LutheranStudent:
Will you be in heaven?
In Lutheran circles, it is safe to say, we are taught to know with confidence that we will be in heaven when we die. Keeping our own sinfulness in mind and not out of sinful pride we confess it because to say we “might” be in heaven would be akin to saying that Jesus “might have” paid for all our sins completely. How would you answer this question?
A) Yes, because Christ Jesus has assured us that whoever lives and believes in him shall never die.
B) Maybe. Nobody can tell for sure that God will send them to heaven because in the end it’s God’s judgement call.
C) No. I don’t believe that I am good enough to get to heaven or that God’s promise includes also me.
Testimony Time ! 
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Lord & Creator and my only and all-sufficient Creator, Redeemer, Judge, and God.
I believe in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for God’s glory alone.
As to the detail of salvation:
I accept TULIP almost entirely, since almost all of it - possibly all of it - can be interpreted in a sense which is in full agreement with the teaching of the Roman Church.
That said, I believe in the validity of the distinction between:
- the mighty act of salvation upon the Cross, which is unique, unrepeatable, and infinite in value, grace, and power; to which there can be added nothing at all
- the continuing mediation of this saving act of by the Holy Spirit to the elect (this is a less restrictive term than “believer”) so that it brings forth its proper fruits in them, both before and after incorporation into Christ
- the completed salvation which is the fulfilment of the previous two stages.
I think these three are one single act, which seem to be three only because we are composite beings, whereas God is simple Being
Salvation is nothing to do with “being good enough”: God elects sinners, not because they are good - they are not, for they are dead in sins and trespasses - but because** He** is. Good people do not need salvation; those who are utterly unworthy of it, and incapable of desiring it efficaciously, however much they may wistfully desire it, do need it. This is a great paradox, which the OT poses but does not resolve.
Only the Perfect Penitent can atone for human sinfulness, and a perfect penitent is the one man who needs neither penitence nor conversion; as C. S. Lewis pointed out. Salvation is all from God, is totally free (because its price is infinite), releases us from all law, and lays upon us the obligation to love God perfectly with all that we are, have, were, and shall be. So antinomianism has no place, just as Paul pointed out. It is expelled not by law, but by Love - God’s, effectually working in us.
To answer your question - I don’t know, and I don’t need to
What I do know is that Jesus Christ knows. I believe that the more fully we know Him - and we cannot know unless we love (and that is itself His grace) - the more fully we shall be in salvation: to abide in Christ and He in us, is to be in salvation. Those who love don’t think about loving - love unifies activity and thinking, and one gets on with living in the one who is loved, so far as this can be. So with salvation - the more we are in the Love of Christ, the less we shall be bothered about being saved; we shall be too busy with doing and being something much more important for that.
Heaven is not about the Christian, but about Jesus Christ. Why worry about Heaven if one has Him on earth ? Heaven would be Hell without Him, and Hell with Him would be the Heaven of Heavens. Salvation is not Heaven or being there - salvation is Christ. He is all we need, and all we have been given: all that we receive is in Christ alone. So justification and salvation without Christ are empty words.
What matters, is that He is with us now, each time that is called “now” - this fact is what the “sacrament of the present moment” is about, in part. So in a way, thinking about Heaven to come
can be a distraction. His saving and creating Love is new every moment, so what one
might be, does not matter. ##
I don’t think the question can be solved by intellectual approaches only - I think it is answered by living with Christ. All the treasures of richness and wisdom are there - not in us.