Love One Another and the Cross

[shazeep]

How do we determine how someone is saved? We can only go so far. We can only see their outward. We do not know their hearts. So all we can do is ask them if they have obeyed what Jesus and the Apostles told people to do to be saved.

Makes sense to me. Nothing wrong with that. Paul did nothing wrong. But i will suggest that when you come to know someone, you learn their heart pretty quickly. So there is more that one can do than ask someone if they have obeyed Paul, which after all anyone can say they have obeyed Paul. And it just so happens that we have passages from Christ that explain this, and in fact go so far as to say that many will say that they have done what Paul said--in fact, many will "Cry" this, adamantly, refusing to accept any other explanations for what saving faith really is. And the very real intimation, by Christ, is to run from them.

So really, using your own words, it is the difference in truly "seeing their outward" vs "asking them" whatever. And being as how "seeing their outward" is effectively reduced to "i saw him go to the altar, and pray" by us now, even this definition can be corrupted.