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All religions, including nominal Christianity, teach some form of works to earn salvation through different things we do. As opposed to this is grace, which is a favour that God offers to us because of His goodness and love towards us, even though we don't deserve it. But even with all the studies on Greek and Hebrew original words of the Bible, many people are still confused about salvation. Some people focus on the grace that God shows us, and they think that to think of anything that we have to do from our side comes under works for earning salvation, and therefore to be rejected. But the truth is, salvation is by grace, through faith. Grace is the unmerited favour that God offers us for our salvation, and faith is our response to that grace through which we experience that salvation.

First of all, we need to be clear of what salvation is. It is to be saved from sin. This includes being set free from the penalty of sin, based on the fact that Jesus has already taken that penalty on Himself in our place. Even though we are guilty of all the sins that we have committed, now God takes away that guilt by telling us that our record has been totally wiped clean by the blood of Jesus. What remains is the power of sin in our old nature, which we still carry, which needs to be replaced with God's nature.

Our faith in the Lord Jesus as our Saviour includes believing in what He has done for us and what He wants to do for us, and also our response in turning away from sin to godliness in our heart. Believing like this in Jesus is not a work, it does not earn salvation for us, but it becomes the channel through which we can receive salvation. Similarly, our turning away from sin towards godliness is the result of our believing in the Saviour rather than our attempt to earn our salvation. The Bible is very clear, and common experiences prove, that without this response, we cannot experience salvation, and then our so-called faith is not real.

When we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, some respond by faith and get saved, and some reject it. It should not be thought that those who had faith earned salvation. No, salvation was given by Jesus freely, and all these people did was to trust Him and receive it with grateful hearts. There is no merit on their part over which they can boast, and all who have genuinely experienced salvation are only too aware that it was by God's grace. Faith produces works, but faith is not works.

We respond to the Gospel by having remorse over the sins we have done, and wanting not to do them again. In that way repentance is a change of attitude towards sin. God gives us a new heart that hates sin and wants to be pleasing to Him. So, repentance cannot be looked at as something we do that can earn merit for us, but it is a response to the goodness of God. The actual change in our life will happen as the Holy Spirit starts working in us and we submit to Him (Php.2:12,13). This is also a response of faith.

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