There are certain passages of Scripture that play a huge role in one’s salvation. For me there were two. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created…” You may ask what does Genesis 1:1 have to do with one’s salvation? For me that verse laid the foundation for all that came afterward. If Genesis 1:1 was not true, then perhaps John 3:16 could mean something else? It is all part of the whole.
Once I put the truth of Genesis 1:1 behind me there was still a lot I needed to wrestle with, but at least I now knew where to look for truth. That was huge.
The next struggle was, how do I get to heaven? What does the Bible say? I was raised believing I needed to get to heaven in a certain way. I believed the way I was taught from childhood on was, “The Way.” Now, I had to discover was that the correct way according to God’s Word or was there a different way? A way that was there, clearly laid out in God’s Word.
That is where the second passage came into play, Ephesians 2:8-10. Does my salvation depend on what I can do or what Jesus has already done for me? It is either by faith in what Jesus has done on the cross or it is by my works. It cannot be both. The answer is clear.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works,” Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
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