The cross of Christ is the symbol of the Christian faith.

The divinity and humanity of Jesus, and His crucifixion and death to forgive all sins, and His resurrection are the primary elements of the saving faith.

The "emerging church" has largely abandoned the intellectual side of the faith, it's doctrine, and it's symbols.

This is bad.

There is no Christianity without the cross and without the basic statement of saving faith which involves who Jesus is and what He did for us.

The Christian church I attended today, Vanguard church on Academy, was interested in "worshiping God," but it was not interested in preaching the saving Gospel.

There was no statement of faith on their website, no printed information about their beliefs in the church itself (I asked), no statement of faith in their bulletin, no cross in the church, and no mention of the divine Christ crucified and resurrected in the sermon.

The sermon was mostly about "the worship of God" in a generic sense.

Except for a little doctrinal content in the hymns which mentioned Jesus, this could have been an Islamic service.

I asked the guy in front of me how a person becomes saved. He said that I needed to have a relationship with Jesus.

The true biblical answer as to how to be saved is "believe in Jesus," in who He is, and in what He did for us by dying on the cross for our sins and being resurrected on the third day.

My question is, why are the churches no longer preaching this very simple message?

Biblically, there is no greater theological error than confounding justification and sanctification. (“Confounding” means to wrongly unite and confuse.) How do I know? I know because Paul, in the beginning of the book of Galatians, (Galatians 1:6-9) twice damns to Hell (anathema), anyone who TEACHES another Gospel.

What is the biblical definition of "saving faith"? Saving faith is: believing that Jesus is God and man and that the Gospel of His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection are true.

Saving Faith is ***NOT*** any of these things:
“commitment to Christ,”
“committing your life to Christ,”
“giving your life to Christ,”
“ongoing trust in Jesus,”
“exhibiting a changed life,”
a man-centered “decision,”
“meeting Christ,”
"repenting of sin,"
“submission to Jesus,”
“a relationship with Christ,”
“following Christ,”

nor anything other than believing Who JESUS is and what HE did for you on the cross, as the Bible clearly states. (As important as these other things are.)

Rather, it is GOD who “commits” himself to us.
GOD “gave” His life for our sins.
GOD.
Not humans.

Salvation is received by BELIEVING in Jesus and what HE did. Salvation is NOT received by:
committing,
giving,
lifelong trusting,
exhibiting,
deciding,
meeting,
repenting,
relating,
submitting,
following
—or anything else man can do.

Why today are men preaching and believing that it is US who commit or give our life or do anything for salvation?

This is the height of arrogance and false teaching.

I think the reason that pastors like to combine these two things, regardless of the huge threat to their souls, is that they don't want "do-nothing" believers sitting in their pews.

Well, too bad.

Salvation is a FREE GIFT with ZERO contribution on our part.

Granted, people with faith will produce good works to various degrees, as Jesus says.

Sanctification, however, is strictly a SECONDARY issue.

Once a person believes in Jesus, not only his conscience, but his mind and his emotions and his life will be affected, to a great degree or a small degree.

Permanently saved through a moment of faith in Jesus, (Ephesians 1:13,14) we are grown toward Christian maturity by obedience to God because of the Grace of God and His forever-indwelling Holy Spirit, the encouragement of the Scriptures and the fellowship of other Christians.

The Bible clearly teaches that saving faith is holding certain things to be true.

Saving faith IS “intellectual assent.” (and “spiritual assent,” primarily!)

Jesus asked Martha if she believed. Martha said yes. That’s intellectual assent. Does it also involve the conscience and sometimes also the emotions? Of course.

Faith happens in the heart of man.

The Bible says that saving faith is reckoning it to be true that Jesus is true God and true man, and that this divine man lived the perfect life for us, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead. If a person believes this, then that person is saved. If a person does not believe this to be true, then his sins have not been forgiven by Jesus, and he is headed for everlasting and intense suffering, pain, and horror in Hell.

Believing is TRUSTING that the facts of the Gospel are true.

Knowing some facts about Jesus will not save you.

But BELIEVING the Gospel message (facts) about Jesus to be true ***WILL*** save you.

No unBELIEVEr can “believe some facts” (the Gospel message) about Jesus, or hold them to be true.

Nor will any believer ever be damned in spite of his belief.

Fusing justification and sanctification is a fatal theological error, because it illegitimately makes good works the ultimate “assurance”of salvation.

But the Bible clearly says, over and over, one hundred and fifty times, that faith in Jesus is the ultimate assurance of salvation. (Here are a few examples: John 3:14-18, John 3:36, John 5:24, John 6:47, John 11:26, Acts 10:43, Acts 16:31, Romans 5:1, 1st Corinthians 15:1-4, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:26, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 2:8-9, 1st Timothy 1:16b, Hebrews 10:39b, 1st John 5:1, and 1st John 5:10-13.

Note how the Bible NEVER tells us to do ANYTHING OTHER THAN BELIEVE to be saved. (It tells us many things to do to grow in faith and fellowship, but those things happen after initial salvation.)

Justification and sanctification are NOT the same things. They are utterly separate things.

The Scripture tells us to “rightly divide” the Word of truth.

To “believe in Jesus” is NOT the same thing as to make a lifetime “commitment” to Him.

“Having a relationship with Jesus” is NOT saving faith.

“Following Jesus” is not saving faith.

To believe in Jesus is to believe in the completed work of Christ, the divine Son of God, on the cross, His burial and His resurrection. (1st Corinthians 1:15)

We can know for sure that we are saved solely through believing in what He did for us, knowing that we believe in Him, and knowing that the Bible promises salvation to everyone who believes, and not by any evidence of good works in our lives.

Are good works an indicator of salvation? They might be, if they are done in and with the Holy Spirit--but they could also be evidence of a person who is trying to save himself by doing those good works.

We are saved not by ongoing faith, but by a one-time moment of faith in which we believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins. After a moment of belief, we are irrevocably and permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ--forever. We are justified, declared “not guilty,” and we are guaranteed to go to Heaven. (Ephesians 1:13-14.)

AFTER we are saved, THEN we bear the fruit of commitment, submission, relationship, obedience, fellowship, giving our life to Jesus, etc.

But these things are all SECONDARY to salvation by faith in WHAT JESUS DID ON THE CROSS, not what WE can do.

If these things are not secondary, but are preached as the way to be saved, then we are preaching a FALSE GOSPEL of saving yourself through your own good works and your good life, and your commitment, and your follow-through.

It may sound good and appealing to many, but it’s a false gospel.

For over one hundred challenging essays about Christian subjects from a biblical perspective, please visit my website:

http://believersworldview.blogstream.com

Danger

By Dave Breese

One of the animated discussions which is now in the evangelical Christian scene surprisingly concerns the very issue of salvation itself. The question, therefore, of "What must I do to be saved?" is now being answered in a more complicated fashion than simply, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31). Traditional fundamentalists and most Evangelicals have long held to the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. The answer has now become more elaborate than that, as Christians newly discuss whether salvation is by faith alone or by faith plus some other things.

Stated very simply, the view that is now called "Lordship Salvation" (a view rarely defined to the satisfaction of anyone) holds that the offer of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is false, for faith includes good works.

There are a number of deficiencies involved in this view, which should be noted:

1. It improperly understands justification by faith. Justification does not mean to be "made righteous" or to "progressively become righteous." Rather, it means to be "declared righteous."

It is improper to define faith as "commitment," "dedication," "surrender," or any other expression which suggests a kinetic response on the part of the soul.

2. It ignores imputed righteousness. We are not saved by imparted, infused, or earned righteousness. No indeed, we are righteous by imputation.

3. It confuses justification and sanctification. To say that progressive sanctification is an "inevitable result" of salvation is evidence of doctrinal confusion. In each Christian, there may be at times a varying degree of affirmation to the leading of the Lord.

4. It misrepresents salvation itself. Salvation is presented in the Scripture in three tenses or three aspects. When I accept Christ, I have instant and eternal salvation in the sense of deliverance from the penalty of sin. As I live my life in commitment to Christ under the leadership and empowering of the Holy Spirit, I am delivered from the power of sin. Some Christians are insufficiently delivered from the power of sin, even to the extent of sickness (1 Cor 11:30) and physical death (1 Tim 1:20).

In the future, I am promised deliverance from the presence of sin. The Christian’s future in heaven is vouchsafed because of salvation by imputation and positional sanctification. When he believes, he is already seated in the heavenlies with Christ (Eph 2:6), and he is promised that he will never perish (John 10:28).

5. Lordship Salvation diminishes the value of New Testament truth for the Christian. A very high percentage of the epistles of the New Testament are written as instructions to believers. These instructions have produced conviction and commitment in millions of Christians down through the history of the Church. Lordship Salvation cancels the value of these admonitions, in that it declares that if one does not obey these instructions, one is not a Christian. Therefore, the answer to Christian imperfection (obvious in the character of many Christians) is that this person was never saved and needs to be saved. So evaporates the value of all instructions to grow in grace.

6. It holds the impossible doctrine of salvation by perfect commitment. The doctrine that one is saved by submission to the Lordship of Christ, cannot admit to the possibility of imperfect commitment. For, from a logical point of view, imperfect commitment is not, in fact, commitment. In that most honest Christians will admit to imperfect commitment, they are thereby admitting that they are not Christians. The impossibility of "perfect commitment" is a troublesome problem to the Lordshipists. So "Semi-Lordship Salvation" is what this notion is at best. We await word as to what percentage of commitment produces salvation. (Hint–the scriptural answer is zero, for salvation is by "unmerited favor," i.e., the grace of God.)

7. Therefore, Lordship Salvation makes assurance tenuous or impossible. Submission to the Lordship of Christ as the basis of salvation holds open the possibility that at some future date one may be less than perfectly submissive. If one holds to the Lordship Salvation view, one’s basis of assurance of salvation is gone.

8. It diminishes the value of Calvary. In the Lordship view, Christ becomes less the Savior and more the Helper. Under this view, I cannot "cast my helpless soul on Him," but rather I must cooperate with His helpfulness.

9. It equates discipleship and salvation. The advocates of salvation by commitment to Christ uncritically (and with profound lack of discernment) view the many calls of Christ to His own to come and be His disciples as the call to believe the Gospel. Consequently, the expression "Follow me" becomes the way of salvation. Hence, until one becomes a disciple, he is not a Christian. The call to become disciples of the King, extended to Jewish individuals, is very different from the call to believe and therefore be saved by grace and become a member of the Body of Christ.

10. It misunderstands repentance. To translate metanoia as "repentance" has been most unfortunate. "To do penance" is not its meaning. It means "a change of mind." Too often this will be thoughtlessly defined as "a turning about," "sorrow for sin," "being sorry enough to quit," "a complete change of character," or "making restitution"–all such definitions are falsehoods. By these inaccurate definitions, faith in Christ is freighted with burdens impossible to bear. Such defective epistemology has demoralized many a Christian.

11. It disorganizes the Christian mind. Salvation is either by grace or by works. They cannot be mixed (Rom 11:6). Works produce no standing before God or merit for heaven. Mixing grace and works overly strains the Christian mind. With these inchoate ideas (exhumed doubtless from the vicinity of Rome) who can say with assurance "I know whom I have believed" (2 Tim 1:12)? Paul could.

Conclusion

These and many other considerations should be kept in mind when one examines the various ways of salvation being offered on the evangelical scene of our time. Much of the confusion of these days would be instantly resolved if we would remember that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. To redefine these words is not permitted, for they have real, changeless, and eternal meaning. Let us then remember: "Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom 4:4-5).

We know that we are people of eternal consequence because we were made in the image of God. We were redeemed by the most precious substance in the universe, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ. We were called by the Holy Spirit into a life of great purpose.

What you can truthfully and biblically say about repentance and baptism all depends on what you mean by these words.

If by "repentance:" you mean, "to completely turn from your sins and sin no more," then doing this will not save you because this is impossible to do while on earth.

If by baptism" you mean "water baptism," then doing this will not save you, because it is merely a good work ritual.

If by "baptism" you mean "to be spiritually placed, by God, into the death and resurrection of Christ at the time you first believe in Him," then this IS necessary for you to be saved--it is the very essence of what salvation is.

When we believe in Jesus or have faith in Jesus, we are saved by His perfect life and His substitutionary death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, His burial, and by His resurrection.

Everyone who is saved, is saved by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Everyone who is saved is saved by believing in Jesus.

And NOT by anything else in addition to faith in Jesus.