When Galatians 5:19-20 (“that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”) comes out in a sermon, it is often used to “separate the sheep from the goats” and cause one believer to declare that other belivers will not be saved.
Is it possible that “salvation” is different from “inheriting the Kingdom“? Strongs helps because most instances of the greek word include a true inheriting what is yours by right, something of value that you take ownership of, but there is also the concept of “being a partaker of” or to paraphrase, “to experience”.
In the spirit of not being able to reconcile seeming contradictory scripture, preachers often say “the Bible says this, and the Bible says that, and I’m just preaching the Bible!” . Exposure to scripture is great, but so is searching out the deeper hidden truth that will bridge the gap, remove the conflict between scriptures, and lend a logical explanation to non-christians who arm themselves with defenses about christians being hipocrytical, judgemental and gullible (accepting too much on faith).
So I asked the Lord to give me scripture to help me understand this concept of inheritance vs. salvation. Here’s what I got:
1. The Prodogal Son: It’s in Luke 15, if you want to look it up. Concepts: The son blew his inheritance by turning to the pleasures of the world, but he never stopped being a son. He was part of the family, and returned with full acceptance, but the father said to the faithful son, “all that I have is yours”. In essence, he was saying, “Stop complaining about your brother, whom I have accepted back. His inheritance is gone, but we will still have him here in our family, in relationship, and allow him to enjoy the benefits of membership, without ownership.”
2. Joseph, after he was sold into slavery, worked out his salvation. His faithfulness to God in all his crazy situations EARNED him great authority or inheritance in Egypt, when God’s chosen people (Joseph’s family) who did not earn squat, but in fact had tried to harm Joseph, only got to enjoy membership and provision, not authority. They were rescued from destruction even after thier evil actions toward Joseph: that’s a picure of grace!
3. All the verses in the Bible like this one: “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” (Rev. 22:12, and many others) clearly give a concept of higher reward for those who faithfully “work out ther salvation…”. How can you have levels of reward if the Kingdom is like an on/off switch, saved or unsaved.
4. Luke 23:43 where the [undisputed] criminal defends Jesus to the accusing other criminal, Jesus says those famous words. “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Did Jesus lie? Didn’t that man have a bad lifestyle? Did he even repent before he died? He simply identified with Christ. Jesus did not say, “surely, you will inherit the Kingdom”. The gift of salvation through the shed blood of Christ and a heart turned toward him was sufficient for entry INTO the Kingdom, and I believe it still is today.
More and more, as we learn how big the Universe is, I hear believers talking about God giving us authority over his creation, judging angels, ruling in the new Millennium, etc. I don’t have all that figured out, but here’s what I do believe:
1. The blood of Jesus is rich and generous, and the gift of salvation is based on HIS action grace to our choice.
2. Inheritance of the Kingdom at any level should be motivation enough to leave any lifestyle of sin, or justification of it.
3. I would never say anthing to cause people to question their salvation, other than getting them to say the prayer again if they never remember doing it. The enemy will use judgement based arguments to cause believers to give up the fight, if he can convince a christian that some sin will keep him out of the Kingdom.
4. God alone is qualified to judge the heart.