KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD
It is a great comfort to know that we are saved by
what Christ did, not by what we do (Titus 3:5). It is also a great comfort to
know that God not only saves us by His grace but also keeps us by His grace.
Or, as Peter put it, that we are, “kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation” (1Peter 1:5). Without that comfort we could never be certain of our
salvation.
However, many believers are troubled by a fear of losing salvation. They may be
familiar with passages that assure us that God is able to keep us from falling,
yet they derive little comfort from such passages because other passages seem
to contradict what they say. In fact, on the surface it looks like there are
two sets of passages, one set assuring us that God will keep us from falling,
the other warning us of the danger of falling. That fact leaves many people
confused. However, what they fail to understand is that one set of passages is
law, while the other is gospel. Moreover, because the purpose of the law is to
show us our need for God’s grace (Romans 3:19-20), the purpose of the passages
that warn of the danger of falling is not to get us to trust in our own
efforts, but to get us to trust in God’s promise of sustaining grace. [Compare
Luke
Law and Gospel are both important! Those who are
unrepentant (and that includes those who are self-righteous) need to hear God’s
Law and the warning it conveys. God uses that warning to bring them to
repentance. On the other hand, those who have a repentant heart need the
comfort of knowing that just as God has saved us by His grace, he will keep us
by His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9, 1Peter 1:5). And, He keeps us saved by keeping
us repentant, not by letting us sin.