John
5:24-29 (NIV) "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes
him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over
from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will
live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to
have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is
the Son of Man.
28
"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their
graves will hear his voice 29 and come out — those who have done good will rise
to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
NOTE: On the
surface, verses 28 and 29 seem to be out of sync with the rest of the teaching
of scripture, but they must be understood in their context. Jesus has just made
it clear that belief in him is required for eternal life. Now, the dead would
not have had an opportunity to believe in Christ, therefore there belief must
be like Abraham's, who "believed God and it was accredited to him
righteousness." Therefore, the only way to be righteous ("done good")
in God's eyes would be faith in God prior to Jesus, and belief in Jesus after
his revealing. Both actions provide righteousness to those who believe. Good
works are not sufficient since the bible clearly states that no man is
righteous before God on his own account. We can not do enough good works to
justify our sinful nature. So, the only good works we can then offer to God is
faith, our belief that He has saved us and we can't do anything good to save
ourselves.
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