Acts 16:30-32
RS: “‘Men, what must I do to be saved?’ And they [Paul and Silas] said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord [“God,” NAB, also JB and NE footnotes; “God’s message,” AT] to him and to all that were in his house.”
Many people believe because of this scripture that all God requires of us is simple belief, ‘once saved always saved’. My question is, does the rest of the bible support that conclusion? Also, what does this verse actually mean? So I want to analyze the context here and the rest of the scriptures.
In this scripture we see the jailer already converted, but Paul and Silas do not leave him at that point, they ‘spoke the word of God to him’. Why go further if the act of putting faith in Jesus had already occurred? Other scriptures also help us understand the meaning of the statement ‘Believe on the Lord’. In the introduction to the book of Revelation Jesus gives counsel to the congregations. What would be the point of this if they did not need to continue working out their faith? This point brings me to Matthew 10:22 [RS] Jesus said: “He who endures to the end will be saved.” What need is the point of endurance if we only need simple faith? Finally James says bluntly ‘faith without works is dead’. – James 2:24-26
So how are we to take this if forgiveness of sins and salvation by God is a ‘free gift’?
We might illustrate it with a medical situation. People who sign up to donate their organs are giving a ‘free gift’. When a person receives an organ donation, they must do more than accept the organ. Doctors are careful to select people who will lead a clean life. If a person smokes, drinks or leads an unhealthy lifestyle in some other way, they likely will not receive a transplant. After receiving the gift, they need to maintain it by taking anti-rejection drugs and they need to continue to lead a clean lifestyle. The similarities to Gods free gift are simple. The scriptures say we must have endurance, thus continuous effort is required to maintain faith because God does require more of us than simple faith.
