Why is Eternal Life a Free Gift?

[thereselittleflower]

 

But when we come to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are shocked to find that God literally offers us the gift of eternal life freely. So why is eternal life a free gift and not something to be earned with our own efforts at being righteous, moral and good?

 

 

It is a free gift simply because it cannot be earned. There is no task we can do, there is no price we can pay.

That does not mean Salvation comes without a cost.  We must be willing to sacrifice our life and our will to follow the will of God

 

Romans 12:I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

 

 

Exactly right.

Why is salvation a free gift?

Because we can do nothing of our own selves to earn it.

But it does come with a high cost.

 

Matthew 16:24-25

Take Up Your Cross
24Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it

 

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by thereselittleflower

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

I (and millions of others - especially since the reformation) have a slightly different take on that.

We would say, God gives eternal life to some, but does make the offer to all. To those He does grant eternal life, they are the ones who obey the Gospel. Obendience does not result in eternal life, the grace of God and gift of eternal life, results in obedience.

 

The OFFER of eternal life is to everyone.  However ONLY THOSE WHO OBEY THE GOSPEL receive eternal life, which is a perfect and endless life with God and Christ. 

 

 

 

There may be millions of believers who believe so, but there are almost 2 billion who don't.

 

Calvinism, with its version of predeterminism, IMHO misses the boat entire on this subject.  

The scriptures do not deny salvation to anyone  - God has not ahead of time decided who would be saved and who would not be.   The gift of salvation is offered to all.   We do actually have free will and can choose to accept or reject it.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you think God knew " ahead of time " who would, and who would not accept His offering ? 

[thereselittleflower]

I (and millions of others - especially since the reformation) have a slightly different take on that.

We would say, God gives eternal life to some, but does make the offer to all. To those He does grant eternal life, they are the ones who obey the Gospel. Obendience does not result in eternal life, the grace of God and gift of eternal life, results in obedience.

 

The OFFER of eternal life is to everyone.  However ONLY THOSE WHO OBEY THE GOSPEL receive eternal life, which is a perfect and endless life with God and Christ. 

 

 

 

There may be millions of believers who believe so, but there are almost 2 billion who don't.

 

Calvinism, with its version of predeterminism, IMHO misses the boat entire on this subject.  

The scriptures do not deny salvation to anyone  - God has not ahead of time decided who would be saved and who would not be.   The gift of salvation is offered to all.   We do actually have free will and can choose to accept or reject it.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you think God knew " ahead of time " who would, and who would not accept His offering ? 

I believe God knows all things.

That does not mean God determined who would or who would not be saved.

Foreknowledge is not predetermination.

 

For instance.    You can know ahead of time what someone is going to choose.    That does not mean you determined their choice.

 

                                   

 

 

 

 

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

Thank you. So one could say that eternal life will not be given to those that God had foreknowledge of their rejection of His offering?

[Omegaman 3.0]

I (and millions of others - especially since the reformation) have a slightly different take on that.

We would say, God gives eternal life to some, but does make the offer to all. To those He does grant eternal life, they are the ones who obey the Gospel. Obendience does not result in eternal life, the grace of God and gift of eternal life, results in obedience.

 

The OFFER of eternal life is to everyone.  However ONLY THOSE WHO OBEY THE GOSPEL receive eternal life, which is a perfect and endless life with God and Christ. 

 

 

 

There may be millions of believers who believe so, but there are almost 2 billion who don't.

 

Calvinism, with its version of predeterminism, IMHO misses the boat entire on this subject.  

The scriptures do not deny salvation to anyone  - God has not ahead of time decided who would be saved and who would not be.   The gift of salvation is offered to all.   We do actually have free will and can choose to accept or reject it.

 

I am not a fan of the term Calvinism, as Calvin had some character flaws, and there was much more to Calvin's theology than just just doctrines about election and free will, grace and works, predestination, etc, etc.

Of course, numbers of adherents say nothing about what is true and what is not, If theological truth was up for a democratic vote, then Jesus would be wrong on this point:

" “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Of course the name Calvinism aside, you have correctly identified my thought with a set of teaching I prefer to call reformed theology.

Of course as one who seems focused on the ideas held in Roman Catholicism, I would not expect you to share my position. I do think that reformed theology is consistant with the Bible, and the ideas contained in it, are expressed in pretty clear terms if one really examines it open mindedly, and is willing to accept scripture at face value, without trying to impose instinct and human pride and limited logic to how we think the Bible should read, but to me, what is says is more important. 

I am ashamed to say, that for probably the first three decades of my life as a believer, I failed to see what Paul, John, et all, were saying, so I am kind of late to the party.

I think your comment

The scriptures do not deny salvation to anyone  - God has not ahead of time decided who would be saved and who would not be.   The gift of salvation is offered to all.   We do actually have free will and can choose to accept or reject it.

 [/quote] is quite off the mark or at least misleading. For example, while you can make the case the the scriptures do not deny salvation to anyone, it is clear that they state that God

certainly

denies salvation to most, and in fact, sends people to Hell, as unpleasant as that is for us to admit. If that were not the case, all would be saved, just as He desires. We do not have free will, and everyone who actually thinks about it, realizes it. We have freedom of choice, not the same thing exactly, but there are even limits on that. The sublties of the issue are many and complicated.

In any case, this is not the thread to debate the merits of, or challenges to, reformed theology, so I wont. 

 

 

[missmuffet]

I (and millions of others - especially since the reformation) have a slightly different take on that.

We would say, God gives eternal life to some, but does make the offer to all. To those He does grant eternal life, they are the ones who obey the Gospel. Obendience does not result in eternal life, the grace of God and gift of eternal life, results in obedience.

 

The OFFER of eternal life is to everyone.  However ONLY THOSE WHO OBEY THE GOSPEL receive eternal life, which is a perfect and endless life with God and Christ. 

 

 

 

There may be millions of believers who believe so, but there are almost 2 billion who don't.

 

Calvinism, with its version of predeterminism, IMHO misses the boat entire on this subject.  

The scriptures do not deny salvation to anyone  - God has not ahead of time decided who would be saved and who would not be.   The gift of salvation is offered to all.   We do actually have free will and can choose to accept or reject it.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you think God knew " ahead of time " who would, and who would not accept His offering ? 

Yes,God did know ahead of time who would accept His offering and go to heaven.

[Ezra]

Some of the posters seem to have implied that even though eternal life is a free gift, believers must somehow prove themselves "worthy" of this gift.  THAT IS UTTERLY FALSE. The whole point of this GIFT OF GRACE  is that NOT ONE OF US IS WORTHY, OR WILL EVER BE WORTHY to receive eternal life. We are to receive eternal life (who is a Person -- the Lord Jesus Christ) simply through (a) repentance toward God and (b) faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.  What does this means?

1. Repentance is essentially a turning away from sins and idols and a turning to the living God:  For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess 1:9).

2. Faith is (a) Believing that Jesus is the Son of God --  that He is God who became Man for MY SALVATION; (b) believing that He paid the full penalty for all MY PERSONAL SINS as well as the sins of all humanity; (c) believing that He rose again for MY JUSTIFICATION; (d) believing that I am saved by CALLING UPON HIS NAME; and (e) receiving Him as MY LORD AND SAVIOR (Rom 10:8-13):

8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[thereselittleflower]

Thank you. So one could say that eternal life will not be given to those that God had foreknowledge of their rejection of His offering?

Yes, but not based on His foreknowledge, but based on their choice.

 

[Ezra]

Thank you. So one could say that eternal life will not be given to those that God had foreknowledge of their rejection of His offering?

Yes, but not based on His foreknowledge, but based on their choice.

Salvation is not according to predestination, but predestination (election) is according to foreknowledge. We will not get into the purpose of predestination in this thread, but salvation is offered freely to "whosoever will".

[thereselittleflower]

Thank you. So one could say that eternal life will not be given to those that God had foreknowledge of their rejection of His offering?

Yes, but not based on His foreknowledge, but based on their choice.

Salvation is not according to predestination, but predestination (election) is according to foreknowledge. We will not get into the purpose of predestination in this thread, but salvation is offered freely to "whosoever will".

Predestination has to do with what God has in store for believers, not who becomes believers.     And yes, salvation is offered to freely to whosoever will.