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How Does This Great Change Happen?
Who Does What?
- Some say we don't need to do anything at all to be saved.God's job is to forgive, Christ died
for all people without exception, so we have all been saved already, regardless of whether or not we
ever make a decision to become disciples of Christ.
- Others say that our salvation is up to us.We simply need to make the decision to follow and obey
Christ, which we have full power to do of our own free will. So which is it?
- The Bible presents conversion as God giving us the desire to repent and believe. Biblical conversion
does involve our repentance and belief. But it is God who is behind the scenes working in our hearts to produce
that repentance and belief in us.
- Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; [why?] for it is God who is at work in you, both to
will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13).
- Conversion must be God's work because we are unable to produce repentance and belief on our own.
In preaching the gospel, the Bible tells us that the preacher is really preaching to a bunch of lifeless corpses.
(Ezek 37:1-14; Eph 2:1-3) Therefore, whether we stand in the pulpit or sit in the pew, we are dependent
on God to produce this repentance and belief in us.
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