Are We Saved By Our Acts Of Obedience?

[Heirbyadoption]

I'm not sure I can vote for any of the available options as stated.

I believe we are saved from sin by grace through faith. We are saved not only from the eternal consequences of sin, but from its power over us, and our obedience is among the substance of our salvation. We are not saved by our obedience; we obey by our salvation, by our faith in God and through his grace working in us. John 15 and Eph. 2 are two of the passages that have helped me to understand (to the extent that I do understand) the relationship between salvation and good works.

Sounds rather like number 1 to me. Thank you for sharing. The concept of "obeying by our salvation" is an interesting way to phrase it.

[Sudsy]

I disagree with that statement that "We are saved by our acts of obedience" if that means a person must live to some unspecified level of obedience to be saved. This would completely negate having any assurance of one's salvation. Scripture says we can know we have eternal life, not 'hope so' in the sense of not knowing in your spirit you are being saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9 -

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

The gift of salvation saves us from the power of sin now, the penalty of sin (death is not the end) and in the next life, the very presence of sin. No one can do enough good works to obtain salvation nor can they do some unspecified level of obedience to keep their salvation. Good works, once believing, are one identifier of a changed heart and will be used to determine a believer's reward. Saving faith is such that acts of obedience will follow being born of the Spirit. Having free will, I believe it is possible to abandon the essentials to believe about Christ and 'throw away' this gift.

That was one paragraph broken up by the scripture verse.

[PeterG]

My initial thought is that if the exercise of faith is that which justifies us with God, then either exercising that faith (ie believing) is an/the act of obedience which justifies us, or it is not and we are justified and THEN called to acts of obedience.

Ephesians 2 suggests to me that if it's either of those, it's the latter. There seems to be an important distinction between faith and action.

[bible]Ephesians 2, 8-9[/bible]

I'm not sure I can vote for any of the available options as stated.

I believe we are saved from sin by grace through faith. We are saved not only from the eternal consequences of sin, but from its power over us, and our obedience is among the substance of our salvation. We are not saved by our obedience; we obey by our salvation, by our faith in God and through his grace working in us. John 15 and Eph. 2 are two of the passages that have helped me to understand (to the extent that I do understand) the relationship between salvation and good works.

Sounds rather like number 1 to me. Thank you for sharing. The concept of "obeying by our salvation" is an interesting way to phrase it.

I'd vote for number 3 if it didn't say that both A and B are equally true. A is more true than B, but I do think that "saving faith and acts of obedience cannot be spoken of separately."

My head is spinning now, and I'd better be quiet before I say something that makes me a heretic.

[RZehr]

Are We Saved By Our Acts Of Obedience? From what specifically are we being saved from in this question? What is the question asking?

[silentreader]

I'm not sure I can vote for any of the available options as stated.

I believe we are saved from sin by grace through faith. We are saved not only from the eternal consequences of sin, but from its power over us, and our obedience is among the substance of our salvation. We are not saved by our obedience; we obey by our salvation, by our faith in God and through his grace working in us. John 15 and Eph. 2 are two of the passages that have helped me to understand (to the extent that I do understand) the relationship between salvation and good works.

Is this something that we fail to recognize, and thus fail?

[ohio jones]

We are not saved by acts of obedience, but neither are we saved without them.

[Sudsy]

I'm not sure I can vote for any of the available options as stated.

I believe we are saved from sin by grace through faith. We are saved not only from the eternal consequences of sin, but from its power over us, and our obedience is among the substance of our salvation. We are not saved by our obedience; we obey by our salvation, by our faith in God and through his grace working in us. John 15 and Eph. 2 are two of the passages that have helped me to understand (to the extent that I do understand) the relationship between salvation and good works.

Is this something that we fail to recognize, and thus fail?

It can if we don't believe and obey what is said in Romans 6.

[Josh]

We certainly aren’t saved by acts of disobedience.

[silentreader]

We certainly aren’t saved by acts of disobedience.

Are we lost by acts of disobedience?

[Josh]

We certainly aren’t saved by acts of disobedience.

Are we lost by acts of disobedience?

I would say so. A baby is innocent and not lost until he reaches the age of accountability and starts to disobey.