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What is the difference between believing in it, and "accepting" it?
. . . you must accept that sacrifice not only believe it . . .
Jesus said that "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
A person must accept Jesus into their heart in order to be born-again.
This was comparing entrance into the former congregation of the saved, Israel, with the current congregation of the saved, the church, one by subscribing to hundreds of laws including circumcision, and the other by believing in Jesus.
As far as salvation goes, it is by grace through faith and nothing else.
originally posted by: adjensen
As many of you know, I am a Protestant-leaning Catholic, so I still dabble a bit in the Solas.
I came across a question on a Traditionalist Catholic blog this morning, though, that has me scratching my head.
If a person is saved solely through their belief in Christ, does that mean that Satanists will be saved? They believe in God, they just don't like him very much.
As far as salvation goes, it is by grace through faith and nothing else.
Jesus Christ Himself, as well as Peter, Paul, and others hammered this point home over and over again.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46 NIV)
Baptism is not a requirement to get into heaven.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16 NIV)
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire
The things of God are not of this world. It seems a bit ridiculous to place some fleshly rule or limitation on salvation by requiring that someone be physically baptized in water.
If we are saved by faith, then we are saved by faith when we believe and not when we get baptized, otherwise, we are not saved by faith.
Galatians 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
One last thought: If someone maintains that baptism is necessary for salvation, is he adding a work, his own, to the finished work of Christ? If the answer is yes, then that person would be in terrible risk of not being saved. If the answer is no, then why is baptism maintained as being necessary the same way as the Jews maintained that works were necessary?
You are a little selective in your quoting here. Notice how verse 8 says "produce fruit".
John the Baptist explains this further :
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire
So you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For the purpose of salvation, it's all by the spirit and faith. You can't work your way to heaven.
That was a bad translation in the King James translation, that was likely done that way to go with preexisting church doctrine as was the order from the king to the translators he commissioned to make the translation.
. . . Salvation is the free gift of God . . .
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.