A curious phrase, appears no less than ten times in the Bible, nine of which concern Abram. We discover it first in Genesis. This phrase is a small, subtle, one line blessing for the man of faith, which will go on to rock centuries of the religious world! Genesis 15:6: “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” This important statement spotlights the core ingredient of all religious faith, “belief.”
We look to Abram as a spiritual model. He is the progenitor of the tithe, father to three world religions and a friend of the Almighty. Armed with Abram’s faith, we climb mountains. The goal? A righteousness like that of the Patriarch! We admire Abram’s faith as we surmise, Abram believed God and received righteousness. It is for this type of faith, we all strive!
As always, at A Faith that Obeys, we are compelled to define our terms before we begin our journey of discovery, striving for deeper understanding on that smooth, winding, country road of life and doctrine.
Works, that’s a funny sounding word when you just say it out loud.
Works!
This little word can have a variety of meanings.
A computer “works,” meaning it operates.
A municipality has public “works,” the infrastructure, built to support the smooth operation of a community.
A person “works,” meaning they put forth labor to produce something.
A religious person might perform good “works” or good “deeds,” meaning they are performing a religious activity or action for the purpose of pleasing God.
The Go-To Word!
When we have that debate about God’s requirement that a person must be baptized to be saved, it is often to this word, “works,” the argument turns. The anti-baptists say, “Man cannot be saved by works.”
I can’t argue with that statement.
They are correct because the Bible teaches, “Man cannot be saved by works.”
Surprisingly, both the anti-baptism folks and the folks who believe that baptism is indeed necessary for salvation agree on this point. We cannot be saved by works… so, what’s the problem?
The problem is we have not defined the meaning of the word, “works.”
What is a “work?”
Well, it depends on the “word use.” You know how the word is being used. This depends heavily on the context of where and how the word is being used.
If we are using the word “work” to refer to a “good deed” someone does in order to gain favor with God, that’s a different “word use” than if we say, “We are working FOR God” as God commands us to do.
Is Prayer a Work?
For example, when Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” We don’t consider his instructions to mean we are to perform some kind of good deeds kind of work. We see his instructions and we are obligated to obey, to the best of our ability. In this case we might say to a friend, “I have really been working in prayer for you.”
Here’s another example. When Jesus gave us the Lord’s Supper and said. “Do this in remembrance of me.” This is a religious activity we do it because we eagerly want to do what he has asked us to do. We do it because we love him. Activity is another word for work though it carries a more gentle meaning.
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
John 1:12 – Dana Haynes
This passage of scripture is used by the evangelical church to demonstrate that a person becomes a Christian when they accept Christ for the first time. A popular metaphorical formula was developed, probably in the 60’s to help people remember this plan of salvation. It reads like this: “Believe + Receive = Become.” In other words, if you believe in Christ and you receive Christ, you become a Christian. The problem is, this formula is wrong.
Grammar 101 – Verbs
Read the passage again. The verb in the last phrase is not “become,” it is “gave.” When we believe and receive, God gives us something. He gives us the “right” to become. We don’t “become” anything upon our decision to receive the message with an open heart. While it may be true that God gives us a new gift, the “right to become his child,” this is not yet salvation!
The problem with this form of teaching lies in the conclusion it offers. The conclusion the Evangelical world presents is that a person is saved when they receive Christ. This is wrong; dangerously wrong.
The Wrong Path
When a person is taught that they become a Christian when they first believe and receive, they are set on a false path to Heaven. Just think about it. If I follow this unbiblical practice and believe I am saved at the time of my acceptance there is no point in a variety of other commands Jesus gave his disciples. If we examine those commands, we discover that they always precede the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins is never bestowed on a believer before they obey Christ’s commands. Because I believe I am already a Christian before obedience, what is the point of confession, repentance and baptism? Those commands always precede the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, when we look at them in the Bible.
Following this incomplete pattern does not lead to salvation. Yet this pattern is presented, practiced and promoted, with vigor, by most Evangelicals today. It bears a striking resemblance to a pattern Jesus identified in his own ministry. Take a look.
Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Editor’s Note: This is the audio from the first lesson about The Biblical Plan of Salvation . You may view the entire video series starting HERE.
Rhodi Lopez via UnSplash.com
You know, many people believe the United States is still a Christian nation.
But, I’ll bet you didn’t know Christianity is a dead religion! Yes. You heard that correctly. Christianity is a dead religion. And believe it or not, that’s a good thing! Now, that statement might surprise you. But, what if I told you that in three minutes from now, you will not only agree with that statement but you may actually be excited about what this could mean for your own personal walk with God?
Intrigued? Lets go!
Origins of the Bible
As you might know, the original Bible texts were written in Hebrew and Greek.
In the fourth century, a fellow named Jerome, translated the Bible into the Latin language. The Latin translation of the Bible is called the Vulgate.
Latin, in Jerome’s time, was the common language of the Roman Empire. Latin is such a precise language that it’s still valuable today. The medical community, the legal system and many other disciplines use Latin words and phrases.
It’s even on our money “e pluribus unum,” which means, out of many we are one. Even though Latin is such a powerful useful language, every scholar will confidently tell you “Latin is a dead language!”
Obviously, this does not mean Latin is no longer used. It means, the language stopped growing nearly two thousand years ago. People stopped speaking it. Today, no one speaks Latin as their native language. All the words, the phrases, the idioms, figures of speech… it all got locked down. Nothing new was created.
As a result, the latin language became sort of an ancient linguistic boundary stone which can’t be moved. Words and phrases that existed back then, mean exactly the same thing today and they will mean exactly the same thing a thousand years for now. The grammar of Latin is so well established that there is no confusion as to meanings or definitions.
So, Latin is a dead language and that’s a good thing because… when your doctor uses a Latin phrase as he communicates with your pharmacist, the meaning is clear and you are safe!
Hopefully you see where I’m going with this.
Dead Things Don’t Move!
The same principal is true regarding the Christian religion! When God gave us the Bible, He locked it down! The teachings, practices and doctrines of the Christian religion were clearly established and they will never change. Just as Latin is a dead language, Christianity is a dead religion. It is locked down!
Today’s lesson is something which has been on my heart for years. I have shared the Biblical Plan of Salvation with many religious leaders, pastors and elders over the years. They are pretty quick to reject it. The one common factor in each case was their lack of willingness to listen to me… to hear me out.
Several years ago, I was amazed when I discovered that the Bible actually talks about this condition quite a bit so I thought I might share that lesson with you today.
Have you ever considered the critical emphasis, the Bible places on our ability or our willingness to “listen?”
From the opening accounts of Genesis where Adam and Eve listened to… but chose not to obey God’s commands, to the very end of the ages where the angel of Revelation tells us, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches;” there is an extraordinary and unmistakeable emphasis placed on our need to constantly listen for God’s direction and commands.
Regarding God’s directions, sometimes the message comes from the most unexpected place. This is why we must always be on our toes… carefully listening. Once, God’s direction came from from a burning bush. Once it came by way of a gentle whisper. Once, it happened all over Pharaoh in the form ten plagues. Godly advice even came from Jethro, Moses father-in-law, who was a pagan priest of Median, not a Jew.
Sometimes Godly direction or prompting comes through that patient small voice of a neighbor, close relative or even a child. God’s message might come to us in a variety of ways but the only reliable verification of what we hear are the scriptures themselves. Not every prompting which seems to come from God is from God. And, we must always carefully test the message.
The only way we can ever be sure is by carefully evaluating what we hear by exposing it to the light of scripture. While God providing direction might come from a variety of sources… God’s commands… which must be obeyed… will ONLY come from the Bible.
We must carefully listen for both God’s direction and commands. Let me present a few passages of scripture and consider just how critical listening is, EVEN for salvation.
In Luke 8:18, Jesus concludes a short parable with a very curious command. It is a very short phrase which most people misunderstand or gloss over. Here it is.
Everyone agrees; it is a serious thing to misquote scripture. Jer 14:14 and Deu 18:20 tells us about that! However, scripture is often misused and misquoted. There are a handful of favorites. How about, “Money is the root of all evil?” That’s a misquote. The Bible actually says, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Money itself is not the problem, the problem is greed. (1 Timothy 6:10)
Misusing or misquoting the Bible is commonplace. It can be excused when coming from an atheist and frankly, an atheist using the bible as his source of authority when arguing about a religious matters ought to be excused. Misquoting the bible can be understood when when it comes from a believer who is not really familiar with the scriptures. But misquoting the bible should never be tolerated when it comes from some of our greatest and most trusted biblical scholars!
A Stunning Revelation
Recently, in the course of my regular, daily Bible study, I was absolutely stunned when I realized how pervasive, entrenched and completely accepted one particular misquote has become. Entire denominations have been built around this misquote. Yet, when I stopped to really think about it, I was left flabbergasted. How could a biblical error so obvious be so missed and even accepted by some of our best biblical scholars?
Let me give you a bit of perspective and let’s see if you are not as shocked as I was when this dawned on me. When a scripture is misquoted, by definition this means the misquote is not from God. It is a twisting of the truth. We should never tolerate or accept that, right? This particular misquote leads people astray. This misquote is vigorously protected and defended, sometimes with great emotion. It is wildly popular. It is used in nearly every church. It has stood the test of time. It has been lauded and embraced by some of the greatest bible teachers and preachers in history. Many prominent scholars claim it as an infallible doctrine of holy writ… but, they are wrong. Do I have your attention?
I am not suggesting the kind of heart ripping, character trashing, irrational, sort of emotional argument like cranky lover’s have. Let’s start an argument like Plato, Socrates, Aristotle or Jesus might have had. Let’s start one of those amazing arguments which ultimately leads us both down a path toward deeper, richer discoveries of truth, beauty and wisdom… a grand argument of enlightenment!
Remember how Jesus did it? An issue was raised and all he needed to do was ask one question to get the rolling ball halted in its tracks.
“But what about you… who do YOU say I am?”
“Whose inscription is on this coin?”
“Tell me, John’s baptism… was it from God or from men?”
A Cleverly Crafted Question
Wow! A good presupposition can sure crumble under the scrutiny of a clever question! In fact, really good arguments may be more about crafting the question than presenting your position! A carefully crafted, sharpened to a fine point question… at just the right time… makes us think… makes us reconsider… and if we’re humble enough, makes us surrender our weaker positions.
Let’s have the kind of argument which so strongly embraces our shared quest of drawing closer to our mysterious and majestic God, that it forms a bond between us… so strong; nothing will ever tear us apart! Let’s forge such an indomitable relationship that the rusty ol’ gates of that ancient abyss will rattle with fear!
