“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
John 3:16 is, of course, the best-known and most quoted verse of the Bible. Unfortunately, many people think that this verse – along with others such as Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” or Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” means that if we simply reach a point where we believe in Jesus we are saved and God requires nothing else of us.
Faith is, of course, essential for salvation, as we see in the apostle Paul’s explanation of its importance. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). But what many do not realize is that we still have to meet God’s conditions to receive that gift of salvation through faith. As James tells us, “Even the demons believe—and tremble” (James 2:19) so there must be conditions affecting whether our faith or belief is acceptable to God.
Jesus himself implied this in preaching “Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15) and telling his disciples “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16) showing that faith needs to be accompanied by certain behaviors to be saving faith. In fact, the New Testament shows us there are at least two things we must have in addition to faith in order to make our faith both real and acceptable.
Obedience
The Scriptures make it very clear that obedience to God is necessary for faith to save us. Jesus himself said “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21, emphasis added here and in the scriptures below), and “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). The author of Hebrews explicitly adds that Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).
It is this obedience to God’s commands that is the basis for what the apostle James tells us about Abraham: “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did” (James 2:22), and about the good works that God calls us to do when he wrote: “a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
Perseverance
This is another requirement that we must meet for our faith to be acceptable to God. No matter how real our belief may have been at some point, if we do not continue in it, our faith is made useless. Consider the following clear scriptures:
“the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22, 24:13, ESV).
“By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2).
“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death … if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel” (Colossians 1:23).
“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).
Obedient, Ongoing Faith
So, while we are certainly saved by faith and not by our works, a living faith must be accompanied by obedience to God, and must be ongoing. In one way, we might perhaps say these qualities are part of true faith, but they are also separate qualities that we must never presume are somehow automatically granted to us if we simply believe. That is why the apostle Peter wrote:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love… and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1 5-11).
John 3:16 is, of course, the best-known and most quoted verse of the Bible. Unfortunately, many people think that this verse – along with others such as Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” or Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” means that if we simply reach a point where we believe in Jesus we are saved and God requires nothing else of us.
Faith is, of course, essential for salvation, as we see in the apostle Paul’s explanation of its importance. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). But what many do not realize is that we still have to meet God’s conditions to receive that gift of salvation through faith. As James tells us, “Even the demons believe—and tremble” (James 2:19) so there must be conditions affecting whether our faith or belief is acceptable to God.
Jesus himself implied this in preaching “Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15) and telling his disciples “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16) showing that faith needs to be accompanied by certain behaviors to be saving faith. In fact, the New Testament shows us there are at least two things we must have in addition to faith in order to make our faith both real and acceptable.
Obedience
The Scriptures make it very clear that obedience to God is necessary for faith to save us. Jesus himself said “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21, emphasis added here and in the scriptures below), and “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). The author of Hebrews explicitly adds that Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).
It is this obedience to God’s commands that is the basis for what the apostle James tells us about Abraham: “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did” (James 2:22), and about the good works that God calls us to do when he wrote: “a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
Perseverance
This is another requirement that we must meet for our faith to be acceptable to God. No matter how real our belief may have been at some point, if we do not continue in it, our faith is made useless. Consider the following clear scriptures:
“the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22, 24:13, ESV).
“By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2).
“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death … if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel” (Colossians 1:23).
“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).
Obedient, Ongoing Faith
So, while we are certainly saved by faith and not by our works, a living faith must be accompanied by obedience to God, and must be ongoing. In one way, we might perhaps say these qualities are part of true faith, but they are also separate qualities that we must never presume are somehow automatically granted to us if we simply believe. That is why the apostle Peter wrote:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love… and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1 5-11).
RSS Feed
