Earning Heaven and Being Worthy

I think it would be good to voice (write) my agreement with the idea that we will never be good enough, in ourselves, to earn heaven. This does not negate the fact that God rewards eternal life to those who patiently continue to do good (Rom. 2:6; see also Gal. 6:8-9), but eternal life is not a wage that we have earned. The reward of eternal life is far outside anything we could possibly earn. It is the gift of God to those who call Jesus Lord and do his will (Matt. 7:21; cf. Rom. 14:9)..

We do have to be worthy of it, though. Being worthy is not the same as earning something. I pay my employees wages because they earn them. I give them bonuses because they are worthy of them.

Of course, a work bonus cannot be compared to the riches God has in store for us, but I hope you get the point. Jesus promised that those who are worthy will walk with him in white. In the church in Sardis in the first century, this was just a few members of the church, not all of them (Rev. 3:4).

Again, our inexpressibly great reward for doing good is not earned. We require mercy along the way, constant strengthening by the Holy Spirit and discipline from the Father, and we fight forward, doing the best we can and thanking God for his mercy that is new every morning.

Stand by the wayside, however, and forsake the pursuit of holiness, and you will not be found worthy, and you will not see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).

About Paul Pavao

I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity. My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this. I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too. I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.

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