Ephesians 2:8
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the GIFT of God"
Let's start here. Salvation is a GIFT. According to this verse one receives this gift through faith by grace. The only part of this that mentions works is the faith part, for faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26) or in other words - isn't faith. If I have faith, that faith WILL bear the fruit of works in my life... So you say, "What does that look like"? It looks like this:
I have faith that Jesus is the Son of God, thusly Lord over all creation including myself; ergo, what He commands - I will do. My faith has become an action, making valid the faith. Do I then have to always obey for my faith to be real? What happens when I disobey? Does my previous faith disappear? Did my disobedience travel back through time and cancel out the faith that was qualified by that obedience?
Jesus says:
Matthew 10:42
"And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."
This is only in the name of a disciple, not in the name of Jesus and it is only a cup of cold water; showing that the smallest of deeds will be rewarded and that reward will NOT be lost by ANY means. I repeat; there are NO MEANS that exist that are capable of stealing or making null and void the reward due to even the smallest of works.
Backing up a bit shows:
Matthew 10:40
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent me."
This is a link to salvation, which also is a reward for a work. When by grace (the cross) you have faith (in Christ) and the fruit of that faith gives births to a work; that work qualifies the faith as real, making the reward of salvation (being a gift purchased by Christ on the cross, which gives Him the just right to give it to whom He chooses and how) a deposit to the account of your soul. Only one work is necessary to qualify for salvation; observe:
John 15:1,2
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
How many fruits did He say were necessary, for the Father to prune and keep a branch; since the ones taken away are the branches that bear NO fruit at all?
And the reward for even the smallest work is lost by how many means?
This brings into mind:
1 Peter 1:3-9
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance INCORRUPTIBLE and UNDEFILED and that does NOT FADE AWAY, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls."
In case you missed some of what that meant let me EXPLODE it for you.
[Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ] God is the one who has done this and deserves all praise/blessing.
[who according to His abundant mercy] It was merciful that He did it. What did He do?
[has begotten us again] This is the picture of being born again.
[to a living hope] Here is where it starts to be a powerful and precise statement for the finality of salvation. What is hope and what is a living hope? What are we hoping for? Let's continue, remembering that hope does not disappoint.
[through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead] Here is the hope; that we would be raised to life eternal with Him.
[to an inheritance] Here is the repeated-in-other-words version. This hope is an inheritance; we WILL inherit it.
[incorruptible] The inheritance, which is life everlasting, is incorruptible. That is speaking of future tense; meaning NOT ABLE TO EVER be corrupted, not possessing the capability of being lessened in ANY way or being added to in a way that changes its state - whatsoever.
[and undefiled] This word takes care of all present tense. In the present moment there is NO 'thing' that is causing ANY impurity - 100% pure. Just think about the fact that God is holy and cannot touch sin. The HOLY Spirit is in you. When you sin it is NO LONGER you who does it but sin that dwells in your flesh. (Romans 7:14-25) Your flesh is condemned to die but your Spirit is life eternal. The one who is born of God does not sin for His (=God's) seed (=Holy Spirit) remains in him. He cannot sin because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:4-9)
If you can't sin then what is it that can cause the loss of salvation? [and that does not fade away] The trifecta… HALLELUIAH!!! IT WILL NOT FADE AWAY.
'Away' designates it is spatially present and incapable of being separated from the inheritor; making the inheritance - salvation/eternal life - multidimensional. It is something you both have and will receive, which makes sense; seeing that salvation is becoming one with God, who is more dimensional than the three dimensions of space and one of time in which we now reside. You have salvation in your spirit now and you will receive it in your body when you get a new one, on that great and final day.
[reserved in heaven for you] God is making it personal and romantic; He has made a reservation for you in His own court. Who can cancel that date?
[who are kept by the power of God] WHO KEEPS YOUR SALVATION???
- -NOT YOU-!!! THANK HIM RIGHT NOW.
GOD keeps it and He keeps it in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.
[through faith] a quick re-clarification of how you get it, in case any one has forgotten while reading this assurance.
[for salvation] Making it ever so clear that we are still talking about salvation… check.√
[ready to be revealed in the last time] The fulness of what it means to be saved is bigger than our understanding; bringing us back to God's multidimensionality.
[In this you greatly rejoice] HALLELUIAH!! YES, we do and rightly so, in light of what is being said here about salvation.
[though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials] Trails come from both your sin and righteousness (1 Peter 4:12-19) and God refines you with both making all things work together for good. On the part of sin, do the trials confirm that your sin has disqualified you for salvation?
[that the GENUINENESS of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ]
Saving faith is a precious thing to have. It is a spiritual and eternal object. It does not perish unlike gold (that does) and even though it is tested by fire - saving faith remains. Works are not the same. One's work may be tested by fire and fail the test but even so, one will still be saved because saving faith is not burned when it is put in the fire.
Does this contradict the statement about each little work receiving a reward that won't be lost?
The just reward for those works that get burned when tested by fire is - getting burned. Remember that 'reward' does not necessarily indicate a positive thing. It just does when the work in question is verifying a saving faith because salvation is the reward. For instance, the reward for unbelief is damnation - not good.
[whom having not seen you love] We love by obedience, even though we variably fail and succeed at it. Praise Him, that we are NOT responsible for keeping our salvation. Do not be deceived, for if we were; We Could Not Do It — not a single one of us. This is the reason God left Israel under the law for so long; tutoring them to learn with unequivocal unambiguity, that we are hopelessly flawed and incapable of having our own righteousness. I must quote.
Galatians 3:23-25
"But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our TUTOR to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are NO LONGER under a tutor."
Brothers and sisters, faith has come. It is here. REJOICE!! AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE!!
[Though now you do not see Him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory]
- -YES-!! I was and I still am.
LET IT FILL YOUR HEARTS, BODY OF CHRIST. Know it and walk in the grace of God; being enabled to express the life of our husband, Christ Jesus, through us and in us; not letting the weight of our sin (which isn't even ours but rather in our flesh) hold us down or bring us into condemnation; thinking that we have committed such a failure that the beautiful work of God in us has been destroyed. When we fall seven times, we get back up for the eighth time.
Eight is the picture of eternity.[receiving the end of your faith] We get the end when we begin. This clause explains how those who endure to the end will be saved - or should I say: how those who are saved will endure to the end. If I receive the end of my faith at the beginning, how would I not receive the end at the end? Surely if I have the end to start with I will have the end to end with. Isn't having the end to start with the harder thing to have? The end is already at the end - that's where it goes.
And finally, what is the end of our faith?
— THE SALVATION OF YOUR SOULS —
These verses (1 Peter 1:3-9) are explicitly concise, leaving no room for other verses that are not explicitly concise to contradict this. The other verses must be interpreted by these, and not the other way round.
You are blessed and loved.
