Salvation Series: Faith in Christ Alone vs. Works Pt. 2

The question that I am about to pose in this post is like a lion cornering its prey in the background of the works based salvation controversy against faith based salvation in Christ alone. This question goes in for the kill at this false philosophical mindset. So you ask, what is the question? First, we will logically go through the evidence to reach the question. You have Catholicism. Catholicism is a works based salvation that depends on Christ plus your works to enter into heaven, kind of like Gnosticism. The evidence that I brought forth in the last post based on the book of Colossians was that Christ is supremely preeminent over all things. Let's look at Colossians 1:15-20 to begin to grasp a taste of Christ's supremacy.

Colossians 1:15-20 says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities---- all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. And He is head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross."

This whole passage pounds into our brain the ruling sovereignty, the ruling supremacy, the ruling preeminence of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ the Son of God. However, the last verse is rather interesting. In light of a works based salvation, Christ was able to reconcile to himself all things by making peace by the blood of His cross. Wow, this is in complete contrast to a works based salvation. Now, let's read into 2 Corinthians 8:9 which says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for YOUR SAKE HE BECAME POOR, so that YOU by His poverty MIGHT BECOME RICH." The ESV footnote for my Study Bible says this in relation to that verse, "While He had every right to stay comfortably where He was, in a position of power, His love drove Him to a position of weakness for the sake of sinful mankind." 1

So, here we have a Jesus, who is preeminent over all things; and we have a Jesus, who became poor on behalf of sinful mankind, so we might become rich. After all this background, we can now ask the question. The logic behind this is this: If Christ is supremely preeminent, God in human flesh like the Scriptures say He is, than from conclusive reasoning we can say that CHRIST IS SUFFICIENTLY ENOUGH TO SAVE THE ELECT FROM ALL THEIR SINS. Based on this conclusive reasoning, the question is: Is Christ's death enough to sufficiently, completely, absolutely, yet exclusively save you from every sin you have ever committed? IF HIS DEATH IS NOT ENOUGH, you can hold fast to a works based salvation because Christ died in vain, for no purpose (Galatians 2:21) as Dakota so eloquently placed in a comment on my last post. What is the purpose of Christ's death? If you do not hold fast to Him as your ONLY HOPE of salvation, what is the influential purpose of His death?

You can even take it a step further and say why did Christ even come to this earth at all? Think about it. If you need Christ plus works to enter into Heaven, why did Christ even come to earth at all when his main mission, main goal, main purpose was to COMPLETELY SAVE mankind of all their sins by dying a death reserved for guilty sinners---- to bear the wrath of God, the ultimate justice of God on behalf of vile sinners, who completely do not even care a rip about God in the first place. It does not make any sense at all. Mark 10:45 says, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many", and John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Why did Jesus come? To give life, so that we may have it abundantly. In my next post, we will end this works based salvation vs. Faith alone in Jesus Christ salvation by bringing Ephesians 2:1-10 into the mixture. Stay tuned....

Sola Deo Gloria!!!!!

1 - ESV footnote from my English Standard Version Study Bible, pg. 2283 on behalf of Philippians 2:7.