Question:  Hi, Greg ,

            Could you please explain 2 John 8?  Is John speaking here of rewards which we receive depending on what we do with our lives while in Christ?  Other passages in the Bible seem to indicate that, apart from salvation, the degree of our participation directly affect our reward.

            Jim

Answer:  Dear Jim,

            This passage does not refer to works-based salvation.  That is clear from the context, when you read the next verse (2 John 9).  There are a few passages in the New Testament that refer to rewards that will be given based upon our involvement in the kingdom of God, but that reward is not counter to the central platform of the gospel—grace.  We are not saved by our human effort, and it would be illogical, counter-productive and disingenuous to think that God would reverse himself, and after saving us by grace apart from our works, tell us that we will be rewarded on the basis of what we earn and produce humanly.  We are saved so that Christ can produce good works in us (Ephesians 2:10 ).  The fact that works are part of our lives once we are in Christ is obvious, but it is just as obvious that the glory and honor for the reason they are produced belongs to God alone.  In that regard, not only are we saved by grace, and while it appears that we will be given rewards in addition to that, those rewards are ultimately and completely founded and bounded in grace.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht