Does salvation by grace alone mean everyone ever born is saved?

[CurtisCWilson]

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

 

Notice: we are saved by grace. Grace alone without faith being a requirement. Why? Because faith has "works" connected to it, and we are not saved by any kind of works associated with grace because that would mean we earned it. We are not saved by "faith" but grace alone. It is very important that we fully understand that grace alone is how we are saved. Where does faith come in then? It is through faith that we gain "access" into this grace in which we are saved. The word "access" means "gateway, or admission"

 

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 

Rom 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

 

Faith is the key to accessing salvation that was freely given to us by God's grace!!!!

Just to prove to you that faith is not a requirement for salvation is found in these two scriptures.....

 

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

 

There is no mention of any "faith" in these scriptures. It was only by God's grace we were saved, and even when we were still dead in our sins he gave us life and raised us up with Jesus Christ into his Kingdom!!!!!

 

Here is another one......

 

2Ti 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

 

We were "saved" and "called" before the world began!!!! It was according to his purpose and "grace"

No mention of faith in this scripture either. Why? Because it is strictly by "grace" we are saved without faith being a requirement!!! This all happened before the world began!!!

 

Now if we want to experience this salvation which is only by "grace", it requires "faith" to be able to access this salvation. 

Where does works come in to faith? The Bible tells us that  "faith works by love" Gal 5:6 Faith without works is dead, but who is the one responsible for doing these works?

We find that "God is love" Love is not a feeling it is a person. Only God can do the works of faith, we don't because faith works of love (God)!!!

This takes us out of the picture so all we have to do is what Jesus tells us that the only "work" we are do is simply believe the Word of God.

 

Joh 6:27  Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." 

Joh 6:28  Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 

 

Edited August 2, 2014 by CurtisCWilson

[Guest shiloh357]

As most of us, I have heard the age old doctrinal argument over grace and works many times. Most of us have given it much thought and basically there are three paths we can take. We can say only grace(faith) saves us, or that we need only works, or we need some combination of both.

 

But lately I have been thinking about what the pure doctrine of grace has to be. Many people get angry at those who say works is needed, say, such as baptism, or keeping commandments. But usually I find that people just have different vocabularies when it comes to debates like this and that usually they do believe the same thing as the others, they just use different words.

 

So, I have been trying to decipher the languages and words people use to describe their beliefs and I think they are both talking about the same thing. For instance, salvation by grace supporters say that "God loves us so much that He sent His Son to save us and that by the mercy, love, and grace of God we are saved. There is nothing we can do, nor nothing we should do. God loves us that much." So in this pure form of salvation by grace, this would mean that everyone ever born, good or bad, righteous or evil, or just someone who doesn't care about anything - everyone is saved. God loved all of us, so he saved us. That would be it. We wouldn't even need to know about it because it would be done. But what I have found is that no salvation by grace believer actually believes that. They do not believe everyone would be saved because they really believe that we have to DO SOMETHING. Even if it is minimal, like say, confessing with your lips that Jesus is our Savior. Or merely having a belief. Or having to be a Christian, or have a good heart, etc. You get the idea.

 

In other words, you take two people side by side. One person has done nothing, and the other person has done the work of accepting Jesus and being a good person. Saved by grace people would say the first person is lost and the second is saved. So in my opinion, the saved by grace people really do believe in salvation by grace and by works. Now they may argue over how many works need to be done, but their true belief is that some sort of work, even if it is minimal, is necessary. Otherwise, someone who doesn't even know about Jesus is saved right along with someone who murders for a living, and right along with someone who is righteous and holy.

 

I see the two camps fighting over and over, but they both believe the same thing! So the question is, is either everyone saved or do we need God's grace and to do good works?

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus and His finished work on the cross.   Faith and repentance are not "works."  They are how we respond to and receive the Gospel.  

 

When we say that we are not saved by works, we mean that there is nothing we can do to merit or deserve salvation.  There is no work we can do that will win us points or put us at an advantage where access to God's gracious gift of salvation is concerned.

 

Our works that we do after we are born again, reveal our faith and affirm our profession of faith in Jesus.  But they do not in any way procure salvation.