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The Gospel - Ye are Saved by Grace through Faith... IF

 

1. If someone believes that God imposes saving faith on people and subsequently imposes saving grace on them - irrespective of their will - then that person effectively believes in a gospel that includes 'irresistible grace', a specifically Calvinistic doctrine that is unsupported by scripture.

 

2. Likewise, if someone believes that God imposes sustaining faith on people, subsequent to their evidence of saving faith - and again irrespective of their will - then that person effectively believes in a gospel that includes 'perseverance of the saints', another specifically Calvinistic doctrine that is also unsupported by scripture.

 

3. Perhaps the most well-known scripture in the bible (John 3:16) says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

4. There is no doubt that God used the word "whosoever" to extend an open invitation of salvation to all men (and women - Gen 1:27; 5;2), despite the corrupted gospel of Calvinism which seeks to limit that invitation to an elite few.  Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for doing the same thing - "hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. (Matt 23:13)

 

5. But there is another word in this verse that suffers gross oversight and misrepresentation - again to a great extent as a result of the false teachings of John Calvin.  This verse does not say that whosoever "believed" in the Lord at some point in his/her life shall not perish, but have everlasting life.  It says that whosoever "believeth" in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  The difference between the two words is enormous, and the consequences eternal.  We live by EVERY word of God - (Luke 4:4).  Therefore, it is imperative that we know what it means to "believeth".

 

6. The word, "believeth", a present continuous-tense verb, is not the same as the word, "believed", a past-tense verb.  "Believeth" requires that a person "believes" (present tense) at some point in his/her life, and that he/she CONTINUES to believe, "believeth" from that point until the day of redemption.  Jesus said, "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62)

  

7. As mentioned, Jesus said, "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." (Luke 4:4).  EVERY word is important.  This is not a game.  Let's consider another important word regarding salvation, as follows: 

a. The Apostle Paul specifically declared "the gospel", in a nutshell, in the first four verses of I Corinthians chapter 15, as follows:

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

b. Notice the small, but VERY important word, "IF" - "By which also ye are saved, IF ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." (I Corinthians 15:2)

 

c. The word "IF" - is already irreducibly simple, and has clear and obvious meaning.  It is a conditional.

1) What would be gained if a person heeds Paul's exhortation to "keep in memory what I preached unto you"? and

 

2) What would be forfeited if a person failed to "keep in memory what I preached unto you". 

 

d. Notice that the verse presupposes belief in both cases - either  belief unto salvation, or belief in vain; so one cannot argue that belief is yet future; nor that true belief would negate the requirement to satisfy the "IF" condition.

 

e. For those who think that God would CAUSE people to "keep in memory what I preached unto you" – making it impossible for them to fail, after having exercised true belief ('saving faith') - then why does Paul include the word "IF" in this verse at all, as if the opportunity for failure were a legitimate possibility?

 

f. Wouldn't that be a meaningless use of the conditional word "if", at best, or a deceitful use of it, at worst?

 

8. There are scores of similar questions that ought to be asked of those who have accepted a corrupted gospel.  Here are just a few more that pertain to Rev 3:5: 

a. A person's name would have to be written IN the book of life before it could be erased or blotted from that book.  (You cannot erase something that doesn't first exist there.)

 

b. My questions then are:  What does God mean in Rev 3:5 and in similar passages when he uses the words '"blot out" a person's name from the book of life'?  Does he not mean that those who fail to "overcome" will have their names blotted from the book of life and that, therefore, they will not have everlasting life?  There is no dispute that overcomers will gain the benefits cited in the passage.  But what of those who fail to overcome?

9. It is very sad that so many people have been deceived with false gospels (II Cor 11:4; Gal 1:6).  But each of us is commanded to study to shew ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Tim 2:15).