This is a seven-post Bible study on whether salvation is by faith or faith-plus works. Here is an index to the sections:
1. Introduction, Matthew 1:21 - Matthew 18:24-35
2. Matthew 19:16-26 - Luke 18:28-30
3. Luke 19:7-10 - John 17:8
4. John 17:14,16 - 1 Corinthians 9:24-25
5. 1 Corinthians 9:27 - Hebrews 3:18-19
6. Hebrews 4:1-7 - 1 John 5:4
7. 1 John 5:5 - Revelation 22:18-19, Verses on Election – Being Chosen by God
Wednesday, April 08, 2015
Salvation, Faith Alone or Faith Plus Works - Part I
Is our salvation a
matter of faith-plus-works or of faith alone?
I decided to look at
this matter to clarify for my own mind – and for anyone else who is
interested – what the New Testament teaches about it. Also, I
wanted to understand what, if anything, we need to do for our
salvation.
Because I was trying
to understand this from the human point of view, in other words, to
know what I need to do, I did not consider the various
passages that refer to predestination, because it seemed to me that
predestination is looking at salvation from God’s perspective. If
you are interested in verses about predestination, I’ve listed some
of them at the bottom of this article.
The two viewpoints,
as I understand them, are that, 1) Salvation is purely a matter of
faith in Christ; there are no works we can do to earn it, and 2)
Salvation is a matter of faith in Christ and doing good
things.
As I began studying
I discovered points at which disagreement could result purely from
misunderstanding. Now, I don’t mind disagreeing with people, but it
seems a good first step to make sure we are not simply
misunderstanding, and I began to wonder if a lot of the disagreement
is, in fact, just misunderstanding. So, let me outline a few points
at which confusion may result in disagreement.
1) What Do We
Mean by the Concept of “Works” as it Relates to Salvation
If by “works” we
mean any action whatsoever that we need to take to have
salvation, then, yes, salvation is by faith and works. For
example, the Lord tells us to “repent and believe.” If we
consider the acts of repenting and believing to be “works,” then,
yes, salvation is by faith and works.
However, that is not
what I mean by “works.” What I mean is: “Any action on our part
that earns us merit towards salvation.” So while repenting
of my sins is critical, it doesn’t earn me any merit towards
salvation.
2) What Do We
Mean by the Term “Faith” as it Relates to Salvation
If by “faith” or
“belief” we mean simply acknowledging that God exists, then
clearly salvation is not by faith alone. After all, the demons
believe in God and they tremble.
But in this
discussion when I refer to “faith” I mean a repentant trust in
and loving surrender of our lives to God for forgiveness of our sins
through the merit of Jesus’ sacrifice. We can intellectually
believe everything right about Jesus but not be saved if we do not
submit to it. “I believe” includes, “I submit to.”
3) Are Good Works
Necessary for Salvation?
To this question a
person who says salvation is by faith-plus-works would say yes, but
the person who says salvation is by faith alone may say yes or no,
which is confusing, so let me try to clarify.
He may say “no”
because he means that salvation is not attained in any way by our
works.
Or, he may say
“yes,” because salvation will result in works, and
if there are no works there has been no salvation.
It is kind of like
asking if sunshine is necessary when the sun rises. Well... sunlight
does not cause the sun to rise, so you might answer “no,” but on
the other hand if there is no sunlight then the sun hasn’t risen,
so you might answer “yes.”
So, for this
discussion I want to define “works” as “any actions on our part
that earn us merit towards salvation,” and I want to define saving
“faith” or “belief” as “trust in and loving surrender of
our lives to God for forgiveness of our sins through the merit of
Jesus’ sacrifice.” If you define these terms differently, you
may, of course, reach a different conclusion.
Okay, with
definitions out of the way, I now want to defend the assertion that,
“Salvation is by faith alone.”
My first point is
the thief on the cross next to Jesus. The thief expressed his faith
in Jesus and Jesus told him he would be with Him in Paradise (Luke
23:40-42). The thief did nothing but believe. He couldn’t do
anything else because he was nailed to a cross.
But, someone might
say, the thief would have done good things if he had been let
down from the cross. He would have been baptized. He would have been
kind to the poor. He would have been honest.
Absolutely!
Salvation comes through faith and works come as a result of
salvation. The thief believed – we know this by Jesus’ response –
and he would have lived a better life if he had been let down from
that cross. So, if I am capable of performing good works (unlike the
thief on the cross) but do nothing, then I have not been saved. If I
say I believe but am not trying to live a good life, then in fact I
don’t believe and I need to go back to step one and believe!
I recall a quote I
read ages ago that says: A man acts in accordance with what he
believes, not with what he merely pretends to believe. That is
exactly what I am saying.
Faith precedes
action. In fact, this almost must be, for there is no reason
to even attempt to remain faithful to God if we don’t believe in
Him, much less in the face of trials and temptations. You don’t
serve or love someone you do not believe exists.
My suspicion is that
in many cases people who say you cannot be saved without works simply
mean: “You cannot say you are saved and live an evil life. You must
do good!”
To which I would
reply, “Amen!”
Below I’ve listed
New Testament passages that seem to speak to the issue of salvation,
and some passages that simply speak generally to the importance of
faith, and I have tried to explain why some difficult passages do not
contradict that.
My basic answers to
these difficult passages are that ...
- Works are what happen when we believe in Jesus. When the sun comes up we get sunshine; when we believe in Jesus we do good things. In John 14:23 Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” And in Matthew 12:33-35 He says: “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
- Real believers in Jesus will, despite stumbles, despite even denying Jesus at times (see Peter) remain in their hearts faithful to Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:8 says God will keep us strong to the end and 1 John 5:5 says that we will overcome the world if we believe in Jesus.
- In those instances in which it appears a verse is saying that people may lose their salvation, they may in fact only be losing what they think they have. So, in Luke 8:18 Jesus says that “whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”
- Some passages are addressed to particular groups of people, and groups may indeed lose their part in the kingdom of God. So, suppose a church begins teaching that Jesus was merely a good man. At some point that church has stopped – as a group – being part of the kingdom of God, though the few members left who still believe in Jesus are still very much saved.
- Some warnings of punishment refer not to hell but to life on earth. God does promise to discipline His children (Hebrews 12:4-11) for their benefit. Discipline is not hell.
- Some passages that tell us to work for eternal life can be understood as meaning that we should believe. So, in John 6:27 Jesus says, “Do not work for food that spoils but food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Then He goes on in John 6:29 to explain what that work is: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
The
Verses
Matthew 1:21
An angel tells
Joseph the Child that Mary conceived is from the Holy Spirit, and the
Child will will be named Jesus [“Jesus” means, “the Lord
saves”] because “He will save his people from their sins.”
Salvation is through
Jesus; we need to believe in Him.
Matthew 3:2
and Matthew 4:17
First John, and then
Jesus, calls for people to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repentance implies
faith. We can’t seriously say we are sorry to a God we do not
believe in. Also, repentance is part of saving faith; for we are
believing in God to forgive us for our sins. Repentance does not earn
us merit; it just says to God that we want to receive it.
Matthew 3:7-10
John the Baptist is
unimpressed with the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for
baptism; tells them to bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance,
and not to lean on their ancestry. Trees that don’t bring forth
fruit will be thrown into the fire.
John says fruit is
in keeping with repentance – fruit is the necessary result of
repentance because repenting means saying that we regret being bad
and that we want to be good. Therefore, real repentance must lead to
positive change in our lives.
Matthew 4:17
– See entry for Matthew 3:2
Matthew 5:3,10
Heaven belongs to
the poor in spirit and those who have been persecuted for
righteousness.
The poor in spirit
are those who humble themselves in faith before God. God grants them
heaven.
Matthew 5:10
The kingdom of
heaven belongs to those who are persecuted.
Jesus holds forth a
comforting promise to those who are persecuted for their
righteousness; they have a place in heaven. The meaning of Matthew
5:10 is further revealed by comparing it to Luke 6:23, a parallel
passage, which says of the persecuted that: “great is your reward
in heaven.” So, when Jesus promises heaven for the persecuted He
does not mean that those who are not persecuted are excluded
from heaven, but rather that the persecuted will receive a great
reward when they get to heaven.
Matthew 5:13
Jesus says God’s
people – and it seems relevant that he is speaking primarily to
Jews here – are like salt and that if they lose their saltiness,
they are only worth being thrown out and trampled by men.
I doubt that being
thrown out means being banished to hell because the analogy of being
“thrown out” seems less emphatic than that; it seems to be more
about being discarded than being punished. Further, if it referred to
hell then who are these men doing the trampling? Not devils, surely,
as in hell the devils themselves will be suffering, not handing out
suffering.
I believe this
passage means that if we – in this case particularly the Jewish
nation of Jesus’ time, or, more generally, we as individuals or as
churches – are not influencing the world for Christ by being
faithful to Him, then we are of no use and will be discarded as tools
for God’s work in the world. In 1
Corinthians 9:27 Paul
expresses this concern and
says he disciplines
himself so he may not be set
aside from service for God.
So, I think this
passage describes the earthly consequence of losing our saltiness,
our godly savor. This view is supported by a corresponding verse,
Luke 14:34, in which the context (Luke 14:26-27) is clearly
discipleship – if you loose your saltiness you are no good as a
disciple.
Matthew 5:19
Whoever breaks the
least of the laws and teaches others to do the same will be least in
the kingdom of heaven. Keep the laws and be great.
In the Sermon on the
Mount, from which this passage is taken, Jesus is talking about the
true, inner law of love and mercy and of the Spirit. We cannot annul
this inner law except to our hurt. Also, Jesus does not say such a
person would be excluded from the kingdom of God, just that he would
be the least in the kingdom.
Matthew 5:20
Your righteousness
must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees to enter heaven.
In this passage
Jesus advocates not a super-Pharisaical righteousness, but a humble
trust; a difference in type from the Pharisees, not in degree. Our
righteousness must be a humble and faithful surrender to Christ.
Matthew 5:22
Call your brother
“fool” and you risk hell.
I think Jesus’
point is that all sins risk hell, even harsh language, and by using
this example he includes everyone as a sinner – for who hasn’t
used harsh language? – and shows us our need for His forgiveness.
Matthew 5:29-30,
18:1-9, Mark 9:42-48
Better to tear off
an offending body part than for your whole body to be thrown into
hell.
Jesus is saying that
we should abandon anything that prevents us from turning to Him. But
He is also pointing out that it isn’t some outward body part that
prevents us from turning to Him, it is our hearts. So, he points
unbelievers to their hearts’ condition, to their need for
forgiveness; He is not saying amputation is a way to avoid hell. I
believe Jesus was answering people who refuse to repent and try to
avoid blame by saying something like, “Oh, well. I can’t help it.
I’ve just got sticky fingers.” To this Jesus says, if I may
paraphrase, “Really? Is that what is what is holding you back from
repentance? Then you better cut off you hand.” It is a shocking way
to make them realize both the seriousness of their sin and that it is
not their hand, but their inner being, their heart, that told their
hand what to do, and so it is their heart that is at fault and needs
to repent.
In both Matthew
18:1-7 and Mark 9:42, Jesus first warns the people of dire
consequences of sinning – particularly of causing one of his little
ones to stumble – then tells them to discard anything (hands, eyes,
feet), whatever causes them to sin and thereby prevents them from
surrendering their hearts to Jesus.
Matthew 6:14-15
Forgive if you want
to be forgiven by God.
If we really believe
in Jesus then we will be forgiving. If we aren’t more forgiving
than before we professed Jesus, then we were never really saved in
the first place and we need to go back and surrender our lives to
Jesus.
We see this
principle in John 8:39, in which Jesus tells the people that if they
were really Abraham’s children then they would do the things
Abraham did. Also, in John 8:42, where Jesus says that “if God were
your Father, you would love me.” So the point Jesus is making is
that if we say we are Abraham’s, or God’s, then we will act in a
way that would please Abraham or God. In the same way, here, if we
really are God’s, then we will forgive as God wants us to.
Also, this passage,
from the Lord’s Prayer, focuses on our daily lives. God disciplines
those He loves, so if we are hard on others by refusing to forgive
them, then God may well find it necessary to be hard on us by not
forgiving us in order to teach us to forgive others. So, even those
who are saved may need to be disciplined to build a more consistent
pattern of forgiveness into their lives.
Matthew 7:1-2
Don’t judge; you
will be judged by the way you judge. As you measure, it will be
measured to you.
The comment about
Matthew 6:14-15 also applies here, but this passage may also be
understood as meaning that other people will judge us in the way we
judge them. It may even mean that those who go to heaven will be
judged and assigned greater or lesser positions based on how they
judged on earth.
Matthew 7:13-14
Enter by the narrow
gate and narrow path.
We are to enter by
faith in Jesus and walk in His path.
Matthew 7:21-23
There are many who
prophesied for Jesus, drove out demons in his name and performed
miracles, but who never knew Jesus.
Works do not result
in salvation. It isn’t that these people didn’t do enough for
Jesus; it is that they never knew Jesus in the first place.
Matthew 7:21 says that only those who do the will of Jesus’ Father
in heaven will enter the kingdom, and John 6:29 explains what God’s
will is: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has
sent.”
Matthew 10:14-15
Whatever town does
not receive the disciples will receive a worse fate than Sodom and
Gomorrah.
The disciples bring
the good news of Jesus and if the people of a town do not receive
that good news and believe in Jesus they are lost.
Matthew 10:22
Whoever endures to
the end will be saved.
This does not mean
that the person who slips will be lost.
This is in the
context of Jesus describing both the persecution the disciples are
about to endure and also apparently the persecution of the last days.
With that in mind I think His meaning becomes clearer if we put the
emphasis in this sentence on the word “will.” So, “Whoever
endures to the end will be saved.” In other words, In the
midst of your pain and the persecution you are enduring, stay strong
to the end and don’t doubt for a moment that it will be worth it!
It will! You will be saved. Guaranteed!
Two more
interpretations are worth mentioning:
- Believers who
physically survive the final earthly tribulation – as war, disease
and natural disasters make the earth virtually uninhabitable – will
not, after enduring such trials for their faith in Jesus, then be
left alone in a desolate world, but will be saved from that. Christ
will return and that person will be saved – body, soul and spirit.
- Once believers are
removed from the earth during the final days – the rapture –
those who become believers after that time will live under different
rules and must endure to the end or be lost.
Matthew 10:28
Fear God, who is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Jesus is preparing
to send out his disciples to face trials, and I think He wants to
bolster their courage by contrasting the insignificant power of man,
who can only kill the body, with the vast power of God, who’s power
extends far beyond this life; who can destroy both soul and body in
hell. It seems very unlikely, though, that Jesus is threatening the
disciples, for just before this verse (Matthew 10:26) is an
admonition not to be afraid of people, and just after it is an
admonition (Matthew 10:29-31) not to be afraid of God, since God even
cares for the sparrows, and “you are worth more than many
sparrows.” More likely, if there is a threat involved, it is a
threat against those who would oppose the disciples’ message and an
encouragement for the disciples to fear for the souls of those who
oppose them and so to preach their message well.
So, we should fear
God in the sense that we should show a deep respect for God’s power
and majesty, but not fear Him in the sense of worrying that He means
His children any harm. Fear and fearlessness can coexist. For
example, in Luke 1:50 Mary says that God’s mercy is on those who
fear Him, and then just a little further on, in Luke 1:74,
Zechariah says God rescues us so we can serve him without fear.
Matthew 10:32-33
Jesus says that
anyone who acknowledges Him before men He will acknowledge before His
Father in heaven, but anyone who disowns Him before men, Jesus will
disown that person before His Father in heaven.
Jesus is speaking to
the disciples before He sends them out, describing the type of people
they will encounter. Those who disown Him here on Earth, in public –
“before men,” as He says – He will disown before the Father.
I don’t believe
this means that a person who says in a public gathering that he has
nothing to do with Jesus – when he really does – is ultimately
damned, otherwise Peter would have been damned for his denial of
Jesus. Judas, however, also publicly disowned Jesus and he apparently
was lost forever. The difference appears to be that Judas fell
forever because he had never really trusted Jesus in the first place,
while Peter really had trusted, and because of that Peter bounced
back and again began living out his faith in public, “before men.”
Faith results in works.
Matthew 10:37
If you love family
more than Jesus you are not worthy of Him.
This warning comes
directly after Jesus says that a man’s enemies will be the members
of his own household, and apparently it means that we are not fit for
service for Jesus if we surrender our commitment to Him for the sake
of peace in our family. Putting family before Jesus, especially a
family hostile to Jesus, is essentially putting the world before
Jesus.
Matthew 10:38-39
If you don’t take
your cross and follow Jesus you are not worthy of Him. Whoever finds
his life will lose it; whoever loses his life will find it.
As He does
throughout Matthew 10, Jesus is instructing His disciples in how they
are to serve Him as they go out among the towns of Israel, and when
He says that they are not worthy of Him if they do not take up their
cross and follow Him, He means worthy to serve Him. I don’t
think he is talking about salvation.
And when He speaks
of those who find their lives and those who lose their lives, I
believe He means that those who find their deep fulfillment in the
things of this life, including their own families, will lose out on
the joy of living for Jesus, and, in fact, will eventually lose all
the things they love. But those who set the things of earth aside –
at least from being at the center of their hearts – to focus on
Jesus, will find a new life of joy in following Him.
Matthew 12:33-37
A good tree bears
good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. A tree is recognized by
its fruit. The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. We
will have to give account of every careless word on the day of
judgment.
It is our hearts
that are judged. What we do outwardly – our words and actions –
are evidence of our heart. If we really believed in Jesus, it will
show.
Matthew 13:1-5
and Matthew 13:18-23 (also Mark 4:4-9 and Mark
4:14-20)
The seed sown in
shallow soil springs up but then withers.
In this parable the
seed is the Word of God and the soils are the various types of people
who hear the Word.
When it says that
the plant that sprang up in people’s lives died, does that mean
those represented by the shallow soil lost their salvation?
Well, the seeds
which sprouted and then withered in the heat died because “they had
no root” (Matthew 13:6,21 and Mark 4:6, 17). In other words, God’s
Word had no real connection to their lives. They had a sprout and
maybe a few little leaves that could be seen by the world, perhaps
some nice acts and happy emotions and kind words, but good as those
can be, it was all superficial, there was no root to really connect
God’s Word to their lives. So, no, they don’t lose their
salvation because then never had it; they never really gave their
lives to Jesus.
Matthew 16:19
and Matthew 18:18-20
Jesus gives Peter
(and later all the disciples) the keys of the kingdom, to bind and to
loose.
In Matthew 16:19
Jesus gives Peter the keys and in 18:18-20 Jesus gives the keys to
all the disciples. We know this because in Matthew 18:1 we are
told that all the disciples asked Jesus a question, and Jesus is
responding to them.
It seems very
unlikely that binding and loosing means directly assigning people to
heaven or expelling them from heaven. Even Jesus said (Luke 4:43)
that He “must preach the kingdom of God,” and if He needed
to do so to bring people into the kingdom of God, then it is hard to
believe that the apostles could simply say, “You’re in,” or
“You’re out,” regardless of whether the person believes.
It seems more likely
that the binding-and-loosing keys mean that the disciples may declare
things – including people – to be either approved or disapproved,
and when done in obedience to God, that decision is ratified in
heaven.
So, in Acts 15:10
the church council loosens the Old Testament law, and at other points
in the New Testament believers are bound (required) to act in certain
ways.
In Matthew 18:18-19,
binding and loosening is used in the context of church discipline, of
embracing people into the church – the earthly kingdom of God –
or expelling them from the church. On earth the kingdom of God should
be pure, but practically, it is a mix of real and fake, good and bad.
However, church leaders hold the keys Jesus gave them because they
have the responsibility to keep the kingdom of God as pure as
possible by including or, sadly, excluding people, as necessary. And,
of course, people being people, sometimes this authority is abused,
as in 3 John 1:9-10, which is why I say that to be valid the
authority must be exercised “in obedience to God.”
Binding and loosing
may also be used in the sense of deciding to which individuals or
groups we should proclaim the gospel. So in the Book of Acts we see
Peter repeatedly using the keys to announce the good news to the Jews
(Acts 2), to the crippled beggar (Acts 3), to the Sanhedrin (Acts 4),
and to the Gentiles (Acts 10). But we can also see that it may mean
deciding not to proclaim salvation to people who are not ready
to appreciate it, as, for example, when Jesus tells his followers not
to throw their pearls to swine (Matthew 7:6).
Matthew 18:1-9
– See entry for Matthew 5:29-30
Matthew 18:3
Unless we change and
become like little children, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
I think becoming
like little children is believing. We must acknowledge that,
like little children, we don’t know it all and aren’t good enough
to enter heaven on our own; we must trust in Jesus.
Matthew 18:18-20
– See entry for Matthew 16:19
Matthew 18:24-35
In this parable of
the unmerciful servant, God is described as a king who shows mercy to
a servant, then punishes that same servant after he refuses to be
merciful to another servant.
If we believe in
Jesus, then we have surrendered our lives to Him and His leading. He
shows mercy to us and then He wants us to show mercy to others. By
accepting His mercy we are saying that we believe that the whole
concept of mercy is a godly thing that we also must practice.
The unmerciful
servant in this parable recognized that the king was merciful and
pretended to believe in mercy until he got off the hook, but then he
revealed his true unmerciful self. But the king saw through his
deception and punished him severely.
As Jesus told the
people (John 8:39), if they were really Abraham’s children then
they would do the things Abraham did. In the same way, here, if we
really are God’s, then we will forgive as God wants us to. If we
don’t show mercy – though of course we may fail at times – then
it seems very unlikely that we ever surrendered to Jesus at all.
Next
Next
Salvation, Faith Alone or Faith Plus Works - Part II
Matthew 19:16-26,
Mark 10:17-31
A rich young man
asks how to have eternal life and Jesus tells him to give away
everything he has and follow Him.
I don’t believe
Jesus is saying that people must always physically give away all they
have in order to gain eternal life, but rather that they should give
up anything that prevents them from turning to Jesus. Much like
Jesus’ admonition to cut off an offending body part, or to give up
their families and to hate their very lives, so here I think he means
that nothing should be allowed to stand between ourselves and God.
Everything we have and are should be His.
At the end of this
passage, when Jesus says that it would be harder for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of heaven, the disciples were amazed and asked (Matthew 19:25), “Who
then can be saved?” Apparently they figured that if a camel can’t
make it through the eye of a needle, well, neither can a mouse, and
if that was the case, then how could anybody be saved? Jesus
replies that while it is impossible for the rich (and others, the
“mice,” so to speak) to enter the kingdom of heaven on their own,
God can get them in.
Further, it is
interesting that Jesus didn’t tell the rich young man to give away
enough so he would be down to a modest lifestyle; He said to give
away all, which would make him poorer than almost everybody,
and it seems highly unlikely that Jesus meant that people may not
have any possessions if they expect to have eternal life.
Again, His meaning appears to be that we should completely give away
anything and everything that prevents us from turning to Him.
Finally, we see that
elsewhere that rich people – such as Zacchaeus (Luke 19:8-9) and
apparently Joseph of Arimathea – entered in without physically
giving up everything.
So, it isn’t the
riches directly that are the hindrance, but the all-too-common
idolatrous attitude toward those riches that makes people feel
self-sufficient and unwilling to surrender to Christ.
It is also
interesting that he rich man asked what he should “do.” I think
Jesus wanted him to see that he couldn’t win eternal life by his
own efforts. I think he first told the man to keep the commandments
because he wanted the man to admit that he had failed to keep the
commandments, so that he would understand his need to trust Jesus for
forgiveness. But it seems the young man was rather self-confident.
Yes, he said, he had kept all those commandments, which suggests he
had a very shallow notion of the meaning of the commandments, so
Jesus takes him further down into his heart, to what gave him his
confidence, his wealth, and told him to give it all away. That hit
home – he understood his confidence and love were in something
earthly, something other than God. That misplaced confidence, Jesus
was saying, was hindering him from surrendering and following Him.
Matthew 20:1-16
The generous
vineyard owner gives those who worked less time the same amount as he
gave to those who worked for him during the entire day.
As Matthew is
writing specifically to Jews, it appears that in this parable Jesus
was referring to the Jews as those who worked longest for God, and to
various Gentile groups – who would hear the gospel later – as
those who began working at later hours.
However, if Jesus is
referring to individuals in this parable and if the payment given to
the workers does equate to eternal life, then – since all the
workers were equally rewarded – it seems clear that the amount of
work we do does not qualify us for eternal life. Instead, what
appears important is that we do it for the vineyard owner.
If we have given our lives to the Vineyard Owner (God), then we will
naturally work for him; if we don’t work for Him then we haven’t
really ever given our lives to Him.
Matthew 21:43
In this, the parable
of the evil tenants, he Kingdom of God will be taken from Pharisees
and given to those who produce its fruit.
The Book of Matthew
is addressed primarily to Jews, and Jesus is warning that the kingdom
of God will be switched from being on a national basis (Israel) to
being a spiritual basis (church).
Matthew 25:1-13
Parable of the ten
virgins: Five virgins were wise and brought enough oil to last until
the bridegroom arrived; five were foolish and did not. The foolish
virgins were excluded from the wedding feast.
Again, as the Book
of Matthew is addressed primarily to Jews, it seems that the foolish
virgins represent those in Israel who had the oil of the old
covenant, which by itself was not enough, but they didn’t have the
oil of the new covenant. They never knew Jesus. The wise virgins had
both.
Matthew 25:14-30
Parable of the
talents: The servant who did nothing with the money he was given is
thrown out.
The Master in the
parable indicates that anything would have been enough, that
the servant could have simply given the money to a banker for
interest, but the servant did absolutely nothing. There is nothing of
the love of God in this servant’s heart. He did nothing because he
does not love the Master.
Matthew 24:45-51
The master will
reward the faithful servant, but will cut up and cast out with the
hypocrites the unfaithful servant.
Jesus describes one
servant as “faithful and wise” (24:45) and then describes his
actions. Next he describes the other servant as wicked (24:48), then
describes his actions. By describing their natures first, Jesus
suggests that the servants’ actions were a result of their natures.
Supporting this
view, Jesus warns that the wicked servant will be assigned a place
with the hypocrites, the reason is most likely because the wicked
servant is a hypocrite. He pretends to be something he isn’t
– a good servant.
If we give our lives
to Jesus He will change our nature and we will do good. We’ll
slip up, yes, but our general inclination will be to do good. If we
just pretend, like the hypocritical wicked servant, we may do all
sorts of evil.
A question remains:
Why does Jesus describe both the good and wicked as “servants.”
I think it is
because Jesus – especially in the Book of Matthew – is mostly
addressing Jews, God’s chosen people on earth, His servants. So, if
Jews are the servants in this parable, Jesus may be saying that those
Jews who obey their master are faithful and wise, but those who are
wicked can expect to be rejected.
Matthew 20:28
Jesus came to give
his life a ransom for many.
By Jesus’
sacrifice on the cross we can be saved if we believe in Him.
Matthew 23:12
Jesus says that
whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
A humble faith in
God is what He wants; humble because we are trusting in God, not
ourselves.
Matthew 24:13
– See entry for Matthew 10:22
Mark 1:4, Luke
3:3
John the Baptist
preaches a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John’s baptism is
a public declaration of repentance and belief in Jesus (Acts 19:4).
Repentant trust in Jesus saves, not water. The water is important as
a tangible, public step of obedience in response to repentance, but
repentance is the focus. Mark 1:5 says the people were baptized as
they confessed their sins, and in the baptismal passage, Luke
3:7-8, John the Baptist emphasizes the need for repentance when he
tells the people to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
Mark 2:5
Jesus sees the faith
of the people who bring the paralytic (and the paralytic, himself, I
think) and says his sins are forgiven.
They had faith and
were forgiven. It is not recorded that they specifically asked for
forgiveness, but they got it by their faith.
Mark 3:28-30
Blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit is not forgiven.
I think the only sin
that isn’t forgiven is the sin of not being willing to be forgiven,
and that is done by blaspheming the Holy Spirit, by rejecting the
work of the Holy Spirit who seeks to draw us to Christ, by treating
the Spirit as unclean, unholy, irrelevant, or even by just ignoring
Him.
Mark 8:34-37
You must deny
yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus. If you lose your
life for Jesus and the gospel you will save it.
Faith in Jesus
involves giving our lives to Jesus, and giving our lives to Jesus
means following His leading, even through difficult times. If we are
unwilling to take up our cross then we haven’t really believed in
Jesus in the true sense of giving Him control of our lives. See
also Matthew 10:38-39.
Mark 8:38, Luke
9:26
If you are ashamed
of Jesus and His words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the
Son of Man will be ashamed of you when He comes in His Father’s
glory with the holy angels.
Being ashamed of
someone means being uncomfortable being associated with him. It seems
unlikely that a person who does not want to be associated with Jesus
ever really believed in Him in the first place. At the very least,
this passage must mean that such people are not living for Jesus as
they should, and that if they are believers at all then they are the
kind about whom Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, where he says
everyone’s work will be tested by fire and, “If it is burned up,
the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved — even though
only as one escaping through the flames.”
Mark 9:19
Jesus laments his
“unbelieving generation.”
This verse is not
directly related to salvation, but it shows that faith is critical
and Jesus is concerned about the people’s lack of faith.
Mark 9:23-24
Jesus says
everything is possible to the one who believes, and the father of the
demon-possessed boy says he believes but needs help with his
unbelief.
Though not directly
related to salvation, in this passage Jesus shows the centrality of
faith by encouraging the worried father to believe.
Mark 9:42-48
– See entry for Matthew 5:29-30
Mark 9:42
If you cause a
little one who believes in Jesus to stumble, it would be better to
have a millstone around your neck and be cast into the sea.
This is apparently
directed at nonbelievers.
Mark 10:14-15
Jesus rebukes the
disciples who tried to prevent people from bringing little children
to him, saying that people must receive the kingdom of God like
little children.
We must be trusting,
like little children, to receive the kingdom of God.
Mark 10:17-31 –
See entry for Matthew 19:16-26
Mark 13:13 –
See comment on Matthew
10:22.
Mark 13:22
False Christs and
prophets will perform signs and miracles to deceive even the elect,
if that was possible.
Mark
is indicating the extremely persuasive nature of these false
miracles, false miracles strong enough to deceive even those God has
chosen, if that was possible. By adding, “if that were possible,”
Mark seems to be indicating that it is not possible, probably
because while the fake miracles are strong enough to deceive the
elect, God will protect his chosen ones.
Mark 14:24
Jesus’ blood is
poured out for many.
By Jesus’
sacrifice on the cross we can be saved if we believe in Him.
Mark 16:16
Believe and be
baptized and you will be saved. Do not believe and be condemned.
Does this mean if
you are not baptized in water that you will not be saved?
No. The thief on the
cross whom Jesus said would be with him in paradise was not baptized,
yet was saved, so then, important as it is, water baptism is not a
crucial element in salvation.
The term “baptism”
is used in various senses in the New Testament, senses that do not
all include water. For example, Jesus even seems to refer to his
crucifixion as a baptism (Luke 12:50) and suggests to his disciples
that they will be baptized with the baptism he is baptized with (Mark
10:39), apparently a reference to the martyrdom of several of them.
While Mark 16:16 is
a debated passage, if we accept it as written I think we should
understand the first part of this verse – the part that says we
should believe and be baptized – as meaning that if we really
believe, not just believe in an intellectual sense that Jesus existed
or is the Son of God, but believe in the sense of surrendering our
lives to Jesus, then Jesus will baptize us in the Holy Spirit
(Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33) and we will be saved.
And of course, if we really believe, we should follow Jesus’
example and be baptized in water as well.
But does this
baptism of Jesus’ require physical water?
Again, the thief on
the cross was not baptized in water, but certainly a baptism in the
Holy Spirit may coincide with a baptism by water, just as the Holy
Spirit came upon Jesus when he was baptized with water. But, as we
have seen, baptism does not necessarily refer to water, and in
Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist intentionally contrasts his baptizing
with water to Jesus’ baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire, again
suggesting the baptism Jesus provides does not require water.
Luke 1:50
Mary says God’s
mercy is on those who fear Him.
Those who surrender
their lives to God will fear Him in the sense that they will show a
deep respect for His power and majesty, but not fear Him in the sense
of worrying that He means His children any harm. This kind of fear
and fearlessness can coexist. So, in this passage we see Mary praise
this respectful type of fear, and then just a little further on, in
Luke 1:74, Zechariah says God rescues us so we can serve him without
fear.
Luke 1:69, 74-75
Zechariah prophesied
in song, saying that God has “raised up a horn of salvation”
(1:69) to rescue the people from their enemies and enable them to
serve Him in righteousness (1:74-75).
The horn of
salvation is “in the house of His servant David” (1:69), making
it clear that the salvation Zechariah refers to is Jesus.
Luke
1:77
Zechariah
says Jesus will give his people the knowledge of salvation through
the forgiveness of sins.
Luke
2:11
Christ
is Savior and Lord.
Luke
2:29-31
Simon
holds the child Jesus and says of Him that his (Simon’s) eyes have
seen God’s salvation.
Luke 2:30
Simon identifies
Jesus as God’s salvation.
Simon, who had been
told by the Holy Spirit that he would live to see the Christ, takes
baby Jesus in his arms and says Jesus is God’s salvation.
Luke 2:38
The prophetess Anna
speaks of Jesus to those looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke 3:3 –
See entry for Mark 1:4
Luke 3:6
Luke, quoting Isaiah
referring to Jesus, says all flesh will see the salvation of God.
Jesus is the
salvation of God! All flesh will not necessarily be saved – people
must believe to be saved – but all will see.
Luke 3:7-14
John the Baptist
warns that repentance must be accompanied by fruit.
John says the people
should produce fruit “in keeping with repentance.” If you really
repent then your life will change. If your life does not change then
that should be a warning to you; perhaps you simply need to know the
kind of fruit you should be producing, or perhaps you have not really
repented and given your life to God.
Luke 3:16-17
John the Baptist
says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire and gather
His wheat into His barn and burn up the chaff.
Jesus will one day
separate the wheat from the chaff. If you believe, you are wheat; if
you don’t, you are chaff.
Luke
5:20
When
Jesus sees the faith of the sick man and his friends who lowered him
on a pallet through the roof, Jesus forgives the man’s sins.
Luke
5:24
Jesus
tells the Pharisees that he has authority on earth to forgive sins.
Luke
5:32
Jesus
came to call sinners to repentance.
Luke 6:23 –
See entry for Matthew 5:3,10
Luke 6:35
Love and do good to
your enemies and expect nothing in return. Then you will receive a
great reward and you will be sons of the Most High.
I think this means
that if you do this you will be acting out what you really are –
sons of the Most High, and you will receive a “great reward”
rather than, perhaps, a lesser reward. It is as if a proud father
were to say after his son did something commendable, “Now, that’s
my son!” Not that he wasn’t his son before, but rather that he
has just shown it.
Thought experiment:
Suppose you live in a small town where everyone gets along and you
don’t have any enemies, are you not a son of God because you
don’t have any enemies to do good to? Clearly not. This, again,
refers to our willingness to love and do good. If we really believe
in Jesus, we will do good, even to our enemies. If we don’t believe
in Jesus, we won’t.
Luke 6:37-38
Do not judge and you
will not be judged. Do not condemn and you won’t be condemned.
Forgive and be forgiven. Give and you will be given to.
If we trust in Jesus
we will do what God wants us to do and not judge, not condemn; we
will forgive and give. Luke 6:35 says that loving our enemies is
being a son of the Most High, and 6:36 says showing mercy is
imitating our Father. So, doing these things is what children of God
do. If they do not exhibit these attributes in any way, are they
really children of God at all? Did they ever really believe? Most
likely not.
Luke 6:43-45
A good tree bears
good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. Figs do not grow on thorn
bushes.
Good actions are the
results of salvation, not a precondition. Good works are a
result of who you are.
Luke 6:46
Jesus asks why
people call him Lord but don’t do as he says.
Jesus is saying the
natural outflow of trusting in Him as Lord is to obey.
Luke
7:50
Jesus
tells the woman who poured perfume on His feet that her faith had
saved her.
Luke 8:12
The Word sown in the
heart leads to believing and being saved.
Luke 9:24-25
If you lose your
life you will gain it.
Losing our lives
means giving our lives to Jesus, believing and trusting in Him.
Luke 9:26 –
See entry for Mark 8:38
Luke 9:48
Whoever receives a
child in Jesus’ name receives Him.
In order to receive
a child in Jesus’ name, you have to believe in Jesus and be
motivated by Him.
Luke 9:62
No one who puts hand
to plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God (or fit for
service in the kingdom of God).
Jesus wants his
servants to be single-minded in service to Him, not distracted from
plowing a clean furrow by looking back at the world. While this does
not indicate that someone who is not single-minded in his
service to Jesus will be excluded from heaven, it does suggest that
such a person may not be used by God – or not used much – to
advance his kingdom in this world.
Luke 10:20
Jesus tells his
disciples to rejoice that their names are written in heaven.
Jesus seems to be
indicating that the disciples have heaven guaranteed; it is not
something that they will have to strive for throughout the rest of
their lives to earn. If there was a chance their names could be
erased from the book of life for their missteps, it wouldn’t make
much sense to rejoice.
Luke 10:25-28
When a lawyer asks
how to have eternal life, Jesus asks him what is written in the law.
The lawyer answers 1) Love God, 2) Love your neighbor. Jesus commends
him on his correct answer.
Loving our neighbor
is a natural outflow of our love of God. If we love God we will love
others.
Luke 10:38-42
Jesus says to the
busily-working Martha, who complained that Mary was not working, that
Mary’s way is best – to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to Him.
I think Jesus is
saying that if we trustingly and attentively wait on Him, everything
else flows from that – the life He wants us to live and the work He
wants us to do.
Luke 11:41
Give what is within
as charity and “all things are clean for you.”
I don’t think this
refers to eternal life, but means we should give with love. Jesus
wants us to give not out of compulsion or habit – outwardly, that
is – but from the heart – “give what is within.” I believe
this is supported by the following verse, Luke 11:42, in which Jesus
says the Pharisees were neglecting justice and the love of
God. So, if we are acting out of godly love, God counts what we do as
clean.
Luke 12:4-5 –
See entry for Matthew 10:28.
Luke 12:42-46
Jesus says that the
faithful servant will be rewarded for doing his duty; the unfaithful
servant will be cut in pieces and assigned a place with unbelievers.
The reason that the
unfaithful servant is “assigned a place with unbelievers” is
because he is an unbeliever, like Judas, who appeared to be a
believer, but was not.
Luke 12:47-48
The servant who
knows his duty and fails to do it receives many blows; the servant
who didn’t know and sinned receives few blows. To whom much is
given, much is required.
This is at the end
of a parable about a master returning home and finding his servants
either ready, or not. It comes right after Luke 12:46, which says the
calculating, cruel, drunken servant is cut into pieces and assigned a
place with the unbelievers, apparently because he was, in fact, an
unbeliever. This seems to refer to hell.
But in verses 47 and
48, Jesus turns from the intentionally rebellious servant to the
neglectful servant; the servant who really does believe but is either
lazy or ignorant. In this case it appears the punishment is
temporary, “many blows” for the one who knew what to do and
didn’t do it, and “few blows” for the one who didn’t know.
This does not seem to indicate hell because the number of blows is
limited. So, the blows may be similar in concept to the fire in 1
Corinthians 3:12-15, where Paul says everyone’s work will be tested
by fire and, “If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but
yet will be saved — even though only as one escaping through the
flames.”
Luke 13:6-8
The parable of the
fig tree keeper: Fertilize the tree first, if it still fails to
produce, cut it down.
Since Jesus is
speaking to Jews, it appears that the fig tree being cut down may be
a warning of the earthly destruction that would soon come upon the
Jewish nation.
Luke 13:23-28
Jesus says to strive
to enter by the narrow gate, and that at some point the Master will
lock the gate and ignore the entreaties of those outside. The people
will say that they ate and drank with Him and He taught among them,
but the Master of the house will say, “Depart from me, I don’t
know you or where you come from.”
Jesus is responding
to a man who asks if only a few people will be saved, and judging
from Jesus’ comments in verses 28-30, it appears more specifically
that the man was wondering if only Jews will be saved.
Jesus responds by
telling him to strive to enter through the narrow gate. He
seems to be saying that, yes, the gate to heaven is narrow and not
everybody will enter and be saved, however, if he is counting on
coasting to heaven on the basis of his birth as a Jew, he is
mistaken.
Just as is true for
Gentiles, he needs to surrender his life to Jesus. He needs to force
himself out of the thoughtless crowd, to overcome any lethargy, any
reluctance, all distractions, and make sure he knows Jesus. Notice
that when the Master of the house finally turns people away, it is
because He does not know them. We need to make sure Jesus
knows us by giving our lives to Him.
Luke 14:26
You must hate your
own family – and your own self – to be a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus is using
hyperbole to make a point. To actually hate your family would violate
Jesus’ commands to love others. I believe He means that we are to
value Him far above all things, including ourselves, if we want to be
one of his disciples. Also, this may simply address the question of
who is suited to serve as disciples to Jesus and not particularly who
goes to heaven.
Luke 14:33
You must give up all
your possessions to be Jesus’ disciple. Jesus says we must count
the cost and make a good choice, as the king with a 10,000-man army
does when faced with a king with 20,000-man army.
Jesus is addressing
a large crowd (Luke 14:25), so he is speaking to all kinds of people,
some of whom are not suited to be among his core disciples, and He
wants these people to consider the difficulties these core disciples
face. So, the opposing king with 20,000 men represents those
difficulties.
Perhaps some of
these people in the crowd are more suited to supporting the core
disciples than actually being one. Perhaps, then, Jesus is paring
down the number of close disciples to only the most suited, much as
Gideon pared down his army to a mere 300. But just as that paring
down did not mean that the rest of Gideon’s army was punished in
any way, so I do not believe those who decide not to be part of the
core group of disciples are punished in any way or excluded from
heaven.
Luke 18:28-30
The disciples tell
Jesus they have left all to follow Him, and Jesus tells them they
will receive back much more in this life, and eternal life as well.
Jesus is promising
an earthly reward to those who have given up family for the sake of
God, and is assuring them they will not miss out on eternal life
either.
Salvation, Faith Alone or Faith Plus Works - Part III
Zaccheus is eager to
see Jesus, and when Jesus says He must stay at his house, Zaccheus is
excited and repents and offers to give half his wealth to the poor
and repay four times as much to anyone he defrauded. Jesus says
salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham
and that He came to seek and save the lost.
Zaccheus believed in
Jesus – he “welcomed him gladly” – and that belief resulted
in his generosity and his salvation.
Jesus says one of
the reasons for his salvation is that Zaccheus is “a son of
Abraham.” I think Jesus is saying that Zaccheus is showing exactly
the kind of faith Abraham showed; he is a true son of his father
Abraham.
Luke 19:12-27
The servant who does
nothing with the mina is rebuked and has what little he had taken
from him.
The master had told
the man to do business with the money and he didn’t.
It seems doubtful
that this passage refers to salvation, but if it does, a rebuke is
not necessarily the same as hell. However, if this passage does refer
to salvation, it appears the servant did not have faith since he did
not act on it even though he had opportunity.
Luke 23:34
On the cross Jesus
asks the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him because they
don’t know what they are doing.
Jesus prayed for
those who were to some degree ignorant in crucifying Him, perhaps
because they had been told and believed it to be the righteous thing
to do. It was a prayer meant to be heard by both the Father and those
around the cross, asking the Father to forgive them, and encouraging
those around the cross to believe. Perhaps this prayer was answered
during Peter’s sermon shortly thereafter in Jerusalem, when so many
– perhaps even of those who crucified Him – believed in Jesus.
John 1:7
John the Baptist
came to testify about the light, so that “all men might believe.”
In John 1 Jesus is
identified as the light, and John’s whole mission in life was to
encourage people to believe in Jesus. How critical it is to believe!
John 1:12-13
To all who received
Jesus He gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:29
Jesus is the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world.
John 3:3-6
You must be born
again, of water and of the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh; the
Spirit gives birth to spirit.
We are born again of
the spirit when we believe in Jesus.
John 3:15
Everyone who
believes in Jesus may have eternal life.
John 3:16
Whoever believes in
the Son shall have eternal life.
John 3:17
God sent Jesus to
save the world through Him.
John 3:18
Whoever believes in
Jesus is not condemned.
John 4:14
Jesus says the water
He gives will become “a spring of water welling up to eternal
life.”
John 4:39, 41
Many Samaritans
believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony and by hearing
His words.
John 4:42
Many of the
Samaritans believe that Jesus is the “Savior of the world.”
John 4:48
Jesus laments that
unless the people see miraculous signs, they will not believe.
In the middle of
hearing a request to heal a sick boy, Jesus takes time to say how
important it is to believe.
John 5:24
Those who hear
Jesus’ word and believe in God who sent Him has eternal life.
John 5:25
Jesus says that a
time is coming, and has already come, when the dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God and live.
This may refer in
part to the final resurrection from the dead, but since it also says
that the time has already come, it mainly seems to mean that
if we respond to Jesus’ voice calling us we will live.
John 5:29-30
There is a
resurrection of those who did good and of those who did evil, a
resurrection to life or to judgment.
The good are those
who believe in Jesus (and, because of that, live out their faith) and
the evil are those who do not believe.
John 5:32-34
Jesus says John the
Baptist testified about Him, and Jesus mentions this, “that you may
be saved.”
John 5:38-40
They study the
scriptures that testify of Jesus, yet refuse to come to Jesus and
have life.
John 6:27, 29
Do not work for food
that spoils but food that endures to eternal life, which Jesus will
give you. The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.
What we need to do,
our “work” in this passage, is to believe.
John
6:29
Jesus
tells the people that the work that God requires is “to believe in
the One He has sent.”
John 6:32-35
Jesus is the bread
of life who comes from heaven so those who come to Him will never be
hungry and those who believe in Him will never thirst.
John 6:35
Jesus is the bread
of life. The one who comes to Jesus will never go hungry and the one
who believes in Him will never be thirsty.
John 6:40
The Father’s will
is that everyone who looks at the Son and believes in him shall have
eternal life, and Jesus will raise him on the last day.
John 6:47
He who believes [in
Jesus, from the context] has everlasting life.
John
6:48, 50-51
Jesus
is the bread of life. The one who eats this bread will never die but
live forever.
Jesus
equates believing in Him – following on the previous verse, John
6:47 – to eating His flesh. We need to take Jesus into our lives
by believing in Him. In John 6:63 Jesus explains that He is speaking
spiritually, not physically.
John 6:51
Jesus is the bread
that comes down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live
forever.
John 6:53-58
Jesus said he is the
bread of life and anyone who eats His flesh and drinks His blood will
have have eternal life.
Jesus uses graphic,
dramatic and unforgettable language to say we need to take Him into
our lives. When the disciples are bothered by His words He explains
(John 6:63) that He is speaking spiritually, not physically.
John 6:64
Jesus says,
referring to Judas, that there are some do not believe.
Jesus makes clear
that Judas did not so much fall away as simply not believe in the
first place.
John 6:68-69
Peter says that
Jesus has the words of eternal life and that they [the disciples]
believe in him.
Jesus’ does not
contradict that He has the words of eternal life, but denies that all
of them (thinking of Judas) really believe.
John 7:31
Many in the crowd
put their faith in Jesus.
John 7:38-39
Jesus says that
whoever believes in Him will receive the Spirit.
It seems likely that
those who believe and receive the Spirit that Jesus gives will be
included in heaven.
John 8:12
Whoever follows
Jesus will have the light of life.
John 8:19
To know Jesus is to
know His Father.
John 8:24
Jesus warns that the
Pharisees will die in their sins if they do not believe Jesus is the
one He claims to be.
John 8:30
As Jesus spoke many
put their faith in Him.
John 8:31
Jesus tells those
who “believed” in Him that if they hold to his teaching they are
really his disciples.
In this passage
Jesus does not seem to be addressing those who really believed in Him
in the sense that they have given their lives to Him, so it is not
saying that if you slip up that you are lost.
Looking at John
8:37-49, these people did not believe in a trusting way because Jesus
said they have “no room for my word” and they were doing “what
you have heard from your father” (the devil), and they were
“determined to kill” Jesus. God, He said, is not their Father
because they do not love Jesus, and “You belong to your father, the
devil,” and they “do not believe me” and “The reason you do
not hear is that you do not belong to God,” and they answered Jesus
and accused him of being a Samaritan and demon possessed, and Jesus
said they “dishonor” Him. So, their belief was apparently just an
acknowledgement of Jesus in some minimal fashion, not a giving their
hearts to Him.
John 8:36
Jesus says that if
the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:47
Those who belong to
God hear what God says; those who don’t hear don’t know God.
John 8:51
Anyone who keeps
Jesus’ word will never see death.
What Jesus wants us
to do is believe in Him. If we do that we will never see eternal
death and we will live the kind of lives He wants us to live. In
verse 8:39, Jesus says that if the people he was talking to were
Abraham’s children, then they would act like Abraham, and in 8:42
He says that if they were God’s children, then they would love Him
(Jesus). In 8:44 He says they act the way they do because they belong
to their father, the devil; and in 8:47 He says they do not hear what
He says because they do not belong to God.
So, we need to be
God’s children, and if we are children of God by believing
in Jesus, then we will do what our Father wants, just as those
whose father is the devil do what the devil wants.
John 9:41
Jesus says if you
are blind you have no sin.
Jesus had just
healed a physically blind man, who then believed in Him, so the man
was given both physical and spiritual sight. Then, in John 9:39 Jesus
says that he came into the world so the blind will see and those who
see become blind (the Pharisees immediately recognized that he was
speaking of them). I think when Jesus refers to making those who see
become blind, He means that his message will be offensive to many
(such as the Pharisees) and they will close their eyes to Him.
In John 9:41 I think
Jesus means that those things we do that we do not understand to be
wrong will not be counted against us, but this does not let us off
the hook because there are so many things we do that are wrong that
we do understand to be wrong.
John 10:3-5
Jesus is the true
shepherd. His sheep follow him and will never follow a stranger.
Those who love
Jesus, who belong to Him, will hear His voice and follow Him. It is
not that they will someday be His
sheep; they already are His sheep and because they are His
sheep they will follow Him.
John 10:26-28
They do not believe
because they are not Jesus’ sheep. His sheep hear his voice, follow
Him, and he gives them eternal life.
John 11:15
Jesus says He is
glad He was not there when Lazarus died, so that His disciples may
believe.
Teaching His
disciples to believe was so important that Jesus delayed going to
heal sick Lazarus and actually let him die so that his disciples
would believe when Jesus raised him from the dead (John 11:43-44).
John 11:25-26
Jesus says He is the
resurrection and the life and the person who believes in Him will
live even if he dies, and whoever lives and believes in Him will
never die.
John 11:42
Jesus is about to
resurrect Lazurus and prays aloud, saying he is praying this way for
the benefit of the people, that they may believe that the Father sent
Him.
John 11:45
Many believed in
Jesus.
John 11:49-53
Caiaphas prophesies
that it is better for one man, Jesus, to die than for the whole
nation to perish. John says this is a prophesy that Jesus died for
all the scattered children of God to make them one.
John 12:11
On account of
Lazarus many Jews were putting their faith in Jesus.
John 12:25
He who loves this
life will loose it but he who hates his life in this world will keep
it for eternal life.
Love your life and
lose it; hate this life and keep it for eternity. The Father will
honor any who serve Jesus.
I believe Jesus
means this in the same way as when he says we must hate our families
(Luke 14:26). In other words, that our love for family and our love
for this life should be so overshadowed by our love for Jesus that it
is like hate by comparison.
He says if we do
love this life first of all then we will eventually lose it and have
nothing to replace it with. If we love the world first, then we never
really surrendered our lives to Jesus; we surrendered to the world.
But if we hate it (in comparison to our love for Jesus and spending
eternity with Him) then we have a God-life that we will keep forever.
John 12:36
Jesus tells the
people to put their trust in the light while they have it so they may
become sons of light.
John 12:37
John laments that
despite Jesus’ miracles the people would not believe in him.
John 12:39-40
John says the people
could not believe in him because their eyes had been blinded and
their hearts had been deadened.
John 12:42-43
Many leaders
believed in Jesus, but kept quiet because they loved men’s praise
more than God’s.
It is unclear
whether these leaders’ faith was real and weak, or false, but
either way, John points out the critical importance of faith.
John 12:44-45
Jesus says that
believing in Him is also believing in the Father.
John 12:46-48
Jesus says that
those who believe in Him will not remain in darkness (12:46) and adds
in 12:47-48 that those who do not keep His words, but reject Him,
will be condemned on the last day.
John 12:50
Jesus says the
Father’s command leads to eternal life.
And the Father’s
will is that we look to the Son and believe in him. (John 6:40).
John 13:8, 10
Jesus tells Peter
that if He does not wash him, he has no part with Him. He adds in
13:10 that if a person has bathed he only needs to wash his feet.
Jesus does not mean
that people are alienated from him unless He physically washes their
feet. After all, He was about to leave them and wouldn’t be
physically present to wash feet. Rather, Jesus means that He must
cleanse them spiritually.
Also, in verse 10
Jesus tells the disciples that there are two kinds of cleansing – a
“whole body” cleansing, for heaven I would assume, and feet
washing, for – I believe – serving Jesus on earth. Jesus seems to
mean that when we believe in Him we are essentially clean, but we
need to come to Him regularly to remove the dust of sin we gather as
we walk through the world. So I believe Jesus is saying that we can
have no part in His ministry to the world if we don’t keep coming
to Him to be cleansed from the little daily sins that we commit.
John 13:19
Jesus says he is
telling the disciples that someone will betray him, so that when it
happens, they will believe “that I am He.”
John 13:20
Whoever accepts one
whom Jesus sends, accepts Jesus, and whoever accepts Jesus accepts
the one who sent Him.
Jesus sends His
disciples to testify about Him. If we accept these messengers –
which includes accepting their message about Jesus – we accept
Jesus.
John 14:1
Jesus says to trust
in God and trust in Him.
John 14:6
Jesus says He is the
way, truth and life. He is the only way to the Father.
Works are not an
alternate way. Jesus is the only way.
John 14:15
Jesus says that if
people love Him they will keep His commandments.
If we love Jesus it
will be natural to obey Him.
John 14:21
The one who keeps
Jesus’ commands is the one who loves Him, and that one will be
loved by the Father.
Keeping Jesus’
commands is not a precondition to loving Jesus and being loved by the
Father, but rather, love is the precondition to obeying Jesus. We
naturally obey Jesus if we love Him.
John 14:23
If you love Jesus
you’ll keep His word and the Father will love you.
Loving Jesus is the
motivation to keeping His word.
John 15:3,4-5
In this passage
about fruitfulness Jesus says his followers are already clean because
of “the word I have spoken to you.” He tells them to remain in
Him and He will remain in them.
If we believe in
Jesus we are already clean, and if we walk with Jesus we will be
fruitful for Him.
John 15:6
If anyone does not
abide in Jesus, he is thrown away as a branch and burned.
This passage is in
the context of bearing fruit. As Jesus prepares for being arrested
and for His final days on earth, He is teaching his disciples how to
live. If we do not abide in Jesus we will bear no fruit and will –
like dry branches – be discarded from participating in His work on
earth. If we do bear fruit (John 15:8) we show ourselves to be Jesus’
disciples – it is the evidence of our faith. So, I don’t think
Jesus is warning his disciples that they may go to hell (especially
since he reassures them in 15:3 that they “are already clean”),
but rather He is telling then how to live so He can use them on earth
when he returns to heaven, and is telling them that if they do not
abide in Him then they will be of no earthly use, and will be
discarded from His great work.
So, while I doubt
that the discarding and burning refers to hell, if it does mean that
then we may understand that the one who does not “abide” (trust
in) Jesus lacks faith and, according to John 14:24, does not love
Jesus. If he did love Jesus he would have obeyed Him. If so, then
perhaps Jesus means that there are those (the discarded branches) who
appear to be part of the body (like Judas) but really are not; they
are just dead wood attached to the body.
John 15:10
If we obey his
commands, we will remain in Jesus’ love.
Are we then
condemned if we do not always obey His commands?
No. This passage is
in the context of daily life, not in the context of eternal
salvation. It is part of a section of instructions about how we can
be productive, how, if we, like the branch of the vine, remain
attached to the vine, we will bear much fruit (John 15:1-8). Jesus
emphasizes this here-and-now aspect by saying that he is telling us
this so that we may experience full joy in Him (John 15:11). So, I
would say that this passage means that if we obey Jesus’ commands,
we are living in the flow of His love.
John 15:14
We are Jesus friends
if we do what He commands.
Doing what Jesus
commands is evidence that we are his friends.
John 15:22, 24
If the people had
not seen Jesus perform miracles among them, they would not be guilty
of sin.
The sin Jesus seems
to be referring to here is the sin of rejecting Him.
Understanding that
we have sinned makes us responsible for that sin. When Jesus made
himself clear by speaking and by doing miracles, those who heard and
saw had no further excuse. They needed to repent and believe. We may
not be guilt of a particular sin if we are ignorant that it is
sinful, but there are so many things we all do that we do
understand to be sinful, that we are hardly off the hook.
John 16:9
Jesus said the
Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will come and will convict the world of
sin because the world does not believe in Jesus.
John 16:27
Jesus says the
Father loves the disciples because they loved Jesus and believed the
Father sent Him.
John 16:30-31
After the disciples
tell Jesus that they believe in Him, Jesus rejoices and says that
they “believe at last!”
John 17:3
Jesus says eternal
life is knowing the only true God, and Jesus, whom He has sent.
John 17:8
Jesus’ followers
believed the Father sent Him.
In this prayer of
Jesus, as He comes to the close of His earthly ministry, He rejoices
that He has accomplished what the Father wanted – the disciples
believe!
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