July's featured article
Is Faith the Only Condition for Eternal Salvation?
Or, The Biblical Doctrine of Justification by Faith
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from Death unto Life"
(John 5:24).
by Tom Stewart
Preface
The question, "Is faith the only condition for Eternal Salvation?", is crucial to the Body of Christ, because the answer on one extreme leads to antinomianism (the concept that faith alone, WITHOUT obedience to the Moral Law of loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39), is all that is necessary for Salvation), while the other extreme results in the "unfruitful works of darkness" (Ephesians 5:11) as seen in the sacramental salvation of the Church of Rome. The antinomian declares anathema against any works in Salvation, as a type of legalism.
But, they forget that the LORD Jesus Christ declared faith to be a work that man was to perform. "28 Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent" (John 6:28-29). In addition, the Apostle Paul exhorted the Philippian Christians to be personally active in their own Salvation. "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12).
The "other extreme" is represented by Roman Catholicism, which has traditionally been Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5). It has, more than any other false cult, made "works" a dirty word. Our response is that Rome's salvation depends upon faith in Rome, while Christ's Salvation depends upon faith in Christ. "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey" (Romans 6:16). So then, faith in Christ is the great work we are called to do. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent" (John 6:29).
The appropriate response to the question, "Is faith the only condition for Eternal Salvation?", is JESUS SAVES. "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Though it is true that faith saves, i.e., "Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31), faith saves only because JESUS SAVES. And, yes, there are Other Conditions for our Justification; but, the keeping of all the conditions in the world does not truly save us.
JESUS SAVES! "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5). If we can focus upon the real issue of our Eternal Salvation-- that JESUS SAVES-- then we can settle the question, "Is faith the only condition for Eternal Salvation?", with satisfaction. "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Name of our LORD Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1Corinthians 1:10).
A Historical Note
When Martin Luther raised that blessed cry against the errors of the Church of Rome, Evangelical Christianity renewed its commitment to the doctrine of justification by faith. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). What freedom, to be justified by faith in Christ, than to be bound by the uncertainty of Rome's salvation! "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" (1Corinthians 7:23).
As a consequence, what Bible Believing Christian today cannot recognize the quotation, "8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9)? And, so great is our certainty concerning justification by faith, that the undoubted sentiment is that only a religious cult would desire to add a single condition to Eternal Life than faith. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14).
However, what may be neglected in professing Christianity's understanding of the faith that justifies is that faith works; or, as Charles G. Finney phrased it in his "Systematic Theology" (1851):
"[Faith] is not a feeling of any kind; that is, it does not belong to, and is not a phenomenon of, the sensibility. The phenomena of the sensibility are passive states of mind, and therefore have no moral character in themselves. Faith, regarded as a virtue, cannot consist in any involuntary state of mind whatever. It is represented in the Bible as an active and most efficient state of mind. It works and 'works by love.' It produces 'the obedience of faith'" (from Lecture 55 on "Faith and Unbelief").
Faith is anything but passive, for "by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten son" (Hebrews 11:17). Faith is so bound up in the Other Conditions for our Justification, that to knowingly omit those other conditions, would declare our faith to be dead. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). All the Other Conditions of our Justification are part of Evangelical Faith and are conditions for Eternal Salvation. These conditions may properly be called the Works of Faith, such as, perseverance (which is a description of those who follow Jesus to Heaven). "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed" (John 8:31).
Is Faith the Only Condition for Eternal Salvation?
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Do you have a called of God ministry where your whole purpose is to "feed the sheep", and God supplies your needs, or do you have books, tapes, videos, etc. that you SELL for a "donation", or just outright SELL, and your buyers supply your needs?
There is nothing wrong with being in business and selling things. However, if you are a church or any kind of "ministry", you may want to check your motive for how you are conducting the work of the Lord.
Remember the money changers in the temple where JESUS turned over the tables and threw them out. They were selling things in the "CHURCH".
(God made it quite clear to us that we were not to charge for anything, that HE is our source.)
