfect which THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR MAN!)
i COULD GO ON AND ON!!! but time will not allow at this moment So you can take your Works Righteousness and Stand before God on that day and say…
Matthew 7: 22 "Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/EARNSAL.TXT