Anyone who has heard me preach over the last year plus and have read a few other blog posts in that time know that I am deeply concerned over the fact that we have confused the church membership roll with the Lamb's Book of Life. In other words, most believe that if someone is on the church roll they must be saved--no matter if they live with no regard to God or His will.
I was reading again today an article written by Craig Blomberg several years ago, "Degrees of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven?" (JETS 35 June 1992: 159-172). I'm thinking of writing my own article about what Jesus teaches about rewards, but that notwithstanding, the last paragraph of this article hit me and I think it deserves to hit others:
God assures salvation only to those who presently believe in Jesus as Son of God (1 John 5:13). Claims of commitment, long since abandoned, may not be salvaged by any appeal to a category of 'carnal Christian,' though Paul does use the term . . . The greatest danger of the doctrine of degrees of reward in heaven is that it has misled many people into thinking that the very nominal professions that they or their friends have at one time made will be sufficient to save them, even if they fail to receive as high a status in heaven as they might have (of course Blomberg disagrees with that belief). This is in no way to argue for a works-righteousness. It is merely to remind us of the consistent theme that true, saving faith does over time lead to visible transformations in lifestyle and to growth in holiness . . . Without such evidence that God's Spirit has truly taken up residence and begun to work within a person, Biblical Christianity is absent.
Well said. To depend on some kind of 'profession' of faith without perseverance in the faith is to depend upon something other than biblical faith. Depending on the church roll is a dangerous thing, and it might be well for churches and individuals to realize that.
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