Can We Earn Our Salvation?
Can We Earn Our Salvation? Absolutely Not! Salvation Is By Grace!
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? Paul here is dealing with the idea of exclusivity. Abraham was not justified on the mere basis of a physical distinction (circumcision) between him and others. Romans 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Here, Paul adds to the idea of exclusivity the idea of justification by strict obedience to law. If Abraham had earned his justification, he could boast. But he had not earned it.
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Abraham’s belief (or faith) was accounted for righteousness (or justification) though he had not rendered strict obedience to law (that is, he had sinned). Romans 4:4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. Paul shows, here, that one cannot be justified by grace if he is owed justification because of his strict obedience to law. Paul is not saying that Abraham never obeyed any conditions God had given him. Abraham had done so. Notice the following.
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. “By faith” Abraham “obeyed…went out…dwelt.
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. “By faith” Abraham “offered up Isaac.”
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Romans 4:5-8 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin." Again, “work” means “render strict obedience to law.” Abraham was justified, not merely before the Law of Moses was given but before circumcision was commanded as a seal of the covenant. Before he was given the seal of circumcision, he was not obligated to see to his circumcision or anyone else’s. But the instant circumcision was commanded he was obligated to see to it.
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. We also see, from the reference to Psalm 31:1-2, that one to whom “God imputes righteousness apart from works” is one whose “lawless deeds” God has “forgiven” or one whose “sins” God has “covered.” To forgive one’s lawless deeds and cover one’s sins is also equivalent to not imputing sin to him. Thus, “imputing righteousness” is equivalent to “forgiving sins.” Romans 4:9-10 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. That circumcision of the flesh is not essential to being justified is evident from the fact that Abraham was justified while he was uncircumcised. It was never God’s intention to justify all and only those who were physically circumcised. Abraham was justified before circumcision was commanded. Just so, it is possible to be justified now without physical circumcision. It matters not whether someone has been circumcised in the flesh. What matters is whether they have been spiritually circumcised (i.e. “of the heart, in the spirit”).
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Romans 2:26-29 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Romans 4:11-12 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. Having been justified by faith before and without being physically circumcised, Abraham is a prophetic type of one who can be justified under the New Testament before and without being physically circumcised. We also learn here that faith is a “walk” and not just a “moment of decision.” Walking is the most basic form of transportation. It is also good exercise, although some of us only walk as far as the car. In the Scriptures, however, the word “walk” is most often used “figuratively, ‘signifying the whole round of the activities of the individual life’” (Vine).
However, the Grace of God is Conditional and the Condition is Faithful Obedience. We do not have to do all the things Abraham did, of course, because we were never commanded to do those things. There are also certain things he was never commanded to do which we are, one of which is to submit to baptism in water. It is therefore a perversion to substitute “baptized” for “circumcised” and “unbaptized” for “uncircumcised” in one’s analysis of Romans 4. Baptism is for those who need to be “saved” (Mark 16:16), for those who need “the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38) or for those whose need to “wash away” their sins (Acts 22:16).