Christian, what is the “
object” of your faith? Evangelist, what is the object of the faith you call people to so that they might be saved? Pastor, what is the object of the faith you build the flock up in? Is the object Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross, or is the object the quality, quantity, and/or consistency of a person’s response to the messaged preached?
One might ask, '
What is authentic faith'? The Bible use the word faith, or
pisteuo (in transliterated Greek) which has the meaning “
conviction of the truth of anything, belief;”
Vine amplifies this with “
belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same”
Faith is the confidence that something is true and the natural trusting that results from that confidence.I had intended this writing to be the catalyst of a healthy new discussion on Lordship Salvation’s additions to the Gospel of grace. However, it seems just linking to the uncommonly short article at Lou Martuneac’s blog,
In Defense of the Gospel, which reviews one key page in John MacArthur's third and latest edition of his original The Gospel According to Jesus has done that already.
Still be sure, my purpose in writing this is beyond getting some thoughts out of my head and down on paper, or maybe pixels. For most of the Winter and Spring my focus had been toward answering and limiting the spread of the
Grace Evangelical Society’s (GES) reductionist “
Crossless” interpretation of the Gospel. Many men have joined together in this cause and it has been a great blessing to learn from and with them. I don’t believe the
GES reductionist views are as “
dangerous” because they do not, nor indeed can, carry the same credibility as the argument for Lordship Salvation. The proponents of the reductionist view are tenacious, but unless blinded, the casual student of the Word can easily recognize the error. This is not so with Lordship Salvation, and that should not surprise us.
Much of the New Testament deals with and warns of this vein of additionist religious teachings commonly known as Lordship Salvation. Paul knew that Christians would be drawn to things that have the appearance of Holiness, Col 2:23 He knew it, and spent most of his ministry arguing against such false systems telling us over and over again that Christ is our righteousness that there is no profit in anything outside of or in addition to Him.
A short and overly simplified description of Lordship Salvation, indicates that saving faith (
that faith which is required of a sinful man in order that he will be saved by God) includes:
1) Submission to the lordship of Christ over all areas of one’s life,
2) A willingness to meet the demands of discipleship (although these proponents sometimes indicate that actually meeting the demands is not the requirement, just the willingness to do so),
3) Loving the Lord Jesus above all things,
4) Forsaking sin,
5) Seeking to live a righteous life.
The impossibility of this proposition is recognized by the
additionists and this opens the door for the idea that “
regeneration” (being Born Again into God's family) happens to the sinner before they have faith or do anything toward God at all. They are Born Again, then God reveals Himself and then He gives them the Faith to believe in Him, submit, love absolutely...
and so on.. and THEN they are saved.
Brethren, does God save people apart from faith? If a person is born again into God's family apart from Faith then Salvation is not “
through Faith” at all. Eph 2:8-9
Brethren consider this;
Rom 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ,for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
God declares that the Gospel is His power to salvation for everyone who believes. What ought we to add to the power of God in order that we might attain Eternal Life?
The Gospel of Christ is, “
The Good News of Christ (God’s Anointed One)” The Gospel is “
Good News” not a set of requirements for man.
It's not a contract, it's a declaration! It is the “
power of God” to salvation for everyone who “
believes” which is
pisteuo or who places confidence in it. The News is about Jesus and His work on the Cross. This is the plain, clear, and absolute teaching of the Word of God on the subject of Salvation.
Some will ask “
What of repentance unto life then?” I declare in agreement with the Word of God that Repentance unto life is a “
change of mind” and a “
changing of mind” (
metanoia and
metanoeo) about
sin,
righteousness,
judgment and
Christ in response to the
convicting and
convincing by God the Holy Spirit. John 16:7-11 Let us first read the Apostle’s introduction to the Gospel and then the Gospel it’s self to see if we see this repentance unto life in it, and if we can then see it in Romans 1:16.
The Apostle Paul declares this Gospel in I Cor 15.
1 Cor 15:1-2 “1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”
Here Paul says he is going to “
declare the Gospel” that the Corinthians “
received” at some point in the past.
The Gospel is something you “
obey” 2 Thes 1:8 1 Peter 1:17 Rom 10:16
Romans 10:16 “But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?”
And obeying the Gospel is “
believing” it, as per Rom 10:16.
Even still The Gospel doesn’t contain instructions one must obey. It is a message, “
Good News” of things accomplished by God on our behalf. This news is “
received” 1 Cor 15:1 or “
rejected” John 12:48 & Acts 13:46
But what does it mean to “
receive”? 1 Cor 15:1 says
paralambano is an active “
response” to hearing the Gospel. We “
take it to ourselves” or we “
accept it” It is in the
Second Aorist tense meaning it happened at some point in the past. The voice is
Active which means the Corinthians are the ones who “
received” this Gospel. The mood is
Indicative meaning Paul is making a “
statement of fact” So Paul says it is a statement of fact that you accepted this.
And Paul continues, by saying “in which you stand.” “
You stand” is rendered from
histemi which is “
to be placed firmly, fixed”. It is in the
Perfect Tense which “
describes an action which is viewed as having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated.” It is also in the
Active Voice and the
Indicative Mood. “
You stand” means it is a finished work, that you stand, and it is simple fact –
not to be debated. This is Eternal Security found right in the Gospel.
It’s of great importance to point out that Paul is writing these Corinthians to remind them that the Resurrection is true, that we do have Eternal Life, that we will be raised up at the end. This infidelity of the Corinthians, together with Paul's statement “
unless you have believed in vain” needs to be considered. How can a person's belief be in “
in vain”? Can this mean a “
weak belief” or a belief that is only a “
profession” or “
mental assent”? The Apostle explains what it means to “
believe in vain” himself through the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit,
1 Cor 15:12-18 12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
It is not the quality of the believer's believing that Paul says can be “
in vain” it is the object of that belief. Only if Christ is not risen, then our belief would be in vain. Yet, the
additionists would have you measure the quality of your faith through prior commitment, works or other evidences in order that you could actually be saved. But the Apostle Paul says, you put your faith in this, and by it you are eternally saved be reminded of this.
Brethren, Paul is writing this encouragement to the same Corinthians, many of whom were living out a very poor Christian testimony. Paul called these born again Corinthians “carnal” to the point that they could not “
receive” anything beyond the basics of the faith. 1 Cor 3:1-3 Yet, Paul writes of their Eternal Salvation as an established fact.
Do you see repentance in Rom 1:16 now? Do you see that the Gospel is “
obeyed” when it is “
received” and do you see that God saves those who have Faith in His Son? Peter says the end of our faith is the salvation of our souls. This is exactly the opposite of regeneration prior to faith. 1 Peter 1:9 Paul says that this faith can come from the revelation we receive, that it is this revelation that makes us “
wise” unto Salvation through Faith. And that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. 2 Tim 3:15 Rom 10:17
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Is the assurance of your Eternal Salvation, the quality of your faith & performance or the quality of the Person and His finished works? Is the Gospel the power of God to salvation, or is it His regenerating work? Is the Gospel the willingness of a lost person submission and commitment to performance expected of a born again Christian? What say you? What does the Bible say?
What is authentic faith? The Word of God says “
authentic faith” is confidence that Jesus Christ, as identified by the Gospel, was qualified to, and actually did accomplish everything written in the Gospel on our behalf and the confidence that in this alone we stand righteously before Holy God.
This what the Bible says, and, each and every Apostle Jesus Christ sent to bare testimony of Him, and His death, burial and resurrection. This Gospel truly is the power of God unto Salvation and here it is declared in detail by the Apostle Paul himself under inspiration of God the Holy Spirit.
Can there be further debate among the Brethren if Scripture declares it? 1 Cor 15:1-11 “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed,”
“
Authentic faith” receives this, and the one who does receive it is saved and will eternally stand on these grounds and
by no other means.
This is the power of God unto Salvation.
The follow-up to this article will be '
The Offense Of The Cross' God willing it will be done soon, and will cover several ways that the Cross offends people. Including that the Innocent was condemned while the guilty ones go completely free, and how the Cross shows the world exactly what a bloody spectacle their own sin is, and that the ruler of this world, the one the world bows down to and follows has been judged and is defeated no matter who bows down to him.
