The majority of U.S. Christians believe in works-based salvation. Do you?
A 2020 survey by Arizona Christian University revealed a surprising statistic—52% of Christians believed in a “works-oriented” way of salvation. This was the case even in denominations whose official doctrine is not supposed to be works-oriented! As an article reports:
The study also found that “huge proportions of people” associated with churches whose official doctrine says eternal salvation comes only from embracing Jesus Christ as savior “believe that a person can qualify for Heaven by being or doing good.” That includes close to half of all adults associated with Pentecostal (46%), mainline Protestant (44%), and evangelical (41%) churches. A much larger share of Catholics (70%) embrace that point of view (see here).
I’m not sure what the pollsters mean when they say eternal salvation comes from “embracing Jesus Christ as savior.” I assume they mean believing in Him. However, it’s evident that most U.S. Christians reject salvation by faith alone, including members of denominations that are supposed to affirm it! (Pastors take note!)
Now, people who believe in works salvation generally don’t think God requires them to be perfect. That would be unrealistic. Instead, they think you only need to be “good.” And by “good” they mean something like “better than Hitler.” They’re confident that if they avoid life’s bigger sins when they finally appear before Jesus to get their verdict, He’ll confirm they were good enough to be saved and welcome them into heaven.
If that’s your expectation, I have bad news. You don’t have to wait for judgment day to hear Jesus’ verdict on your life. He already gave it:
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18, emphasis added).
No one is good. That includes you. You haven’t earned heaven, but the other place.
So how can bad people be saved?
You can learn the good news by clicking here: https://freegrace.in/55-verses-that-teach-salvation-by-faith-alone
Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.
Read his latest book, The Five Points of Free Grace for free, buy it from us, or from Amazon.
