A Changed Lifestyle Is Not Proof of Salvation
All kinds of people from all different walks of life change and “turn over a new leaf”. And it's not uncommon for a person to change and become more of a moral individual upon joining a particular religion. People can and do change and that is good. People can grow up and often do. A person can make a decision for example to give up getting drunk, give up using recreational drugs, alter his or her life for the better, walk away from a former “party” lifestyle and become a responsible adult. Such a person can stop going to bars, get married, settle down and have a family, and become more of a stay-at-home mom or dad.
This is normal and is not at all uncommon as people get married, have children and transition from young adults to adults. But we must keep in mind that becoming a more responsible, more mature and more ethical person, while being a very excellent accomplishment in itself, even an exemplary praiseworthy accomplishment that should in no way be discounted, is not the same thing as placing faith in Christ and becoming a Christian. These are two entirely difference subjects that often become intertwined and confused in people's minds.
Many professing Christians today not only believe that a change in lifestyle is an irrefutable indicator of salvation, but also think it's required proof. Otherwise they claim that a person who lacks such a change is not really saved. The truth is a change in behavior or lifestyle is not and cannot be a gauge of salvation. In fact there is no true connection between the two subjects.
There are all kinds of unsaved and unbelieving people who have attained an impressive level of morality. Don't get me wrong, morality is very good, but morality in and of itself can't save anyone from their sins. Otherwise Christ died on the cross in vain and He rose from the dead for nothing and for no reason. Thankfully, we know this is not the case.
While morality can greatly improve a person's life on earth and help keep them away from all kinds of dangerous things such as vice (drug addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.) and away from crime-related problems (jail, etc.), even so morality has no power to gain anyone eternal life. Morality may at times be a doorway or pathway where a person becomes more open to considering Christ, but that's about it when it comes to salvation.
If morality had the power to save souls then there would have been no need for Christ to come and die in our place for our sins. The Gospel message would simply have been “clean up your life.” And that has never been the Gospel message. Although sadly many churches and popular ministries teach a false clean-up-you-life message in one form or another and claim that's the Gospel. That is not the Gospel. So it's no wonder why so many people believe that the road to heaven depends on their morality and personal performance. Faith (trust in and reliance upon Jesus Christ) is the only thing that gains a person forgiveness of their sins and saves them, and it's the only things that can save anyone. To clean up one's life is certainly a healthy achievement, but should never be equated with salvation.
Countless professing Christians (who ironically have never actually placed their trust in Christ) are running around attributing their personal moral improvements such as a changed lifestyle, or the turning over of a new leaf, as being an iron-clad indicator, even absolute proof that they are a Christian. These are people who have found morality or new religious friends, but they have not found Christ and they confuse the two. They have been deceived into believing works are the way to Christ, to heaven and eternal life. But we are not saved by works. We are saved by faith (trust) in Christ.
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph 2:8-9
There are many other excellent Bible verses that say essentially the same thing. The following passage shows that even if a Christian dies without a single good work to his or her credit, he or she is still saved:
(11) For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (12) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; (13) Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (14) If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. (15) If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 1Cor 3: 11-15
The above passage testifies, as the whole of Scripture testifies, that salvation is all about Jesus and not about us.
All kinds of unbelievers in all shapes and sizes do a wide variety of good works - from running soup kitchens and feeding the homeless to visiting and bringing medical care to other countries. If good works like this were proof of salvation, then we would have to agree that all these people and more are saved and on their way to heaven with no need of Christ and no need of forgiveness of their sins. Of course we know that is not true. Consider this: If everyone who ever made a resolution to live better or who has ever turned over a new leaf were saved, then every New Years Eve would mark the appearance of a multitude of new Christians coming on the scene. If all it takes is turning over a new leaf for someone to be saved, then everyone throughout history who has made a New Year's resolution would be going to heaven on that basis alone. That is simply not the case. Nowhere does the Bible teach that turning over a new leaf saves anyone. Again, I am not downplaying the benefits or importance of ceasing bad behavior and changing one's lifestyle. That is excellent and not to be discounted in any way, unless of course this change of behavior is used as a substitute or replacement for faith in Christ. In that case it gets very dangerous very fast.
Now this might sound like a stretch, but hear me out for a moment. I would go so far as to say that someone would be far better off remaining immoral and unethical yet being open to placing faith in Christ, compared to making the devastating mistake of undergoing such a positive outward transformation and missing Christ altogether and eventually dying as an unbeliever. Becoming a more moral person is not a good thing when this transformation is perceived as some kind of spiritual new birth or proof of salvation. Otherwise such a person would not likely be open to becoming saved because they would be convinced that they already are saved, which is a very dangerous state for any unbeliever to find themselves in.
People do not seek that which they believe they already have, and they are not open to attaining that which they think they have already achieved.
We saw above in Eph 2:8-9 that we are saved by faith (belief, which means trust) in Jesus Christ, meaning trusting that He alone paid the full price for our sins through His death and resurrection, thereby gaining for us forgiveness of our sins and the resulting eternal life. We are NOT and never will be saved by changing our lifestyle or by turning over a new leaf. We are also not saved by joining a church, a new religious club or subculture even with the seemingly exciting prospect of making lots of new religious friends. False religion loves to promote outward changes while no inward change has actually occurred.
Sure, a changed life may provide some evidence or may be a byproduct of genuine faith in Christ, but it also may not be. That's why we cannot ever allow works to be a gauge of faith. To do so creates a dangerous mindset that can lead to a lot of trouble based on subjective, personally-biased judgments that are not founded in biblical reality. Such is often the realm of the commercialized false church system where good works can and often do mask evil. And good, even though it is good, can be (and often is) used for evil, to make someone who is engaging in evil appear to be good, thereby causing unwary people to drop their guards. This is a classic way that con artists gain trust from their victims.
All kinds of people produce all kinds of good works, both believers and unbelievers alike. All kinds of cults have members that do alleged "good works" and the result is almost invariably that unwary victims are drawn into the cult due to thinking they are good, generous and kindhearted people to be around. Even some downright bad people do some good works from time to time. Are we so foolish in even non-spiritual matters to, for example, drop our guard regarding a known serial killer just because we learn of some good things he or she did recently or in the past? No, of course not. It is easy to main that kind of common sense in the “real” world. But a lot of people would struggle to maintain any semblance of such common sense when it comes to spiritual matters. It's like as soon as someone stamps “God” or “Jesus” on something everyone just checks their brains at the door, drops their guard and often do so for fear of not appearing to have faith. But we are commanded to “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22), which is real faith. We are not commanded to have blind faith in the nonsense of men! We are warned about such things so that we can avoid them:
(17) Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them. (18) For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16: 17-18
(1) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (3) And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not. 2Pet 2: 1-3
There are many other passages regarding avoiding false teachers that could be quoted.
Another popular yet incorrect idea is that involvement with and support of a particular church organization is somehow proof-positive irrefutable evidence that someone is a Christian. Sadly, many unbelievers are relying on their church involvement to establish their salvation rather than relying on Christ.
It is important to understand the information in the article not only in general, but also as it pertains to you personally, so that you don't judge your own salvation state (meaning whether or not you are saved) based on any personal struggles or personal lifestyle failures or even positive successful things that you may be experiencing. The two subjects are not related regardless of all the claims to the contrary that we constantly hear from enemies of the true Gospel. Unfortunately, so many heretical works-teachings are being taught today regarding salvation that not only have many genuine Christians immobilized by fear, but also many unbelievers have been misguided as to what becoming a Christians really entails.
To hear it from a false teacher, becoming a Christian requires a lot of effort and victory in defeating the flesh on your end. That is not the case. Salvation is totally dependent on Jesus Christ. The victory is and always has been His and His alone. Our job is to trust in who He is and what He has already done for us. From that point on, defeating the the flesh (e.g. not fulfilling the lust of the flesh) is solely dependent on personally studying and obeying the clear teaching of the Bible in those areas. But that has nothing to do with whether or not a person is going to heaven and any deficiencies or failures in this regard will not cause a person to lose their salvation.
Nevertheless, nothing in this article should be construed as a license to sin. Sin still carries with it a steep price, such as all the devastating problems that sin can cause in this life. We need to understand that God's prohibition on sin is for our own benefit to help us avoid serious problems. He is not sitting on top of a cloud somewhere making up rules for the sake of rules. The Bible is not a book of restrictions, but rather of book of freedoms, that if we will heed its warnings not to engage in sin, it keeps us free from having to pay the costly price that sin often requires in this life and the next. For the unbeliever, the problem of sin overall also carries with it the far more devastating extended penalty of not receiving eternal life. (That's why it's so critical to trust Jesus and receive forgiveness of our sins). For the believer, sin carries with it the extended penalty of potentially losing additional rewards in heaven and thereby suffering loss and regret. There is no upside to sin even if one thinks they are getting away with it. Sure, "there is pleasure in sin for a season" as the Bible says, but when that season ends, then the devil is right there with the bill and he always gets his payment, which is often a devastatingly painful price that no one want to pay.
ChristiansFree.com
All kinds of people from all different walks of life change and “turn over a new leaf”. And it's not uncommon for a person to change and become more of a moral individual upon joining a particular religion. People can and do change and that is good. People can grow up and often do. A person can make a decision for example to give up getting drunk, give up using recreational drugs, alter his or her life for the better, walk away from a former “party” lifestyle and become a responsible adult. Such a person can stop going to bars, get married, settle down and have a family, and become more of a stay-at-home mom or dad.
This is normal and is not at all uncommon as people get married, have children and transition from young adults to adults. But we must keep in mind that becoming a more responsible, more mature and more ethical person, while being a very excellent accomplishment in itself, even an exemplary praiseworthy accomplishment that should in no way be discounted, is not the same thing as placing faith in Christ and becoming a Christian. These are two entirely difference subjects that often become intertwined and confused in people's minds.
Many professing Christians today not only believe that a change in lifestyle is an irrefutable indicator of salvation, but also think it's required proof. Otherwise they claim that a person who lacks such a change is not really saved. The truth is a change in behavior or lifestyle is not and cannot be a gauge of salvation. In fact there is no true connection between the two subjects.
There are all kinds of unsaved and unbelieving people who have attained an impressive level of morality. Don't get me wrong, morality is very good, but morality in and of itself can't save anyone from their sins. Otherwise Christ died on the cross in vain and He rose from the dead for nothing and for no reason. Thankfully, we know this is not the case.
While morality can greatly improve a person's life on earth and help keep them away from all kinds of dangerous things such as vice (drug addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.) and away from crime-related problems (jail, etc.), even so morality has no power to gain anyone eternal life. Morality may at times be a doorway or pathway where a person becomes more open to considering Christ, but that's about it when it comes to salvation.
If morality had the power to save souls then there would have been no need for Christ to come and die in our place for our sins. The Gospel message would simply have been “clean up your life.” And that has never been the Gospel message. Although sadly many churches and popular ministries teach a false clean-up-you-life message in one form or another and claim that's the Gospel. That is not the Gospel. So it's no wonder why so many people believe that the road to heaven depends on their morality and personal performance. Faith (trust in and reliance upon Jesus Christ) is the only thing that gains a person forgiveness of their sins and saves them, and it's the only things that can save anyone. To clean up one's life is certainly a healthy achievement, but should never be equated with salvation.
Countless professing Christians (who ironically have never actually placed their trust in Christ) are running around attributing their personal moral improvements such as a changed lifestyle, or the turning over of a new leaf, as being an iron-clad indicator, even absolute proof that they are a Christian. These are people who have found morality or new religious friends, but they have not found Christ and they confuse the two. They have been deceived into believing works are the way to Christ, to heaven and eternal life. But we are not saved by works. We are saved by faith (trust) in Christ.
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph 2:8-9
There are many other excellent Bible verses that say essentially the same thing. The following passage shows that even if a Christian dies without a single good work to his or her credit, he or she is still saved:
(11) For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (12) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; (13) Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (14) If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. (15) If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 1Cor 3: 11-15
The above passage testifies, as the whole of Scripture testifies, that salvation is all about Jesus and not about us.
All kinds of unbelievers in all shapes and sizes do a wide variety of good works - from running soup kitchens and feeding the homeless to visiting and bringing medical care to other countries. If good works like this were proof of salvation, then we would have to agree that all these people and more are saved and on their way to heaven with no need of Christ and no need of forgiveness of their sins. Of course we know that is not true. Consider this: If everyone who ever made a resolution to live better or who has ever turned over a new leaf were saved, then every New Years Eve would mark the appearance of a multitude of new Christians coming on the scene. If all it takes is turning over a new leaf for someone to be saved, then everyone throughout history who has made a New Year's resolution would be going to heaven on that basis alone. That is simply not the case. Nowhere does the Bible teach that turning over a new leaf saves anyone. Again, I am not downplaying the benefits or importance of ceasing bad behavior and changing one's lifestyle. That is excellent and not to be discounted in any way, unless of course this change of behavior is used as a substitute or replacement for faith in Christ. In that case it gets very dangerous very fast.
Now this might sound like a stretch, but hear me out for a moment. I would go so far as to say that someone would be far better off remaining immoral and unethical yet being open to placing faith in Christ, compared to making the devastating mistake of undergoing such a positive outward transformation and missing Christ altogether and eventually dying as an unbeliever. Becoming a more moral person is not a good thing when this transformation is perceived as some kind of spiritual new birth or proof of salvation. Otherwise such a person would not likely be open to becoming saved because they would be convinced that they already are saved, which is a very dangerous state for any unbeliever to find themselves in.
People do not seek that which they believe they already have, and they are not open to attaining that which they think they have already achieved.
We saw above in Eph 2:8-9 that we are saved by faith (belief, which means trust) in Jesus Christ, meaning trusting that He alone paid the full price for our sins through His death and resurrection, thereby gaining for us forgiveness of our sins and the resulting eternal life. We are NOT and never will be saved by changing our lifestyle or by turning over a new leaf. We are also not saved by joining a church, a new religious club or subculture even with the seemingly exciting prospect of making lots of new religious friends. False religion loves to promote outward changes while no inward change has actually occurred.
Sure, a changed life may provide some evidence or may be a byproduct of genuine faith in Christ, but it also may not be. That's why we cannot ever allow works to be a gauge of faith. To do so creates a dangerous mindset that can lead to a lot of trouble based on subjective, personally-biased judgments that are not founded in biblical reality. Such is often the realm of the commercialized false church system where good works can and often do mask evil. And good, even though it is good, can be (and often is) used for evil, to make someone who is engaging in evil appear to be good, thereby causing unwary people to drop their guards. This is a classic way that con artists gain trust from their victims.
All kinds of people produce all kinds of good works, both believers and unbelievers alike. All kinds of cults have members that do alleged "good works" and the result is almost invariably that unwary victims are drawn into the cult due to thinking they are good, generous and kindhearted people to be around. Even some downright bad people do some good works from time to time. Are we so foolish in even non-spiritual matters to, for example, drop our guard regarding a known serial killer just because we learn of some good things he or she did recently or in the past? No, of course not. It is easy to main that kind of common sense in the “real” world. But a lot of people would struggle to maintain any semblance of such common sense when it comes to spiritual matters. It's like as soon as someone stamps “God” or “Jesus” on something everyone just checks their brains at the door, drops their guard and often do so for fear of not appearing to have faith. But we are commanded to “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22), which is real faith. We are not commanded to have blind faith in the nonsense of men! We are warned about such things so that we can avoid them:
(17) Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them. (18) For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16: 17-18
(1) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (3) And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not. 2Pet 2: 1-3
There are many other passages regarding avoiding false teachers that could be quoted.
Another popular yet incorrect idea is that involvement with and support of a particular church organization is somehow proof-positive irrefutable evidence that someone is a Christian. Sadly, many unbelievers are relying on their church involvement to establish their salvation rather than relying on Christ.
It is important to understand the information in the article not only in general, but also as it pertains to you personally, so that you don't judge your own salvation state (meaning whether or not you are saved) based on any personal struggles or personal lifestyle failures or even positive successful things that you may be experiencing. The two subjects are not related regardless of all the claims to the contrary that we constantly hear from enemies of the true Gospel. Unfortunately, so many heretical works-teachings are being taught today regarding salvation that not only have many genuine Christians immobilized by fear, but also many unbelievers have been misguided as to what becoming a Christians really entails.
To hear it from a false teacher, becoming a Christian requires a lot of effort and victory in defeating the flesh on your end. That is not the case. Salvation is totally dependent on Jesus Christ. The victory is and always has been His and His alone. Our job is to trust in who He is and what He has already done for us. From that point on, defeating the the flesh (e.g. not fulfilling the lust of the flesh) is solely dependent on personally studying and obeying the clear teaching of the Bible in those areas. But that has nothing to do with whether or not a person is going to heaven and any deficiencies or failures in this regard will not cause a person to lose their salvation.
Nevertheless, nothing in this article should be construed as a license to sin. Sin still carries with it a steep price, such as all the devastating problems that sin can cause in this life. We need to understand that God's prohibition on sin is for our own benefit to help us avoid serious problems. He is not sitting on top of a cloud somewhere making up rules for the sake of rules. The Bible is not a book of restrictions, but rather of book of freedoms, that if we will heed its warnings not to engage in sin, it keeps us free from having to pay the costly price that sin often requires in this life and the next. For the unbeliever, the problem of sin overall also carries with it the far more devastating extended penalty of not receiving eternal life. (That's why it's so critical to trust Jesus and receive forgiveness of our sins). For the believer, sin carries with it the extended penalty of potentially losing additional rewards in heaven and thereby suffering loss and regret. There is no upside to sin even if one thinks they are getting away with it. Sure, "there is pleasure in sin for a season" as the Bible says, but when that season ends, then the devil is right there with the bill and he always gets his payment, which is often a devastatingly painful price that no one want to pay.
ChristiansFree.com