Faith

I hope you will forgive me for taking a step backward for a few weeks.  In order to fully address what makes a person a disciple, it is necessary to first examine what makes one saved in the first place.  This is a question that, on the surface, looks fairly straightforward.  However, given the wide range of responses to this question, it’s critical we set a foundation to work upon.

One of the Bible’s most loved verses sums up the one requirement quite neatly.

For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

This is part of the teaching that Jesus gives to Nicodemus when asked what a man must do to inherit eternal life.  In it, Jesus gives a clear if/then statement – whoever believes in him receives eternal life.  The statement also makes it clear that faith is the sole requirement of receiving salvation.  If, for example, salvation was secured by having faith in Jesus Christ and by donating a minimum of $5000 to charity in one’s lifetime, the statement would need to be amended to “Whoever believes in Him and donates $5000.” 

“But Mark!” you may say.  “What about Mark 16:16?”  Good question.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  (Mark 16:16)

In this case, the reverse is not true.  This verse may appear initially to state that water baptism is also a requirement for salvation.*  This is disproved for two reasons:  first, because Jesus would be contradicting his earlier words if baptism was also a requirement of salvation, and second, because Jesus’ words do not exclude the unbaptized from salvation.  If faith in Christ is the one thing necessary to receive salvation, it then follows that anyone who believes and is baptized is also saved.  Also note that when stating the inverse, Jesus does not condemn those who have not been baptized.

There are, then, two additional points to iron out.  The first of these points is what it means to believe in Christ.  It does not only mean that one must believe the facts of Jesus’ life – that is head knowledge only, and James addresses that very neatly in his epistle:

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.  (James 2:19 NIV)

Belief in God is not just head knowledge.  For us to believe in Christ is the same belief that a child says to his father when he says, “I believe in you.”  Belief is trust, confidence, faith; acknowledging that you are completely and wholly in the care and control of eternal God.  Saving faith is both head knowledge and heart knowledge – you cannot believe in Christ if you do not know Christ.

The second point to iron out is this: It is a common belief that if one is a decent enough person, they will go to heaven when they die.  This is, quite frankly, mixing up cause and effect.  John addresses this in his first epistle:

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.  (1 John 3:9-10)

Good works are evidence, but not proof, of salvation – after all, a person can do good works due to a philosophy, commitment, training, or just a general desire to ‘be a good person’.  The absence of good works, however, is an indication that one does not have saving faith.  Saving faith transforms.

for His glory,

Mark

*I will, at a later time, examine the difference between water baptism and spiritual baptism, but that’s a topic for another day.