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Bibliograpy on the difference between the Kingdom of the God and Salvation / Eternal Life

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From my studies, Scripture seems to make a very clear difference between the requirements of receiving the gift of salvation (by faith alone) and the requirements to enter the kingdom of God. **A. Biblically the only condition or requirement for salvation is FAITH.** 150x total in the New Testament we see that faith is the only requirement to be saved, justified, and have eternal life. (Examples: Acts 16:30-31; John 3:16, 36, 6:47, 5:24, Romans 10:9-10...) **B. Yet when you look at the requirements for entering the Kingdom of God / Kingdom of Heaven (one and the same) we have a list a various requirements such as:** 1. Born again (John 3:3-5) 2. Do the will of God (Matthew 7:21-23) 3. Be a disciple, follower of Jesus (Luke 9:57-62) 4. Live righteous, free from sin (Mark 9:43-47; Matt 18:6-9, 5:20, 21:31-32; 1 Cor 6:9-11; Eph 5:5; Gal 5:19-21) 5. Be like a child (Matt 18:3-4, 19:14; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17) 6. Enter the narrow way (Luke 13:23-30; Matthew 7:13-14, 21) 7. Go through hardships & persecution (Mark 10:24; Acts 14:22; Matt 5:10, 20:20-21; 2 Thess 1:5; John 15:20) 8. Produce fruit (Matthew 21:43) 9. Be poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3) 10. Love God and people (James 2:5; Matthew 25:34-39) 11. Not with our physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:50) When I researched this idea to find others who see and make this distinction, I did not find very many. Instead most think that salvation and entering the kingdom of God the same thing. The person who makes the distinction the clearest that I found is **Watchman Nee** in his work about "The Difference between the Kingdom of the Heavens and Eternal Life." I also see a correlation in Scripture between the list of requirements for being a disciple and to the list for entering the Kingdom of God. Salvation is by faith and is an entry point and then the invitation Jesus makes is to discipleship, which is about Lordship, and about entering the kingdom of God. There has been an ongoing debate about the distinction between salvation and Lordship known as “**Lordship Salvation**” vs “**Free Grace Theology**.” In short Lordship Salvation says that Jesus must be Lord to be Savior. Free Grace Theology says that Jesus can be your Savior without being your Lord, and that Lordship is a journey that starts after salvation. John MacArthur in his book *The Gospel According to Jesus * lays out the case for lordship salvation. Dr. Charles C. Bing in his book *Lordship Salvation: A Biblical Evaluation and Response * and *Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship: How to Understand Some Difficult Bible Passages * lays out a case for distinguishing salvation and Lordship/discipleship. This debate was started earlier in 1959 in **Eternity Magazine** between “Must Christ Be Lord To Be Savior?" - a debate between John R. Stott and Everett F. Harrison But I don't see a lot of people making the distinction between salvation and the kingdom of God. **Can anyone help me with this or speak into this?** I'd love to find any and all books, articles, or resources that talk about this distinction and I would love your comments and answers on this topic. I am writing a book on this topic and am looking for a list of resources that mention the idea. Thank you!
Asked by Vik Fomenko (29 rep)
Jun 9, 2024, 05:53 AM
Last activity: Nov 9, 2024, 05:25 PM