Lesson 2

Who Can Be Saved?

"…and they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, who then can be saved?"

It would be wonderful to be able to state that all people, regardless of their religious faith or belief will be saved. Yet this isn’t the case. Even people who believe in the Bible set forth reasons why they think that all will be saved. One segment believe that only the afore ordained will be saved. In other words they mean that from the beginning of time, regardless of good or bad done by people, God pre-ordained or chose those that would be saved and those that would be lost. This group of people also contends that these numbers are fixed and cannot be changed, despite the amount of good or evil and individual does.

The Bible establishes through the scriptures God’s desire for all mankind to be granted the opportunity to have eternal salvation. It is by an examination of these scriptural facts that will disprove the claim that God has predetermined who will be saved and who will be lost.

God shows no respect of person toward mankind as to can be saved an who cannot (Romans 2:11; Colossians 3:25; and Acts 10:34-35). God wants all people to be saved and that it isn’t his desire that any will be lost (I Timothy 2:3-4 and II Peter 3:9). One could also realize that if God had preordained some to be saved and some to be lost, that it would follow that an individual could have anything to do with saving themselves. The Bible however teaches over and over that it is possible for a person to save or lose their soul. (Matthew 19:16-17; Acts 2:37-38; Acts 9:6; Acts 16:30-31; Luke 3:9-10; Matthew 19:29; Acts 2:40; Matthew 7:21; and I Timothy 4:16).

Another consideration would include the praying for the hopelessly lost people to be saved would be in vain, yet Paul prayed for those who were lost, that they might be saved (Romans 10:1). If predestination were true, then it would be impossible for one person to become responsible for another being lost. This notion is not in harmony with the scriptures which relate that we might cast stumbling blocks in front of others and cause them to be lost (Matthew 23:13,15; I Corinthians 8:8-11; and Romans 14:14-15).

Those taking the position that a select numbered group of people were chosen to be saved by God originally must agreed that God’s Day of Judgment was in the beginning and that the standard by which He judged was nothing more nor less than his unconditional free choice. However, the writers of the New Testament (who did their writing long after the beginning) spoke of the Day of Judgment as a future event (Matthew 25:14-46 and Acts 17:30-31) and of the Bible as the standard by which He will judge (Deuteronomy 18:18-19; John 12:48; and Revelation 20:11-15).

Last of all, if God preordained who He was going to allow to enter Heaven on Judgment Day the following scriptures, which say we may and may not be saved, would be contradicted.

	(Ezekiel 18:25-32 and Ezekiel 33:11-20) say one may save himself by turning from wickedness unto righteousness and that the righteous may be lost by turning from righteousness unto wickedness.
	(Ezekiel 33:1-9) states that the teachers of God may be saved by warning the wicked and be lost is they fail to warn them.
	(Hosea 4:6) God said my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
	(Matthew 7:21) says one may enter heaven by doing the will of God.
	(Luke 13:5; Acts 2:38; and Acts 3:17-19) mention that people may be saved by repenting or perish if failing to repent.
	(John 3:18, 36) states that mankind may receive everlasting life by believing in Jesus and be denied the same, if they fail to believe.
	(John 3:16) says all who believe in Jesus will be saved.
	(Matthew 25:31-46) teaches that those who help others will enter heaven and those who refuse to help the needy will be cast into the lake of fire.
	(John 5:28-29) the Apostle John wrote that those who do good will be resurrected unto life but those who do evil will be resurrected unto damnation.
	(I Peter 3:10-11) teaches that if we are to have life and see good days, we must refrain our tongue from evil, speak no guile, turn away from evil, and do good.
	(Matthew 12:36-37) Jesus declares that people, on the day of judgment, will either be justified or condemned by the words they’ve spoken.
	(Revelation 22:14) it is said that the people who will receive an eternal abode in the heavenly city, will be those who keep the commandments of God.

In closing, if one accepts that the Bible is a book of truth and contains no false statements, then it necessarily follows that the scriptures presented above are true and contradict the teaching that God chose from the beginning who would be saved and lost. Which has been proven false, the Bible or the belief of predestination?