How is one saved?

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Accepted answer

How is one saved? To answer this question, we need to understand that salvation is a journey culminating in either heaven or hell.

You stated clearly in your comment that there is only one way to be saved, and you are right, as Jesus himself said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6, NIV).

Now all verses you cited have their own place in this journey of salvation. It's just different denominations arrange them differently. For this answer, I try to be as general as possible, so this answer applies to all mainstream Trinitarian denominations.

  1. By Faith (Eph 2:8). This refers to the early stage of the journey when we are born again and receives new life (John 3:3: Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."). This is God's gift that we don't earn, since we need a mother to be born physically, and so we need God to be born spiritually.

  2. By Obedience (Heb 5:9). This refers to our proper response to God's gift of new life, by walking in the spirit (Gal 5:16-18), obeying Jesus's "new commandment" of love (John 15:12).

  3. By Endurance (Matt 24:13). This refers to the possibility that one may backslide or even apostatize. That's why Paul warns us to faithfully "run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." (Heb 12:1b-2a).

  4. By Doings (Rom 2:13). This refers to the standard that God judges us BEFORE the gift of faith. This refers to Israelites who were given the laws at Sinai (so they "heard it"), but they didn't do it, so they broke the Mosaic covenant. Please don't confuse this with the new covenant given by Jesus. The "Doings" that Christians need to perform is in point #6 below.

  5. By faith alone (Gal 2:16). "justification" means right standing before God. "justification" is only one part of the whole plan of salvation: to get us to heaven. As mentioned above, we are justified only by faith, because only God can give us this new life. Without this new life, we cannot enter heaven, the goal of this journey of salvation.

  6. Not by faith alone (James 2:24). This refers to our response to the gift of faith, not to earn salvation. Remember, that the gift is in the beginning of the journey, but this point refers to the rest of the journey. Response is a "proof" that our faith is genuine, that God really has given us this new life, not our attempt to "simulate" the effect of this new life. Don't underestimate the ability for us to deceive ourselves!! The bigger context is James 2:14-17:

    "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ... Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

    Again, this action is NOT to earn salvation, but as a response to the grace given by God. Even our actions are only meritorious if is done under the power of grace so humans may not boast.

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