We don't need to follow the Laws (the set of moral laws including 10 commandments) for our salvation because our salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet if we are truly born again with the new spiritual life in us, we will naturally follows and exceed requirement of the spirit of the Laws (not just the letters).
So, if we are truly saved, our conduct and lifestyles will reflect, at the minimum, we are following the Laws. Not only will we not steal our neighbors' things, we bless them with good things so that they can also live well like us. Looking from external, we can say that saved believers follow the Laws. It then become a simple yardstick to test whether one is saved from his external actions. Taking it further, typical of statistical analysis, which could only present correlations but NOT cause and effect, we make the statistical conclusions that true believers and performance of the Laws are positively and strongly correlated, r=0.9 (leaving the 0.1 for the times we sin). Being human, we will make the conclusion that you need to be saved, like the believers, by following the Laws.
Performance on the Laws for salvation is actually a statistical correlation but not a cause-effect relationship. The true cause for salvation is actually by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is outside of the domain of the work of the Laws!
Looking at this from the simple logic.
This is the fallacy we tend to commit:
Monkey eats Banana.
Man eats Banana.
Therefore Man is a Monkey. (Some people believes this is so!)
It is observed that :
Christians follow the Laws.
X follows the Laws.
X must be Christians (saved)
In reality, all types of religions want to follow the laws or good works for salvation, except true Christianity. True Christianity is relationship to God through Christ by faith and not by good works. Eph 2:8-9.
Looking at it from the Parent-Child point of view.
Parent loves their Child no matter what. Parents love their baby even when the baby was very difficulty. Parent's love is not dependent on the Child behavior. But Parent want their Child to do well and live well and not live in sins. The Child needs not follow the Laws to get love. But the Child living in a healthy and sin free life is good for the Child and makes the Parent happy because the Child is doing well.
Hope I make the relationship between Laws and Salvation clearer. If not, please post your comment to simplify it. Thanks.
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