Where does the Bible say one has to work for a GIFT? If you must contribute, is it really a "free gift"? (Romans 5:15, 16, 18).
Maybe it's, at least partially, due to modern Westernized influence that makes some think FREE is conditional.
Commercialism Thinking:
I get a free burger if I buy a large coke and fries. I still have to do something though it's called "free".
Well, salvation is REALLY a FREE GIFT. You don't have to buy anything. You can't earn it.
Commercialism Thinking:
I get a free burger if I buy a large coke and fries. I still have to do something though it's called "free".
Well, salvation is REALLY a FREE GIFT. You don't have to buy anything. You can't earn it.
Verse 17 of Romans 6, above,
points out, "...ye have obeyed from the heart..."
Verse 18 and 22: Being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness... servants to God.
In John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words..."
HE WILL. Keeping his words springs from a changed heart. It's similar to a new software program having been installed on a computer. The system will behave differently from the way it had before the change. "He will" comes from genuine conversion. "He will" is an indwelling desire. It is not an external forced requirement. Those who have been taught any form of works-based doctrine may not easily grasp what the Bible says.
Think of how a young child may want greatly to please his dad. He wants to look like, sound like, and be just like his papa because the child loves his dad and looks up to him. The child believes his earthly father cares for him. The trusting child does not have to be forced to do what his pop asks. That child WANTS TO obey.
That mindset doesn't attempt to do things just to keep from being punished. The child who has pure love, obeys because he wants to honor and please. Jesus, himself, said he always does what pleases the heavenly Father.
John 8:29 “And he that sent me is with me: the Father ...I do always those things that please him.”
That points to a RELATIONSHIP where obedience comes from love. That motivation is love--not a compulsory work to avert pain. Of course when some children become older, they do rebel. That is why Jesus said unless humans approach him as little children they would not enter the kingdom.
Matthew 18:3,4
"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
A very young child has full trust. Children, when they are very young, rely completely on their caregiver's provisions. Very young children (such as a baby) do not think they must do anything or contribute anything to gain acceptance. Salvation is similar. It involves pure trust.
This really, really FREE GIFT is not a license to sin. Instead, it brings about a change of heart
leading one to not want to sin.
leading one to not want to sin.
