The failure to recognize that God makes a distinction between a believer, someone with everlasting life, and a disciple, someone who is seeking to be a follower of Jesus Christ, leads to many serious doctrinal errors. Jesus Christ Himself laid out that distinction in John 8:30-32. The setting is a debate Jesus Christ was having with the Pharisees in the Temple. During this confrontation the Pharisees demand that Christ tell them who He is. Which, as He pointed out in this exchange, He had already done. That is in John 8:25-29. Then John records this:
As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus Christ interrupted His debate with the Pharisees to address the people in the crowd who had believed in Him. He was no longer addressing the Pharisees or the general public, just those who believed in Him. He was saying to be a true disciple (disciple indeed) they needed to continue in His word or teaching. They needed to learn the truth which would make them free. There are many passages in the gospels in which the Lord is explaining the nature and demands of discipleship. Those passages are not evangelistic but sanctifying. Compare the passages in John I have referenced in the previous two posts with Luke 14:25-35 or Matthew 5:1-7:27. Notice in John Jesus was talking about entering into life, everlasting life. Luke and Matthew are talking about how to live as a disciple. The content of the Luke and Matthew passages are completely incompatible with John 3:16, 4:10, 5:24 and 6:47. If you fail to see the differences in subject matter and insist both are about receiving everlasting life then you must concede these passages are contradicting each other. There is no way to weasel word an explanation that melds them together. Salvation cannot be both by faith alone and at the same time by good works, Romans 11:5 & 6. If you rule the Word of God as contradictory in its content, then you have removed all hope of finding a path to God. You have eliminated the only trustworthy source you have for God’s revealed truth, the Bible. The truth is that God has in His infinite grace love and mercy made everlasting life obtainable in the only way we can receive it. It is by believing in Jesus Christ for everlasting life. We are incapable of being consistently good enough to please Him. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Don’t miss the shift in verb tense between the first and second clause. All have sinned – past tense, a completed action or actions. Fall short – present tense – our current condition. In other words, we have failed to mean God’s expectations in the past and we continue to do so. Our only hope is salvation by grace though faith.
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So, here is the thing. Jesus Christ made very clear and emphatic statements about what it takes to receive everlasting life. What we commonly refer to as being saved. Jesus Christ claimed to be God and the one who is able to give everlasting life to everyone who will believe Him for it. He proved He has the power to give life when He rose from the dead. His resurrection is proof of all that He claimed to be.
Go back and read John 3:16, 4:10 and 6:47 in context again. Now, look at John 5:24: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Again, notice the Lord said all of this in the present tense. Here He adds that believing Him, Jesus Christ, is proof of a person’s belief in the Father. It is a confirmation of the trinitarian nature of God. But the main point for our purpose today is this. The person who believes the Father sent Jesus Christ to die for us, who in turn believes in Jesus Christ for everlasting life will not face an additional judgement but already has the gift of eternal life. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ plainly said. And yet I know a number of Pastors and church leaders who insist you can lose your salvation teaching everlasting is not a sure thing. They reject the security of salvation by faith and insist one must have good works to back up their claim to faith. Why? The answer is simple. They have a low view of the Bible and a low view of God. That is a polite way of saying they don’t believe the Bible is God’s word. They fail to see the distinction Christ makes between being a believer and a disciple. Their trust is in a philosophical derived system of theology rather than a careful study of God’s word. And we have to decide who are we going to trust. The men and women who gave their lives to make sure the words of Jesus Christ were preserved have proven their integrity. They died defending something they knew to be true. They were eyewitnesses to the events of Christ’s life. If they had made it all up do you really think they would have given their lives to protect something they knew was a lie? That is a question each of us has to answer for ourselves. After 55 years of study I am more convinced than ever. The evidence is overwhelming in support of the reality of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. He is to be believed. Is it possible to almost believe in Jesus Christ? I believe it is, but that leaves the question is almost good enough. I’m thinking belief is very much like telling the truth. The legal standard for truth is to speak truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Being mostly true is still a lie because it’s not the whole truth. So, if not quite telling the whole truth is a lie, then it follows that not quite believing is actually unbelief. Almost is not quite, therefore the same as never has.
So, what does it mean to believe something? My dictionary leads with this: “to accept as true, genuine or real.” That pretty much covers it. It is important we understand what it means to believe because believing is the only requirement Jesus Christ spoke of concerning the gift of everlasting life. Jesus Christ always and only said the gift of everlasting life was a gift given to everyone who believes in Him. Two verses that explain that are John 3:16 & 6:47. John 3:16 states: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In John 6:47 Jesus Christ was a bit more forceful in His claim. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” Both of those verses use the present tense which clearly means the believer has everlasting life when they believe. It is not something received later in life or after we die. It is a present possession of those who believe. Therefore, we must conclude that everlasting life is given the moment someone believes in Jesus Christ for everlasting life or deny Jesus Christ is speaking truthfully. Another important verse in John’s Gospel to examine is John 4:10. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” Speaking to a Samaritan woman the Lord Jesus told her if she knew who He was she would have asked for living water (everlasting life) and He would have given it to her right then! Since He called it everlasting life, we can trust that it lasts forever. Forever means never ending so once given it cannot be lost or taken away. Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That seems pretty straight forward. A gift is something received without any expectation or requirement of compensation. In other words, it is free. The word eternal means infinite duration which in this case should be understood as never ending as it obviously has a beginning if it is a gift. However, a review of contemporary Christian views on eternal life shows that not everyone understands what constitutes a gift nor do they know what eternal actually means. There are those who accept the words of Scripture as written and assign the common meanings to them. People who hold that understanding know it is possible to know you have everlasting life with the assurance of being with God in Heaven when you die. They agree with the Apostle John who wrote the following: John 20:30 & 31 - And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. 1 John 5:12-14 - He who has the Son has [a]life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, [b]and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. However, there are some who teach you can’t really know for sure. They usually fall into 1 of 2 groups. Those who teach you can receive the gift of everlasting life, but will lose it if you fail to maintain a proper Christian life style. The other explains it as believing in Jesus Christ grants you probationary acceptance that will be judged at death to see if you actually qualify for the real thing. While they each follow a different rationale, they both end up at the same place; no one can be certain they have actually received eternal life until they die. But what did Jesus Christ say? John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ Himself said the only requirement to receive the gift of eternal (everlasting) life was belief in Him as the life giver. The Bible says He took away the sin of the world when He died on the cross. His resurrection 3 days later proved He has the power to give eternal life. In order to buy into the proposition you can lose everlasting life or must also live a certain life style to finally receive it suggests there was some deficiency in Christ’s death and resurrection which we have to make up. So, what could that be? 1 John 1:8 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The most common question I’ve been asked about this verse has been is John talking about how to be saved or something else. I’m using the word saved here to mean being born again and receiving everlasting life. So many churches have equated forgiveness with the gift of everlasting life and made repentance a requirement for that gift it is understandable some people would be confused about 1 John 1:9. In Determining John’s intended meaning I want to consider 2 things. First the context in which verse 9 is stated and second is it consistent with what John wrote in his Gospel. Since John’s purpose in writing his Gospel was evangelistic (John 20:30-31) we should expect to find no contradictory references to salvation in his letter. Let’s start with the context of 1 John. A good interpretative method should always start with examining the context. We know from the introduction in 1 John 1:1-4 that his stated purpose was for his readers to experience the full joy of fellowship with him, the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. Since the objective is fellowship, we know he was writing to people he knew were believers and had everlasting life. The main body of the letter starts 1:5 and continues to follow the theme of fellowship. In verses 5-7 John states the basic requirement for fellowship is living according to truth, living in the light. And John rightly points out that starts with being honest about sin, we still sin even as believers. Therefore, my conclusion is 1 John 1:9 is not a condition or step in receiving everlasting life but is instead about maintaining fellowship with God and other believers. It that consistent with how John describes being saved in his Gospel. Yes, because the only condition John quotes Jesus Christ as saying was believing in Him, Jesus Christ, for everlasting life. John did not record the Lord ever mentioning repentance or confession of sin as a requirement for receiving the gift of everlasting life. In fact, the words repent and repentance do not occur in John’s gospel at all. There are only 3 places we find the word confess and in each case the object is Jesus Christ not sin (John 1:20; 9:22 and 12:42). In summary I believe we can safely say confession of sin is the first step in achieving the fullness of joy experienced by being in fellowship with God and other believers. Repentance comes into the picture when dealing with recurring and willful sin. That requires a change in behavior along with the acknowledgement of confession. An unbeliever asking God to forgive their sin is not the same thing as believing in Jesus Christ for everlasting life. So, I say don’t confuse the issue of salvation by adding conditions Jesus Christ never did. Forgiveness is not the same thing as being born into everlasting life. Matthew 7:13 & 14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult (narrow) is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-7:28 is an exposition by Jesus Christ on living for the Kingdom of Heaven, also called the Kingdom of God. The Lord was primarily speaking to His disciples (Matthew 5:1), though there was a crowd of people gathered around them listening. It was not, as some have taught, an evangelistic sermon. He would not have started an evangelistic message by calling His audience the salt and light of the world. According to Matthew 4:17 His focus was preparing Israel for the Kingdom. the context is always a key consideration in determining the meaning of a passage. so, in determining what the narrow and wide gates and ways stand for, we have to look to the context of the sermon. The Body of this Sermon, which begins in Matthew 5:21, presents us with a series of contrasts between the conventional teachings of the Rabbi’s and the true words of Jesus Christ. The Lord started with the format of “you have heard that it was said” followed by “but I say to you.” Then in chapter 6 He switched to a more direct line of “how to” instructions on charitable deeds, prayer, fasting and wraps up with contrasting faith and worry. Just prior to the short passage on the gates and ways Christ focused on dependence on God. He followed Matthew 7:13 & 14 with a warning to avoid false teachers. He also pointed to the end for those who depend on good works to earn their place in the Kingdom. Therefore, based on that analysis of the Sermon, I believe it is clear that the wide gate and wide path is following the conventional teaching of working your way into the Kingdom. The narrow gate is the way of faith. I would point you to the summary statement on which Jesus Christ ended this sermon. Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” The Narrow Gate is entered by faith, believing the promise of Jesus Christ for everlasting life and entrance into the Kingdom. The Narrow way is believing and living by His words in this sermon. He spelled out living by faith in Matthew 6:1-7:12. There are times when the Lord made reference to the disciples having little faith. One example is found in Matthew 8:23-27. Little faith translates a single compound word in the original language, oligospistos. Oligos means small as in number or size. Pistos means belief or faith and is the noun form of Pisteuo, the verb to believe. Pistos or faith, being a noun, refers to what is believed. It is not describing the intensity or strength by which it is held. So, when Jesus Christ said the disciples had little faith, He was saying their belief structure was limited in content or range.
The context makes that clear. In Matthew 8:18 the Lord had instructed the disciples to set out in a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. As they were making the crossing the wind picked up and with it the waves. They were apparently taking on water and the men were afraid they would be swamped. The Lord was sleeping but they woke Him up saying “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And Jesus Christ replied, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Now, based on their words I have no doubt they believed Jesus could save them and I’m sure they strongly held that belief. So, what could Christ have meant by saying their faith was small? Let’s go back to v. 18 where the Lord had instructed them to take the boat to the other side of the lake. When Jesus Christ, being God, says we’re going to cross the lake it means they were going to cross the lake. When they woke Him up, they had not yet reached the other side. Therefore, the boat was not going to sink. At least not until they had reached the other shore. We are to believe, life by, every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. They forgot that and so the Lord referred to their faith as little. Summary: Believe means to be persuaded something is true. It is a simple either/or process. You either believe a proposition is true or you don’t. There are no degrees of believing. Belief or faith is the what of believing, the object or content. Those distinctions are important because confusion on their meaning will rob you of the fullness of joy the Lord wants for you. The secret to avoiding little faith is to read your Bible. Learn about all that God has promised, 2 Peter 1:2-4. How do I know I have truly believed in Jesus Christ and have eternal life? A lot of people wrestle with that question likely due to the confusing way Salvation is often presented. They hear things like everlasting life is a free gift from God through faith which is quickly followed by some additional condition that must be fulfilled. Such as if your life hasn’t changed in some particular way then you haven’t actually or truly believed. I heard one pastor say it this way, if you aren’t different then you haven’t got it. It being everlasting life.
Those who say such things are basically presenting two false concepts. The first being you cannot trust what you believe. Why, because there is apparently more than one way to believe something. That is what they are implying when using terms like genuine faith, saving faith and truly believe. I know it sounds absurd but using those terms suggest there is a way to believe something while not actually believing it. The second error is they slander the Creator God. When Jesus Christ told Nicodemus “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” He (Jesus Christ) didn’t actually mean it. If that is the case then abandon all hope for we have nothing for which to live. Jesus Christ said we can trust the word of God. He asserted the Bible is completely trustworthy. So, accepting that as true, here is something that sheds light on the Biblical concept of believing. I have not found a single place in the Gospels where the word believe is modified by an adverb. I find it significant that Jesus Christ always spoke of believing as if it was a binary function. You either believe or you don’t. Some references you can check out for yourself in the Gospel of John: John 1:2, 3:16, 5:24, 6:29, 6:47, 11:25-26. These verses deal specifically with receiving everlasting life, but you will find the same thing true of the Lord’s other uses of the word believe. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast Ephesians 2:8 & 9. If you have believed in Jesus Christ for everlasting life then He has given you everlasting life. You have only to look to His words for the assurance you have life. We rest in His promise not what we do. I imagine if you were to ask 10 Christians what they believed about the Bible you would get several different answers. Let me briefly explain how we at Trego Community Church understand the Bible as God’s Word.
Our Doctrinal statement says: We believe that the Bible is the Word of God fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts (2 Timothy 3:16). It was written by men under the direction of the Holy Spirit and has supreme authority in all matters on which it speaks. (2 Peter 2:20-21.) Here is what is behind those 2 sentences. 2 Timothy 3:16 is where we get the word inspired. The Greek word being translated is theopenustos and literally translated would be “Godbreathed.” Pictures God breathing into the human authors the words they wrote down. It was not a forced auto writing but allowed for their own personalities and styles to show through while maintaining the content God wanted recorded. However, some of it actually was dictated by God to the human authors. We also hold that it only applies to the original documents. There isn’t an inspired translation. But, due to the thousands of ancient copies available for study there is high confidence in the accuracy of most translations. We also have the testimony of Jesus Christ to shore up our understanding of inspiration. Speaking of the O.T. Scriptures He said the following in Matthew 5:18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” That indicates we can trust God was guiding even the spelling of each word. In Matthew 22:29-32 Jesus Christ pointed to the verb tense in Exodus 3:6 as proof of resurrection for believers after death. So, God was also behind the grammatical structure of the O.T. Scriptures. Does that same understanding apply to the N.T. Scriptures. I believe the answer is yes. Jesus Christ promised the Apostles that the Holy Spirit, the agent behind the O.T. Bible, would also guide them in recording what He had taught them. John 15:26 & 27; 16:13-15 are those promises. What all that means is this, we must take the Bible at face value. Our study should be focused on staying within the original intent of God and His human authors. They were writing within the context of their culture using illustrations and figures of speech of that day. So, we don’t apply 21st century meanings to the words they used. Bible study is serious business. The Apostle James warned “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things.” There will be an accounting and none of us want be questioned by the Lord on why we did not teach accurately what He had said. A question remains as to why many Bible believing Christians say repentance of sin is a requirement for receiving everlasting life when Jesus Christ didn’t say it was. One reason I’ve been given by several individuals was because that is what their pastor teaches. I imagine another reason is because that is what their Church’s statement of faith says. That suggests to me they haven’t thought it through, just accepted the word of an authority figure.
F. F. Bruce and J. V. McGee suggest another more likely reason. It may boil down to the most basic human attribute of self-interest; Just plain old pride. People want to believe they have done something worthy of God’s favorable notice. Yes, it is by grace through faith, but I had some part in the process. And that drives the need to redefine faith as being something other than mere belief. It cannot just be mental assent. There must be some sense of commitment or trust. I suspect that for many the best indication of a committed faith is repentance of sin. It only makes sense to them that God would require that. Except He doesn’t. It doesn’t make sense to God and He is the one who sets the rules. Reading through the N.T. Gospels you will not find Jesus Christ ever tying repentance of sin to the gift of everlasting life. Nor is there any mention of a special class of faith required. The verb Pisteuo (Believe) is never modified by an adverb. And that is important, because if you accept as true that the Bible is God’s word then you must acknowledge God says what He means. The Lord says precisely what He means so every word used or not used is important. The gift of everlasting life is given by grace through the simplicity of faith. |
AuthorBill Lee, Pastor at Trego Community Church. Archives
May 2024
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