The
following series of devotionals is perhaps the most
significant series I have to offer. It deals with the most
fundamental message of the Bible whereby a person can be saved
from eternal damnation, being reconciled to God through the
forgiveness of sins.
Interpreting
the Bible
One of the most fundamental principles of Bible interpretation
is to interpret the Bible in light of God's character.
If a particular interpretation contradicts God's character, that
interpretation is wrong. There are no contradictions in the
Bible, only paradoxes due to misinterpretations. The second
principle of Bible interpretation is that what the Bible says
clearly, explicitly and comprehensively takes precedent over
interpretations which are based on inference or peripheral
passages or just a few verses. Now granted that what we know of
God's character is revealed in the Bible, and so requires some
interpretation. But God clearly, explicitly, and rather
comprehensively reveals His character throughout the Bible.
Consequently to get God's character wrong one would have to make
real effort to misread the Bible. But many have managed to do
so.
What are some of the fundamental characteristics of God
according to the Bible?
TheLord God
163 times in the Bible God uses the phrase,
"I am the Lord". God is Lord in that He defines
our meaning and purpose and gives us written instructions in the
Bible. Furthermore being Lord He also judges us with regards to
our compliance to His instructions. And being Lord God there is
no one of higher authority. God demands our obedience. Jesus
said, "Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’
and do not do the things which I say?" Lk 6:46
To acknowledge one as Lord is to declare one's intention to
comply with their instructions. And thus Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of
My Father in heaven." Mt 7:21 Those who
claim to believe in the Lord, but don't intend to do what He
says, don't actually believe in the Lord.
Along these lines many believe in a non-Lord God. They believe
in a God who is Creator, but allows them to do whatever they
want. He allows them to define their own meaning and purpose in
life. And He doesn't speak. The non-Lord God that many believe
is an idol. "They have mouths, but cannot
speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but
cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have
hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can
they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them
will be like them, and so will all who trust in them."
Ps 115:5-8
People are often reluctant to believe in the Lord God because
they want to define their own meaning and purpose in life and do
whatever they want, free from fear of judgment, and come to Him
on their own terms. And authorities often reckon the concept of
the Lord God a threat to their own authority. Many such people
tend to view the grace of God as a license to sin.
Such is the case not only in the world, but in the church where
heresies are developed to make the Lord God into something more
palatable to them. But to do so they have to keep their
followers ignorant of the Bible, which is the case in much of
the history of post-Biblical Christianity. "For the time will come when men will not put
up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say
what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their
ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."
2Tim 4:3.4
You may believe in "God", but do you believe in the Lord God
God is Holy
To understand God's attitude of holiness one must first understand
that there's a difference between what God likes and what God
loves. God loves even His enemies, and commands us Christians to
do likewise. But that's not to say that God likes his enemies. In
their state of being His enemies He doesn't prefer having
fellowship with them. There are things that God hates. That is to
say there are things that God doesn't like, things He doesn't
prefer. "The wicked and the one who loves
violence His soul hates." Ps 11:5b And "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride
and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate." Pr
8:13
"There are six things the LORD hates, seven that
are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that
shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet
that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out
lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers."Pr 6:16-19
And there are whole
lists of things that God doesn't accept in His presence. "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness,
orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those
who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Gal 5:19-21 These are just a few of the many things that
God hates. God will not have a relationship with the wicked. "Your iniquities have separated you from your
God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will
not hear." Is 59:2
Does people's wickedness interfere with you having a relationship
with them? Does their wickedness bother you? It should. It bothers
God. God refuses to have a friendship with the wicked. He knows
nothing of "friendship evangelism".
1Cor 15:33 "Do not be misled:
"Bad company corrupts good character." While Jesus'
enemies mischaracterize him saying, "Look,
a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and
sinners!" Mt 11:19b, in fact Jesus was not that
way. Rather he says, "You are My friends if
you do whatever I command you."John 15:14
So don't claim to have a friendship with God if you're living a
sinful lifestyle. "No one who lives in him
keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen
him or known him." 1Jn 3:6
God
is Just
Biblical justice is not the same as fairness. That is, while God
distributes resources unequally, that distribution is not a matter
of justice, but rather a matter of grace. "Don’t
I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you
envious because I am generous?" Mt 20:15 In
contrast, Biblical justice has to do with recompensing evil, not
with equal distribution of resources.
There are two arms of Biblical justice. One is punishing evil, and
the other is compensating victims of unjustified suffering. For
example,
2Th 1:6,7a "God is just:
He
will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
and
give relief to you who are troubled"
The thief on the cross
also provides us with both cases, who said, "We
are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.
But this man (Jesus) has done nothing wrong." Luke
23:41 While the thief was being punished justly, Jesus was a
innocent victim of unjustified suffering. And fortunate for us
that he was. For with the just compensation God provided him for
his unjustified suffering he paid off our debt. The Law of Moses
also accommodates the poor and needy to a degree, in that such
circumstances are largely not the fault of the individual, and
thus such people are to some extent suffering unjustly.
Justice is firstly unprejudiced. That is, it is impartial. "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality
to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor
fairly." Lev 19:15 God's justice is without
prejudice. For example: It is unjust to reckon someone guilty of
crimes which you know they haven't actually committed. That should
be obvious to everyone. It is unjust to punish someone for the
crimes committed by another person. "Fathers
shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put
to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin."
Deut 24:16 It is an act of injustice to punish those for
crimes they hadn't actually committed. Worse yet, there are those
who blaspheme, claiming that God Himself does such things. And
even worst than that, many such people actually have put their
faith in such a god they have fabricated for themselves, condoning
such injustice.
Grace
Now you may note with regards to justice that I have left out
rewarding good. Rewarding good is not actually a matter of
Biblical justice. Being good is an obligation. God shouldn't have
to reward people for being good. They're supposed to be good all
the time. Falling short of that is sin, despite the fact that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God". Rom 3:23 Jesus speaks of this in his
parable of the unworthy servants of Luke 17:7-10 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or
looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he
comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?
Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready
and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and
drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was
told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were
told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have
only done our duty.’" But despite the fact that God
is under no obligation to reward good behavior, He
characteristically does so, but not out of justice, rather out of
grace.
Grace is not injustice. God is both just and gracious. For God to
be just, He is bound to satisfy the demands of justice. He is
bound to punish evil and compensate victims of unjustified
suffering. He has no choice in the matter. If He had a choice in
administering justice to one and not to another, He would be
partial, and as such unjust. Many, particularly among
non-Christian religions, are under the misconception that God can
just forgive sin discarding the demands of justice. For their god,
grace nullifies justice. Not so with the Lord God. For the Lord
God there is no forgiveness apart from the demands of justice
being satisfied, which is why Christ had to die for our sins for
God to exercise His grace in the forgiveness of sins. "In Him we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."
Eph 1:7
Grace is not obligatory. As an example, take tithing. The Old
Covenant demanded people tithe. There was no choice. It was a
matter of duty. And since tithing was an obligation, it was not an
act of generosity. Under the New Covenant Christians are under no
obligation to tithe. Nowhere in the epistles are Christians told
to tithe. What they are told is this, "Each
man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful
giver." 2Cor 9:7 That is generosity. That is
grace. It is not obligatory, but done freely. With regards to
salvation, God is not obligated to save anyone. Rather He does so
out of grace. Paul writes, "by grace you
have been saved through faith" Eph 2:8a
The
Human Condition
It should be obvious to anyone with any experience in life
that people are characteristically sinful. Alexander Pope said, "To
err is human". But more accurately in Biblical terms, it's
human nature to sin. Why is it that children need to be taught to
be good, but don't have to be taught to be bad? That just comes
naturally to us all. This is not to say, as some do, that the fact
that our human nature tempts us to sin itself makes us guilty of
sin. It would be unjust, and therefore sinful itself, to reckon
guilt to those who didn't actually COMMIT sin, simply because they
were being tempted to sin. Even Jesus would have been reckoned
guilty in that case. "For we do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but
we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are— yet was without sin." Heb 4:15
(For "Jesus Christ our Lord, was born of
the seed of David according to the flesh" Rom 1:3 And
"every spirit that does not confess that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God" 1Jn
4:3a) Jesus partook of the same nature as we have, being
subject to the same kinds of temptations inherent in that nature.
Yet apart from Christ there is no one who hasn't complied with
their sinful nature and committed sin. "For
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Rom
3:23 The Bible is filled with examples of human wickedness.
It's one of the major themes of the Bible taking up vast amounts
of its content. For example it portrays the people of Israel
constantly sinning. All the prophets speak of this. Criticize Jews
today and you're labeled anti-semitic. If that's the case,
God is the greatest anti-semite of them all. For He's constantly
criticizing them in the scriptures. (Though today it seems, as a
people who reckon themselves religiously superior to everyone
else, the Muslims have far outdone the Jews in wickedness.) But
one reason God chose the Jews was to demonstrate what is
characteristic of all people. Would people be better if God were
to do great miracles, if God were to miraculously provide for
their needs, if He were to speak directly to them and give them
explicit instructions, would they be better people. The Bible
proves they wouldn't end up being better people. The Bible proves
that such things have no impact on getting people to stop sinning.
God's purpose in introducing the Law of Moses was for people to be
aware of just how sinful they are. "Through
the law we become conscious of sin." Rom 3:20b
And it is essential for people to come to the conviction of
their own sinfulness if they are to realize the relevance of Jesus
Christ. "Therefore the law was our tutor to
bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
Gal 3:24
Speaking to the Christians in Ephesus Paul writes, "As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom
of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are
disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its
desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects
of wrath." Eph 2:1-3 That's just human nature at
work.
"Good"
People
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good
Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said
to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that
is, God." Lk 18:18,19 Not that Jesus is denying
being good. But to call Jesus good is to call him God. For only
God is good. Everyone else characteristically sins. ButJesus
"has been
tempted in every way, just as we are—
yet was without sin." Heb 4:15b
"There is no one righteous, not even one; there
is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned
away, they have together become worthless; there is no one
who does good, not even one." Rom
3:10-12
Where are the truly
"good" people in the Bible? Moses murdered an Egyptian in cold
blood and later in the desert he sinned so severely that God
didn't allow him into the promise land. King David committed
adultery and murder. In the New Testament the apostle Paul
characterized his pre-Christian life as being the chief of all
sinners. What about Cornelius? It says, "He
and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave
generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly."
Acts 10:2 and that "He is a
righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the
Jewish people" Acts 10:22 Yet "an angel appear in his house and said, ‘Send to
Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a
message through which you and all your household will be saved.'"
Acts 11:13,14 Despite all his good deeds this righteous,
God-fearing man was going to hell apart from hearing and
believing the gospel. For one is never good enough from
God's perspective if one is not good continually. If you're
as good as Cornelius was, righteous, God-fearing, praying
regularly, generous, but have yet to hear and believe the gospel,
you're on your way to eternal damnation. Not that people are
condemned for attempting to be good. Rather God will condemn
people for not always being good.
Judgement
With the commission of sin comes guilt. By which I don't simply
mean the feeling of guilt. For many of this age are under the
misconception that their problem is overcoming their feeling of
guilt. No, rather all who have committed sin are guilty in a legal
sense and as such subject to God's judgment. For "He has set a day when he will judge the world
with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of
this to all men by raising him from the dead." Acts
17:31
To the religious elite of his day Jesus said,
"Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation
of hell?" Mt 23:33 Religious posers will receive
the greater condemnation. Jesus said,
"Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes,
love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the
synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows’
houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive
greater condemnation." Lk 20:46,47 And "that servant who knew his master’s will, and
did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be
beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed
things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For
everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required;
and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the
more." Lk 12:47,48 (Now you know!)
And the more one knows, the more one is going to be held
accountable for. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe
to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in
you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than
for you." Mt 11:21,22
Sentencing
What is the condemnation like? Jesus spoke of a man who went to
hell and "In hell, where he was in torment,"
said "I am in agony in this fire.’" Lk
16:23,24 Jesus said that at the end of the age, "The angels will come forth, separate the wicked
from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire.
There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Mt
13:49,50 And on the judgment day "He will also say to those on the left hand,
‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels" Mt 25:41 And in
that same chapter, "cast the unprofitable
servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.’" Mt 25:30 And as for the
hypocritical servant, Jesus said, "In anger
his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured,
until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly
Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother
from your heart." Mt 18:34,35 Without
reservations Jesus portrays the condemnation as torture. In the
condemnation God hands people over to be tortured.
"A time is coming when all who are in their
graves will hear his voice and come out— those who have done
good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise
to be condemned." John 5:28,29
The
Law , Good Enough?
Is salvation is contingent upon one's compliance to a set of
regulations? On
one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.
"Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read
it?" He answered: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" "You have
answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will
live." Lk 10:25-28 Now
a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must
I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is
good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you
want to enter life, obey the commandments." Mt
9:16,17
But good is not good enough if you're not good continuously. Paul
writes, "All who rely on observing the law
are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who
does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the
Law.'" Gal 3:10 and he also writes, "To those who by persistence in doing good seek
glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life."
Rom 2:7 But if you fail to continuously persist in doing
good, you sin. And no amount of your goodness, no amount of
compliance with the principles or regulations of the Law, will
atone for your sin. So if you don't do anything wrong, you will
have eternal life. But what of those who have sinned?
Paul writes, "Here is a trustworthy saying
that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners— of whom I am the worst." 1Tim1:15
If you're a good person, Jesus didn't come to save you. For you
need not be saved, having never been lost. But there are
multitudes who delude themselves into thinking that they are good,
but they are sinners. And you may be one of them. Who were Jesus'
worst enemies. Were they not the religious elite of his day, who
reckoned themselves righteous. Such has been the case throughout
history. The religious elite have characteristically been the most
hostile towards God. If Jesus came today as he did back them,
would you end up crucifying him? In John 7:7 Jesus said to
his own brothers, "The world cannot hate
you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is
evil."
The
Law Exposes the Sinner
And this is why Jesus spoke of the Law - to bring allegedly "good"
people to conviction of sin. Given that "all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Rom
3:23, Paul declared that "no one will
be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather,
through the law we become conscious of sin." Rom 3:20
The Law is a diagnostic tool which reveals sin. Like an X-ray
machine, it doesn't heal, it only reveals. In fact just as
overexposure to x-rays kills, so also overexposure to the Law
kill. Paul writes, God "made us sufficient
as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the
Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." 2Cor 5:6 and goes on in the next
verse to indicate that, "the ministry of
death was written and engraved on stones", speaking of
the 10 commandments. Thus the Jews, drunk on the old wine of the
Old Covenant of Law, rejected their own Messiah. "He came to that which was his own, but his own
did not receive him." Jn 1:12 And many today
content with a righteousness defined by compliance to the
regulations of men, also do not receive him.
At the end of Gal 2:16 Paul writes, "by observing the law no one will be justified."
And in Gal 5:4 "You who are trying
to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have
fallen away from grace."
The Law doesn't save, it only condemns.
God's
Word
Many a person you ask today, even among church going
Christians, as to how a person qualifies to heaven, respond with "I
think ..." What does it matter what they think? It's God's
opinion that counts. God is the one who determines the basis upon
which a person is qualified to enter heaven or be sent to hell.
Human opinion matters nothing. "A fool finds
no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own
opinions." Pr 18:2 Post-modernistic fools care
not for truth, but for expressing their own opinions. They'll have
plenty of time to contemplate their vain opinions when they burn
in hell. But Jesus said, "Everyone who
listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me." John
6:45 And he said, "I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me." John 14:6
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. ... The Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the
glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of
grace and truth." John 1:1,14 "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and
Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known."John
1:18
Jesus
is the LORD
The Bible declares Jesus as the Creator, the Lord Almighty
"He is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created by him and for him." Col 1:15,16"Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made." John
1:3
"Jesus
has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the
builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For
every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of
everything." Heb 3:3,4 Who built everything? Jesus Christ
built everything.
Hebrews 1:10 says
of Jesus Christ, "You, LORD, in the
beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are
the work of Your hands." which is a reference to Ps
102:24,25 which states, So I said:
"Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on through all generations. In the beginning, O
LORD, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the
heavens are the work of your hands"
Yes the Bible declares
Jesus Christ to be the Lord God Almighty, the Creator of all
things. In John 12:40,41 there's a reference to Isaiah
6:10, which John says, and I quotes, "Isaiah
said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about
him." This is what John was referring to. This is what
immediately preceded Isaiah 6:10 of which John indicates refers to
Jesus. Isaiah 6:1-3 In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a
throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the
temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With
two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their
feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling
to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
Thus Jesus is the Lord Almighty.
Evidence from the
Book of Revelation
"I am
the Alpha
and the Omega", the Beginning and the End, the First and the
Last"Rev 22:13
So,
the “Alpha and the Omega” is also known as “the First
and the Last”
"I am the First and the
Last. I am the
Living One, I was
dead, and behold I am
alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death
and Hades.”Rev 1:18 And “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These
are the words of him
who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life
again."Rev 2:8
Thus
Jesus is “the First and the Last” and as such is “the
Alpha and the Omega”.
However,
note it also says, "I am the Alpha and the
Omega," says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and
who is to come, the
Almighty."Rev 1:8 Just as
it likewise says in Isaiah
44:6 "This is what the LORD says-- Israel's
King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I
am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is
no God."
Thus
Jesus is the LORD God, the LORD Almighty.
Confessing
Jesus as The LORD
Salvation is contingent upon acknowledging Jesus as the LORD. Paul
writes, "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus
is LORD," and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved."Rom
10:9 and he goes on to reference Joel 2:27-32 which
states, "Then you will know that I am in
Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is
no other; never again will my people be shamed. 'And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people ...And
everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as
the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls." Apart
from acknowledging that Jesus is the LORD God, a person cannot be
saved.
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth," Jesus
answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!"John
8:58, which uses the same phrase as God did to Moses at the
burning bush. Moses said to God, "Suppose I
go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers
has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then
what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I
AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM
has sent me to you.’" God also said to Moses, "Say to the
Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob— has
sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am
to be remembered from generation to generation." Ex
3:13-15
It is written that Jesus said, "I said to
you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that
I AMHe, you will die in your sins." John
8:24 But actually the word "He" is not in the text,
which is why it is italicized. Unless you believe that Jesus is
the "I AM", unless you believe that Jesus is the LORD God, you
will die in your sins.
Jesus'
Credentials: Eye Witness Accounts
Upon what basis are we to believe this man and what the Bible
claims of him?It's reasonable to ask for proof. Why
should we believe the Bible over other religions like Islam? After
all in the Bible Jesus claims to be the Son of God while the Koran
explicitly states that Jesus is not the Son of God. But while the
Koran and other such religions make unqualified propositions, the
Bible backs up its claims with the evidence of public miracles as
testified to by eyewitnesses. For example the four gospels are
largely an affidavit of eyewitnesses to Jesus' ministry,
teachings, miracles, death and resurrection from the dead.
Consider the beginning of the gospel of Luke which is a letter
written to a man called Theophilus,
"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of
the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were
handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses
and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have
carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed
good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most
excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the
things you have been taught." Lk 1:1-4
Jesus'
Credentials: Miracles
Why did Jesus say we should believe in him? "Believe
me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;
or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."
John 14:11 And likewise John writes as to the
purpose of the miracles. "Jesus did many
other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which
are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
by believing you may have life in his name." John
20:30,31 Under duress John the Baptist questioned his faith
and asked of Jesus, "Are You the Coming One,
or do we look for another?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Go
and tell John the things which you hear and see: "The blind see
and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear;
the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to
them." Mt 11:4,5
The first Christian sermon in Acts 2 utilizes the testimony of
public miracles to convince the crowds. It was a public event in
which "there were staying in Jerusalem
God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven." Peter
publicly declared, "Men of Israel, listen to
this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by
miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through
him, as you yourselves know." Acts 2:22 This was
the basis for the formation of the first church.
In contrast what proof does Islam provide? None. No miracles. It's
simply a proposition. I showed a Muslim the proofs for Biblical
Christianity and asked him as to why he chooses to believe in
Mohammed. I never heard from him again. The reason why
anti-Christian countries find that they must suppress the
propagation of the Bible is because the proofs provided in the
Bible far outweigh anything, any supporting evidence, that any
other religion or philosophy has to offer.
Jesus's
Credentials: Sufficient Evidence
The Bible provides sufficient proof, but there will always be
those predisposed to unbelief who will never be convinced. Again
in Luke 16 of the man who went to hell. He suggested raising a man
from the dead and sending the man to his brothers as proof to warn
them of hell. But he was told, "If they do
not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced
even if someone rises from the dead." Lk 16:31 And
we see this kind of thing actually played out in Jesus ministry
where "a large crowd of Jews found out that
Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to
see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief
priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of
him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their
faith in him." John 12:9-11 Those
predisposed to unbelief are so largely due to the implications of
the message. Not even miracles would convince such people. "Yet these men speak abusively against whatever
they do not understand; and what things they do understand by
instinct, like unreasoning animals— these are the very things
that destroy them." Jude
1:10
"Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word
of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with
you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked
men; for not all have faith." 2Thess 3:1,2
Jesus'
Resurrection as Proof
God has provided sufficient supporting evidence in the Bible
to validate its truths, but many are predisposed to unbelief.
Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the
law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from
you." Jesus answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks
for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign
of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Mt 12:38-40
Whenever the gospel is
preached in the New Testament, the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead is mentioned as validating evidence.
Acts 2:24a
"God raised him from the dead"
Acts 3:15
"You killed the author of life, but God
raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this."
Acts 4:10 "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the
dead, that this man stands before you healed."
Acts
10:39,40 "We are witnesses of
everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him
from the dead on the third day."
Acts
13:29-31 "When they had carried out
all that was written about him, they took him down from the
tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with
him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to
our people."
Acts 17:31
"God has set a day when he will judge the
world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has
given proof of this to all men by raising him from the
dead."
Rom 1:1-4
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called
to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the
gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy
Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a
descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness
was declared with power to be the Son of God by his
resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our
Lord."
1Cor 15:1-5 "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you
have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if
you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you
have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as
of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he
appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he
appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same
time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen
asleep."
Jesus
Atoned for Sin
Because God is bound by his judicial nature, He cannot exercise
grace apart from justice being satisfied. And as such he can't
simply forgive sin apart from justice being recompensed for the
sins committed. However God, in his wisdom, orchestrated a
scenario whereby justice would demand his Son be compensated for
having suffered unjustly. The LORD used his compensation as ransom
to pay for the sins of the world, thus satisfying the demands of
justice and allowing for God's grace to be exercised in the
forgiveness of sins.
"God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,
through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his
justice"
Rom 3:25a
"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you
have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold
firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have
believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of
first importance: that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" 1Cor 15:1-4
He "gave himself as a ransom for all men"
1Tim 2:6a
"the church of God He purchased with His own
blood." Acts
20:28b
And to the Corinthian Christians Paul writes, "For you were bought at a price" 1Cor
6:20a
"Christ
died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous,
to bring you to God." 1Peter 3:18a
The
Cross Nullified the Law
Having atoned for sin, salvation is no longer contingent upon
compliance to the Law with its regulations.
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of
your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave
us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us;
he took it away, nailing it to the cross." Col 2:13-15
"So, my brothers, you also died to the law
through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to
him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear
fruit to God." Rom 7:4
"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if
righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for
nothing!" Gal 2:21
Yet many, including many alleged "Christians", are under the
delusion that obtaining a righteous standing with God is a
function of their compliance to legal regulations. These have not
embraced the fundamental truth of the gospel. They have replaced
the grace of God with their own righteousness. "You who are trying to be justified by law have
been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."
Gal 5:4
Salvation
by Works Christians
In Acts we find based in the church at Jerusalem a sect of
Christians advocating "Unless you are
circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot
be saved." Acts 15:1 and "The
Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of
Moses." Acts 15:5 Paul said of them, "This matter arose because some false
brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom
we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves." Gal
2:4 These were the sect of the Circumcision.
While they were "a little leaven", they ended up "leavening the
whole lump" as Paul said, "This persuasion
does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens
the whole lump." Gal 5:8,9 From that origin
there developed Neo-Circumcision sects such as Catholicism that
came to dominate the Christian community to this day. For
example, Canon 20 of the Catholic Council of Trent states that,
"If anyone says that a man who is justified and however perfect
is not bound to observe the commandments of God and the Church,
but only to believe,as if the Gospel were a bare and
absolute promise of eternal life without the condition of
observing the commandments, let him be anathema." and
"The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are
obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still
bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: "The
bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . .
the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel
to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation
through faith, Baptism and the observance of
the Commandments." Neo-Circumcision sects reject the
gospel of grace, despising it and opposing those who believe it.
And there are many salvation-by-works Christians outside of
Catholicism as well who, like the Circumcision, make salvation out
to be contingent upon religious rituals and upon law - the keeping
of commandments. Though they may argue among themselves as to what
laws one needs to keep to be saved, yet they are all of the spirit
of the Circumcision regarding their faith. They typically
misconstrue scripture in the following manner.
Confusing Old
Covenant justification with New Covenant justification.
Appending all
commands in the New Testament to Christians with "in order to
be saved".
Confusing the
Conditions for Salvation with the Conditions of the Saved.
That is, misconstruing the effect of salvation with the cause
of salvation, misconstruing the fruit as the root.
Salvation
Free, but not Unconditional
God has made salvation free, but not unconditional. As noted
previously God has made salvation not conditioned upon religious
rituals or compliance to regulations, and as such it is not
contingent upon one's behavior. That would sound like God
justifies the wicked. YES, GOD JUSTIFIES THE WICKED.
"To the man who does not work but
trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is
credited as righteousness." Rom 4:5
This concept is
inconceivable to the legalist, and as such God has so constructed
the gospel as to make it contemptible to such people, as God has
also orchestrated the gospel to make it contemptible to the proud
in order to prevent them from being saved, while at the same time
making salvation free. The gospel is not for those who try to be
justified by their works.
This righteousness from God is apart from meeting any legal
obligations. I tell you that, "No one will
be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather,
through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a
righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made
known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to
all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Rom 3:20-24 And thus "we maintain
that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the
law." Rom 3:28
Saved
by Faith ALONE
The gospel is not unconditional. God has made salvation
SOLELY conditioned upon FAITH in Christ. (By the way, this
statement is in violation of Canon 9 of the Catholic
Council of Trent, which declares those who take this position
are anathema from the Catholic Church. As such those who believe
the gospel in accordance with the Bible cannot identify
themselves with the Catholic Church) The verse that follows
Rom 4:5 states this, "David says the same
thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God
credits righteousness apart from works: 'Blessed are
they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against
him.'" Rom 4:6-8
Faith in Christ is the sole condition for salvation. "For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish
but have eternal life." John 3:16 And to the
Christians in Ephesus Paul wrote, "For it is
by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one
can boast." Eph 2:8,9 And "because
of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us
alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved."
Eph 2:4,5
Salvation is "free" in that there are no works one must do to be
saved. Faith is the sole prerequisite. But faith is not a
work, it is an attitude. The Bible very clearly
indicates faith is not a work in saying,
"If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something
to boast about— but not before God. What does the Scripture say?
"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as
righteousness." Now when a man works, his wages are not credited
to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who
does not work but trusts (actually the word "believe"
is used in the Greek) God who
justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."
Rom 4:2-5 Thus faith, while a condition for salvation, is
not categorized as a work. Faith is an attitude, and like all
attitudes, it's not something one gets paid for.
Faith
comes from hearing the message
By making salvation contingent upon faith in Christ, God makes
salvation conditioned upon hearing the message. For as Paul notes, "How, then, can they call on the one they have
not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of
whom they have not heard?" Rom 10:14 Consequently
the faith in Christ the Bible speaks of is not simply a faith in a
"Jesus" whom one fabricates in their own mind, as some today would
have it, nor faith in the Islamic version of a "Jesus" whom they
declare is not the Son of God, but rather faith in the Biblical
Christ. And consequently, one cannot be saved apart from hearing
the message. Thus Cornelius was told, "Send
to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a
message through which you and all your household will be saved."
Acts 11: 13,14
"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the
message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Rom 10:17
Salvation
Contingent upon Evangelism
Furthermore by making salvation conditioned upon believing the
gospel, God had made salvation contingent not only upon hearing
the message, but upon Christians disseminating the message. For
Paul continues in Rom 10:15 saying, "And
how can they preach unless they are sent?" If people
don't hear the message they cannot be saved. And thus if no one is
sent to tell them the message, they cannot be saved. Which is why
Paul was so upset at the opposition he faced. "For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s
churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from
your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from
the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also
drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all
men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the
Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they
always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has
come upon them at last." 1Thess 2:14-16 Far from
being the hyper-Calvinist who would say to the missionary, "If
God wants to save those foreigners he can do it without your
help!", God has made salvation dependent upon those who
disseminate the gospel. God didn't have to make it that way, but
in His sovereignty He did! And I believe God did so that we
believers may fellowship with Christ in saving people. "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as
though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on
Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." 2Cor 5:20
And those unbelievers opposing the dissemination of the message
will receive even greater judgement against themselves.
If you are a believer but are not involved in disseminating the
message of the gospel, there may end up many spending eternity in
hell who could have been saved had you but lifted a finger. And I
say that quite literally as given the internet, the dissemination
of the message may require of you no more than pushing a few
buttons on a keyboard. So what's your excuse?
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is
the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:
first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel
a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by
faith" Rom
1:16-17a
"Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord
may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you." 2Th
3:1
What
Constitutes Saving Faith Application Oriented Faith
Christ, having atoned for sin, lays upon us the one condition of
faith for us to be qualified to be saved. But what kind of faith
saves? While Saving Faith is not a faith in works, but it is a
faith that works.
Saving Faith Results in the Intention to Repent of Sin
As an example of application oriented faith note Zacchaeus of Luke
19. He was a wealthy tax collector Jesus came to visit. Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look,
Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor,
and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back
four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has
come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham."
Notice that Jesus declared this man saved when he simply
declared his INTENTION to repent of sin. Zacchaeus had not given
away half his possessions to the poor, and he still had the money
in his pockets which he had cheated out of others. He had not done
any good work at this point. Yet Jesus declared him saved.
Furthermore, why did he happen to express his intention to repent
of sin at that moment? While the text doesn't tell us explicitly,
I think it's safe to say that he expressed such an intention
because he had come to believe in Jesus.
Likewise Paul says, "I preached that they
should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by
their deeds." Acts 26:20bDeeds of repentance
are not the cause but the proof of Saving Faith.
Saving Faith results in an intention to repent of sin. More
generally we could say, Saving Faith results in visible
applications of that faith. Absent such applications calls
into question whether one's alleged faith is the faith the Bible
speaks of.
Saving Faith is a Conviction in which one weighs its
implications and consequences
In his parable of the sower Jesus spoke of the seed of the word of
God springing up quickly in rocky shallow soil. These are
Christians with shallow faith. "The one who
received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears
the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no
root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution
comes because of the word, he quickly falls away." Mt
13:20,21 Note that such people fail to consider the
implications of the word of God. They fail to take it to heart.
The word will bring trouble to one's life. For example Paul
writes, "In fact, everyone who wants to
live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" 2Tim
3:12 Those of a shallow faith fall away when such troubles
come. Jesus said, "You will be hated by all
for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be
saved." Mt 10:22 Those who don't endure are not
saved.
Some fell on
rocks but withered and died
For their faith was not deep enough to be qualified
To receive the life God promised to those
Who really believed Jesus died and arose.
Yes at first they were overjoyed
But when trials came their faith was destroyed
For they received it without their faith being rooted
And so fell away after they were persecuted
Saving Faith is a
conviction, not a shallow opinion. A person with Saving
Faith considers the implications of their faith and has weighed
the consequences. Along this same line are the parables of Luke
14:25-35. The parables of building a tower and making war.
And as a precedent of saving faith Paul speaks of Abraham's
faith in Romans 4:20,21 "He did not
waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was
strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being
fully convinced that what He had promised He was
also able to perform."
The Object of Saving Faith - A person rather than
simply a fact.
Many Christians are under the misconception that the object of
saving faith is one particular fact, namely that Christ died for
our sins. But when the Bible speaks about believing in Christ it's
not referring to simply one particular fact about Christ. It's
speaking of believing in the person. The NIV rightly translates
"believe" (pisteuo in the Greek) as "trust". These are
interchangeable. Examples where NIV translates "believe" as
"trust": John 12:36; John 14:1; Rom9:33; Rom 10:11; Rom 15:13.
But in particular note Rom 4:5 which I have referenced a
number of times, "However, to the man who
does not work but trusts God who justifies the
wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."
"Trust", which is what the Bible means by "believe", is not simply
belief in a fact. It is putting one's trust in a person. The
distinction can be seen among the Christian community between
those who belief a fact or a few facts about Jesus to the
exclusion of other things the Bible says of Jesus versus those who
may not know all of the things Jesus taught or are taught about
Jesus, but who have come to trust in the person of Christ. They
are those who may not know everything about Jesus but who have
come to the conviction of trusting Jesus to the point that they
will believe everything that Jesus said and have the INTENTION of
complying with his instructions.
Is your belief in a fact or is your trust in a person?
Jesus as LORD
Jesus spoke of this concept of putting trust in him over all
others, for example in Mt 10:37 "Anyone
who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;
anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy
of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is
not worthy of me."
As a matter of fact, Jesus is LORD, and acknowledging this fact is
essential for salvation, along with believing that fact of his
resurrection, "If you confess with your
mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Rom
10:9 But such faith is in vain if the implications don't
find application in your relationship with the person of Jesus
Christ. Jesus said, "Why do you call me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" Lk 6:46
For to call Jesus LORD is to declare one's intention to do what he
said, else one's declaration is in vain.
A person who trusts in Jesus is one who will believe everything
that Jesus said directly or by proxy through his apostles. (Jesus
said to his apostles, "He who listens to
you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who
rejects me rejects him who sent me." Lk 10:16 and
John writes, "We are from God, and whoever
knows God listens to us." 1John
4:6)
Antinomian Christians
To trust in Jesus only as Savior, but reject him as LORD, is to
not come to saving faith. Such people may have come to
believe a fact about Jesus, but not actually come to trust in the
person of Christ himself. They want to be saved, but don't want
someone Lording over them. They want to go to heaven, but they
don't want the LORD Jesus to be there. They've fabricated an idol
they refer to as "Jesus", pulling some pieces from the Biblical
Christ while discarding other elements of the Biblical Christ they
dislike.
Likewise
there are those who are sick of experiencing the consequences of
their sin and simply want to escape the consequences of sin, but
not the sin itself. They want Jesus to clean up their mess, but
they don't want to become new creatures. And again they want to
be saved, but they don't intend to obey the LORD. Peter writes
of the promoters of a non-Lord Jesus faith. "There were also false prophets among the
people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They
will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying
the sovereign Lord who bought them— bringing swift
destruction on themselves.... If they have escaped the
corruption of the world by knowing about our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they
are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It
would have been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their
backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit,"
and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the
mud." 2Peter 2:1,20-22
Such people view
salvation as a license to sin, as Jude also writes in parallel to
2Peter 2, "For certain men whose
condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in
among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a
license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only
Sovereign and Lord." Jude
1:4
The
Correlation Between Salvation and Lifestyle
Paul writes,
"Do you not know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the
sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy
nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God." 1Cor 6:9,10
"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who
live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal 5:19,20
And John writes,
"The cowardly, unbelieving, abominable,
murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone, which is the second death." Rev 21:8
Consequently there is a
correlation between a person's behavior and their salvation
status.
Regenerate
Behavior
If a person's salvation status is a function of one's behavior
then salvation is of works, which contradicts what Paul had
already stated concerning the gospel. But not so if a person's
behavior is a function of their salvation status. For the
resolution to this paradox is found perhaps most succinctly in 1John
3:9,10 "No one who is born of God
will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he
cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is
how we know who the children of God are and who the children of
the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a
child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Here John, using the Greek present tense which has a nuance
indicating a characteristic or lifestyle behavior, is not speaking
of the complete absence of sin, but rather that those born of God
have lost the ability to live a lifestyle of sin. Such is so
ingrained into the new nature of those born of God, and so visible
that John speaks of it being an outward measure to distinguish
children of God from the children of the devil. For example John
uses this kind of measuring rod in 1John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they did not really
belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have
remained with us; but their going showed that none of them
belonged to us." How does John say he identified these
people as false Christians? Not by special divine revelation, but
simply by their behavior. For those who have been born of God will
never leave the faith. Doing so only shows such people had never
been born of God. This is also why Jesus can say that he who
endures to the end will be saved and yet not make salvation
contingent upon behavior. For the saved characteristically endure
to the end due, not only because of the nature of their faith
being a conviction, but also because of the power of the
regenerate nature which causes them to persevere.
What prevents people from living a sinful lifestyle after they
have been saved? The new nature does. For "if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the
new has come!" 2Cor 5:17 And thus unlike the
illustrations of 2Peter 2:22 of a dog going back to its
vomit and a pig going back to its wallowing in the mud, which are
behaviors associated with their nature, those born of God have
such a nature that such behavior is uncharacteristic of those born
of God.
The
Heresy of Free Grace Theology
From its inception in Keswick England in the late 1800's, Free
Grace Theology became arguably the predominant evangelical
theology of the 20th Century. In contrast to the Bible, Free Grace
Theology (Classically known as "Antinomianism") proposes that
there is not necessarily any correlation between a person's faith
and their lifestyle, that repentance is not the intention to
change one's behavior, but simply to change one's mind about the
relevance of Christ, and that saving faith consists simply in
believing in the fact of Christ being savior, but accepting Christ
as Lord is viewed as optional. And there are other such elements
of Free Grace Theology I've noted at http://bcbsr.com/topics/freegrace.html
The predominance of Free Grace Theology among evangelical
Christians in the US in the 20th Century may explain why there has
been little difference between the behavior of alleged
"Christians" and non-Christians. To this day the majority of
alleged "Christians" in the US are likely unsaved. And such is
largely due to the propagation of such heresies as Free Grace
Theology.
The
Perseverance of the Saints
Since salvation is a free gift not conditioned upon one's
performance, else salvation would be of works, once a person is
saved they are guaranteed eternal life. There are those who argue,
such as the Lutherans, that since salvation is conditioned upon
faith, loss of faith would result in loss of salvation. However as
noted previously, it is not possible for those born of God to live
a lifestyle of sin let alone lose faith. Those who have been born
of God will endure to the end. Failing to do so just indicates
they were not born of God in the first place as John noted, "They went out from us, but they did not really
belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would
have remained with us; but their going showed that
none of them belonged to us." 1John 2:19
Thus Paul writes of the eternal security of the believer. "And you also were included in Christ when you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having
believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy
Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
until the redemption of those who are God’s possession— to the
praise of his glory." Eph 1:13 "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ
and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us
the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." 2Cor
1:21,22
Eternally
Secure
Can anything separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus? "I am convinced that neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present
nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord." Rom 8: 38,39 Notice a couple of
things here. Paul indicates that one's security in Christ is not a
function of time. For he says there's nothing in the present or
the future which will separate us from Christ. So if a person is
saved at one point in time, and you were to make a time machine
and travel into the future to visit that person, Paul indicates
that you would find that person would still be saved.
Now there are those who would give the exception that we can
separate ourselves. But this independence of time excludes that
idea. And not only so, but note that he says, "nor anything else
in all creation". Are you a part of the creation? If you are part
of the creation then Paul is saying that you cannot separate
yourselves from Christ. Furthermore, due to the nature of the
regeneration, there will never be the desire to do so, let alone
the ability or possibility to do so.
Thus it is as Jesus said, "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." John 5:24 The
heaven/hell judgement is a thing of the past for those born of
God.
Assurance
of Salvation - an Examination
Though once saved, always saved, there should be the question as
to whether the "once saved" actually occurred in any individual
case. Thus Paul questioned the Corinthians,
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test
yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—
unless, of course, you fail the test?" 2Cor 13:5 The
major theme of the epistle of 1John is Assurance of Salvation,
where John lays out much of the examination of which Paul
mentions. Given the inevitable correlation between one's salvation
status and one's lifestyle, the assurance of salvation is to
be proportional to the degree to which one behaves as a child of
God should.
Consider the Thessalonians of whom Paul said, "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he
has chosen you" 1Th 1:4 How did Paul
know that God chose them? What was the basis of Paul's assurance
of the salvation of the Thessalonian Christians? He goes on to
say, "because our gospel came to you not
simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and
with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your
sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord;
in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message
with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a
model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The
Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and
Achaia— your faith in God has become known everywhere.
Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they
themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell
how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead— Jesus, who rescues us from the
coming wrath." 1Th 1:5-10 Paul's assurance of the
salvation of the Thessalonian Christians was based upon the
evidence of their change behavior and attitudes. Such thing we
should all expect of those who claim to have come to know Christ,
and lacking such evidences should call into question whether such
people are merely posers.
Beware
of Unjustified Assurance
Those who deny the correlation between salvation status and
behavior are false teachers and practice deception as John and
Paul mention a number of places:
1John
3:7,8 Little children, let no
one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He who sins is of
the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
Ephesians 5:5,6 For of this you can be sure: No immoral,
impure or greedy person— such a man is an idolater— has any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no
one deceive you with empty words, for because of such
things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
1Cor 6:9,10 Do you not know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers
will inherit the kingdom of God.
As mentioned
previously, Free Grace Theology advocates the kind of deception
spoken of here. "Watch out for false
prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly
they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will
recognize them." Mt 7:15,16a, which is part of
the test. Free Gracers attempt to remove the concept of testing,
saying that one should not judge another, whereas Paul
instructs, "I am writing you that you must
not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is
sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a
drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What
business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are
you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.
Expel the wicked man from among you." 1Cor 5:11-13
By disallowing the exercise of discernment, posers hope to
get away with misbehavior. And indeed such has been the case in
much of 20th Century "Christianity". Given such misbehavior, the
vast majority of Christians in this last century have little
basis for the assurance of their salvation, as I also have
little assurance that most so called "Christians" are saved.
Hopefully the situation will change for this present century,
but I doubt it. For whatever is popular is seldom Biblical.
"The world and its desires pass away, but
the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1John
2:17
"My
brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and
election sure."
2Peter 1:10a
