"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
The average Jehovah’s Witness is not familiar with the Christian concept of “grace”. Throughout my 35 years with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I was totally ignorant of the word. The word “grace” is missing from the Witness Bible (New World Translation), and Witnesses are not taught the concept in their Kingdom Halls.
Having left the Witnesses I now understand that grace, by definition, is a free gift totally reliant on the generosity of the giver and is completely devoid of any merit whatsoever on the part of the recipient. Therefore the passage quoted from Ephesians above means that no one "deserves" or "earns" salvation as a reward for performing good works or by measuring up to some standard or other of being "good enough".
When I was still a Jehovah's Witness I came across these words said by Jesus: "You are searching the Scriptures, because you think that by means of them you will have everlasting life ... And yet you do not want to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:39,40 NWT).
I was puzzled. What did Jesus mean by "you do not want to come to me that you may have life"? How could I "come" to Jesus? And how was that connected with everlasting life?
Like all Witnesses, I was more than familiar with John 3:16 - “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life”, but it is Jesus’ next words which the Watchtower fails to emphasise: "For God sent forth his Son into the world, not for him to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him. He that exercises faith in him is not to be judged." - (John 3:17,18)
“Not to be judged”? All my thinking life, as a Jehovah's Witness, I had been taught that I was living in a current period of judgement (the sheep and the goats), that I faced judgement at Armageddon, that if I was good enough to survive Armageddon I could still be judged as a wrong doer during the thousand years and, even if not, I still had to face the final test when Satan was let loose. But here was a new thought. Jesus said he came into the world to "save", not to judge, and that if I had faith in him - I would not be judged.
Jesus also said: "Most truly I say to you, he that hears my word and believes him that sent me has everlasting life, and he does not come into judgement but has passed over from death to life." - (John 5:24)
By believing in this provision of Jehovah, by believing what Jesus says, we do not come into judgement but, instead, pass from death to life.
It is as if we stand on this side of a great chasm, on the side called "death" and, across the great unbridgeable gulf, is the other side called "life". There is no way to get across by our own efforts, by our own good works, but, if we trust in the words of Jesus, he takes us out of the "death" camp and puts us in the "life" camp.
Jesus repeats the thought: "He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life." - (John 3:36) "Most truly I say to you, He that believes has everlasting life." - (John 6:47)
Interestingly, Jesus uses the word "has". Jesus does not say "might have", "could have", nor "will have." The word is "has". "He that believes has everlasting life."
Jesus says that if we believe in him as our own personal Saviour, we will be transported from death to life, everlasting life, now, today, the very hour that we believe the words of Jesus. No future adverse judgement or condemnation, but everlasting life, now.
A careful reading of Romans and Galatians reveals that we can never be saved from sin and death by our own efforts, by our own works. The Scriptures plainly teach that, by believing the truth that Jesus died in our place, to take the punishment for our sins, and trusting in Him alone for our salvation, we will receive the free gift of eternal life.
What we have to do is "come" to Jesus and receive Him as our own, personal, Saviour for our sins.
Our salvation is not dependant on anyone, or anything, other than our faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour. It has nothing at all to do with being a Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Episcopalian, or (for that matter) – a Jehovah's Witness.
It is to do with Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
"Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved." (Acts 4:12)
Former Jehovah's Witnesses may be interested in comparing these thoughts with the Watchtower publication "Choosing the Best Way of Life", released by the Society in 1979. Please read Chapter One, paragraph 21 followed by paragraph 12. This is the nearest I have ever read the Watchtower Society get to talking about being "saved". I remember when it came out, I got quite excited about it. No wonder that the writer, Reinhard Lengtat, eventually left Jehovah's Witnesses.
