Scarcely Saved by R.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 30, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 25.

Scarcely Saved

By R.

SPEAKING of judgment beginning at the house of God, the apostle Peter says further: “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” By the expression “If the righteous scarcely be saved,” we are not to understand that it will be a grave question of whether even the righteous shall gain an entrance into the kingdom of God; for in another place the same author under the inspiration of the Spirit says that, “if ye do these things [mentioned previously, as adding to our faith virtue, etc.] ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

The Lord does not grudgingly give the righteous salvation. The meaning of the scripture is that if it was necessary for God to do all that He has done in order to save the righteous, if it was necessary for the awful sacrifice of the Son of God, if the destiny of humanity at one time hung in the balance as it did at Gethsemane when Jesus asked for the cup to pass from Him, and if all this extraordinary work was necessary, and by man’s faith and a life of self-sacrifice and self-denial and cooperation with God the righteous are given a place in the kingdom, then what will happen to those for whom no work has been done, or rather who refuse that work and who refuse furthermore to do anything themselves — where shall these, the ungodly and the sinner, appear? The same question is taken up in the book of Hebrews in a slightly different way. “If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Heb. 2:2, 3. We are not left to answer the question ourselves or to speculate upon the outcome or to advance our own theories, for this question asked by the book of Hebrews, is also answered in the same book. The answer reads: “If they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.” Heb. 12:25.