Master, What Shall I Do To Be Saved? (Luke 10:25)

If you are familiar with the reference in the title you may know that the question actually states, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Luke 10:25 So why did I change the wording? It is because eternal life and salvation, or being saved, are synonymous terms. You cannot have one without the other and you cannot loose one without loosing the other. Another term also synonymous with these is to inherit or enter the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven.

Some people believe that to be saved the only thing that must be done is "confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and ... believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead" (Romans 10:9); that is enough, it is as good as done, the final judgement of salvation has been declared upon their soul, they are saved. Jesus was asked this question four times during his recorded earthly ministry; none of his answers give the impression that we can sit back and relax and still be saved. There are several things that can be learned about what it takes to be saved from both the question and the answer in the beautiful interaction that Jesus had with this lawyer in Luke 10:25-37.

The first thing we learn, the lawyer believed that he had to do something to be saved. It is not a simple gift that can be demanded or received simply by doing nothing but wishing for it or by saying a few words alone. It requires action on the part of the receiver. This is shown to be a correct notion from the Lord Himself in His response. He didn't say 'believe in me and go your way rejoicing because you are saved'. He didn't say "every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."

The second thing we learn, He pointed the lawyer to the law for the answer. The way to salvation is already written in the law. The law points to salvation. This matches what He said on another occasion, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life." In reality, salvation requires more than searching the scriptures or knowing the law.

The third thing we learn, His answer showed that salvation is conditional, not a free gift for all. His first response was, "this do, and thou shalt live." In other words He said, 'if you want to be saved, obey the law'. This requires action. If we just sit around doing nothing because we think we are saved, we are breaking the law and have lost our salvation. We cannot break these laws and be saved.

Jesus finishes the interaction with the lawyer by giving an unexpected example of someone obeying the law and then repeated His answer to the question, "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" by saying, "Go, and do thou likewise."