{"id":39114,"date":"2013-06-01T21:37:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T02:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=39114"},"modified":"2021-10-26T21:38:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T02:38:53","slug":"salvation-is-neither-deserved-nor-earned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/salvation-is-neither-deserved-nor-earned\/","title":{"rendered":"Salvation Is Neither Deserved nor Earned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n

Salvation cannot be earned for the simple reasons that:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If deserved, it isn’t salvation. We deserve what we are saved from, not what we are saved to.<\/li>\n
  2. If deserved, it isn’t grace. Grace grants something good that we don’t deserve.<\/li>\n
  3. Sin makes it impossible to earn or deserve salvation (Romans 3:23; 6:23), but is what makes the need for salvation so vital.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    None of this nullifies the need to respond and obey, for obedience does not put us in the position of earning or deserving anything (Luke 17:10). Rather, obedience is itself based on God’s grace.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The Gospel is called the “Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).<\/li>\n
    2. The Gospel must be obeyed, for those who do not “obey the Gospel” will be lost (II Thessalonians 1:8).<\/li>\n
    3. Grace teaches us “to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds<\/em>” (Titus 2:11-14).<\/li>\n
    4. Therefore, grace and obedience are necessary counterparts of the same Gospel. The Gospel is more than facts to be believed; it is to be obeyed, and thus contains commands to follow. These commands are given by the grace of God.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nTo deny grace is to deny the Gospel.
      \nTo deny the need for obedience is to deny the Gospel.
      \nTo deny the Gospel is to be lost.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      by Doy Moyer Salvation cannot be earned for the simple reasons that: If deserved, it isn’t salvation. We deserve what we are saved from, not what we are saved to. If deserved, it isn’t grace. Grace grants something good that we don’t deserve. Sin makes it impossible to earn or deserve salvation (Romans 3:23; 6:23),…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,54,47],"class_list":["post-39114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-grace","tag-obedience","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58392,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/obeying-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":39114,"position":0},"title":"Obeying the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 8, Feb. 20, 2009. Question: How can one talk about \"obeying the Lord\" in the light of what is said in\u00a0Titus 3:5\u00a0and\u00a0Ephesians 2:8? Answer: First, let us notice what these two passages say: \"Not by works done in righteousness, which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63421,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/salvation-by-grace-through-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":39114,"position":1},"title":"Salvation by Grace Through Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we read Ephesians 2:8-10, there are four important words which stand out: grace, saved, faith, and works. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The gift mentioned in verse 8 is the gift of salvation given to us by God\u2019s grace. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Grace is an unmerited favor. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66933,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-my-generation-neglect-the-grace-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":39114,"position":2},"title":"Did My Generation Neglect the Grace of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. I cannot understand how so many of the younger generation of preachers (sometimes encouraged by a few older ones) can talk about how woefully the generation before them neglected to tell people about the grace of God. They boldly speak about it as though it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92081,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/earning-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":39114,"position":3},"title":"Earning Salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Many believe that the reason we can't \"do anything\" is that doing something implies we think we are earning salvation. This is one of the arguments against baptism: baptism is a work, and we aren't saved by works but by grace; therefore, baptism can't be required for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56607,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-grace-of-god-that-brings-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":39114,"position":4},"title":"The Grace of God that Brings Salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Truth Magazine, December 1973 Nothing is more clearly revealed in the Scriptures than our dependence on God's grace for redemption. Paul said to the saints in Ephesus, \"by grace are ye saved\" (Ephesians 2:5). Everyone who is permitted to enter heaven will be there by grace. Today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15058,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-believe-that-the-only-way-to-heaven-is-by-accepting-jesus-as-your-savior-and-not-by-good-deeds-or-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":39114,"position":5},"title":"Do you believe that the only way to heaven is by accepting Jesus as your Savior and not by good deeds or grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the church of Christ believe that the only way to heaven is through the Lord Jesus Christ, by accepting Him as your Savior and not by good deeds or grace? Thanks. Answer: \"If you love Me, keep My commandments\" (John 14:15). You cannot claim to accept the Lord\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}