What must I do to be saved?

Current #1 New York Times best seller in fiction? "Swimsuit." Never heard of it. In non-fiction? "Catastrophe." Well, it's sort of the best seller. The runaway best seller year after year, blowing away all comers in fiction and non-fiction, has been dropped from the list because it's always #1 on the list.

It's the Bible.

I bet you have one in your house. Or two. Maybe eight. Or more. And yet, we Americans are dumb as posts about what the Bible says. We rationalize that we can't really know or that it depends upon interpretation. We don't do that with other works.

For example:

1. Is there any argument about for whom does the bell tolls?
2. Is it open for debate what predator lurks beneath the waves in "Jaws?"
3. Is Lady MacBeth just a misunderstood, desperate housewife?

Ridiculous questions, I know, but not any more silly than what you read regarding the Bible.

Take for instance a recent USA Today piece on the schism (how does one pronounce that word?) in the Episcopal church (here). It's not just the laity who don't know their Bible. The Episcopal church's presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, opined about salvation and made clear to everyone why the denomination is imploding. Regarding how man can stand aright before God, she upchucked that

"...the great Western heresy (is) that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in a right relationship with God."

In genuflecting to Mizz Jefferts Schori, USA Today tosses the question to the masses like that will provide an authoritative solution. Columnist Cathy Lynn Grossman asks you, yes, you,

"All in all this is a revival of an ancient argument -- whether one is saved by works or saved by grace. Theologians have been duking it out forever. What do you say?" (Boldface in the original)

Ancient argument?!? Not much to argue about. Paul, that apostle guy, drove a stake in the heart of the argument almost before it began.

"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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes plain the order.

1. By grace you have been saved through faith.
2. In case you might want to get cocky, he emphasizes that the faith and the grace are "not of yourselves." They are "the gift of God."
3. Almost anticipating the argument, Paul caps it off, "Not of works." Why does he say that? He knows that man wants to have some manner of leverage against God. Man's propensity to deify himself, "lest anyone should boast."
4. Then--only then--does Paul mention works. God created us for good works in eternity past that we, those who have received the free gift of salvation, should walk in those works.

Perhaps I'm not as savvy the pugilistic theologians, but when the apostle who fleshed out Christian doctrine says it's by faith and NOT by works that man is saved, the argument seems settled. Unless to you (and the leader of the Episcopal church) the Bible holds no more authority than the Sunday sports page.

When the Philippian jailer asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved?," Paul's answer rings as true for us today. "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."