{"id":21059,"date":"2020-10-12T15:40:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T13:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cantonuovo.org\/luca-7-la-fede-che-salva\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T19:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:52:00","slug":"luca-7-la-fede-che-salva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cantonuovo.org\/en\/luca-7-la-fede-che-salva\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke 7 \u2013 Faith that saves"},"content":{"rendered":"
On our own, we cannot be saved from our sins. We are saved by grace when we place our trust in Yeshua.<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Jesus was invited by the Pharisee Simon to dine at his home. Simon was a religious man, full of contempt and pride. A woman, likely a well-known prostitute in the city, risking her own life, entered the banquet hall where Yeshua was dining. There she began to pay homage to the Messiah, honouring him with loving affection, expressed through tender gestures, anointing him with perfumed oil as a sign of deep gratitude and reverential respect.<\/p>\n

This woman, said Yeshua, loved much because she had received forgiveness for her many sins. He explained this truth with a parable and then told the Pharisee Simon plainly that he could not love, because little had been forgiven him. Finally, he confirmed to the woman that it was because of her faith that she had been saved (from her sins) and so invited her to go in peace.<\/p>\n

It is very simple: if you place your trust in Jesus alone, your sins are forgiven, you are saved from the consequences of your sins, and you can go in peace, finally able to love God and others.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, many prominent \u2018Christian\u2019 religious figures claim that \u2018The more you love, the more you will be forgiven\u2019. These are words that sound sweet and almost obvious. Just love and your sins are wiped away\u2026 you are saved\u2026 you have peace\u2026<\/p>\n

Religion is a colossal deception: it seeks to play on emotions to win favour and followers (and their money); it generates a race towards self-salvation and self-justification by appealing to personal righteousness; it authorises self-exaltation because it incites people to win the coveted prize of forgiveness of sins through their own efforts. In other words, telling a person: \u201cthe more you love, the more you are forgiven\u201d, is tantamount to saying that through one\u2019s own efforts, motivated by the principle of \u2018do ut des\u2019,<\/em><\/p>\n

any human being can win the prize of peace that comes from the forgiveness of sins, from salvation from hell.<\/p>\n

It is clear to everyone that such an approach disregards trust in the Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n

One need only keep track of one\u2019s good deeds, or the love felt or expressed towards others, or the (hypocritical) devotion shown towards God, to earn God\u2019s own forgiveness and justification. It is like embarking on a salvific process of self-purification that has an almost Eastern flavour. Religion, eclecticism, ecumenism, relativism. Nowadays, anything goes, in the name of a love as cosmic and universal as it is undefined, which incites great sin. The arrogance of life gains strength amidst the folds of an enlightened humanism, yet one blinded by its own infernal fumes.<\/p>\n

Some believe that this stance is in line with the first part of verse 47 of chapter 7 of the Gospel according to Luke, translated as, \u201cTherefore I tell you: her many sins are forgiven, because\/since\/therefore<\/strong><\/p>\n

she has loved much\u201d. That is to say, they claim, that \u2018it is written\u2019 that God\u2019s forgiveness is the consequence of man\u2019s active capacity to love.<\/p>\n

Nothing is more inconsistent and manipulative than such a malicious interpretation! Love, in fact, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit who dwells in believers, that is, the express consequence of the new life received in Messiah Yeshua. It is certainly not the cause of our salvation.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the second part of the same verse says: \u201cbut he to whom little is forgiven, loves little\u201d, making it unequivocally clear that there are those who love little because they have received little forgiveness. That is to say, man\u2019s love is the consequence of God\u2019s forgiveness!<\/p>\n

Moreover, a systematic interpretation of the Gospel passage under consideration leaves no room for doubt, as the parable preceding the statement of the principle is crystal clear in this regard: the greater the debt forgiven, the more the debtor will love, out of gratitude, the creditor who has shown him mercy.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Jesus\u2019 closing words to the episode (Luke 7:49) are even more compelling: it is through our faithful trust in the Messiah Yeshua that we receive salvation and have peace, as Paul wrote in Romans 5:1: \u201cTherefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Religion is harmful to both those who offer it and those who swallow it.<\/p>\n

The truth, however, sets free those who know it. And it is known only by persevering in the Word of the Messiah and becoming his disciples (John 8:31-32)!<\/p>\n\n

Luke 7:11-17; 36-50<\/strong><\/h5>\n