For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
James Kraft
The truth is carnal Christians are just as saved as the greatest saint. Why? Because no one did any thing for salvation. It is a free gift and we are all saved the same way. We are saved without works, by faith alone.
If you go to First Corinthians 5 there was a man sleeping with his fathers wife. Pau said they needed to kick him out of the church and turn such a one over to Satan to kill his body so that his Spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord. First Corinthians 5:5
The man did repent and come back into fellowship, but if He had not, he would have probably died and had a loss of rewards in heaven. If he could have been lost, then the bible would not be true.
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the children of God. We can either be an obedient child, or a disobedient child, but we are a child of God when we trusted him to save us. And we all got saved the same way, by believing on Jesus as the only way to be saved.
None of us did anything for it. We all received the free gift the same way. The free gift is eternal life.
God does chasten those He loves. If this man was not a saved sinner, then there would have been no reason to chasten him. We do reap what we sow. But salvation is forever because we did nothing for it.
Our works only count toward rewards in heaven, not salvation. The bible clearly teaches that salvation is by a one time faith in Christ alone and no one ever did anything to save themselves.
Those that believe they are saved by what they do, are not saved because they are trusting in what they do and not on Christ alone.
We are all sinners to a degree, and the less we sin the closer we walk with the savior, But our salvation always rests on what Jesus has done for us, and not on any thing we do or do not do. We can not lose our salvation. We can only get out of our fellowship with our heavenly Father, not our relationship to Him.
Shirley H
Hebrews 4:11-15. We all will appear naked, for God looks at the heart. Jesus knows our every thought and motivation.