You might say, “If Jesus isn’t God then he can’t be our savior because the bible says only God can save”.
Jesus never said that he was God. But did you ever stop to think about what it means to be saved? Saved from what? How do you get saved and who or what saves you?
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Mat 1:21)
People are saved “FROM their sins“. The following is from a translation directly from Aramaic to English:
His name on earth will be Yeshua. He will save the people from their sins; who so ever repents, and obeys His law, He will save from their sins.
“…obeys his law…”, reveals that something has to be DONE, contrary to Paul’s teaching, to be “saved”. There is a condition for salvation. It is obvious that this is the reason that Mat 1:21 was modified — to cover up the contradiction Paul created with the new version of “his gospel”.
Saved from sin.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (Jn 8:32)
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. (Jn 8:34)
People are freed FROM what? They are saved FROM their sins. Saved or freed from the bondage of their sins. If you are in bondage to sin, you are a slave of it. How are people saved from their sins? By hearing and doing the words that Jesus taught.
Most people think that “salvation” is is being saved from the fires of Hell. The truth is that Hell doesn’t even exist — but that’s a story for a different article. Salvation is being saved from your own self — freed from the bondage of sin.
There is a condition: doing his teachings. You have to DO something — it’s not merely believing. Of course, you have to believe in doing something before you can DO it. But merely believing is not doing.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (Jn 8:31)
Here’s that condition again: “If ye continue in my word“ . The Bible says Jesus came to save, deliver, and free from the bondage of sin by teaching the words that he was taught by his Father. It is the spirit of the word that saves.
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (Jn 6:63)
It is the words he spoke. They are spirit and they are life. It is the spirit of his words that have power and they contain life. Words are real things. It is words that have the power to change people. That seems to be what salvation is all about — changing people’s lives through the spoken and written word.
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. (Jn 6:68)
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (Jn 15:14)
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Lk 6:46)
Someone who calls him Lord is someone who knows him and believes in him. It is not enough to just believe in him. Here’s that condition again: “if ye do“
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. (Jn 15:10)
The word IF is conditional. The condition is keeping his commandments. In a metaphoric way it is Jesus who saves. But metaphorically speaking, who was Jesus?
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (Jn 6:51)
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (Jn 6:52)
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (Jn 6:53) (Here’s that condition still again: except)
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jn 6:54)
Degrees of Punishment?
Consider this teaching where Jesus speaks of a servant. A servant is someone who not only believes in God, but serves him. “The servant” is not a literal one, but as much of his teaching was, “the servant” is metaphoric. The servant is punished with either many or few stripes, depending on the degree of disobedience.
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. (Lk 12:47)
But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. (Lk 12:48)
“Beaten with few stripes… beaten with many stripes.”
Now tell me, what is he teaching here? Does the servant lose his “salvation” because of disobedience? And what happens when the “few” or many stripes are finished? (There is actually a condition here too, since those who knew God’s will and did it not were punished.)
The words “many” and “few” are countable words, words that have a beginning and an END. So the punishment has an end.
Tell me then, is the servant a person who is “unsaved” that goes to Hell and then gets out when it’s over, or is the servant a “saved” person who gets his punishment and then goes to heaven when it’s over? Who is this servant? Jesus said, “the servant knew his lord’s will”. Think about it. Even the Apostle Paul speaks about this:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive [punishment or reward for?] the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2Co 5:10)
The Judgement Seat of Christ
Now just think about this for a minute. If you are “saved” and your sins are all forgiven because of your belief, and forgotten, then why must we appear before the judgement seat of Christ for the good or bad things that we have done?
Paul is obviously speaking to believers at Corinth, not unbelievers. The judgement seat is in the next life. If we must receive for the bad we have done in the body, how can this not be? Was the sacrifice on the cross not sufficient? Doesn’t the “blood of Christ” cover all sin? It appears that it doesn’t… or is the traditional church teaching wrong? There appears to be a great contradiction here.
And what happens if God doesn’t forgive your sins? Do you do to hell for eternity or do you have to get punishment until you’ve paid for your wrongdoings?
What about that old saying, “Once saved always saved”? I have always wondered about all the things that don’t add up in the bible and the things that I was always taught in church. Why is there never a satisfactory answer to my questions? Consider this one:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Mat 6:15)
Unforgiveness is also known as holding a grudge. This is very common, even among believers. Many will even hold a grudge till the grave. What then? If they refused to forgive others God will not forgive them either. (Here’s that condition again: “if ye forgive not…”)
So what happens if they have unforgiven sins? Aren’t we taught that those who have sins that are not forgiven go to Hell?
Aww, why worry about it anyway?
Some people say, “Just trust God for it”, “Don’t worry about something you can’t get the answer for”, etc. Well, to me this is a very luke-warm attitude. I need answers to important questions like these. It really IS important (to me at least) to know the answers to such basic, fundamental issues as this.
So what happens to people who are believers, but have done bad in their lives who aren’t forgiven? There are literally millions of them. I’ve hear the one “narrow is the gate to life and few there be that find it”. So let’s see then…:
- Anyone who has never heard of Jesus goes to hell.
- Anyone who is in a different religion than Christianity and believes in a different god goes to hell.
- People who are in Christianity but don’t believe the right way, go to hell.
- Believers who do bad and don’t deserve God’s forgiveness, go to hell.
It seems to me that the great majority of God’s creation are going to hell and it’s next to impossible, even for a believer to know exactly what the right thing to believe in to be able to deserve entrance through the pearly gates.
It’s really hard to understand how to “get saved”!
To top it off, it is extremely difficult to figure out from reading the bible just how one comes to be “saved”. Paul said you had to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead to be saved and there is no works that can save you. What if Jesus didn’t actually die!? So many things have been obviously changed, How can you know this hasn’t been changed too!?
Jesus said just the opposite.
He said that only the righteous would inherit eternal life and the unrighteous would go to everlasting punishment. Jesus defines what it means to be righteous in Matthew 25: it is basically your righteousness and doing good works.
Paul said salvation was by grace and not by works of righteousness.
Jesus said eternal life was through righteous works. Now it can’t be both, even Paul said this.
And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. (Rom 11:6)
Here Paul says something contrary to what he said before:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, (1Co 6:9)
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1Co 6:10)
And I know there are lots of believers who definitely fit these titles. So none of these believers who are supposedly saved are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. Or maybe inheriting the kingdom of God is not the same as going to heaven, or being “saved from Hell”?
Paul is talking to the believers at the church of Corinth, is he not? He’s basically saying if you are not righteous you won’t go to heaven. So what do they teach in church? If you don’t go to heaven you go to Hell, right? Once he’s saying that you have to be righteous to inherit the kingdom of God, and here he’s saying that just believing is counted for righteousness — you get into Heaven for just believing:
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. (Rom 4:2)
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. (Rom 4:3)
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. (Rom 4:4)
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Rom 4:5)
(these verses are all contradictory to what Jesus taught in the Gospels. Jesus NEVER taught this!)
Paul contradicts himself.
So then you can be as unrighteous as you want but if you have faith, if you just believe then that makes you righteous in God’s eyes. That doesn’t make sense. Or did someone who came after Paul add something to his words that he never said?
Paul says you are not justified by works, but Jesus says you are. (Mt 25:34-46) How confusing and contradictory!
James seemed to not agree with Paul either. Be good and do good:
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (Ja 1:21)
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (Ja 1:22)
James says your soul is saved by living righteously and doing the word, and that just having faith by itself can’t ‘save’ you.
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? (Ja 2:14)
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. (Ja 2:17)
James taught differently than Paul. According to him it wasn’t only by grace through faith as Paul taught, but your faith without works cannot save you. You must have the works along with the faith to be saved.
James said: You must have the works along with your faith to be saved.
Is it true that just “believing in Jesus saves your soul” or is it your works and your righteousness that saves? Such an important question in Christianity should be clear and without any contradictions. Unfortunately, it’s not!
There is something wrong with the bible here.
And this is such a basic and important doctrine that all believers should understand perfectly.
Even Barnabas disagreed with Paul
Obviously, Jesus’ disciples and Paul had very strong differences of opinion on such key teachings, or so it seems. Evidently, Barnabas who the disciples sent to accompany Paul had a different opinion about salvation than Paul.
…thou shalt work with thy hands for a ransom for thy sins. (Barnabas 19:10)
Barnabas taught that you had to do good works to pay for your sins. (that sounds like Buddhism)
It is good therefore to learn the ordinances of the Lord, as many as have been written above, and to walk in them. For he that doeth these things (the ordinances of the Lord) shall be glorified in the kingdom of God; whereas he that chooseth their opposites shall perish together with his works. (Barnabas 21:1)
He also taught that you had to learn and do the ordinances of the Lord to be saved otherwise you will be punished!
each man shall receive according to his deeds. If he be good, his righteousness shall go before him in the way; if he be evil, the recompense of his evil-doing is before him; (Barnabas 4:12) (you reap what you sow)
“go before him”? This sounds like the teaching of Karma and reincarnation. Many Christians believed this way in the beginning of Christianity. …and if you do evil, evil will be in your future. What you sow you reap. But when? Where? How? (in the next life?)
Barnabas believed, as did the other disciples of Jesus, that you are saved by your good works. Not only that but that if you did the opposite of the ordinances of the Lord you lose your salvation together with your works. This may very well be the reason that he and Paul had an extremely heated argument and they ended up parting ways.
And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; (Act 15:39)
Lots of contradictions:
- The angel told Mary Jesus saved people from their sins in the Bible story.
- Jesus said righteous works saved people from their sins.
- Paul said faith alone without righteous works saved people from their sins.
- James said faith without works was dead and faith alone can not save people from their sins.
- Barnabas said people have to work with their hands to pay for their sins and to do the ordinances of the Lord.
My! So many contradictions and inconsistencies in the Bible. It’s impossible for one to know just exactly what is needed for salvation!
What happens to you if you aren’t forgiven?
What happens if you have sins that don’t get forgiven when you die? What happens if the blood isn’t enough and you must receive punishment for the bad you do? Where do you go when you die? What happens to you? Do you go to a fiery place when you die to be tormented for the rest of eternity? There is definitely something missing in this picture.
Why isn’t the bible clearer on this such a basic and important point, a foundation of Christianity. Could it be that the “correctors” intentionally cut out and modified some important parts of teaching that would have clarified such an important point? The truth is that someone has! All Men deserve to know this truth.
Jesus came to search for the lost sheep and to save men’s lives
Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? (Lk 6:9)
For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. (Lk 9:56)
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Lk 19:10)
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. (Jn 12:47)
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (Jn 10:10)
One type of salvation Jesus spoke of was the saving of their physical lives…
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Lk 4:18)
…and saving them from the cruel bondage of the political and religious system and the bondage of their own sins (save them from themselves, so to speak) and set an example to follow.
The conditional part of salvation
The condition to the beginning of the process of salvation is believing. But if one is evil then he won’t even believe, then the ‘process of salvation’ cannot even begin. He came to Earth to show how it is possible (“might be” — conditional)
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (here’s that conditional again: “might be”) (Jn 3:17)
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the first begotten Son of God. (notice the corrected “first” not “only”) (Jn 3:18)
If one doesn’t even believe in Jesus in what Jesus says, he’s already condemned. And why? Because he doesn’t believe. Men are saved by doing of the teachings of Jesus. Belief is only the beginning of the process of salvation. You can’t even start “doing” the works if you don’t first believe. And men refuse to believe because they love to be deceived:
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (Jn 3:19)
This is the real test if a person believes in what Jesus taught: he will start changing and the painful process of purification and perfection begins the long road to ‘salvation’. And this life isn’t long enough to travel that long road. The long road must be continued on through future lives.
Who is able to save the soul?
I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no Saviour. (Isa 43:11)
One thing is clear, however, and that is that Jesus never said that he saved men’s souls, but that it was his sayings, that when man heard them and did the righteous works he taught, is what saved their souls — not just believing in him. This is the same that Jesus’ disciples taught, and was contrary to Paul’s teachings.
If you don’t believe it, just read Matthew 25:31-46. It’s right there, Jesus’s whole teaching on how to literally obtain “life eternal”.
According to Jesus’s teachings, men were not saved by believing alone, but by doing his teachings.
Next: Who Was Jesus Part 1 | Was Jesus Perfect?