Salvation in Christ – Romans 5 Study and Side Commentary – Sept 1, 2017
Here we continue on in Romans, chapter 5, but a lot of side comments and even some quotes are read from ante-Nicene leaders (pre-300 AD / Constantine).
Those leaders words were read not to supercede the scriptures, but to merely show how they understood the scriptures. Their holy calling was to preserve the apostles’ doctrine that gave rise to the church.
Lord bless you!
Salvation is an obedient love-faith relationship
In the post-Protestant world of Christian faith and practice, doctrines have subsequently arisen that do not agree with what the first Christians believed about the Christian faith and practice.
In the recordings, in follow-up to last week’s talk, mention is made that the Bible and early church do not teach “once saved always saved.” There are many biblical indicators that God expects more than complacency or an attitude that nothing is desired by Him of His people. A few from Romans are as follows:
Rom 6:1-4 – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:12-16 – Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Rom 8:12-14 – Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Ante-Nicene sayings on salvation
Epistle of Barnabas – (c. 70-130), 1.138, 139
We ought therefore, brethren, carefully to inquire concerning our salvation. Otherwise, the wicked one, having made his entrance by deceit, may hurl us forth from our life. . . . The whole past time of your faith will profit you nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also withstand coming sources of danger. . . . Take heed, lest resting at our ease, as those who are the called, we fall asleep in our sins. For then, the wicked prince, acquiring power over us, will thrust us away from the kingdom of the Lord. . . . And you should pay attention to this all the more, my brothers, when you reflect on and see that even after such great signs and wonders had been performed in Israel, they were still abandoned. Let us beware lest we be found to be, as it is written, the “many who are called,” but not the “few who are chosen.”
Clement of Alexandria (c. 195), 2.602
God gives forgiveness of past sins. However, as to future sins, each one procures this for himself. He does this by repenting, by condemning the past deeds, and by begging the Father to blot them out. For only the Father is the one who is able to undo what is done. . . . So even in the case of one who has done the greatest good deeds in his life, but at the end has run headlong into wickedness, all his former pains are profitless to him. For at the climax of the drama, he has given up his part.
Justin Martyr (c. 160), 1.218
I hold further, that those of you who have confessed and known this man to be Christ, yet who have gone back for some reason to the legal dispensation [i.e., the Mosaic Law], and have denied that this man is Christ, and have not repented before death—you will by no means be saved.
Clement of Rome (c. 96), 1.12
Since all things are seen and heard [by God], let us fear Him and forsake those wicked works that proceed from evil desires. By doing that, through His mercy, we may be protected from the judgments to come. For where can any of us flee from His mighty hand?
Hermas (c. 150), 2.41
The apostates and traitors of the church have blasphemed the Lord in their sins. Moreover, they have been ashamed of the name of the Lord by which they were called. These persons, therefore, at the end were lost unto God. ;
Irenaeus (c. 180), 1.522, 525
Knowing that what preserves his life, namely, obedience to God, is good, he may diligently keep it with all earnestness. . . . Those who do not obey Him, being disinherited by Him, have ceased to be His sons. –
Clement of Alexandria (c. 195), 2.550
He who hopes for everlasting rest knows also that the entrance to it is toilsome and narrow. So let him who has once received the Gospel not turn back, like Lot’s wife, as is said—even in the very hour in which he has come to the knowledge of salvation. And let him not go back either to his former life (which adheres to the things of sense) or to heresies.
Tertullian (c. 198), 3.673
The world returned to sin . . . and so it is destined to fire. So is the man who after baptism renews his sins.
Tertullian (c. 203), 3.661
Some think that God is under a necessity of bestowing even on the unworthy what He has promised [to give]. So they turn His liberality into His slavery. . . . For do not many afterward fall out of [grace]? Is not the gift taken away from many? These, no doubt, are they who, . . . after approaching to the faith of repentance, build on the sands a house doomed to ruin.
Origen (c. 225), 4.266
A man may possess an acquired righteousness, from which it is possible for him to fall away.
Cyprian (c. 250), 5.402
It is clear that the devil is driven out in baptism by the faith of the believer. But he returns if the faith should afterwards fail.
Tertullian (c. 197), 3.244
No one is a Christian but he who perseveres even to the end.
