From time to time, The Doctor gets to speak with people who have different views on “religion.” One thing that The Doctor has sometimes heard during these conversations is this: “I think I’ve been good enough for God to accept me into heaven when I die. I think that the good things that I’ve done will outweigh the bad things that I’ve done in the end.”
Now can that really be true? Is it possible to earn enough “points” to get into heaven when you die? Everyone seems to have their own opinion on this question but in the end, it won’t really matter what someone thinks- it’s what God says that really counts. So let’s find out what God’s Word says about being “good enough” to get into heaven.
Paul the Apostle tackles this question in a letter that he wrote to the first century church that met in the city of Rome. We know this letter today as the Biblical book of Romans and in this letter, Paul says this…
“…No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what the law commands. For the more we know of God’s laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners. But now God has shown us a different way to heaven– not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us– declare us “not guilty”– if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like” (Romans 3:20-21).
In the next chapter, Paul uses an illustration to help make his point a little clearer. He says…
“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation” (Romans 4:4 NIV).Paul’s illustration is easy for us to understand today. Let’s say that you work a part-time job after school each day. At the end of each week, you receive a paycheck for the work that you’ve done, right?
Now what if your employer were to hand you a paycheck each week and say to you,“Here is your paycheck- it’s my gift to you.” How would you feel about that? Would that be right? Well, of course it wouldn’t be right- such a thing would be ridiculous. Your paycheck has nothing to do with your employer’s generosity- he owes it to you! You earned that paycheck by virtue of the work you’ve done on your employer’s behalf.
Now let’s tie it all together. Paul says that a worker’s wages are not a gift but an obligation. So let’s apply Paul’s example to this question of salvation by being “good enough.” What if our salvation was based upon doing enough “good things” to gain favor with God?
Well, if this were the case, then salvation would be something that God owed to us because we worked for it. Just like the employer who is obligated to give you a paycheck for the work that you’ve done, God would be obligated to let us into heaven on the basis of the fact that our “good works” outweighed our “bad works.”
While this sounds fine to some people, the fact is that the Bible totally rejects this view. Look at what is written in Ephesians 2:8-9:
“By grace you are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (NIV).
And 1 Corinthians 1:29-30 tells us that…
“…no one anywhere can ever brag in the presence of God. For it is from God alone that you have your life through Christ Jesus….”
The Bible teaches that people don’t earn their “right” to heaven by doing good things. Salvation is a gift from God. If a person could earn their salvation by being doing certain things then it wouldn’t be free. But it is free. God will declare us to be acceptable in His sight -not if we do enough good things- but if we have faith in Christ to save us.
Salvation is not a matter of what we can do for God- it is a matter of what God has already done for us through Jesus Christ.