What must I DO to be saved?

I came across this interesting quote by someone named Francis Turretin (a new dead author to discover!) in this paper by my brother Daniel.

For the Gospel which is preached to those who are called, does not declare that, in the eternal decree of God, it has been ordained that in Christ redemption has been procured for each and every man, It rather announced to sinners a divine command, with a promise annexed, and teaches what is the duty of those who wish to be made partakers of salvation.

There's that word, in the last sentence. Duty. "What must I DO to be saved?"

If salvation is all of grace, and only through faith, then why should there be a duty appended to it?

The simple answer is that this is what God has ordained - faith and repentance as the required response to the offer of salvation made to all men, and rightly so, as this is what is most glorifying to Him.

But here's the catch - we are not capable of faith and repentance on our own. We are dead in our trespasses and sins, and the carnal mind is enmity against God.

The answer to this quandary is stated very simply by Augustine in AD 397 in his Confessions: "Give what Thou commandest; Command what Thou wilt."

In other words, God Himself will supply the means by which He has ordained salvation is to be received. And He will give these to those He has chosen to save from before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4-5). "The Lord knows those who are his." (2 Tim 2:19)

And if God requires faith and repentance so that we may be saved, He will give faith and repentance - to His elect.

Phil 1:29 tells us: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake."

Acts 5:30-31 says: "The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

2 Tim 2:25, in speaking of false teachers: "God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth."

And this is why Francis Turretin also says:

Christ is not revealed in the Gospel as having died for me in particular, but only as having died in general for those who believe and repent. Hence I reason from that faith and repentance which I find actually to exist in my heart, that Christ has, indeed, died for me in particular. I know that He died for all who fly to Him, I find that I have fled to Him, hence I can and should infer that He died for me.

What must we do to be saved? We simply need to believe and repent, and even the ability to be able to do these things has to be given to us by God, which is why salvation is all of grace. And when we are saved, our duty as Christians is simply to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, which is none other than the whole law of God.

And this we will do willingly, because His people will be willing in the day of His power (Psa 110:3), and we will have been given new hearts of flesh to replace our hearts of stone (Ezek 36:26), His spirit will be within us (Ezek 36:27), and His law will be written on our hearts (Heb 8:10). He will be in us, and we in Him.

And this is all of God.