{"id":92651,"date":"2025-12-17T14:55:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=92651"},"modified":"2025-12-17T14:55:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:55:18","slug":"finished-work-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/finished-work-of-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Finished Work of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n<h2>Argument:<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Baptism is an act of obedience, not a means of salvation. To tie baptism to salvation is to add our own works to the perfect, finished work of Jesus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Answers:<\/h2>\n<h3>Mark:<\/h3>\n<p>But Jesus did tie baptism to salvation (Mark 16:16), and so did Peter (Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:21). The meme is contradictory. If Jesus has truly done everything for us, then we don&#8217;t even have to hear the gospel (Mark 16:15) or believe, for that is something we do. If Jesus did everything for us, then everyone is automatically saved.<\/p>\n<p>I find those who teach the meme to be inconsistent. They say on the one hand, &#8220;Jesus did it all,&#8221; and then tell people they need to let Jesus come into their hearts and say the sinner&#8217;s prayer. Where does the Bible teach that?<\/p>\n<h3>Terry:<\/h3>\n<p>Jesus finished\u00a0<strong>His\u00a0<\/strong>work of providing the\u00a0<strong>means\u00a0<\/strong>of salvation through His blood, but He did not do for all of us what He requires of us as conditions for having His\u00a0blood applied to our account. God would have all men to &#8220;<em>come to a knowledge of the truth<\/em>&#8221; so that we can be saved (I Timothy 2:4).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Did Jesus &#8220;finish&#8221; this so that we don&#8217;t have to come to the knowledge of the truth?<\/li>\n<li>God is not willing that <b>any <\/b>should perish, &#8220;<em>but that all should come to repentance<\/em>&#8221; (II Peter 3:9). Did Jesus &#8220;finish&#8221; this so that we will be saved without repentance?<\/li>\n<li>If we have to hear the gospel, did Jesus leave something &#8220;unfinished&#8221;?<\/li>\n<li>If we have to &#8220;<em>search the scriptures<\/em>&#8221; to find out what is so (Acts 17:11), did Jesus leave something &#8220;unfinished&#8221;?<\/li>\n<li>If we have to &#8220;confess&#8221; Jesus was raised from the dead (Romans 10:9-10), did Jesus leave something &#8220;unfinished?&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Are we now &#8220;adding our works to the perfect, finished work of Christ?&#8221; This is an argument from demons to trick you into thinking that you can be saved without doing what Jesus said you had to do to have the remission of sins He offers conditionally (Acts 2:36-41). Do not let the devil use such deceptive words on you!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Terry Wane Benton Argument: &#8220;Baptism is an act of obedience, not a means of salvation. To tie baptism to salvation is to add our own works to the perfect, finished work of Jesus.&#8221; Answers: Mark: But Jesus did tie baptism to salvation (Mark 16:16), and so did Peter (Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:21). The&hellip;<\/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":[52,55],"class_list":["post-92651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94539,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/adding-to-the-finished-work-of-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":92651,"position":0},"title":"Adding to the Finished Work of the Cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Check out this statement: \"I don't have to do anything for His blood to cover my sin because I can't add to the finished or perfect work of the Cross.\" This idea of \"adding something\" to the \"finished work of Christ\" sounds appealing, and it has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57378,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-calvinists-call-the-finished-work-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":92651,"position":1},"title":"What Calvinists call \u201cthe Finished Work of Christ\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The Calvinists are often heard making of \"the finished work of Christ\" something that was never intended. They say there is nothing we can do to be saved. They say all doing is \"finished\" by what Christ did on the cross. But that is a misuse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/baptism-and-jesus-blood\/","url_meta":{"origin":92651,"position":2},"title":"Baptism and Jesus Blood","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dub McClish Despite the most explicit statements of Scripture to the contrary, most Protestant denominations deny that baptism is a condition of God's forgiveness of our sins. Some reason that acceptance of such would equal salvation by one's own works. Others reject the necessity of baptism because of their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68208,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-baptism-was-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":92651,"position":3},"title":"If Baptism Was a Work","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The claim is made that baptism cannot be part of the salvation process (the process from lost sinner to saved and justified in Christ) because it is claimed that \"baptism is a work\" and \"we are saved through faith and not of works\" (Ephesians 2:8-9). However,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68821,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-case-of-the-philippian-jailor\/","url_meta":{"origin":92651,"position":4},"title":"The Case of the Philippian Jailor","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton He wanted to know, \"What shall I do to be saved?\" (Acts 16:30). The simple answer: \"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026and you will be saved\" (Acts 16:31). The details of why believe in Jesus, what to believe about Jesus, and how to express faith in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8987,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-to-know-that-baptism-is-for-the-remission-of-sins-in-order-to-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":92651,"position":5},"title":"Do you have to know that baptism is for the remission of sins in order to be forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The question I pose is, \"Does one have to have the knowledge that baptism is for the remission of sins, for such to occur?\" I understand that if one is taught by one who knows the truth, this would not even be a question. However, I can not logically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","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\/92651","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=92651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}