A further elaboration to my response, if you don’t mind:

I am sure you are sincere, but no, patterning your behavior by the New Testament does not save you, nor help save you, nor keep you saved. Jesus saves you, if you place your faith in Him, personally, relationally. It is not an impersonal assertion disguised, like saying, “I believe the moon exists.”

If you believe in the Lord, you will have good works. In fact, the Lord Himself had that in mind even before you came to faith in Him, preparing the way for you to do good works, to pattern your behavior by the New Testament. But, make no mistake about it, works cannot save you, only the Lord can, by grace through faith in Him.

Nicely put, Dallas. For the Christian, works come from faith. The Lord calls us to good works, not to be saved, but because we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-10). “‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.'” It’s the Lord’s grace that saves us, and produces fruit of good works in our lives. The history of the church throughout the ages is filled with those who have done fleshly, carnal, and/or destructive “good works” for the Lord, such as the Crusades. The Lord is not the originator of such things. They come from false teachings and/or from wolves in sheep’s clothing. So, it is important to understand we need the Lord to not only save us, but to produce good works that are according to His will. I am sure you know all this, but I wanted to add this to what you said. In other words, our hope is in Him, in this life and in eternity. The Lord’s good works will come from saving faith, as grapes from vines. And that saving faith is personal, relational, and biblical –not the unbiblical faith of those in the nonChristian religions and cults who believe in another Jesus and gospel of works (which is no gospel at all). God bless you, Greg

I always tell people to be careful of anyone bringing “new” revelation into the Christian faith. Occasionally, one may need to adjust oneself to the culture around him/her, as time changes. But the Gospel is the same, throughout time, from Acts to the 2nd Coming of Christ. So I say to you also, be careful… American churches today are politicized, as are every institution in our culture. I assume you are from America. And so here is an example of being careful to adjust oneself and not get caught up in the political corrosiveness of said influence. The US (and Western Civilization) is going through a great rebellion against the Lord, and embracing hedonism. That’s really too bad. If there is no repentance, there will be great weeping, and everyone will be affected. Anyway, I agree that believers are called saints, Christians, etc. And so I do also. Paul spoke of a struggle within himself regarding sin. And we do also, from time to time, until we shed our mortal bodies, and are given a glorified body. There is no one perfect, except the Lord, even after being saved by grace through faith. No Christian is perfect. Only the Lord is. Read all of the letters Paul wrote to the churches, to Christians, not to unbelievers. This applies to us as well. -Greg

Evans Babitt, I could respond to various things you said, but instead, suffice it to say, you believe in a “different gospel” which is no gospel at all. Your gospel is faith plus works: “What I have come to learn is that believing is not the answer, only doing as Jesus did.” This is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, if something is not given as a parable, then it is not a parable. Thinking it is doesn’t make it so. You are interpreting some texts by reading into it one’s own ideas (eisegesis), and/or not paying attention to the contexts. I am sure you are sincere, but no, patterning your behavior by the New Testament does not save you, nor help save you, nor keep you saved. ” For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:8-10). -Greg

Paul Roberts, it is later here, and I must make this short (after 1am). You seem to not understand the doctrine of the Trinity. This applies to your question,”Who did God send to Earth? His only begotten son, or Himself?” There is only one true and living God, creator and sustainer of all things. And in that one God there are three separate persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hence The Father sent the Son, in the incarnation, two persons in the one God. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, the New Testament says that the Father raised Jesus up, the Holy Spirit raised Jesus up, and Jesus also said that He will raise Himself up from the grave. The NT has many such references to support the teaching of the Trinity, of Jesus Christ being God yet also being a separate person from the Father. Before the incarnation He was known as the “Word” (John 1). You may not understand this, nor accept it, but this is what the text of the New Testament presents, in context. Groups or cults like the Jehovah’s Witnesses constantly take Scripture out of context, and anyone can play that game, to try to get the Bible to say whatever they want it to say. Most errors people make relating to the Bible is pretty simple, they ignore context. I hope this answers your question. I have to go, Greg

No. Salvation is not a revolving door, one minute you’re saved, next, not. Say, you are upset about something, lose your temper, and in doing so you sin. Then, according to your viewpoint, you get saved by doing good works, in this case, saying, “I’m sorry.” That’s not the Gospel. Furthermore, nowhere in the Bible does the Lord teach one needs to fast and pray whenever one repents. I don’t know where you are getting that from, Scripture doesn’t teach that. Obviously, praying and fasting are works that Christians can do. But repentance takes place within you, and is God’s grace interacting with your will. Remember to keep Scripture texts in context. If you do that, you will probably avoid most mistakes people make when reading/quoting the Bible. I hope my directness is OK with you…I don’t mean to upset you, Greg

Typo: should say, “…but in through it all, is what Paul addresses in Col. 3, and other places.