4:15 Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Confession of the gospel is a sign that the message has
been heard, considered, and believed. Paul writes, “if you confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved,” Romans 10:9. Our faith is in a risen, living Savior
who has life in Himself, and is capable of giving it to those who believe, John
1:4; 5:26; 17:2. This declaration of faith is the heart of the New Testament.
Faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ is what saves; nothing else avails.
It is the message that saved the Ethiopian Eunuch, Acts
8:37. It is the message that saved Cornelius and his household, Acts 10:43. It
is the message that justifies the Jew and Gentile alike, Acts 13:38-39; 15:11.
This message saved the Philippian jailor and his household, Acts 16:31-32.
Faith alone is the criterion God has erected for one’s eternal salvation. Shall
we examine the matter more closely? Here are a smattering of verses plucked
from the NT.
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting
life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abides on him,” John 3:36.
“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.
“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world
through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the
message preached to save those who believe,” 1st Corinthians 1:21.
“For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest
anyone should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9.
“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,” Titus 3:5.
John’s epistle is written in part as an encouragement to
believers about their spiritual state and the confidence they can have in Jesus
Christ, 1st John 5:13. This is contrasted against the false teaching of pseudo-Christians
who crept in to pervert the simplicity of the Christian faith, 1st John 2:19,
26; 4:1-6. These teachers apparently did not accept the perfect humanity and
deity of our Lord. They did not accept the authority of Scripture and the
authority Christ vested in His apostles. They did not conduct themselves in
love toward the brethren, but were greedy hypocrites. As John would write
sometime later regarding the person of Diotrephes, “Beloved, do not imitate what is
evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has
not seen God,” 3rd John 1:11. The removal of the doctrine of eternal
security (one of the main themes of John’s epistle) always results in works
salvation; how can it be any other way? Either we are indeed saved by grace
through faith, or we are partners with God on some joint venture. As Paul
warns, “But if it is of works, it is no longer grace…the wages are not counted
as grace but as debt,” Romans 11:5; 4:4.
Exactly so, Ian.
ReplyDeleteOver the years, I have heard a number of people say they just can't understand Hebrews. I believe it is because they believe in salvation by works in some form, whether by baptism or other requirements.
O