The Protestant theology of salvation depends heavily on the book of Romans; in fact, it has been said that Protestant theology would be meaningless without Romans, and Protestant evangelism hinges so much on Romans that someone composed an entire “way of salvation” composed totally of verses from Romans—the “Romans road.” It may be valuable, then, for us to take a closer look at this book and its teachings.

One of the unusual characteristics of the New Testament church was the lack of priests. The pagan religions had their priests, a group through whom the average citizen was supposed to be able to reach their gods. Even Judaism, despite its separation from the religions around it, had a priestly order, one which the normal Israelite, who was not a descendant of Levi, could not join, an order that played a large role in the affairs of the Israelite nation. But the church was different; every member could read God’s words in the Scriptures and reach Him through prayer.

It has become somewhat fashionable in some circles to preach that the Gospels, parts of Acts, and sometimes even Hebrews and James, are a message for the Jews, while the Epistles of Paul are the gospel for the Gentiles. This makes it possible for this belief’s adherents to discount the hard commands and warnings found in these sections of the Scripture. Is this Biblical?

There are many views going around in the world today about what the Bible says; if someone holds a certain view on something in the Bible, someone else may well hold an opposite view. But only some of these views can be correct at the same time, which leaves us with the sad fact that some people are incorrectly interpreting the Scripture. Probably no one actually decides, “I am going to incorrectly interpret the Scripture.” So people who are misinterpreting it do not necessarily know what they are doing. Does the Bible itself give us any information on how to avoid this problem?

Perhaps more than any other New Testament book, Hebrews drives home the possibility that one could stray from the Biblical path and lose his salvation, as the author of this book states the threat of failing to persevere until the end.

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:11-12)

Strangers and pilgrims. Thus Peter describes our position of separation from the world. We are in the world, but only temporarily, and the primary importance of our time in the world is its contribution to our journey, which culminates in reaching our final destination. When we settle down into the world, we lose our “strangers and pilgrims” status, and risk not arriving at our destination.

Recently I was reading records of what search phrases people had used to find Ensigns, and saw that someone had typed in something like “good men don’t compromise”. So I thought that over some, and I decided that principled men—the ones we would possibly think of as the least likely to compromise—are actually the ones most likely to compromise. Think of it this way: we compromise when we allow or promote something that we used to believe was wrong—something that we had a principle against.

Hebrews 6 is a controversial chapter because of its importance in the debate over the theory of Perseverance of the Saints, or Eternal Security.

It seems that even as Noah built the large structure that would come to be known as “Noah’s Ark,” it seems there was a wall being built between the man of faith and his neighbors. They, focused on the pleasure of this life, had made their choice to live for this world, while he, with faith in God, was living in righteousness.

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus has power over the elements. It also makes it clear that Jesus has power in the spiritual realm—power to save, power to lead, power to protect. And He is willing to use that power on our behalf. As when the disciples were in the stormy sea, He calmed the waves, so He is willing to bring us salvation and hope today. But in that account, note one short phrase: “…and would have passed by them.” (Mark 6:48) Though He is ready to help us, He waits until we come to Him.