Hi Terry. This looks like a setup to me. Ok, I'm going to bite and
watch the fireworks. :-)
Why fear and tremble? Because salvation is a difficult road filled with
obstacles. It is a straight road, but also narrow, meaning that few
find it and it is easy to jump off the path. Ever read Pilgrim's
Progress?
We can mess up what God is working out in us. Free will. Temptations
abound everywhere, and there is an enemy who seeks to derail us. God
works for us and in us, but Satan works against us. Therefore, we must
work out our salvation in humility, understanding the dangers, and
understanding that it is not a "free ride." We might get a free ticket
to get on the ride, but that does not mean that the ride itself is free
of obstacles and dangers and costs to us.
Jesus also taught us to "count the cost" as to whether we can do it. We
might have God's guarantee that he will keep us from sin, and that he
will always provide for us victory and salvation, and we can trust in
that confidently by faith, but we have no guarantee that we will make
the right choices de facto. Furthermore, along with that guarantee of
God's faithfulness, we are also promised tribulation and spiritual
warfare. Not everyone makes it through this warfare alive and without
wounds.
I guess you just found a verse that blows certain versions of the "once
saved always saved" doctrine out of the water, and the "saved by grace
through faith alone" thinking also is shot down. As I have shared in
previous posts, according to the Holy Scriptures, works perfect faith
and save us, so we are not saved by faith alone, but also by works
(James 2:22-24), contrary to the Lutheran doctrine which must add words
to the Holy Scriptures and remove an entire book from the Holy
Scriptures in order to find solid ground for its acceptance. :-)
Peace be with you.
David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida.
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"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6)
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