Imagine, for just a moment, a very evil man—a psychopath who ambushes unsuspecting people and murders them. He averages about one murder per week. Then he dies. Does God welcome him into heaven?
No one would answer “yes” to that question. Everyone believes that there are some sort of standards for gaining entrance in heaven, and someone who regularly commits murder doesn’t meet the standard. With them, the New Testament agrees: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15, emphasis added).
Now, let us imagine that, just before the man dies, he believes in Jesus and asks God to forgive him. All Christians would say that, because salvation is by grace through faith, God would welcome that man into heaven—as a sinner saved by grace. Jesus died for his sins, making such amazing grace possible.
Now, let us imagine that one year before the murderer dies, the man believes in Jesus and asks God to forgive him, but then he continues murdering one person every week. During the twelve months before his death, he kills 52 victims. Will God welcome him into heaven?
I can’t imagine anyone answering “yes” to that question. Some Christians might say that man was never born again because he never truly believed in Jesus. Other Christians would say he may have been born again for a short time when he initially believed in Jesus, but he obviously lost his salvation at some point after that.
Regardless, all agree that (1) the new birth results in some degree of transformation and (2) genuine faith in Jesus results in some degree of obedience to God, as proven by the example we’ve just considered.
And this example exposes the self-deception of those who claim to believe that salvation has nothing to do with works because it is “by grace.” Again, all Christians believe that true salvation results on some degree of transformation, because none of them believe that unrepentant psychopathic murderers go to heaven.
That leads us to two related questions: (1) How much transformation does a genuine new birth effectuate in the lives of true believers? And (2): What are the bare minimum works that genuine faith in Jesus will produce? Thankfully, the New Testament repeatedly answers those questions for us. Here is one example:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
Paul believed that salvation results in a degree of actual, practical righteousness. It would be wise for all professing Christians to agree with Paul on that! Elsewhere, Paul wrote:
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).
If the “saving grace” you believe in allows for all the things Paul declared will prevent people from inheriting God’s kingdom, then your grace is a false grace. To borrow a New Testament warning, you have “turned the grace of God into licentiousness” (Jude 4).
Additionally, if you believe that common “Christian” myth that “there is nothing any Christian can do that would prevent him from inheriting eternal life,” then you contradict what is clearly written in the New Testament. Why do you suppose Paul warned the Christians in Corinth and Galatia (and elsewhere) that certain behaviors could prevent them from inheriting God’s kingdom?
John similarly warned: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).
Seems as if John and Paul agreed that there are behavioral requirements for ultimate salvation.
According to Jesus, one of those behavioral requirements is caring “the least of these” (Matt. 25:31-46). But when is the last time you heard a sermon warning you that those who don’t care for the poor will be cast into hell? You are more likely, in many churches, to hear a sermon about how Christians never need to worry about standing at the judgment of the sheep and the goats because we are saved by grace.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reveals many standards that are required for escaping hell.
Since we’re being entirely honest, why don’t we also admit that the new birth doesn’t automatically make people obedient. It makes it easier through the indwelling Spirit, but not automatic. Could that be why Paul wrote, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13)?
In summary, every Christian believes (1) that the new birth results in some degree of transformation and (2) that genuine faith in Jesus results in some degree of obedience to God. It is of paramount importance that our belief regarding the degree of transformation effectuated by the new birth and the degree of obedience that stems from genuine faith agrees with God’s view!
