Thought: Necessary Obedience
Just a thought. If you are not Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, you probably have a tendency to conflate works-based salvation with necessary obedience. Many seem to think that our salvation has nothing to do with our own actions, but exclusively rests on the finished work of Christ. Not so. For some who read that, you are likely already angry and writing a response. Have fun down there.
It is not complicated. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Therefore, if my faith is dead then I too am dead.
This came up recently in an argument about 1 Timothy 2:15 and who the verse is referring to as far as being saved through childbearing. Regardless of your opinion, the argument sparked an interesting thought: Had Eve not obeyed, she would not have been saved.
God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). Then, after the Fall of man, God said that the Headcrusher, Christ the King, would come from the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15). Had Eve rejected obedience to the Lord in being fruitful and multiplying and had she refused to believe that salvation would come through her seed, she would not have been saved because the Mighty God would never have been born a man. It would have ended there.
The point of this is not to make a case about man thwarting God’s promises by disobedience. His purpose is accomplished as He decides. Rather, obedience was necessary for the promise of salvation to be applied. Does that mean that her obedience is the power that saved her? No. And this is where that dangerous conflation between works-based salvation and necessary obedience becomes so important. To say that you have to work to be saved is biblical. Even the thief on the cross had demonstrable change in his life when he defended Christ against the man who continued insulting Him (Luke 23:40-42). To say that your works save you is blatantly not.
It is really not complicated, but centuries of anti-Catholic thinking have twisted our approach to this topic in a not merely unhelpful but dangerous way. Christ’s finished work on the cross is what has made atonement and faith in Him is the only way to be saved. However, faith is a living thing, an acting thing. My faith in Christ must act or I do not actually have faith.
There were two criminals among those three on the crosses, and both believed Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. Both believed He had the power to save them. What was the difference? One feared God while the other did not (Luke 23:39-43).
Back to Eve. Was it her obedience that saved her? By no means. But without her obedience, none of us would be saved.
Just a thought.
