For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:8
Some folks add a little to the scripture, like this:
Ye saved by grace [alone] through faith [alone] in Christ [alone].
I believe we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ. But...grace and faith are the means of acquiring the gifts of God not the
"how to".
Acts 2:38 is the
"how to" verse when it comes to being born again and becoming part of the body of Christ/the church of the living God. If we believe on Jesus Christ we SHALL be saved...HOW? obey the gospel. I'm not saying
Acts 2:38 is the gospel but it is a REPRESENTATIVE of the gospel (the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ) for us. Obeying
Acts 2:38 is how we obey the gospel.
The
'how to' happens because of faith and through faith, we repent. We do a complete and radical 180 degree turnaround. Because of this change of heart we no longer pursue sin but instead we seek to please God. It's like we left the path that leads to death and turned onto a new path in the opposite direction that leads to life.
We are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for or "with a view toward" having our sins remitted not because our sins have already been remitted. BY FAITH we get into the water, call on the name of the Lord, and symbollically are buried with Him, but literally the Spirit does a circumcision of our hearts in removing the body of the sins of the flesh. It is the "currency" of our faith that God sees and acts upon to bring about the remission of our sins through the blood of Christ. We didn't have our sins washed away at the cross where Christ's blood was shed, but in the water of baptism the blood was used to cut away sin stains from our heart.
Same goes with receiving the Holy Spirit. We receive it by faith.
Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:2
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.
Gal 3:14
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith.
Gal 5:5
Faith is the agency or the means by which we obtain anything and everything from God which includes salvation.
__________________
His banner over me is LOVE....
My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart
fervently.
Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
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