Zach Amick Theology Response

1.Can someone lose their salvation? If so, what would make them lose it? Select a few Bible passages that address this subject and briefly (1-3 sentences each) explain how the verse speaks to this question.

Can you lose what you don’t already have? Are we already saved? Of course we are! Yet we are still waiting for the return of the King and the complete realization of our salvation. We will not truly be saved until that great and dreadful day on which every man will stand before the judgement seat of Christ and God will pronounce His sentencing. We may look forward to that day with confidence but our salvation is still coming. All of Philippians 3 points to this fact. Paul’s warning in verses 1b and 2, “It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.” points to the fact that there are many who will attempt to lead the people of God astray. Many false teachers exist and through their teaching we see that they are not really following Jesus. Verse 9 shows us how we can be confident in waiting for the day of judgement when our salvation will be complete, “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” Our confidence is in our faith and the funny thing about faith is that it is like grabbing hold of something that you don’t have yet (Hebrews 11:1)! Scripture speaks of hope and also tells us “who hopes for what they already have?” The rest of Romans 8 is very helpful for this too! Philippians 3:10-14 are very instructive as to whether our salvation can be lost or not. “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” See Paul longs to be brought to this glorified state that only comes when our salvation is complete. He knows that the only way there is the way Jesus took and that was death to the world through the cross. He used himself as an example here showing that his endurance is to be followed, his confidence in God is great but he knows that one can easily step off the path and love the things of the world more than God. We cannot lose our salvation but we can walk away from the faith and lose our hope of receiving salvation.


2.Select a question from page 607 and write a response.

If someone asked you, “What does it mean to be saved?” what would you say?
We are saved from the wrath of God by the love of God. I heard a story once about a king whose people were plagued by a chicken thief. Hoping to put an end to the stealing the king put a bounty on the thief. No progress was made in catching the criminal and more victims were coming to complain. Eventually the king issued a decree stating that the thief would be punished more severely. Still justice was alluded. Frustrated the king raised the punishment to death by lashings! Now after the punishment was set for death, certain facts came to light. To the king’s horror the culprit was his own mother. The king loved his mother very much but he cannot go back on his word as king. A trial was held and she was found guilty, and everybody watched to see what the king would do. With great sadness he had her tied to the whipping post and the executioner brought in. Then right before the sentence was to be carried out he stood from his throne. He took of his robes, came to his mother, wrapped himself around her back, and said, “carry out the sentence.” Like the king’s love for his mother saving her from his own punishment, we are saved from the wrath of God, by the love of God.

ZachAmick wrote:1.Can someone lose their salvation? If so, what would make them lose it? Select a few Bible passages that address this subject and briefly (1-3 sentences each) explain how the verse speaks to this question.

Can you lose what you don’t already have? Are we already saved? Of course we are! Yet we are still waiting for the return of the King and the complete realization of our salvation. We will not truly be saved until that great and dreadful day on which every man will stand before the judgement seat of Christ and God will pronounce His sentencing. We may look forward to that day with confidence but our salvation is still coming. All of Philippians 3 points to this fact. Paul’s warning in verses 1b and 2, “It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.” points to the fact that there are many who will attempt to lead the people of God astray. Many false teachers exist and through their teaching we see that they are not really following Jesus. Verse 9 shows us how we can be confident in waiting for the day of judgement when our salvation will be complete, “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” Our confidence is in our faith and the funny thing about faith is that it is like grabbing hold of something that you don’t have yet (Hebrews 11:1)! Scripture speaks of hope and also tells us “who hopes for what they already have?” The rest of Romans 8 is very helpful for this too! Philippians 3:10-14 are very instructive as to whether our salvation can be lost or not. “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” See Paul longs to be brought to this glorified state that only comes when our salvation is complete. He knows that the only way there is the way Jesus took and that was death to the world through the cross. He used himself as an example here showing that his endurance is to be followed, his confidence in God is great but he knows that one can easily step off the path and love the things of the world more than God. We cannot lose our salvation but we can walk away from the faith and lose our hope of receiving salvation.


2.Select a question from page 607 and write a response.

If someone asked you, “What does it mean to be saved?” what would you say?
We are saved from the wrath of God by the love of God. I heard a story once about a king whose people were plagued by a chicken thief. Hoping to put an end to the stealing the king put a bounty on the thief. No progress was made in catching the criminal and more victims were coming to complain. Eventually the king issued a decree stating that the thief would be punished more severely. Still justice was alluded. Frustrated the king raised the punishment to death by lashings! Now after the punishment was set for death, certain facts came to light. To the king’s horror the culprit was his own mother. The king loved his mother very much but he cannot go back on his word as king. A trial was held and she was found guilty, and everybody watched to see what the king would do. With great sadness he had her tied to the whipping post and the executioner brought in. Then right before the sentence was to be carried out he stood from his throne. He took of his robes, came to his mother, wrapped himself around her back, and said, “carry out the sentence.” Like the king’s love for his mother saving her from his own punishment, we are saved from the wrath of God, by the love of God.

I like all of your responses Zach! I think that you give careful thought to everything, and I really enjoyed your story. I think that your response to salvation is great, and it is clear that you view salvation as fully completed at a later time. I wanted to ask though, do you think that salvation is only a future work? Is no part of it a past work or a present work? I am also curious to know if you think salvation is something you can be sure of. Is there a way to know what would happen if you died, since salvation happens in the future? And also, what would you say to those who say "We had this many salvations in our ministry; or so-and-so got saved last night!"? Do these statements fit into your view of salvation?

I really like your description of what it means to be saved. The story is especially simply but very easily translatable into understanding the gospel. I’ve never heard that story but I like that it gives a very clear depiction of God’s love for us and how he took upon himself the wrath ordered by him and deserved by us. I think just to be nitpicky (and to make the word count) the story is not a perfect representation obviously of what salvation is but it is a beautiful and worthwhile depiction of Christ’s sacrifice and the Father’s love for us!