What Believe Means
What “Believe” Means or How God Defines Believe
There is a great deal of confusion about the word BELIEVE as used in the bible. As usual, there is no real confusion as the scriptures are clear and define themselves.
Believing is most fundamentally a mental exercise. Do you believe it will rain today? You consider the question and for whatever reason you say, yes. You may be right or wrong, but this is what you believe. Do you believe in the Constitution of the United States? In saying yes, you accept the document as something you “BELIEVE IN.”
Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? You decide to answer, yes. Will you follow the will of Christ and do all He requires? You decide to answer, yes. Living for Christ and the gospel would confirm you believe in the way you claimed. Certainly, one who believes in Jesus will do what He says and for the reason He says to do it. Thus if Jesus who you claim to “believe in” associates something with receiving salvation then of course you would respond to the Savior in obedience. In so doing that person receives the blessing of believing, namely salvation.
The verses below from 1 Peter provide a great summary of how God’s purpose was achieved, of how the reconciliation had taken place by the blood of Christ. Sin was covered, Jesus Himself being the propitiation. God’s plan from Genesis 3.15 was to be fulfilled in those obedient to His Son. These verses tell us of the hope we have leading to heaven. There will be trials, difficulties and your belief will be tested, and God will know of the GENUINENESS of your faith.
1 Peter 1.1-9
1 To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
The blood of Christ is figuratively sprinkled on our hearts to cleanse us from an evil conscience when we believe, confess, repent and are baptized (summarized in the word “obedience” in 1 Peter 1:2). Only then is one elect, sanctified, consecrated and cleansed, in order to serve the living God! As a Child of God, “In Christ” you live a faithful life and by your faith you will receive the salvation of your soul. Certainly, your faith will be tested, and the GENUINENESS of your faith will be known to God. The GENUINENESS of your faith can be seen in what Jesus said in Matthew 7.21 and many other places and it is simply in your continued obedience. Indeed, the world is filled with people who mentally accepted Christ and did no more and thus never had their sins forgiven. Even though, many of these people have a certain devotion to God’s Son they are not “in Christ.” They have no concern about the GENUINENESS of their faith since they were saved once and for all when they believed. This is very sad, since the last verse above emphasizes receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your soul. Of course, the end of a “faith only” person is the same as the beginning that occurred the instant they mentally accepted Christ. God’s concern and Paul’s concern about faithfulness are not needed since each person accepting Christ as their personal savior has a guarantee. That guarantee is just as good as the word of Martin Luther, John Calvin and many others down to the person who taught you this soul destroying doctrine.
This doctrine has found acceptance in many who want heaven, but like the young rich ruler of Matthew 19 would not be willing to change their life. Believing, meaning “mental acceptance only” is shallow, shallow, shallow and essentially meaningless. God is serious about souls and your belief; your faith must be much more than mental. The belief God expects goes way beyond mental acceptance, way beyond a verbal commitment and even way beyond your well-meaning. The true believer will say, what must I do, how must I live?
The young rich ruler asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life. He had kept the commandments, but Jesus said He lacked one thing. Jesus told him, “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The young rich ruler could not give up those things. The problem was Jesus required of him more than he could give up, as it says he had many things. If Jesus would have asked him to become a follower without any other restrictions it would seem he would have quickly agreed. Those who mentally accept Jesus as God’s Son for salvation have been deceived. They are happy with how easy God has made salvation just as the young rich ruler would have been happy. A terrible thing is done when error is taught, souls are ruined, sins are not forgiven and the difficult (Matthew 7.13,14) life ahead has not been revealed.
Abraham believed God, but had to obey Him when it came to Isaac. Jesus became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him, Hebrews 5.9. So obedience is evidence of one’s belief, one’s commitment, and we might say the quality of one’s belief. Continued obedience is required to remain faithful. It is not anything you are doing separate from what God requires (like something a person could boast about). It is very difficult to comprehend how following God’s directions could be boasted.
Jesus wanted to make this clear and did so in Matthew 7.21.
Matthew 7.21
21 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.
Throughout the scriptures there is clarification in terms of those acceptable to God and acceptability requires action, specifically obedience.
Romans 2.13
13 for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;
How Badly Do You Want Heaven?
This Is Really What We Are Talking About
Believing God Or Believing Men/Women
The strange thing about the mental acceptance of Jesus as God’s Son is that many people will NOT do what Jesus requires for salvation, for forgiveness of sins and to eventually achieve heaven. Specifically, repent, be baptized and live faithfully. Apparently, their belief was very shallow, or in reality someone told them believing mentally was all they needed. They may even believe that doing more in some way would be wrong – what a cruel teaching! Such a doctrine is so pathetic, so alien to the scriptures, so deceitful and so costly to souls. Yet, this is the pattern of the vast majority of the so-called “Christians.” They are so-called “Christians,” because the Lord does not add them to His body, the church if they only mentally accept Christ. A person must have their past sins forgiven and that does not take place in mentally accepting Jesus.
Believing is the starting point of being “in Christ.” Jesus revealed the relationship between belief and salvation before His death in verses like John 3.16. However, He did not reveal what must be done to receive the blessing. He could not, since He had not yet accomplished what the Father sent Him to do. Jesus told the apostles He would send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter to guide them into all truth. Indeed this occurred after Peter in Acts 2 described Jesus as Lord and Savior, as the one they crucified. Consequently they were cut to the heart in believing Peter’s declaration of Acts 2.36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Being cut to the heart they ask, “what must we do?” Peter did not say believe on Jesus and you will be saved. Peter did not mention believe, since they already believed based on Peter’s revelation of Jesus in verse 36. They now sought what they needed to do.
They could not even ask about being saved, since they very well may not have understood what they needed to be “saved from.” Instead, for the first time in a very concise way Peter tells them what they must do and what they are being “saved from.” They will receive the permanent forgiveness of past sins. They must repent and be baptized. Later in Acts 8, the Eunuch would ask Phillip if he could be baptized (after Phillip had explained the gospel to him) and Phillip answers if you believe with all your heart, you may. If you assemble all the conversions of the New Testament, you will see this same pattern. Believing is the starting point, but not where forgiveness of sins is received. It is not what gets you “into Christ,” where one becomes a son of God. Paul, who was struck from His horse and coming in contact with Jesus, now realizes Jesus (whose followers He was persecuting) is indeed who they claimed. Then a certain Ananias came to Saul and told him what to do and why.
Acts 22.16
16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
Those who believe, will in obedience to God have their sins forgiven in following God’s directions finishing with baptism. Obeying God for the reason He says is not a work that one can boast. How can one possibly boast in doing what God commands? Do you really believe that Paul would have his sins forgiven had he not been baptized?
A consequence of thinking that a mental acceptance only of Jesus as God’s Son will provide you heaven was the apparent necessary inference to create complimentary doctrines. Many such as John Calvin would develop new doctrines based on believing mental acceptance of Jesus was all that was needed for salvation.
Note: It is hard to categorize the beliefs of Luther and Calvin as they varied from time to time and they were quite different on the subject of salvation. They were both instrumental in the Protestant reformation and largely responsible for the fundamental doctrines of Protestant religions. The keystone of their beliefs about salvation could be called faith only and/or sanctification held by Luther and Calvin respectively. These are quite fundamentally different and yet Protestantism can be observed as in doctrine containing both. Of course with all the Protestant denominations it is quite confusing. At least from my perspective, Protestantism generally accepts Luther’s faith only, but Calvin’s five points (TULIP) are standard fare such as once saved always saved and the special operation of the Holy Spirit on His elect are fundamentals of the Protestant belief. The nature of these basics and the casual manner of making such interpretations has led to many invented Protestant doctrines.
Calvin and Luther worked very hard in opposition (assume unintentionally) to God’s plan. Essentially, they demonstrate that they did not understand God’s purpose and the way He was going about to achieve it. God’s purpose is to have worthy persons share His Divine Nature. God creates an existence where each person can be tested, and this is clear in the creation of rules. Specifically, defining sin in a free will environment allowing His creation to make choices. Calvin totally misses this big picture by indicating God personally selects certain individuals and in that process Calvin makes God a respecter of persons, which God declares He is not (Acts 10.34,35, Romans 2.11 and James 3.16,17). Luther is exceedingly careless in handling scripture on the subject of faith and invents an attractive idea while ignoring a plethora of the scriptural problems with “faith only.”
God’s test is designed to determine those who are worthy by allowing a person to align with His way or their own way. The whole idea of preaching as God’s power to save demonstrates a selection process to be made by humankind and not God designating certain “elect” for salvation. The doctrine of the elect as used by Protestants is nonsense, or we might say totally in opposition to God’s purpose. Abraham believed God and even in difficult circumstances choose to obey God otherwise his belief (or we might say his faith in God) would have been unacceptable. Faith has always been associated with free will choices and only meaningful when there is obedience.
If you believe this mental acceptance of Christ is all you need (for salvation), then very likely you also accept Calvin’s other teachings – his five points (or TULIP) or some of them. You accept that your salvation is guaranteed or as often said, “you are once saved, always saved.” You cannot be lost no matter what you do, it is some special security for the believer – very attractive. You are “so deserving,” well not really as God (you are taught) picked you and you had little to do with it. Some would say God knew you were good and would be acceptable. There is no reasonable logic in this elect concept only direct opposition to the gospel message. You are taught the Holy Spirit in some way acted directly on you to bring you salvation. The truth is the Holy Spirit’s role is defined by Jesus as the One who will lead the apostles into all truth. That is exactly what the Holy Spirit did! Your acceptance of the concept the Holy Spirit acting directly on YOUR heart to save you requires you to:
First: Ignore the true and only authorized mission of the Holy Spirit or expand on it
Second: Reject the fundamental concept of God’s purpose that God wants only those who choose Him of their free will
Third: Reject the gospel as God’s power to save (Romans 1.16) and preaching the gospel as God’s way of presenting the message of salvation (1 Corinthians 1.18, 1 Corinthians 15.1-4).
Fourth: You need to believe that some verse(s) in the bible teach that the Holy Spirit operates on an individual’s heart to save them. There are no such verses although some are suggested to be teaching the Holy Spirit “convicts” the elect.
One verse deceiver’s like to use is in Acts 16, where God opened the heart of Lydia.
Acts 16.13-15
13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.
14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
The heart referred to is the mind and therefore the Lord opened Lydia’s heart (mind) to what Paul was teaching. God’s power to save is the gospel (Romans 1.16) and Paul presented the gospel message to Lydia and her household. “To heed the things,” implies that Lydia was to act upon what was said by Paul. God works through His word, which was delivered by the Holy Spirit. The gospel message opens the minds of every person who loves the truth. That message urges people to respond to it in obedience. God was not acting in opposition to His own purpose forcing Lydia to act, but opening her mind to something different that is to the truth. That is what the scriptures always do, but all do not heed the message – Lydia did!
God always depends on the preaching of the cross to move one’s heart just as Peter in the first preaching of the gospel of Christ resulted in opening the hearts (they were cut to the heart) of those who heard and chose to obey.
Acts 2.37
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
People are moved by the kindness and love of God. Indeed, the truth is very powerful because one sees the kindness and love of God and hearts can be opened such as Lydia to heed the things spoken.
Titus 3.4,5
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
The idea of regeneration is a reference to birth or re-birth and carries the same idea as John 3.5 of being born again of water and the Spirit. The renewal of the Holy Spirit signifies the change or transformation that takes place. That is, you are saved or as Romans 6.3,4 says walking in newness of life having died to your sins. People always come in contact with God’s mercy via the word of God. That is, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. They hear how their sins can be forgiven by the washing of regeneration and then in obedience the transformation takes place and they walk in newness of life.
Born again of incorruptible seed
The Bible in its perfection allows for a consistency that provides confidence or as we say everything fits perfectly together. Error is easily discerned because even “small” errors bring confusion. The verse below is perfectly consistent in describing salvation (without using the word salvation) but declaring obeying the truth and associating it with the Spirit and the word of God supplying the truth.
1 Peter 1.22,23
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever
Whenever there is a reference to God or the Holy Spirit providing salvation it is always in relation to the gospel message delivered by the Holy Spirit (“obeying the truth through the Spirit”). Jesus made salvation possible by His death, burial and resurrection and this is the gospel message, and no one is saved without it and no one is forced to obey the message. Paul was especially chosen by God to bring the gospel message to the Gentiles. God “knocked” Paul from His horse, blinded him and thus very powerfully got his attention. He did not save Paul at that moment, but Ananias came to Paul who told him what to do to be saved. Paul needed to do that which is now available to all as a result of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Paul would refer to what he did to receive forgiveness of sins in Romans 6.17 as obeying that form of doctrine – that is obeying the gospel.
These teachers of Protestantism abandoned the scriptures by defining salvation to only include mental acceptance (or Calvin professes his sanctification doctrine). There is a great deal of circular logic in Protestantism via potential inferences leading to new doctrines. It is taught that since the Holy Spirit chose you, there can be no mistake and therefore you are once saved in your predestined, “no choice” acceptance of Christ and forever saved. One might wonder how Luther’s “faith only” or accepting Calvin’s sanctification led to all these other doctrines and I do not know. Actually (for me) it is hard to reconcile Calvin and Luther’s differences into the Protestant religion. However, in both cases there is tremendous disregard for the word of God.
There is such careless use of the scriptures to arrive at Luther’s “faith only” concept that others also began to loosely interpret (we might also say privately interpret) God’s word and to this day the carelessness continues. God’s word fits together perfectly and is always consistent with His purpose and the doctrines of Luther, Calvin and others cannot withstand even the simplest of inquiries. Nonetheless to their dying breathe proponents will “never” relent even in the face of overwhelming evidence. The reasons are always the same, namely pride, the unacceptable result of not looking good or thinking those who have departed (often loved ones or ones you taught) would be betrayed.
Predestined – The Meaning Defined by God
People either understand God or they do not. The ones that do, do not take pieces of scripture from “here and there” to create doctrines but honor God’s word. In the early days of their doctrinal development Martin Luther, John Calvin and others must have made a certain assumption about the use of the word predestination. It happens to be a reasonable assumption at first glance. Since they did not understand God or His purpose they assumed that this meant INDIVIDUALS were predestined. Then choosing a few verses where the Holy Spirit is mentioned in relation to conversion they determined the Holy Spirit worked on the hearts of individuals to save them. The whole of the scriptures teaches something entirely different. It turns out individuals are not predestined, but GOD’s PLAN TO SAVE WAS PREDESTINED. The closest we can get to people being pre-destined is (as we will explain) a group of people who choose to obey the gospel and that are predestined by their obedience – never an individual. Even more clearly, God before the foundation of the world put in place a means for people to succeed when they follow His predestined pattern. You can state this use of the word predestination in slightly different but essentially equivalent ways but never is there any indication that God is selecting (predestining) certain individuals. The character of those who succeed in life will be those who stand holy and without blame before God. So indeed God reveals those who will be saved and here are their names – “those who stand holy and without blame.” They achieve this status by being obedient that is obeying the gospel and having their past sins forgiven and then continue in faithfulness. Indeed these stand holy and without blame. The scriptures indicate, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” This is the character of the person God predestined and they become holy and without blame of their own free will by the choices they make.
God announces that there is no partiality in Him and the means He defined for salvation involves the gospel message as His power to save and consequently the ideas of Calvin crumble. Protestantism becomes a place of significant error resulting in the loss of souls.
Continuing the discussion of predestination
The most fundamental thing in relation to creation is that individuals of their free-will choose God. Again, the use of the word predestination does not mean individuals are predestined. The truth is terribly straight-forward and not confusing. In brief, let’s look at two verses that are used to suggest that God (via action of the Holy Spirit on your heart) chooses you instead of the other way around. The scriptures teach you must seek God with your whole heart “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
The first verses Calvinists might use would be Romans 8.29,30 as it seems to imply people are selected by God.
Romans 8:29, 30
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
God wants to fulfill His purpose and logically that purpose cannot be fulfilled by force or unwarranted selection. In fact if God was electing certain individuals for heaven there would be no need for creation or rules or the test to determine those acceptable. “Whom He foreknew, whom He predestined” we can see are the ones called and indeed they are called out by the gospel. Jesus was building His church (the called out) which would consist of those predestined by adoption by the means of the plan God designated. That means could be called obedience to the gospel and that is exactly what happens and what Jesus required of His apostles. That is, they were to go into the world and preach the gospel. In Hebrews Jesus is pointed out to be the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him. Obedience (your decision) would seem to the key for salvation and not something that just HAPPENS independent of your choosing. As you work through the scriptures with a love of the truth, Luther and Calvin can only be seen as private interpreters of the scriptures – most condemned for their disrespect of God.
Note: Luther and Calvin needed to realize God means what He says and being perfect everything in His word fits together. Luther looks at James (he could have looked many places) and wanted to eliminate the book of James as it directly opposed his faith only teaching.
Indeed, Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him. There is something ridiculous about the conclusion of Calvin and it occurs because he fails to consider the big picture in a reasonable manner. Simply said, God creates a physical existence to be the habitat for humankind, then He creates humankind in His own image and all with a purpose of sharing His Divine Nature. Of course, God cannot exist with evil and thus there will be a test and like Adam and Eve’s test it is quite simple. There are rules, specifically sins are defined and there is a solution for the sins people commit. The idea of Calvin that has God selecting individuals for sanctification is absurd. God lays the groundwork so each person can make choices and God can make the accurate separation as a result of each person’s free choices. Calvin’s sanctification has God selecting each person without any test. Calvin could ask God why are you going to all this trouble when you are simply choosing those you want? Maybe the “light would have gone on and he would have studied all God revealed on the subject of salvation. Calvin would have seen the obvious inconsistency of his sanctification doctrine. There is God’s way and there is Calvin’s way and the Protestant world lives in Calvinism.
Proceeding to a better understanding of the errors of Luther and Calvin
These errors have been so costly to souls they deserve more explanation. Their teachings are wrong and clearly can be seen as wrong by anyone who loves the truth. The Protestant indoctrination or we might say the conditioning has been good and thus overcoming requires a person be open to something different than they currently believe. This is a very worthwhile effort if that something different is the truth. Pardon the repetition as we talk about some of the same things but from slightly different perspectives yet arriving at the same conclusions.
The following emphasizes the teachings of Calvin whereas further into this chapter more is directed to Luther’s “faith only” doctrine. We know God cannot be partial to one person more than another. He is not a respecter of persons.
We know God cannot be partial to one person more than another. He is not a respecter of persons.
Acts 10.34,35
34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.
35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
Romans 2.11
11 For there is no partiality with God.
James 3.16,17
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
It should not be surprising that God, who is perfect in judgment, thus in fairness and the perfect absence of evil could not in His nature be partial to one person over another. It would be an evil thing to be unfair in choosing one person over another and thus entirely inconsistent with the Divine Nature and also of course, with God’s purpose. This non-partially is perfectly consistent with requiring people of their own free will to choose Him. So, God’s plea is to diligently seek Him with all your heart.
Acts 17.26,27
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
The emphasis is to search for God with your WHOLE HEART.
Jeremiah 29.13
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
It should be no surprise that those who diligently seek Him are the ones who are rewarded.
Hebrews 11.6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
People choose God of their own free will, God does not choose them. Yet, some verses SEEM to indicate God is choosing people. There is one simple way to reconcile all God says on this subject and it identifies who He predestined, whom He foreknew, whom He called and there will be no disagreement or conflict with any scripture or with God’s purpose. God is not talking about individuals, but about a group. That group is the spiritual church, the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. God’s predestined plan is for a certain group and thus they are the predestined object of His plan. He predestined, He foreknew, He called by the gospel those who obey His Son. So God could say THEY, this predestined group are all sons of God as it says below by faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you (the qualified group) as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (“In Christ”).
Galatians 3.26-29
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
These are indeed conformed to the image of God even to the point of obeying that form of doctrine (Romans 6.17) representing the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Ephesians 1.3-14
Ephesians 1.3-14
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
note: “us” above is collective, a GROUP that God planned to be reconciled by their choice to obey the gospel
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Those that are saved are “IN CHRIST.” So the predestination that Paul is talking about only occurs to those in the collective group of “in Him” as opposed to the group who are “not in Him.” God, before the foundation of the world predestined the plan and that would seem to favor the type or character of a person that would submit themselves to God’s will. However, ultimately the separation God will make will be determined by choices a person makes in relation to having their sins forgiven. For instance a proud person will not make the decision to submit to God, yet the scriptures could convince a proud person of the foolishness of pride.
People like to use these “predestined verses” to say individuals before their conversion (which to them might mean before naming Christ) were predestined, when in fact the group predestined are those who are “in Christ” due to their choice to obey the gospel. Indeed they have the character, the qualities that were predestined for those who succeed. These qualities were not given to them, but they in the course of their lives developed qualities that now are important in their decision making.
As would be expected, all of scripture being from God fits perfectly together, always aligned with God’s purpose. Those who do NOT diligently seek God, frequently accept and embrace the easiest path presented to them. For many this has evolved to be “accepting Christ as their personal savior” and then waiting to receive their crown. Unfortunately, all they will receive will be disappointment, regret and the loss of their souls.
I Will Take God At His Word (i.e. John 3.16):
Fine, but you must understand what God means
John 3.16 is probably the single most popular verse used by Protestants as evidence of their “faith only” answer to salvation. It is equivalent to taking the whole of the Bible out of context. It is also the easiest of teachings to invalidate. There is a great lesson here relative to the tenacity of many people to defend the undefendable. This doctrine is so engrained, so personal, and so valued that even in the face of solid scriptural evidence that destroys “faith only” salvation few will accept the truth.
John 3.16
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.
God is serious about His word and carefully, perfectly delivered it so you can understand it. He defined the meaning of words and has revealed in great detail what it means to believe. The scriptures define the meaning of baptism as an immersion – not sprinkling. The language (Greek) meaning is clear and baptism means to dip, plunge, immerse. Then in examples – they were baptizing near Aenon because there was much water there and the Ethiopian eunuch told Phillip here is water what hinders be from being baptized and Phillip responds if you believe with all your heart you may. They get out of the chariot and both go into the water and Phillip baptizes him.
Also, baptism is described as a burial as one goes down into the watery grave (dying to sin) and arises as a new creature in Christ. When Jesus was baptized (to fulfill all righteousness), “He came up immediately from the water.” How could anyone believe baptism was sprinkling? There are those who say the details of the scriptures are unimportant and thus sprinkling or immersion – what does it matter? They do not understand God because the details of God’s ways are exactly what matters whether it is not eating of the fruit in the midst of the garden, or Naaman dipping seven times (not some other number) in the Jordan river (not some other river), Cain was to bring something but brought a substitution offering, Ananias, and Sapphira were to be accurate and thus truthful in describing their offering and not some twist that made them look good, Nadab and Abihu sons of Aaron and priests decided to change the process of offering by using a different fire – referred to as a strange fire and were struck dead by God, King Saul had specific instructions from God through Samuel regarding the conquest of Ai and won the battle but made some variations in God’s instructions and God removed him from being king. There are no such things as acceptable “small” variations to God’s directions. God is consistent throughout the scriptures in terms of meaning what He says. You will either take God seriously or you will not. A person believes that they have entered into a relationship with Christ by mentally accepting Jesus as God’s Son. They did not follow the scriptures to reach such a conclusion, but some person (or many people). There is great disrespect for God in avoiding what He delivered so carefully as the truth. These things are not small variations, but disobedience and usually point to a deeper problem of pride or we might say doing things THEIR way.
The first covenant is filled with examples of God requiring various things and they needed to be done exactly as God directed. Cain did it his way, Nadab and Abihu did it their way, Naaman wanted to do it differently than God specified, but finally reasoned his pride was not as important as being relieved of the leprosy. We learn over and over again that God is serious about what He says. How many people accept sprinkling for baptism, how many people accept mentally accepting Christ and expect salvation? If you substitute your meaning for God’s directions then you can expect to be rejected as was Cain and Nadab and Abihu. God says what He means and means what He says. In the end we go against the scriptures because of pride. Prejudice keeps us searching until we find a way to justify our beliefs.
There is diligence required before accepting verses such as John 3.16 and Acts 16.30,31 as the solution for salvation. Again, nothing is complicated here. The complication comes because some people have worked so hard to destroy God’s clear meaning by defining the entirety of the gospel message to be John 3.16 and Acts 16.30,31. The verses are true but the meaning of “believe” is naively thought to be mental acceptance as the whole requirement for salvation. The scriptures totally reject such an idea. Sadly those deeply invested in this doctrine will not “retract” their position and the cost of that choice will be many lost souls.
So much of the New Testament is related to telling Christians how to live to remain faithful. It is amazing how anyone can be confident in a single mental thought saving them once for all time. In fact, in their “believe doctrine” God acted directly on their heart resulting in their belief. They did not even believe on their own. Nonetheless, they are saved for once and all times regardless of how they live. It is ridiculous and totally in opposition to the scriptures. Paul knew nothing was easy for those in the churches (those who obeyed the gospel) and was concerned about their faithfulness. Thus, he continually warned them to remain faithful telling them to work out their own salvation in fear and trembling.
People believe what they believe regardless of the truth and there are two interesting reasons:
1) Pride in what they were taught and accepted and perhaps have promoted to others
2) Population of those “faith only” believers is “influentially huge.” That is millions, really billions of people believe in Luther’s “faith only” doctrine. “We must be right” – look at how many believe this teaching. Likewise there are Catholics and Muslims with equivalent masses of people, and they all think to some extent their “numbers” provide a certain confidence in their belief systems.
Here again is where the distinction of truth and error is important. Pride is never a good reason to factor into your decision making and is also an attitude God rejects. The size of the membership of a religious group is a very poor reason to believe something. Each of these very large numerical religions even within their ranks vary in many of their fundamental beliefs. Thus, the obvious distinction is truth versus error. God’s criteria, namely, having a love of the truth that they might be saved (2 Thessalonians 2.10) represents a tenacity that will bring certainty to your belief.
In terms of the “believing” of the Protestants, they need to make the distinction of believing Martin Luther or believing the scriptures and as long as they think they are the same they will never know truth from error.
Note: God in His wisdom knows that those looking for different meanings, different doctrines may view their version of what is important by its magnitude. It might be the magnitude of the offense (sin); it might be rejecting God’s commands because they consider the commands to have a trivial character. Such as baptizing requires immersion or believing requires a dedication much more than a mental acceptance. The solution: Do the commands of God as designated.
Martin Luther’s Private Interpretation
One can almost understand how Martin Luther came to think that believe was only a mental acceptance and resulted in salvation. Of course, his mistake would be carelessly dividing God’s word and specifically not understanding the Bible definition of the word faith. Bible faith always includes action and that action is related to obedience. The use of the terminology “accept Jesus as your personal savior” was not from Luther but much more modern version of Luther’s salvation by “faith only.” The earliest use of this terminology is from about the 1800’s but only sparsely used with its common use coming in the mid-20th century. “Accept Jesus as your personal savior” is not a Bible expression or a Bible concept in reference to salvation.
Catholicism is full of man-made and ever changing rules and associated with violence for those who resisted. Some priests before Luther, like Jon Hus were burned at the stake for opposing Catholic teaching.
Note on Jon Hus: Jon Hus was burned at the stake July 6, 1415. He opposed the Catholic Church on their doctrine of indulgences as a means to raise money promising help for those in (non-existent) purgatory. He stood strongly against the violence of Catholicism saying the scriptures were clear, “asserting that no pope or bishop had the right to take up the sword in the name of the Church; that a Christian should pray for his enemies and bless those who curse him.”
Martin Luther narrowly escaped the fate of John Hus. Luther did not find the Bible to be supportive of the voluminous nonsensical, selfish and meaningless doctrines of Catholicism. Essentially, there is nothing in Catholicism with biblical support. Luther found the scriptures to be simple in relation to salvation – the opposite of Catholicism. Unfortunately, he still maintained some of the ideas of Catholicism (or variations of them) in relation to their practices. Regarding forgiveness of sins, he kept the idea of infant baptism (to handle the Catholic invented original sin or the soon to be Protestant inherited depravity) and baptism by sprinkling. Instead of looking to all the verses in relation to salvation he became satisfied with one word, faith, but “mental belief only” faith. This is uniquely a Luther idea and a necessary inference of a “faith only” belief. Once Luther reached this conclusion he had to ignore many verses throughout the Bible and even would reject the entire book of James. Actually, inspecting God’s purpose and having a correct understanding of God as He revealed Himself, Luther’s “faith only” belief is opposed to the entirety of scripture.
Faith for Luther was equivalent to believing. Luther’s “faith only” is a way of saying nothing other than faith is required for salvation. Forgiveness of sins, certainly in truth is essential to salvation and always tied to the baptism of the believer. Repentance is also necessary as is a life lived in accordance with God’s commands. In his apparent excitement to get rid of the rules, regulations and cruelty of Catholicism he rejected the clear gospel message for just a part of that message – believing. Believing actually can stand alone for salvation if it is understood in the bible sense. That is, if the believer is one who will do all that God says (and does it) as a result of their belief. The first thing to do is to get into a relationship with Jesus by obedience resulting in the forgiveness of past sins. Those who believe in Jesus as the Christ obey His gospel that is, repent of their past sins – intending to never commit sin again. In obedience, they are baptized to have their past sins forgiven in the perfect analogy to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. They obey the gospel that is, they obey the death burial and resurrection of Jesus in baptism as Romans 6.3,4 indicates.
Romans 6.3,4
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
And then,
Romans 6.17
17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him (Hebrews 5.9).
Indeed, we find forgiveness of sins associated with baptism and there is NO OTHER WAY to have your sins forgiven.
1 Peter 3.21 directly ties baptism to salvation.
1Peter 3.21
21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Galatians 3.26-29 associates being a Son of God with Faith and that requires baptism to “put on Christ.”
Galatians 3.26-29
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
So we have a world of “so-called Christians” who look at verses like John 3.16 and Acts 16.30,31 and say they will take God at His word and “believe only” for salvation.
John 3.16
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.
Then we have the conversion of the Philippian jailer.
Acts 16.30,31
30 ………. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Of course, the apostles knew sins were not forgiven by mentally believing Jesus was the Son of God. This was the first step and no need to proceed if a person did not get past this recognition. In fact, having announced this to the Philippian jailer, they continued to explain what was required.
Acts 16.32-34
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
He rejoiced having believed, but we see that believing included doing what God required.
God defines salvation in the framework of believing and carefully defines what it means to believe. How interested are people in salvation? How in the world can a person say they follow Christ and then will not do everything He says? The very first thing to do is to get your past sins forgiven and get into a relationship with Jesus that is, to be, “In Christ.”
Luther so disliked the book of James that he thought it should be removed from the bible. Of course, James directly refutes the idea of faith only and that is consistent with all scripture. Luther needed to remove the entirety of the New Testament and just keep a couple of select verses. Clearly, God is not pleased by less than a life of obedience. Can a person love God without obedience, apparently not as God makes this clear that if you love God, you will keep His commandments?
James 2.14-24
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
This is so clear in terms of what it means to believe as are all the scriptures. You need to make the distinction to follow Luther, Calvin or the many who follow in their steps like Billy Graham and your local “pastor” OR follow God as defined in the scriptures. The scriptures were accurately delivered by the Holy Spirit and you either speak as the oracles of God or of private interpretation. If as a Protestant you can make the distinction it will be because you love the truth and you will find 95% plus of what you have been taught is in serious error.
Does John 3.16 Mean I Believe and I Receive Salvation?
All that has been discussed above should tell any person who loves the truth that the answer is very clearly, NO! One should seek to understand God as He has revealed Himself. As you better understand God, it becomes clear that God is looking for certain persons, you might say high quality individuals in terms of humility, selflessness, courage and dedication to His Son. A mere mental acceptance would never suffice. God asks a lot, and the world in accepting an instant mental acceptance of Jesus is totally inconsistent with God’s purpose. Some people look at this mental acceptance as the hidden secret that they have discovered – isn’t it wonderful that God only requires saying you believe in His Son and you will certainly receive heaven. If the scriptures taught that it would be fine, but in no way is such an idea taught. When you initially proclaim your belief in Jesus as Lord of your life you receive nothing. Yet, very importantly you are on the right path. As mentioned forgiveness of past sins is what you should be seeking. The whole of God’s plan to achieve reconciliation as described in Genesis 3.15 was to remove the sin so humanity could have this relationship with God. Now, God describes what is required for sins to be forgiven and the “Christian so-called” world will not obey because they have a better, simpler way.
The defenders of “faith only” have invented many defenses, but all go against the simplicity of the gospel. One of those ill-conceived inventions is the idea that a person can do nothing to save themselves. They call this doing works, but in many cases where works are used in the scriptures it is a reference to the works of the law. Also, they use a verse like Ephesians 2.8,9 to convince people they can doing nothing to address their salvation. Such is the desperation of supporting the doctrines of Luther and Calvin.
Ephesians 2.8,9
8 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.
The works here could be a reference to the works of the law, but let’s say it was just works in general. Certainly we are saved by Faith and that can never be separated from obedience. Apparently Protestants would like to define obedience to God as a work. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. All the examples of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 (a chapter recognized for God’s emphasis on faith) are associated with actions taken to validate their faith. Ephesians 2.8,9 teaches a person can never do anything to save themselves but what does that mean. The correct view would be that independent of what God has done that your ideas, your concepts, your logic, or your actions cannot save you. Indeed, if they could then you could boast.
The truth is, God via His Son has done what was necessary to achieve reconciliation and now God has designated what each person must do to receive the blessing.
Yet, look at what people claim from Ephesians 2.8,9. Namely that one’s salvation could be boasted if there was something they had done. Again, there is nothing, I can invent that will save me – very true. However, how can one boast of doing God’s commands? When you do God’s commands in relation to salvation, in relation to how you live there is no boasting that is possible. How incredible to think that doing the will of God is something that brings honor to me and therein I can boast?
Note: Mentally accepting Christ is doing something necessary for your salvation and thus would seem to qualify as “Protestant work” in which you can boast. Repenting is also something you do and thus a work wherein you can boast. A characteristic of error is usually its gross inconsistency with all scripture and in many cases in opposition to God’s purpose and/or God’s character as He has revealed Himself. Defining baptism as a work is a pathetic attempt to support “faith only.” “So-called Christians” exist due to this sort of nonsense and in the process honor Luther and not God.
Faith has not changed. Faith is faith for Abraham and for you.
Faith always involves obedience in response to God’s commands. Your obedience validates your faith.
The faith of Abraham was demonstrated in His obedience and today under the New Covenant we see faith requires the same obedience. In a very straightforward set of verses we see in Galatians the action of faith is demonstrated in baptism.
Galatians 3.26-29
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
There is a great deal of confusion about the word BELIEVE as used in the bible. As usual, there is no real confusion as the scriptures are clear and define themselves.
Believing is most fundamentally a mental exercise. Do you believe it will rain today? You consider the question and for whatever reason you say, yes. You may be right or wrong, but this is what you believe. Do you believe in the Constitution of the United States? In saying yes, you accept the document as something you “BELIEVE IN.”
Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? You decide to answer, yes. Will you follow the will of Christ and do all He requires? You decide to answer, yes. Living for Christ and the gospel would confirm you believe in the way you claimed. Certainly, one who believes in Jesus will do what He says and for the reason He says to do it. Thus if Jesus who you claim to “believe in” associates something with receiving salvation then of course you would respond to the Savior in obedience. In so doing that person receives the blessing of believing, namely salvation.
The verses below from 1 Peter provide a great summary of how God’s purpose was achieved, of how the reconciliation had taken place by the blood of Christ. Sin was covered, Jesus Himself being the propitiation. God’s plan from Genesis 3.15 was to be fulfilled in those obedient to His Son. These verses tell us of the hope we have leading to heaven. There will be trials, difficulties and your belief will be tested, and God will know of the GENUINENESS of your faith.
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
The young rich ruler asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life. He had kept the commandments, but Jesus said He lacked one thing. Jesus told him, “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The young rich ruler could not give up those things. The problem was Jesus required of him more than he could give up, as it says he had many things. If Jesus would have asked him to become a follower without any other restrictions it would seem he would have quickly agreed. Those who mentally accept Jesus as God’s Son for salvation have been deceived. They are happy with how easy God has made salvation just as the young rich ruler would have been happy. A terrible thing is done when error is taught, souls are ruined, sins are not forgiven and the difficult (Matthew 7.13,14) life ahead has not been revealed.
Abraham believed God, but had to obey Him when it came to Isaac. Jesus became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him, Hebrews 5.9. So obedience is evidence of one’s belief, one’s commitment, and we might say the quality of one’s belief. Continued obedience is required to remain faithful. It is not anything you are doing separate from what God requires (like something a person could boast about). It is very difficult to comprehend how following God’s directions could be boasted.
Jesus wanted to make this clear and did so in Matthew 7.21.
This Is Really What We Are Talking About
Believing God Or Believing Men/Women
Acts 22.16
16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
God’s test is designed to determine those who are worthy by allowing a person to align with His way or their own way. The whole idea of preaching as God’s power to save demonstrates a selection process to be made by humankind and not God designating certain “elect” for salvation. The doctrine of the elect as used by Protestants is nonsense, or we might say totally in opposition to God’s purpose. Abraham believed God and even in difficult circumstances choose to obey God otherwise his belief (or we might say his faith in God) would have been unacceptable. Faith has always been associated with free will choices and only meaningful when there is obedience.
Second: Reject the fundamental concept of God’s purpose that God wants only those who choose Him of their free will
Third: Reject the gospel as God’s power to save (Romans 1.16) and preaching the gospel as God’s way of presenting the message of salvation (1 Corinthians 1.18, 1 Corinthians 15.1-4).
Fourth: You need to believe that some verse(s) in the bible teach that the Holy Spirit operates on an individual’s heart to save them. There are no such verses although some are suggested to be teaching the Holy Spirit “convicts” the elect.
One verse deceiver’s like to use is in Acts 16, where God opened the heart of Lydia.
Acts 16.13-15
13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.
14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
The heart referred to is the mind and therefore the Lord opened Lydia’s heart (mind) to what Paul was teaching. God’s power to save is the gospel (Romans 1.16) and Paul presented the gospel message to Lydia and her household. “To heed the things,” implies that Lydia was to act upon what was said by Paul. God works through His word, which was delivered by the Holy Spirit. The gospel message opens the minds of every person who loves the truth. That message urges people to respond to it in obedience. God was not acting in opposition to His own purpose forcing Lydia to act, but opening her mind to something different that is to the truth. That is what the scriptures always do, but all do not heed the message – Lydia did!
God always depends on the preaching of the cross to move one’s heart just as Peter in the first preaching of the gospel of Christ resulted in opening the hearts (they were cut to the heart) of those who heard and chose to obey.
People are moved by the kindness and love of God. Indeed, the truth is very powerful because one sees the kindness and love of God and hearts can be opened such as Lydia to heed the things spoken.
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
The idea of regeneration is a reference to birth or re-birth and carries the same idea as John 3.5 of being born again of water and the Spirit. The renewal of the Holy Spirit signifies the change or transformation that takes place. That is, you are saved or as Romans 6.3,4 says walking in newness of life having died to your sins. People always come in contact with God’s mercy via the word of God. That is, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. They hear how their sins can be forgiven by the washing of regeneration and then in obedience the transformation takes place and they walk in newness of life.
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever
Whenever there is a reference to God or the Holy Spirit providing salvation it is always in relation to the gospel message delivered by the Holy Spirit (“obeying the truth through the Spirit”). Jesus made salvation possible by His death, burial and resurrection and this is the gospel message, and no one is saved without it and no one is forced to obey the message. Paul was especially chosen by God to bring the gospel message to the Gentiles. God “knocked” Paul from His horse, blinded him and thus very powerfully got his attention. He did not save Paul at that moment, but Ananias came to Paul who told him what to do to be saved. Paul needed to do that which is now available to all as a result of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Paul would refer to what he did to receive forgiveness of sins in Romans 6.17 as obeying that form of doctrine – that is obeying the gospel.
These teachers of Protestantism abandoned the scriptures by defining salvation to only include mental acceptance (or Calvin professes his sanctification doctrine). There is a great deal of circular logic in Protestantism via potential inferences leading to new doctrines. It is taught that since the Holy Spirit chose you, there can be no mistake and therefore you are once saved in your predestined, “no choice” acceptance of Christ and forever saved. One might wonder how Luther’s “faith only” or accepting Calvin’s sanctification led to all these other doctrines and I do not know. Actually (for me) it is hard to reconcile Calvin and Luther’s differences into the Protestant religion. However, in both cases there is tremendous disregard for the word of God.
There is such careless use of the scriptures to arrive at Luther’s “faith only” concept that others also began to loosely interpret (we might also say privately interpret) God’s word and to this day the carelessness continues. God’s word fits together perfectly and is always consistent with His purpose and the doctrines of Luther, Calvin and others cannot withstand even the simplest of inquiries. Nonetheless to their dying breathe proponents will “never” relent even in the face of overwhelming evidence. The reasons are always the same, namely pride, the unacceptable result of not looking good or thinking those who have departed (often loved ones or ones you taught) would be betrayed.
God announces that there is no partiality in Him and the means He defined for salvation involves the gospel message as His power to save and consequently the ideas of Calvin crumble. Protestantism becomes a place of significant error resulting in the loss of souls.
The first verses Calvinists might use would be Romans 8.29,30 as it seems to imply people are selected by God.
Note: Luther and Calvin needed to realize God means what He says and being perfect everything in His word fits together. Luther looks at James (he could have looked many places) and wanted to eliminate the book of James as it directly opposed his faith only teaching.
These errors have been so costly to souls they deserve more explanation. Their teachings are wrong and clearly can be seen as wrong by anyone who loves the truth. The Protestant indoctrination or we might say the conditioning has been good and thus overcoming requires a person be open to something different than they currently believe. This is a very worthwhile effort if that something different is the truth. Pardon the repetition as we talk about some of the same things but from slightly different perspectives yet arriving at the same conclusions.
The following emphasizes the teachings of Calvin whereas further into this chapter more is directed to Luther’s “faith only” doctrine. We know God cannot be partial to one person more than another. He is not a respecter of persons.
Acts 10.34,35
34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.
35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Acts 17.26,27
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Ephesians 1.3-14
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
note: “us” above is collective, a GROUP that God planned to be reconciled by their choice to obey the gospel
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
As would be expected, all of scripture being from God fits perfectly together, always aligned with God’s purpose. Those who do NOT diligently seek God, frequently accept and embrace the easiest path presented to them. For many this has evolved to be “accepting Christ as their personal savior” and then waiting to receive their crown. Unfortunately, all they will receive will be disappointment, regret and the loss of their souls.
Fine, but you must understand what God means
1) Pride in what they were taught and accepted and perhaps have promoted to others
2) Population of those “faith only” believers is “influentially huge.” That is millions, really billions of people believe in Luther’s “faith only” doctrine. “We must be right” – look at how many believe this teaching. Likewise there are Catholics and Muslims with equivalent masses of people, and they all think to some extent their “numbers” provide a certain confidence in their belief systems.
Note: God in His wisdom knows that those looking for different meanings, different doctrines may view their version of what is important by its magnitude. It might be the magnitude of the offense (sin); it might be rejecting God’s commands because they consider the commands to have a trivial character. Such as baptizing requires immersion or believing requires a dedication much more than a mental acceptance. The solution: Do the commands of God as designated.
Martin Luther’s Private Interpretation
Note on Jon Hus: Jon Hus was burned at the stake July 6, 1415. He opposed the Catholic Church on their doctrine of indulgences as a means to raise money promising help for those in (non-existent) purgatory. He stood strongly against the violence of Catholicism saying the scriptures were clear, “asserting that no pope or bishop had the right to take up the sword in the name of the Church; that a Christian should pray for his enemies and bless those who curse him.”
Romans 6.3,4
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6.17
17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
Indeed, we find forgiveness of sins associated with baptism and there is NO OTHER WAY to have your sins forgiven.
1Peter 3.21
21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Galatians 3.26-29
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
John 3.16
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.
Acts 16.30,31
30 ………. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Acts 16.32-34
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
James 2.14-24
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Ephesians 2.8,9
8 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.
The truth is, God via His Son has done what was necessary to achieve reconciliation and now God has designated what each person must do to receive the blessing.
Yet, look at what people claim from Ephesians 2.8,9. Namely that one’s salvation could be boasted if there was something they had done. Again, there is nothing, I can invent that will save me – very true. However, how can one boast of doing God’s commands? When you do God’s commands in relation to salvation, in relation to how you live there is no boasting that is possible. How incredible to think that doing the will of God is something that brings honor to me and therein I can boast?
Note: Mentally accepting Christ is doing something necessary for your salvation and thus would seem to qualify as “Protestant work” in which you can boast. Repenting is also something you do and thus a work wherein you can boast. A characteristic of error is usually its gross inconsistency with all scripture and in many cases in opposition to God’s purpose and/or God’s character as He has revealed Himself. Defining baptism as a work is a pathetic attempt to support “faith only.” “So-called Christians” exist due to this sort of nonsense and in the process honor Luther and not God.
Faith always involves obedience in response to God’s commands. Your obedience validates your faith.
The faith of Abraham was demonstrated in His obedience and today under the New Covenant we see faith requires the same obedience. In a very straightforward set of verses we see in Galatians the action of faith is demonstrated in baptism.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
What God required of Abraham was very clearly defined and Abraham easily knew what God required however the decision to follow God’s instructions can be difficult. It was hard for Abraham, but He did God’s will. Jesus knew what awaited Him on the last night with the apostles and yet He like Abraham, obeyed. Abraham pointed out to God that Isaac was the son of promise (which of course God knew) but then Abraham proceeded to obey. Even Jesus on that “fatal” night inquired of the Father if there was any other way. Then proceeded to obey.
In today’s world people do not even know God’s instructions due to the deceitful ways of humankind and especially the “religions of the world.” That is why the scriptures emphasize seeking God with all your heart and having a love of the truth. The things you need to do are very clear but there are these stumbling blocks more often than not associated with religion. Typical of such nonsense is the pathetic interpretation of Ephesians 2.8,9 or John 3.16 which can be twisted to hide God’s meaning. The whole of God’s revelation fits perfectly together and reveals the nonsense of these sad Protestant teachings. The whole of God’s revelation on these subjects would be consistent with:
Matthew 7.21
21 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.
It is God’s intention that you do His will and when people go “verse-hunting” to prove their point they will find verses to use. Obviously, they have a different motive than having a love of the truth but instead a motive of proving THEIR point, proving they are right. It is a symptom of pride dominating a person’s life.
We love God in our obedience and that obedience includes doing things, in fact a failure to do them results in a failed life. What things should you do? One should do all things that God commands, and live in the way God directs.
When you understand God, you see Him saying if the righteous barely are saved, or Paul indicating how careful he must be or he will lose out on salvation. In general, the right attitude is doing everything you possibly can for the cause of Christ and then realizing you could be doing more. Then we have those who recognize salvation was easily found, acted on (mentally) and then guaranteed – it truly amounts to serious, careless error leading to a failed life.
Even in the most conventional way, if you ask a person if they believe in you and they say yes does that imply loyalty and they will follow your directions? I think if that person did not follow your lead, your instructions that it would be fair to conclude they did not believe in you. God knows the heart of each person, so He knows their intentions. God also expects the “believer” to move beyond intentions to obedience and in fact ties the promise of salvation to obedience. Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him. God cannot lie and has associated each person’s success to living for Christ and the gospel. At the “end of the day,” at the end of your life you will succeed or fail as a result of your dedication to Jesus as Lord. Your attitude will be one of doing all that He said and for the reason He provided as was delivered by the Holy Spirit.
Here is what Jesus said about saving your life and it is a summary of the dedication you need in the simplest and most challenging manner.
Mark 8.35,36
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
How do you lose your life? Stop living it for yourself, for your desires, for all the things you want and live for Christ and the gospel. This is quite a dramatic change and begins with obeying the gospel and then continuing as Revelation says, “be faithful unto death.” This is a very long way from saying you believe in Christ and are saved once and forever.
This understanding of the word BELIEVE does not require some special technical understanding of how God is using a word, but the emphasis is on how the concept of believe is used by God. God has defined it such that those who love the truth will find the correct meaning. In the case of defining believe, that understanding is consistent with common sense. That is, valued believing includes commitment and follow through. As always, the word of God is consistent and perfect in terms of God’s purpose. Believing and acting on that belief is a free will choice and reveals those who love God.
The Effort to Avoid Obedience
The scriptures are clear in the commands for becoming a child of God, having your sins forgiven. Sins are forgiven in the conversion process which is completed in baptism. The defense that is mounted to preserve the doctrine of “mental acceptance only” for salvation is desperate. Their leaders use the thief on the cross who Jesus told that this day he would be with Him in paradise to claim baptism is not required. If you consider the kind of arguments used to promote false doctrine they are frequently sidestepping the issue and the direct commands from God. We have the plan of God and the best opposing arguments are only distractions. Catholics may try to defend infant baptism by saying that Lydia and her household were baptized, and they may have had a baby. The fact that a “suggestion of a possibility” is made as evidence shows the desperation to find anything to justify their practice of infant baptism. They present this possibility of an infant baptism in view of a baby not meeting any of the requirements for baptism, violating the very purpose of God, and the baby not having any sin. The thief on the cross is used by Protestants to make a person think that baptism is not required.
Of course, Jesus could and did forgive sins while He was on earth. More importantly, the doctrine of Christ was not in effect until the death of the testator.
Hebrews 9.16,17
16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
The thief on the cross is just another distraction from God’s commands in relation to salvation. Look to the commands of God, to the examples and understand God and His purpose and you will not be influenced by desperate people promoting their doctrines.
God points to obedience as central to salvation, whether it be Hebrews 5.9, or Romans 16.25,26, or 1 Peter 1.22,23, or 1 Peter 4.17,18, or Matthew 7.21 and many, many other places in addition to the conversions of the New Testament (see table further down this page).
God’s brings clarity on this point as seen in Hebrews 3.18.
Hebrews 3.18
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
How sad, how pathetic is the teaching of believing mentally only for salvation. It is devastating to the souls of people who are seeking to do the right thing. They “run into” the deceit of this doctrine, the propaganda and indoctrination of Protestantism.
They also look at 1 Corinthians and claim Paul taught baptism was unimportant because the following verses.
1 Corinthians 1.12-17
12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.
16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.
16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
So, in an effort to reject the clear commands of God in relation to baptism, these deceivers say look, “Paul was not sent to baptize.” The reference here does not deny the essential nature of baptism, but that the one performing the baptism did not matter. After all, Paul said a person was not baptized in the name of the one doing, performing the baptism, but in the name of Christ. The very fact that they were having this conversation was because they were baptizing people as part of the conversion process. Paul said his mission was to preach the gospel, which requires baptism for remission of past sins. Jesus made baptism essential, really we can say made obedience essential.
Can You Imagine Anyone Denying the Necessity of Baptism?
Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared various times, especially to His apostles. In His latter appearances as recorded in Matthew and Mark, He provides an overview of their mission and in both cases baptism is essential. Before, Jesus completed His mission the revelation was limited, but now in the 1st century the final revelation from God is being gradually completed and simultaneously confirmed. These last direct revelations of Jesus are very clear revealing His authority and the mission of His apostles and also the saints (those converted).
Matthew 28.18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Mark 16.15,16
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Jesus is emphasizing:
His authority
Making disciples
Observing all things as commanded
Believing
Baptism
Although He does not specifically mention believing in Matthew 28.18-20 it is implied and taught throughout the scriptures and by now the apostles know the requirement of accepting Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus also ties together believing and baptism as essential for salvation. Jesus tells the apostles to wait in Jerusalem for what He had earlier promised them that is, the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth (John 16.13). That revelation begins in Acts 2 as Peter preaches the first gospel message. As might be expected people are told what they must do and what follows in the book of Acts and throughout the letters to the churches is a consistent pattern in relation to salvation. You can see that pattern below in the Conversions of the New Testament, which is repeated from chapter 3 for convenience:
Final Comment:
One might think of the Protestant denominations as basically good and fundamentally consisting of those who follow the scriptures. Some Protestants being evangelical in their efforts, others just being “social and/or ceremonial.” The evangelical may be worse than those who just attend with some participation, because they convincingly teach error converting others to their doctrine. Ironically, you do not see much Protestant fervor against Catholics, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists and others, but more of acceptance or co-existence, although not agreement. However, against God’s people, those “in Christ” they denounce with references calling them a sect, evil persons, legalistic with disdain, and the animosity is always present. Yet, the persons they frequently denigrate follow the scriptures precisely and obey the God of the bible in every way. Protestants might say those who reject Luther, Calvin and the others go too far, take too seriously the word of God, and are inflexible. However, some of the Protestant rhetoric is downright evil. The reason seems clear as they do not like the insinuation Protestants are not Christian. Add to this they are ineffective in the defense of their teachings and they are frustrated with the truth. When people come from a strongly confident position in their belief it can be pretty devastating, overwhelming to realize they may be wrong, undeniably wrong.
Instead of having a love of the truth, they in pride fight to uphold the inventions of Luther, Calvin and so-on. As in all religions, it is the people, the members that have been misled and for many centuries. The Lord’s people have no interest in participating in hatred, animosity against those who believe differently. Those who are God’s children realize that hatred, animosity is NEVER acceptable to God. God’s people preach the word and will discuss differences with anyone, anytime without any animosity. The goal of God’s people and their designated mission is to seek and save that which was lost, a mission identical to that of God’s Son. In fulfilling this task, God’s children are relentless in the mission, but not overbearing. They seek opportunity to teach, but if there is no interest they move on. The fields are white with people needing the truth and as long as there is interest the effort will be given. Just as quickly as there is a request to move on, they will move on, albeit with sad hearts.
Matthew 10.14
14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.
Of course, there were times when those hearing were not cordial in rejecting the message. Paul was frequently attacked and on some occasions stoned and left for dead.
Paul would say about himself:
2 Corinthians 11.23-27
23 … in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
Paul would say about himself:
