A brother in Tennessee says that he is much in accord with comments here about God saving us gratuitously because of what Jesus did as our representative, instead of depending on our ability to figure out all the religious answers and cobble together an acceptable record of obedience on our own. “But wouldn’t it be a real tragedy,” he asks, “if I go to hell because I misread what the Bible is saying?”
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If our salvation depended on our correctly understanding all scriptural teaching, we would all go to hell for misreading the Bible — for none of us has perfect understanding. But because Jesus came to save sinners, and because God justifies the ungodly and undeserving and helpless who trust in Jesus Christ, we need lose no sleep worrying about that happening (Rom. 5:6-10). There is not one example in the Bible of anyone being lost — or even being chastised by God — for making an honest error in understanding while humbly trying to trust God and to obey him according to the light they had. (Nadab and Abihu are not exceptions, nor is Uzzah — they all had bad attitudes.)
If you ask God to reveal himself to you, and submit your life to his leading, you may be sure that he will not let you go far astray as you prayerfully read his Word to know and to follow Him. In fact, he promises to give you understanding as you need it for daily life (Phil. 3:15; Col. 1:9-10; 2 Tim. 2:7).
I have also found it helpful, in thinking about my own salvation, to read the Gospel of John, which was written so that we might have life (John 20:30-31) and the epistle of 1 John, which was written so we might know we have life (1 John 5:13). If we can’t believe Jesus and one of his closest apostles on this subject, whom can we possibly believe?