How to obtain eternal life?
Justification by faith & the role of the law
Fraudulent interpretations of justification by faith of Jesus pave the broad lanes leading to the wide gate of destruction. Satan struggles hard to get Bible verses that shed light on this matter ignored.
📖 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Romans 3:31)
Introduction
While Catholicism defends salvation can be obtained by a combination of faith and works or even by pecuniary payments, apostate Protestantism unblushingly asserts that the death of Jesus on the cross cancelled the Law of God.
Holy Scriptures explicitly state eternal life is acquired by redemption through the blood of Christ, reached by faith. This is known as justification by faith.
📖 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)
📖 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16)
A first superficial approach to these verses, obviating the unitary context of the Word of God, induces to assume that the Law of God was abolished in the cross of Christ. However, a more detailed analysis of the New Testament allows us to verify that the Law of God is eternal and immutable. Its obedience is always linked to the authentic faith of Jesus.
📖 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18)
📖 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)
Salvation and the reward of eternal life depend on the right understanding of this vitally important matter.
Social sharing
The authentic faith of Jesus
In order to truly understand what justification by faith consists of, we must first study what the authentic faith of Jesus is all about.
Accepting the faith of Jesus implies recognizing Christ as God and accepting Him as Redeemer and substitute payer, assuming our inability to save ourselves by our own merits. In addition, the real faith of Jesus includes obedience to the Father and his holy Law, as well as the rigorous study of the prophetic message on the Holy Scriptures. This whole matter can be understood by analyzing the following verses.
📖 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
📖 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
📖 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)
📖 Worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)
The expression ‘faith of Jesus’ is equivalent to ‘testimony of Jesus’. In fact, several verses containing the expression ‘faith of Jesus’ are translated in some Bible versions using the expression ‘testimony of Jesus’.
Once the obedience of the law is proven as one of the main components of the faith of Jesus, it is necessary to study a series of verses that confirm this solemn truth. These are some of Jesus’ words about the law:
📖 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18)
📖 If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
This is what the apostles wrote in the New Testament concerning the law:
📖 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:4)
📖 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. (Romans 2:12-13)
📖 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Romans 3:31)
📖 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
The genuine faith of Jesus includes the rejoicing in the fulfillment of the law. The true follower of Jesus delights in obedience to God’s Law. He does not regard the precepts of the Decalogue as a nuisance nor their fulfillment as a heavy and irksome burden. The voluntary fulfillment of the law, out of love for God, allows the Most High to test the authenticity of faith.
📖 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)
Repentance & forgiveness
It is through repentance and faith that we enter into a familiar and holy relationship with Christ. Repentance involves sorrow for sin and turning away from it. We do not renounce sin unless we understand how greatly it grieves God. Until we repudiate it from our hearts, there will be no real change in our lives.
Confessing our sins, our transgressions of God’s law, puts us in a position to receive God’s forgiveness. This confession is made directly in prayer to the Father, in the name of Jesus.
📖 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
📖 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
A humble and broken heart, softened by genuine repentance and a willingness to amend, will appreciate God’s love and the cost of Calvary. Those who are truly repentant for transgressing God’s holy law will bring all their sins before God and obtain redemption through the blood of Christ.
The love of Christ is slow to censure, quick to discern repentance, ready to forgive, to encourage, to affirm the errant on the path of holiness, to strengthen their feet in it.
The role of God's Law
The Bible offers the definition of sin as the transgression of the law. It also reports its terrible consequences.
📖 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4)
📖 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
The false doctrine that Christ abolished the Law of the Father by His death is unfounded. Those who accept this fraudulent explanation display that they do not understand the righteous character of God as Supreme Judge.
If it had been possible to modify the law or abolish it, then Jesus would not have had to die without sin to save man from the inescapable consequences of his transgressions. If God were willing to modify the law or interpret it arbitrarily according to a subjective criterion, the plan of redemption would be totally unnecessary. It would be enough for the Most High to apply the law severely to some and turn a blind eye to others.
The death of Christ, far from abolishing the law, proves that it is immutable. The Son of God came to magnify the law, to make it honorable. The immutable character of the Law of God makes the sacrifice of Christ as a substitute payer of the consequences of the transgression of that law totally necessary.
Apostate Protestantism instrumentalizes biblical verses susceptible of being misinterpreted, while it deliberately ignores the verses that shed light, in an explicit manner, on the perpetual validity of the law.
The investigative judgment
During the investigative judgment beginning in the Heavenly Sanctuary in 1844, every soul will be individually scrutinized by Jesus. When the name of each person is pronounced, in no case will the verdict of innocent of transgressing the Law of God be possible. Therefore, no one will be able to obtain eternal life by his own merits. There are only two possible verdicts: guilty redeemed by the blood of Christ and guilty unredeemed.
📖 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)
📖 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:12)
📖 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
The certainty of the existence of redemption in Christ should not lead to persistent neglect in the respect of the law. This mistake is placing oneself in a position of abuse of the grace of Christ. To such Christians, Jesus uttered the following words:
📖 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23)
The new covenant ratifies the old covenant
In ancient times, God established a covenant with Abraham that contained the promise of redemption through his lineage. This redemption was to be placed within the reach of all mankind, not just reserved for the Jewish people.
At Sinai, a different covenant was established between God and his people, through Moses. This covenant is called the ‘old covenant’ and was ratified through the blood of a sacrifice. Subsequently, through the sacrifice at Calvary, the covenant made with Abraham was ratified through the blood of Christ, giving rise to the ‘new covenant’.
The terms of the ‘old covenant’ were: obey and you will live. The ‘new covenant’ was established on better promises. Through it, the Most High offered the promise of forgiveness of sins, but also brought within the reach of the fallen race the promise of God’s grace to renew the heart and bring it into harmony with the principles of His holy Law.
The blessings of the ‘new covenant’ are based solely on the mercy poured out by God through the forgiveness of unrighteousness and sins. Everyone who humbles his heart and confesses his sins will find mercy, grace and assurance. But God does not change. Under the ‘new covenant’, the conditions by which eternal life can be obtained are the same as in the ‘old covenant’, namely perfect obedience. In the new and better covenant, Christ has fulfilled the law in favor of the transgressors of the law, if they receive Him by faith as their Redeemer. In the ‘new covenant’ we are purified from sin by the blood of Christ.
The Great Controversy
{ Ellen White }
Right after the Bible, The Great Controversy, written by Ellen White, is the second most important book for a true Christian.
Every man or woman who decides to accept the true faith of Jesus must read this magnificent writing which, inspired by God, details the ins and outs of the big battle for souls between Satan’s minions and faithful followers of Christ during the last 2,000 years of history.
But above all, The Great Controversy narrates in a prophetic way the events that will happend in these last times of history, the great final battle between Satan and Jesus, expanding on the prophecies that prophets, psalmists and evangelists wrote in the Bible about the end times and the so awaited second coming of Christ.
