Doctrines of Belief and Faith
How One Comes to Saving Faith
Luke 7:50 – 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Jesus EXPLICITLY states that it was the woman’s FAITH that saved her, no mention of anything she did, no works, efforts, and by merit.
John 3:3, 5, 8 – 3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God… 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.””
No one chooses to be born. No one had a say in their birth. Same is true for being BORN AGAIN. We, humans, ourselves, do not KNOW if, when, how God may come upon us and make us born again. But what we do know is that we can’t SEE or ENTER the Kingdom “unless someone is born of water and the Spirit” and BORN AGAIN.
John 6:37, 44-45 – 37 Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out... 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
Everyone, every single one, God the Father GIVES to Jesus, WILL come to Jesus. Period. 100% of them. All of them. The use of “will” is definite, without question or alternate possibility, ‘X’ will do ‘Y’.
And the reverse is true, NO ONE CAN COME to Jesus UNLESS God the Father DRAWS HIM. Therefore, God the Father GIVES all those who are saved to Jesus and DRAWS them to Jesus. He draws them by TEACHING them about his Son, not just hearing about it alone. The more people KNOW AND BELIEVE about the real and true Jesus, the more they want him and are drawn to him.
Acts 16:31 – 31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Belief is THE defining factor and essential element of eternal salivation. ZERO mention here of maintaining some sort of religious rituals, traditions, or efforts to count toward salvation; only granted belief in the Lord Jesus.
Romans 6:23 – 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God literally, out of his own grace, mercy, love, and will, GIFTS us Eternal life.
Who Will Not Be Saved
John 6:37, 44-45, 64-65 – 37 Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. .. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
Those who were NOT given to Jesus. They don’t come to Jesus because they were NOT given to Jesus. NO ONE can come to Jesus without God the Father willing it. Therefore, those whom God the Father has NOT willed, won’t come to Jesus. Only those who not only hear about the real Jesus, but also LEARN (believe it to be so) FROM GOD THE FATHER, come to Jesus.
Despite HEARING (not learning), first hand, personally, the voice of God incarnate, they still did not believe, why? Because God the Father did NOT grant it, HE didn’t teach them, so, they don’t.
False Converts
Matthew 7:21-23 – 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Can’t be more clear than this. NOT everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven. Pretty clear. Even these sorts of religious spiritual people. These people did all these things, even miracles, in Jesus’ name, but they too didn’t really know Jesus and Jesus didn’t know them. They were NOT children of God. They were doing religious spiritual works, yet, that didn’t merit them any favor, at all. They ran around their whole religious life thinking they were justified before God Almighty and that their good deeds were pleasing to God… none of that was true.
Matthew 21:28-31 – 28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. 30 And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.
The son of the man who eventually yet reluctantly did the will of the father, will enter eternal life by the skin of their teeth BUT the son of said he will serve his father, but didn’t, won’t. It was the FAITH in the Father to LOVE and HONOR HIM and compelled the first son of eventually desire to obey and that faith compelled him to obey and act. The second son had no faith, which lead to no desire to honor his father and no willful compulsion to obey, so, he didn’t. The Second Son is the false convert, who only says they follow Jesus, but doesn’t actually follow him and has no real desire to.
Works/ Merit Based or Man’s Assistance in Salvation
Genesis 15:6 – 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He credited it to him as righteousness.
See the chain of faith? First Abraham BELIEVED “in the Lord” and THEN God “credited” TO HIM righteousness. So, it wasn’t from his works initially but was given, granted, imputed, and credited TO HIM from GOD by GOD which GOD deemed righteousness. Faith proceeds righteous works.
Isaiah 64:6 – 6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away.
Major problem for all those who think their works merit favor and salvation. God disagrees with them and their efforts, and actually calls our attempted “righteous deeds” filthy mensural rags (proper translation), or, more nicely put “filthy garments”. We are all tainted and corrupted by sin, period. No one is sinless (1 John 1:8).
Matthew 21:28-31 – 28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. 30 And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.
The first son, because of the love of his father he already had, it compelled him to do what even he didn’t want to do, because it was something his father asked of him already. The Father wouldn’t have asked him if he knew he couldn’t do it, but he knew he could, and knew he would, and he eventually did. The second son did only what HE wanted to do, and not the will of the father.
Luke 7:50 – 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Jesus EXPLICITLY states that it was the woman’s FAITH that saved her, and not anything she did.
John 6:38-40, 44, 53, 63, 65 – 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day…” 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day... 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves…63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life... 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
It is GOD’S DECREE that people come to Jesus, not the people’s will themselves to come to Jesus. Can’t be any more exact and specific than this: “THIS is the WILL of my Father…” Doesn’t matter what you DO, SAY, or THINK, NO ONE can come to Jesus unless God the Father wills it.
Jesus drops another bomb and his words do better than any sort of attempted explanation: “you have not life in yourselves.” Good luck compelling yourself into salvation by your efforts and choices.
Using your limbs and body to do good things, using your legs to go to church, your body to get baptized, your brain to talk about God or your mind to make decisions in favor of Jesus “provides no benefit” ultimately when it comes to your salvation. They are possible RESULTS of your salvation. Everyone who comes to faith in Jesus, was GRANTED to by God the Father because with out God granting it, they can’t, no matter how hard they worked or no matter what they say.
Acts 16:31 – 31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Belief is THE defining factor and essential element of eternal salivation. ZERO mention here of maintaining some sort of religious rituals, traditions, or efforts to count toward salvation; only granted belief in the Lord Jesus.
Romans 1:17, 3:28, 4:3-8, 5:1, 14, 6:23, 16:26 – 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “But the righteous one will live by faith.”… For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, the wages are not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”….Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, then faith is made void and the promise is nullified;...23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord... 26 but now has been disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;
We are justified by FAITH apart from works.
Can’t be more clear than that: “God credits righteousness apart from works” and actually, our “good works” are corrupted and can’t be good enough anyway. The one who lives righteously, is deemed righteous by faith, not works.
If doing works and keeping the Law saved us, faith would be pointless. You wouldn’t need faith in a savior if you could just keep the law and avoid needed to be saved altogether.
Eternal life, is a GIFT from God. The English word “Gift” is a noun, which means: “a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present.” The Greek word for “Gift” is χάρισμα, which means: “a favour with which one receives without any merit of his own;” Clearly, this GIFT given to us by God is GIVEN to us, without payment or merit. We DON’T earn the gift of salvation and we don’t pay God back for it.
And it is this FAITH that not only credits us righteousness apart from our dirty works, BUT ALSO it leads us to be obedient and thus, we do ACTUAL good works BECAUSE OF FAITH. It is WORKS that are a manifestation of FAITH and not the other way around.
James 2:20-26 – “20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” 25 In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Catholics love this verse to cherry pick and make it fit their merit based system. Except, they avoid really analyzing the word choices by James and incorporate the whole council of God. Faith without works is useless, this is true. Because if someone had genuine faith, that faith would compel them to do works out of that faith. So, if their faith does not compel them to do good works in faith, their faith is in fact useless and dead.
It’s called FAITH IN ACTION. First, FAITH must exist, THEN the works are desired and acted upon, out of that pre-existing faith, and those acted upon and desired good works prove and perfect the pre-existing faith. Again, James still teaches that faith precedes works.
Abraham first believed, then was credited to him righteousness, and that faith compelled him to obey God. Rahab first received the messengers out of faith, and that faith empowered her to take action and justify her good works, through her pre-existing faith that enabled her to first receive. A dead faith, would not compel any good works and there is not justification for it. That’s what James is saying when he said “faith without works is dead.” You can’t follow Jesus if you aren’t obediently following Jesus, but you won’t obediently follow Jesus if you don’t first believe in him. Does a runner not run? Would a runner’s claim of being a runner be true, if they never ran? The running justifies their claim of being a runner. A follower of Christ is justified by faithfully following Christ; and no one can follow Christ without first believing in Him.
Ephesians 2:8 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
The GIFT of salvation is GIVEN by God through FAITH alone and NOT of ourselves. Back to what a “gift” is, salvation is exactly that, an unearned unmerited free GIFT of God.
Philippians 3:9 – 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
Let’s be clear, Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ states “not having righteousness of my own…” even following the Law, doing a to-do list, religious rituals and deeds, none of those count, EXCEPT for that which is done “through faith.” Therefore it is “faith” that is the key element. Then he makes it clear that any sort of true righteousness “comes from God on the basis of faith.” Therefore any sort of work or deed doesn’t merit anything on its own or without faith first.
Galatians 2:16, 21 – 16 nevertheless, knowing that a person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified... 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
Good works, efforts, deeds, and actions all do NOT justify someone before God. Only faith are we justified to stand before God and receive eternal life. Maintaining some sort of religious rite or sacred tradition is literally keep a work, effort, deed, and action; which doesn’t justify anyone.
If you can earn merit toward salvation by doing righteous works by keeping the Law (legalism), then God’s grace is pointless, and in Paul’s terms “needless.”
Security of Salvation
John 6:38-40, 47, 10:28 – 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”..47 Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life… 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
First of all, it is God’s Will, and there is no will or force more compelling and powerful than God’s. Second, EVERYTHING that God have Jesus will NOT be lost. Jesus loses nothing. And not just they can’t be lost, but they WILL be raised up on the last day. Another absolute promise. It is literally, exactly, specifically, and undeniably the WILL of God that “EVERYONE” who comes to the Son “WILL,” literally, exactly, specifically, and undeniably, “HAVE,” literally, exactly, specifically, and undeniably possesses “ETERNAL (something that HAS NO END) Life.”
Those who have learned from God AND BELIEVE “HAS,” currently possess something that has no ending, “ETERNAL Life.”
Jesus makes it absolutely clear that “no one will snatch” a believer out of his hand. No one, that includes the believer themself, they are someone one too, but it doesn’t matter because “no one” can.
John 11:26 – 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
If we believe in Jesus, we might still lose our salvation? NOPE, not what Jesus said at all, in anyway. He said those who believe in him, will NEVER die. That includes the FUTURE state of your salvation.
Acts 16:31 – 31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Belief is THE defining factor and essential element of eternal salivation and if that is granted to you, “you will be saved.” The POWER of faith and genuine belief compels such amazing good works and love that it is impossible to be ignored by the household.
Romans 8:31-39 – 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 Just as it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To say that we can “lose” our salvation is to say that God is no longer for us… which, contradicts this verse. If we are God’s elect, he IS for us and HE justifies us (not by our works), AND he INTERCEDES for us. So, if HE is doing all that, how then we do lose what he gives and maintains for us?
So, losing salvation is us being separate from God, again… except, the Holy Spirit in Holy Scripture through Paul the Apostle of Christ says nothing can separate us from God, not even ourselves. Belief in losing faith is a lie that feeds doubt and fear.
1 John 2:18-20 – 18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
People claiming to no long believe and no longer be a Christian were from a church but were not OF GOD. Being OF God is different from coming out from and leaving a religion. Those who are OF GOD remain; period. Those who are NOT OF GOD but from a church of the Christian religion and leave, were NEVER OF GOD in the first place. The anointing from the Holy One doesn’t wash off, it’s ETERNAL.
Carnal Minds on The Matter of Salvation
John 6:41-42, 52 – 41 So then the Jews were complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42 And they were saying, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”…52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
The Jews minds were stuck in a worldly carnal perspective in how THEY understood what Jesus was saying. But, it takes a eternal SPIRITUAL perspective to properly understand what the Son of God was teaching (v. 63). To them, Jesus was just some dude from the small town of Nazareth that worked as a carpenter.
John 6:60-61, 66 – 60 So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? 66 As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him.
Even HIS early disciples didn’t like this truth and it offended them. What exactly did it offend? Their fleshly pride. They want to be in control of their religion, faith, and salvation. They want to be sovereign, like God. Their natural man desires it and so, they felt offended by divine truth. So, instead of submitting to the Will of God and His truths, they stop following Jesus; only proving that God the Father didn’t teach them and they weren’t drawn to the Son in spirit.
John 3:4-5, 9-10 – 4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God… 9 Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
Even the best religious teachers can be book smart but not taught by God and able to SEE the Kingdom of God through eternal eyes. Here, even the super religious leader has an earthly worldly carnal mind in how he perceives scriptures. He is thinking ONLY of earthly fleshly births but Jesus is talking about spiritual eternal birth. He couldn’t understand this, despite being “the teacher of Israel.”
John 6:25-27 – 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
People followed Jesus because THEY GOT SOMETHING out of it. Jesus was their genie, and in modern concepts, he was their ATM for stuff to satisfy the here and now. Their minds were focused on their earthly and worldly wants and needs; on that which perishes instead on that which “lasts for eternal life.” The signs pointed to something beyond this world, something heavenly, eternally, spiritually, but, all they could think about was that good bread and their full belly.
Let us know what you think!