How to get into the Kingdom of heaven?

[Wootah]

Matthew 5 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Assuming Jesus is speaking truthfully. How does anyone get into heaven?

[Tcg]

Matthew 5 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Assuming Jesus is speaking truthfully. How does anyone get into heaven?

Verse 20 reveals the key. Follow the Law and the Prophets better than the scribes and the Pharisees and you're in.

Of course given Jesus' poor opinion of the scribes and Pharisees, that's not much of a feat. Verse 19 teaches that you can "relax" one of the less important laws and even teach others to do the same and still you'll get in. Your status will be low, but you'll have a key.

Not much of a standard really if Jesus' opinion of the scribes and Pharisees was accurate. Of course one has to wonder if that opinion was based more on their rejection of Jesus rather than any moral failure on their part.


Tcg

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by Wootah]

Attain to a "righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees" as Jesus said. It's right in the scripture!

Matthew 5: 20 , unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

There's also

JOHN 3:5
no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

So be judged as righteous and be born of water and spirit.





JW

[Adstar]

[Replying to post 1 by Wootah]

One is saved by believing Jesus and trusting in the Atonement Jesus secured on the cross, that pays the penalty for ones transgressions against the Will of God..

The quoted passage does not affect anything in regards to salvation.. It points to the Law that causes one to understand that one Needs the salvation of the LORD Jesus.. The Law identifies the Problem.. Jesus provided the solution..

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 1 by Wootah]

Christ's anointed followers (born-again) get into heaven by being chosen by God to go there to rule with Christ for 1,000 years.

All of His followers get everlasting life by accepting Jesus' sacrifice and then living according to his example and his Father's will. (Matthew 7:21; I Peter 2:21)

There are three places people can end up:

1) Heaven, as part of the 144,000 ruling over the earth

2) Death (complete obliteration)

3) Paradise on Earth forever


Billions of people will be experiencing #3.


.

[2ndRateMind]

Assuming Jesus is speaking truthfully. How does anyone get into heaven?

So, Jesus came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. That is why we need no longer to sacrifice lambs on altars. All we need do, is love God, and love each other. And when we do these things, our own fate withers into insignificance, and we get just get on with the ethical task of leaving the world, or some part of the world, a better place than when we found it.

And, 'tis my belief, this work will not go unnoticed by God.

But, in the peculiarly indirect way that Christianity works, searching directly for our own salvation is unhelpful. Just as happiness is best found by seeking and doing good work, often for others, salvation is best found by just being good.

Best wishes, 2RM.

[Tcg]

[Replying to post 1 by Wootah]

One is saved by believing Jesus and trusting in the Atonement Jesus secured on the cross, that pays the penalty for ones transgressions against the Will of God..

The quoted passage does not affect anything in regards to salvation.. It points to the Law that causes one to understand that one Needs the salvation of the LORD Jesus.. The Law identifies the Problem.. Jesus provided the solution..

Nothing in the passage member Wootah quoted supports this opinion. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find anything in the synoptic gospels to support this opinion.

One could of course find passages in the gospel John and some of the writings attributed to Paul that would support salvation based on belief. What this does of course is reveal one of the key contradictions found in the Bible.

Does the Bible teach salvation by works? Yes

Does the Bible teach salvation by faith? Yes

Does the Bible resolve this contradiction? No


Tcg

[Adstar]

[Replying to post 7 by Tcg]

Theoretically the Bible teaches that salvation can be had by works..

But the Bible also teaches that no human being can achieve the level of works perfection and consistency needed to achieve salvation by works..

Therefore the Gospel provides a Way through the atonement of the LORD Jesus that grants salvation by believing and trusting in the Work the LORD Jesus did on the cross..

[myth-one.com]

Matthew 5 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Assuming Jesus is speaking truthfully. How does anyone get into heaven?

Good works earned one salvation under the Old Testament.

That is, if a person never sinned by violated any of God's laws, he gained eternal life.

After Jesus died for us, we fell under the grace of Jesus Christ for our salvation, not our works to fulfill the law.

We must now believe in Jesus Christ to inherit eternal life. Upon creating a New Testament, the first covenant became the Old Testament:

In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:13)

So the change in requirements from remaining sinless to believing in Jesus was the crucifixion of Jesus.

Prior to that point the only path to salvation was to fulfill the laws of God.

Therefore, anytime Jesus spoke regarding the path to salvation, He stated correctly that one must obey the commandments -- as He was still alive.

To teach anything else prior to His death would have been a lie.

And if He lied, He would have disqualified himself from becoming our Savior -- as He would have to pay the wages for that sin.

[Menotu]

[Replying to post 1 by Wootah]

I've often wondered if Heaven is real as described or is it, like Hell, what we make of it?
I don't want (like some have said) to go to Heaven is all you do is sit around and praise God for eternity. Booooring.
And road of gold? What's the point, as it would be valueless (and probably quite slippery)?
And if it is 'what you make of it', then I would think you get there however you want to get there.