Salvation

Instead of philosophy of the mind and just thinking we are saved, we are also called to live the Christian ascetic life of not only charity and loving others, but the sanctification of our flesh so the holy Spirit may dwell in us which includes fasting, prayer, and the sacraments of the Catholic Church as a means of receiving God's grace. Jesus gave many commandments, our response to him shouldn't be "sorry Jesus you died for me I don't have to do what you say." See  faith & works. 

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Gods ordinary means of salvation is through the Catholic Church and the Churches sacraments, however in extreme cases God can still save someone by extraordinary means depending on their level of ignorance, capability, and culpability. (Such as the thief on the cross, people who have never heard the Gospel, or have heard it in the wrong way)

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CCC 1258: Although the sacraments confer the grace they signify, God is not bound by the sacraments.

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Psalm 16:10-11

11 You make known to me the path of life;

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John 1:9

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world

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Romans 2:6–7

God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.

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Romans 2:14

14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them​​.​​​
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Jesus did not come to say no more laws, Jesus came to fulfill (complete) the law of Moses and prophets. Becoming the ultimate sacrificial atonement for our sins, and transforming all the old laws unto him, re-defining the law we are to be under now. Immediately after Mathew 5:17 Jesus goes on to list certain laws of the past, and their new form under him. The commandments of Jesus can be found in Faith & Works.

Mathew 5:17

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

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Luke 16:16-17

16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

Anyone who thinks we are still under old law needs to follow Ridiculous Old Testament Laws.

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Old Testament foretelling the new Covenant and laws of Jesus:

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Jeremiah 31:31-33 (605 B.C.E)
31 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
 

Ezekiel 36 (593–571 B.C.E)

29 I will deliver you from all your uncleanness.
Ezekiel 37:26-28
26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant.

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Isaiah 42 (740–701 B.C.E) 

​9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.

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Malachi Chapter 3 (500 B.C.E)
The Messenger of the Covenant
1 Now I am sending my messenger. He will prepare the way before me; The messenger of the covenant whom you desire. 2 Who can stand firm when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like fullers’ lye. 3 He will sit refining and purifying silver,​​.​​

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Isaiah 42:6
I will give you as a covenant for the people a light for the nations.  
 
John 8:12 (Jesus)
I Am the Light of the World 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
 

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​New covenant confirmed by Jesus, Paul, and the apostles.

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The old law lead to eternal death because it was impossible to keep perfectly, thats why Jesus came lived it perfectly for us and payed our debt.​​​

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Old law abolished.

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Ephesians 2:15

15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, so making peace.

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Colossians 2:14-17

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a religious festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

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Romans 6:14
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 7
4 In the same way, brothers and sisters, you have died to the laws in Moses’ Teachings through Christ’s body. You belong to someone else, the one who was brought back to life. 6 now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

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Romans 8

 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you, free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

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Acts 21:21 (Accusing Paul)

21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

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Hebrews 7

11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 for the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

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Hebrews 8:13
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Hebrews 9:10

“They deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 11Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,[a] then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.​​​​

Hebrews 9:15

15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 10

Christ's Sacrifice Once for All

1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

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2 Corinthians 3

6 God made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (The letter means Jewish law)
 

Galatians 3:13

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.

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Paul and apostles against circumcision. 

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Galatians 1
7There are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” 9“If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

Galatians 2:16

We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose

Galatians 3

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Galatians 5:1-4

Christ Has Set Us Free

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
1 Corinthians 7:18–19 

“Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.”

1 Corinthians 12:13

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body

Romans 2:28–29

Nor is circumcision outward and physical. Circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.

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Acts 15

 1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 7 Peter got up and addressed them: 9 God purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” 13 James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this,19 It is my judgment, therefore, that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden”​

More on circumcision.

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​Acts 10:28​

Peter enters Cornelius's Gentile household, despite Jewish restrictions concerning association with Gentiles.

28 “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.” 34 “God shows no partiality.”

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Jesus, Paul and apostles against Jewish food laws.

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Jesus Paul and apostles against Jewish unclean food laws which Jews required for salvation at the time. Therefore not "practicing Jews." Jesus and the apostles taught that the Mosaic food distinctions were not binding as a requirement for Christians, while also affirming the fulfillment of the Old Covenant in Christ.

Mark 7:18–19 (Jesus)

“Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

Matthew 15:11 (Jesus)

“It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

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Acts 10:13–15 (Peter sharing message from Jesus)

‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’

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Romans 14 (More on food laws)
2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt?
14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.  16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.​

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Atonement Old Testament.

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We are saved from hell and granted eternal life by accepting Jesus  paying and cleansing our sin and following his commandments as best we can. Though it is not possible to live the law perfectly in our fallen nature. Jesus is the only one who has lived sinless.

Isaiah 42

the Lord's Chosen Servant 
6 I will give you as a covenant for the people a light for the nations. 9. Behold the former things have come to pass and new things I now declare. 

Isaiah 43:3
For I am the LORD your God. 
11 I am the Lord and besides me there is no savior. 
 Isaiah 45:17
Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation.
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Isaiah 50:6

I gave my back to those who strike, my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. 

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Isaiah 53 - (740–701 B.C.) 

Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.  4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.

6 the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

7 like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

(Jesus is called a Lamb by the Apostles in the New Testament correlating to the Eucharist and Revelation, the Lamb slain)

10 his soul makes an offering for guilt. 11. Make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. 

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes[a] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days, (Jesus will see his disciples again and be resurrected with prolonged days)
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. ​

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[j] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
   make many to be accounted righteous,
   and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,[k]
   and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[l]
because he poured out his soul to death
   and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
   and makes intercession for the transgressors.

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Zechariah 12:10 (518 B.C.)

Him whom they have pierced. 

10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (They will mourn for not recognizing him before crucifiction)

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Daniel 7:14 (553 B.C.)

14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Daniel 7:25

25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.[a]

Daniel 9:24-27

24 decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 26 the Anointed One will be put to death. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many. He will put an end to sacrifice and offering.

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Atonement New Testament.

John 1:29 - John the Baptist speaking publicly .

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

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1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

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1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
 

1 John 2:2
 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
 

Titus 2:14 
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.​

John 10:11- (In front of pharisees and Jews and apostles.)
11The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
 

​Mathew 20:28 ​

I did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.​

Mark 10:45
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
 

Luke 24
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
 

Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 
 

Hebrews 9

12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 10

10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 12 Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

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Romans 4:25
25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 5:9 
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him

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1 Corinthians 15:3–4
"Christ died for our sins... he was buried... he was raised on the third day."

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Colossians 1:19–20
"Through him to reconcile to himself all things... making peace by the blood of his cross."

1 Timothy 2:5–6
"There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all."

2 Timothy 2:12
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
 

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him

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Ephesians 2:16

16 That he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

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Acts 3

17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

 Acts 4:11-12

11 Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
   which has become the cornerstone.’ (Psalm 118:22)

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Acts 10
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.  43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
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says the woman pouring the ointment on Hy body, has done it to prepare Him for burial (v. 7-12)
says one of His disciples reclining at the table with Him will betray Him (v.20-25)

says Jesus entering Jerusalem through the gate of sacrificed animals.
 

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Salvation.

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Acts 3

​22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.

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John 3

16 “For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 

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John 10:26-27

 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.​

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John 14:6

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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1 John 1:7

 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

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Mark 16:15-16 (Ireneus cites)
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.​​​​

Acts 2:38

"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins..."

Acts 8:22

Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven

you.

Acts 10:43
"To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
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Romans 10:9

9  if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.​​

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1 Corinthians 6:9-11

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

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Salvation is a free gift of grace by God and not something we earn.

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Romans 4:5
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
 

James 2:10

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

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Romans 3
11There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who does good,not even one. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. ​
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Isaiah 64:66

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; (This is especially the case if you are doing good deeds only for a reward) 

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2 Corinthians 3:6

6 He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.

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2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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Romans 11:5-6

5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.​

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Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

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Galatians 2:16

“We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Galatians 5:1-4

Christ Has Set Us Free

5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

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However this does not mean you can freely sin, or that what we do doesn't matter. Its just stating that works of the law like tithing, paying alms, or any good deeds do not purchase salvation. Following the commandments are natural fruits as a product of our faith and respect for God and light. 

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Hebrews 10:26-27 

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

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Matthew 7

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

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Galatians 5:13

Life by spirit

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

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Romans 6:1-4

Dying and Rising with Christ

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! 

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​The Few saved.

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Isaiah 40:24

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown. Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, which He blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

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Isaiah 66:15

Those slain by the LORD shall be many. 

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1 Peter 4:18
“And if the righteous man is scarcely saved, where will the impious and sinner appear?”

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Luke 13:23–24
“And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them, ‘Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.’”

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Matthew 7:13–14 
“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

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Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

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Matthew 24:12–13
“And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

St. Augustine of Hippo

“But few then are saved in comparison of the many that shall perish. For these same ‘few’ will constitute in themselves a great mass. Doubtless there are but few who are saved.”

“small if compared with the number of the wicked, which is greater, and large if considered by itself.”

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St. Cyprian

Cyprian also quotes Matthew 7 explicitly:

“How broad and spacious is the way which leadeth unto death, and many there are who go in thereby: how straight and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!” (Cyprian also compares salvation with Noah's ark, where only eight souls were saved from the Flood.)

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St. John Chrysostom

“Now in saying, ‘Few there be that find it,’ here again He both declared the carelessness of the generality, and instructed His hearers not to regard the felicities of the many, but the labors of the few. For the more part, says He, so far from walking this way, do not so much as make it their choice. But we should not regard the many, nor be troubled thereat, but emulate the few; and, by all means equipping ourselves, should so walk therein. Do you see how many are the ways of destruction? By the rock, by the thorns, by the wayside, by the tares, by the net. Not without reason therefore did He say, ‘Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go away by it.’

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Ascertainment.

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God gives everyone the possibility to receive sufficient grace (Receiving Holy Spirit to transform your mind and heart upon hearing the gospel) the problem is we fight it. 

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St. Thomas Aquinas

“God is ready to give grace to all, but those alone are deprived of it who place an impediment to grace in themselves.” — ST I–II, q.79, a.3

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John 8:47
“Whoever is of God hears the words of God.
The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

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John 8:43–47 (Jesus)

“Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say… Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

John 10:26–27
“You do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

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John 18:37
“Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

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Romans 8:7
“The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God;

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1 Corinthians 2:14
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit

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Romans 8:9–11
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

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1 Corinthians 2:12–15 
“We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”

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Unholiness, evil, and wickedness may not dwell in God's presence (hell.) Nor ascertain truth because of being attached to sin.

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1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 

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Psalm 68:2

As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!

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1 John 1:5 
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Psalm 5:4
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.​​

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Proverbs 10
30 The wicked will not dwell in the land

Psalm 125
3 For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest on the land alloted to the righteous.

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Genesis 1:4 - New International Version 
God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.​​

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Revelation 21:27 (heaven / new Jerusalem)

27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

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Isaiah 57:20
The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet and its waters toss up mire and dirt. 
 

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Resurrection and Heaven on Earth

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Revelation 20:4
Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ. Then I saw a great white throne, and the One seated on it. And I saw the dead—the great and the small—standing before the throne. The books were opened, and another book was opened—the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what was written in the books, according to their deeds. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Sheol gave up the dead in them. Then they were each judged, each one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Sheol were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

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1 corinthians 15
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

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Revelation 21 

New Jerusalem sent down from heaven to earth where God will dwell with his people.

2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”​

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Isaiah 66:15
the former troubles are forgotten then. And are hidden from my eyes the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 
 

2 Peter 3:13

13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

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Hell

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Daniel 12:2 165 (B.C.E)
2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Mark 16:15-16 (Jesus)
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

John 3:3-5
Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 5 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 15:6 

“If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

​2 Thessalonians 1
16 God will do what is right: he will bring suffering on those who make you suffer, 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord.

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2 Peter 2
14 they never stop sinning. ! 15 They have left the straight way
17 “These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.”

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Romans 2:8–9
“For those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth... there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress...”

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Jude
4  certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago, whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

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Mathew 7:23 
I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Matthew 8:12 

“The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:41–42 

“They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:49–50

“The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 23:33

“You serpents, you brood of vipers! How are you to escape being sentenced to hell?”

Matthew 25

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
 

Hell Separate from Heaven.

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Luke 16:26

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’​​​

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Eternal Hell.

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The “worm” is a metaphor for man’s conscience. Those in hell, separated from God, exist with a nagging, guilty conscience that  gnaws away at its victim that never ceases. 

CCC 1035
“The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created. The rest of the sentence of hell, the 'pain of sense' (poena sensus) is the spiritual and, in some cases, also the physical suffering, of loss and privation (poena damni).””

Thomas Aquinas

“The pain of loss is greater than the pain of sense.”
 

St. Alphonsus Liguori
“The greatest punishment of hell is not the fire, but the loss of God.”
 

Isaiah 66:24
Their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."
 

Mark 9:48 
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
thrown into hell, Where their worm does not die, and their fire does not quench.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
thrown into hell, Where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched.

Revelation 14
11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
 

Revelation 20:10
10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

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Church Fathers on Eternal Hell

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St. Bernard says "the worm that never dies is the memory of the past, which never ceases to gnaw the conscience of the impenitent."

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From Hippolytus of Rome (212AD)
Hippolytus was one of the most prolific writers of the early Church, and he was often at theological odds with the early Popes and church leaders of his time. He appears to have been a student of Irenaeus, and wrote MANY volumes of history, apologetics and Biblical teaching:

Standing before [Christ’s] judgment, all of them, men, angels, and demons, crying out in one voice, shall say: ‘Just is your judgment!’ And the righteousness of that cry will be apparent in the recompense made to each. To those who have done well, everlasting enjoyment shall be given; while to the lovers of evil shall be given eternal punishment. The unquenchable and unending fire awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which does not die and which does not waste the body but continually bursts forth from the body with unceasing pain. No sleep will give them rest; no night will soothe them; no death will deliver them from punishment; no appeal of interceding friends will profit them (“Against the Greeks” 3)

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Justin Martyr
“No more is it possible for the evildoer, the avaricious, and the treacherous to hide from God than it is for the virtuous. Every man will receive the eternal punishment or reward which his actions deserve. Indeed, if all men recognized this, no one would choose evil even for a short time, knowing that he would incur the eternal sentence of fire”

(First Apology 12 [A.D. 151]).
“We have been taught that only they may aim at immortality who have lived a holy and virtuous life near to God. We believe that they who live wickedly and do not repent will be punished in everlasting fire” (ibid., 21).

“[Jesus] shall come from the heavens in glory with his angelic host, when he shall raise the bodies of all the men who ever lived. Then he will clothe the worthy in immortality; but the wicked, clothed in eternal sensibility, he will commit to the eternal fire, along with the evil demons” (ibid., 52).

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Theophilus of Antioch such men as these will be detained in everlasting fire” (To Autolycus 1:14 [A.D. 181]).

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Tertullian
The worshipers of God shall always be with God, clothed in the proper substance of eternity. But the godless and those who have not turned wholly to God will be punished in fire equally unending” (ibid., 44:12–13).

Minucius Felix
“I am not ignorant of the fact that many, in the consciousness of what they deserve, would rather hope than actually believe that there is nothing for them after death. They would prefer to be annihilated rather than be restored for punishment. . . . Nor is there either measure nor end to these torments” (Octavius 34:12–5:3 [A.D. 226]).

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Cyprian of Carthage
“An ever-burning Gehenna and the punishment of being devoured by living flames will consume the condemned; nor will there be any way in which the tormented can ever have respite or be at an end. Souls along with their bodies will be preserved for suffering in unlimited agonies. . . . The grief at punishment will then be without the fruit of repentance; weeping will be useless, and prayer ineffectual. Too late will they believe in eternal punishment, who would not believe in eternal life” (To Demetrian 24 [A.D. 252]).

Lactantius
“[T]he sacred writings inform us in what manner the wicked are to undergo punishment. For because they have committed sins in their bodies, they will again be clothed with flesh, that they may make atonement in their bodies; and yet it will not be that flesh with which God clothed man, like this our earthly body, but indestructible, and abiding forever, that it may be able to hold out against tortures and everlasting fire. . . . The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment” (Divine Institutes 7:21 [A.D. 307]).

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Cyril of Jerusalem
“We shall be raised therefore, all with our bodies eternal, but not all with bodies alike: for if a man is righteous, he will receive a heavenly body, that he may be able worthily to hold converse with angels; but if a man is a sinner, he shall receive an eternal body, fitted to endure the penalties of sins, that he may burn eternally in fire, nor ever be consumed. And righteously will God assign this portion to either company; for we do nothing without the body. We blaspheme with the mouth, and with the mouth we pray. With the body we commit fornication, and with the body we keep chastity. With the hand we rob, and by the hand we bestow alms; and the rest in like manner. Since then the body has been our minister in all things, it shall also share with us in the future the fruits of the past” (Catechetical Lectures 18:19 [A.D. 350]).

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From Clement of Alexandria (195AD)
Titus Flavius Clemens was the first significant and recorded Christian from the church of Alexandria, Egypt. His parents were Greek and he was raised with a solid, formal Greek education. While he had a tendency to blend Greek and Christian philosophies, his view on the issue of Hell was derived from the scriptures:

All souls are immortal, even those of the wicked. Yet, it would be better for them if they were not deathless. For they are punished with the endless vengeance of quenchless fire. Since they do not die, it is impossible for them to have an end put to their misery. (from a post-Nicene manuscript fragment)

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Varying degrees of hell.

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2 Peter 2 
21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

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James 3:1 

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Luke 12:47–48
“And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”
 

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Reward in Heaven.

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Matthew 5

11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. 19 Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Luke 6:22–23

“Blessed are you when people hate you… on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.”

2 Corinthians 4:17

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

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Matthew 5:19

“Whoever then breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

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Matthew 6:20

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

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Matthew 11:11

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

​Matthew 18:4
Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:28–29

“You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones… And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”​

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1 Corinthians 3:8

“He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.”

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1 Corinthians 15:40–42

“There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead.”

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2 Timothy 2:20–21

“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable… If anyone cleanses himself… he will be a vessel for honorable use…”

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Luke 19:16–19 (Parable of the Minas)
Faithfulness leads to greater authority and reward (“have authority over ten cities”).
 

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Honor to Martyrs including being resurrected first:

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Revelation 6:9–11

“I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne…”

Revelation 20:4

“I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God… They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

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