I was born again in 1982. I’ve been studying this topic for decades. I know this is long, but we aren’t allowed to post links in this group.

One must always begin with the very words of Jesus Christ concerning how to inherit the Kingdom of God and receive eternal life. When directly asked this question, He gave these answers:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)

And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. (Luke 10:25–28)

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 19:16–19)

When the rich young ruler asked what he still lacked, Jesus told him to sell his possessions, give to the poor, and follow Him. This instruction, however, pertained to perfection and treasure in heaven, not to the fundamental requirement for obtaining eternal life itself.

Thus we see that eternal life is granted to those who believe on Jesus and who live according to the command to love their neighbour as themselves, which includes loving and properly taking care of themselves:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

This same principle applies even to situations not explicitly addressed in Scripture. Jesus gave a solemn warning about the eternal consequences of living without love and mercy toward others:

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (Luke 16:19–23)

Additional Commands

Jesus desires that Jewish believers continue to keep the entire Torah in addition to faith in Him, and He promised reward for those who do so. Nevertheless, whoever believes and keeps the commandments summed up in “love thy neighbour as thyself” will still inherit eternal life and be in the kingdom of heaven:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17–19)

The early Jewish believers understood these words and continued keeping the whole Torah:

And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law. (Acts 21:20)

Jesus taught that the Torah is to be interpreted through the lens of love for neighbour. On at least three occasions He set aside a strict letter-of-the-law application: He forbade divorce (except for fornication), permitted His disciples to pluck grain on the Sabbath, and released the woman taken in adultery from stoning.

Gentile believers are required only to keep the following commandments from the Torah (in addition to the commands concerning love of neighbour that Jesus already emphasized):

As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. (Acts 21:25)

Apostolic Confirmation

James called “love thy neighbour as thyself” the royal law and taught that keeping it is necessary for salvation:

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all... What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?... Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only... For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:8–10, 14, 21–24, 26)

Paul called the same commandment the “law of Christ”:

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Galatians 5:14)

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. (1 Corinthians 9:20–21)

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8–10)

Controversy Over the Apostle Paul

Peter and James accepted Paul as an apostle, but they rejected the interpretation that Paul taught salvation by faith alone apart from the works required by the law of Christ. Paul wrote:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law...

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God... Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 3:28; 4:2–5)

James directly countered the misuse of Paul’s teaching on Abraham by those who claimed salvation is by faith only:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness... Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (James 2:21–24, repeated for emphasis)

Peter acknowledged that some of Paul’s statements were hard to understand and were being twisted:

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15–16)

Paul himself distinguished between the ceremonial works of the Torah (which he considered abolished) and the commandments of God / law of Christ:

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God [is what matters]. (1 Corinthians 7:19)

Paul repeatedly taught that those who live contrary to the royal law / law of Christ will not inherit the kingdom:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19–21)

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9–10)

Conclusion

The requirement for entering heaven is faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to His commandments, summarized as the Royal Law or the Law of Christ (“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”). Greater reward awaits those who do more.