SALVATION BY GOOD DEEDS: MY RESPONSE TO SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES THAT ALL RELIGIONS ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME

Thanks for your response. You had written: “Jesus himself teaches that salvation is through following the Law (e.g., Matthew 7:21-23 and 19:18)”

I’ll admit that this teaching does look like Jesus taught that we are saved by our performance in following what is the good:

·       Matthew 7:21-23  "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

However, I’d like to assign a different interpretation to these verses in accordance with the understanding that salvation is a free gift so that no one will have any basis to boast (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:27-28). - The virtuous change in behavior is the result of a change in heart and mind (regeneration leading to faith) and not its saving cause. Even Jesus had taught this way:

·       John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”

·       John 6:28-29 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"  Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

·       John 8:24 “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins."

Because salvation does not depend on a favorable accounting of our cumulative good vs bad deeds, even the worst sinner can be saved and the most externally virtuous man can be doomed.

From this overwhelming Biblical perspective, Christianity (and even the entire Bible) is radically different from other religions.