Saved by works, faith or grace? ...or all of them?

The word of God, the scriptures, are like a puzzle. If you take one piece and hold it, the overall beauty and message is lost. Put it all together, and the view is beautiful.

The gospel is like a car. If you take one piece, say the exhaust pipe, that one piece doesn't constitute the car, and it won't function alone. If you have most pieces of the car, you may get it to go, but it may not run smoothly. You need the whole car with all pieces intact for the vehicle to function correctly.

There is a argument between those for grace, divine help, and those for works. Some say we are saved by grace alone, and so it would seem, if you only read the following:

Timothy 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began...

But that is just ONE scripture, one piece of the puzzle. Other verses say we are saved by faith. Here is a verse about what Jesus Christ says:

Luke 7: 50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

So, we are saved by faith? But what is faith. Faith is belief in an unseen thing. Faith in Christ is the most important faith we can have. Faith is stronger than belief, though:

James 2 :17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

There we have it-- works are required for faith. And faith in Christ is part of grace as another scripture says:

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Clearly, grace is "through faith," and "faith without works is dead."

The pure grace proponents say only grace is involved in our salvation, but they contradict themselves. How? They admit you must accept Jesus or declare Jesus as your Savior to be saved. To accept and to declare are verbs, actions, works. Do you see my point? Even the people who say it is only by grace that we are saved, admit you must do something.

Really, the answer is a hybrid. The Holy Bible indicates that we are saved by grace and by faith and by works. A topic for another time questions whose works and whose faith. Anyway, in the end, God is the Judge, so let's do everything we can to please Him-- do good works, have faith, hope for grace.

Judgement day: more than just heaven and hell

Where do we go after God judges us? A simple answer is heaven or hell. In one sense that is correct; either we are damned, our progress is stopped, and we go to "hell," or we are judged to be with God and go to "heaven."

The Holy Bible indicates that that description is an oversimplification. Jesus says:

John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Many mansions are in the Father's kingdom. Rarely on earth are houses identical. Further explanation follows:

I Corinthians 15:40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

There we have it-- three kingdoms exist. One is like the sun, one is like the moon, and one is like the stars. It is abundantly clear that there are at least three kindoms of glory. More proof of such a concept is shown by the following excerpt:

II Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

Since there are different levels in God's kingdom, it follows that there are different qualifications for entry into each level. It is incumbent on each of us to find out where we want to go and why. We need to research how to get there.

Some people say a belief in Jesus Christ is a prerequisite to entry into heaven. Which heaven? Do we need to do something to be judged worthy to enter the "third heaven?"