A Saving Kind of Faith/Belief
I frequently hear Christians say, “All one has to do to be saved is believe in Christ.” The passage often cited to support this view is John 3:16, where Jesus says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
What more is there to say after this? Jesus clearly said that all one has to do to be saved is believe. End of issue.
Or is it? We need to keep in mind that this isn’t the only passage in the Bible about salvation. Imagine you were debating someone who denied the Trinity and he cited Deuteronomy 6:4, which says, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” This passage seems just as clear as John 3:16. And in this case, it says the Lord is one—not three!
Now I’m sure the Trinitarian would quickly respond by pointing out that this isn’t the only Bible passage about God. We must take the entirety of Scripture into account to get a fuller picture of God.
Well, the same is true regarding the topic of salvation. There are other passages besides John 3:16 that need to be examined in order to have a fuller picture of salvation. One of those passages that immediately comes to mind is John 11:26. This is from the very same book as John 3:16, and it was even uttered by the very same person, Jesus. And here’s what he says in this passage:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25–26).
Just like in John 3:16, Jesus begins by saying that believers shall live. This is obviously referring to salvation. However, in the very next sentence, Jesus says “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” This shows there was more to salvation then merely believing. One must not only believe, but one must also live in Christ. And what does it mean to live in Christ? It means to do what he says. That’s what a saving kind of belief/faith is all about.
The apostle James said: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith [believes] but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14–17).
James goes on to ask, “Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (v. 19).
Even the demons believe in Jesus. As did Judas. But they are not saved. Why not? Because they don’t/didn’t do what Jesus says. A saving kind of belief/faith means doing what Christ says. Faith without works is dead!
In another New Testament passage about salvation, it says Peter’s sermon “pricked the audience’s heart” (Acts 2:37). Then the audience asks Peter: “‘What shall we do [to be saved]?’ Then Peter said unto them, ‘Repent, and be baptized[1] every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins’’ (v. 38). Peter went on to say in the next chapter: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
There’s more to salvation than mere belief/faith. A saving kind of belief requires doing what Jesus says. It requires repenting of sin and following Christ’s commands. Faith without works is dead.
Pastors do a grave disservice by telling people that all they have to do to be a Christian is believe in Jesus. One day Jesus is going to ask these people what they did with the life he gave them. And somehow I don’t think it will help to say: “I may have been a murdering, adulterous, drug-dealing, thief…but at least I believed in you.”
Paul said that adulterers, fornicators, idolaters, sorcerers, haters, wrathful people, heretics, murderers, drunkards, etc. “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19–21). It doesn’t get much clearer than this.
The acclaimed Christian philosopher Dallas Willard lamented in The Divine Conspiracy: “Those who profess Christian commitment show little or no behavior and psychological difference than those who do not.” Maybe the reason for this is because too many pastors tell their flock, “All you have to do to be saved is believe.”
Isn’t this Works-Based Salvation?
This sounds like works-based salvation, you might be thinking. And Paul condemned that in Ephesians 2:8–10: “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.”
Response: As I pointed out above, we cannot just take a passage in isolation—even one as popular as this. We must consider all the passages about salvation (such as the ones above) to get a fuller picture. And when we do that, there are two possible interpretations of Ephesians 2:8–10 that seem to make the most sense.
The first is this: Our works do not save us; but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to work. An unsaved person is like a drowning person. Unless someone throws him a life preserver and pulls him in, he will drown. However, just because someone throws him a life preserver does not automatically mean he will be saved. He still has to grab the preserver (repent/obey Christ’s commands) so that his rescuer (God) can pull him in. Our works do not save us; but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to work. God has requirements (repent and obey Christ), and God saves those who meet his requirements.
The second possible interpretation of Ephesians 2:8–10 is this: No amount of good works (going forward) can undo our past sins. Even if we never sinned again, our good works would not save us because our past sins condemn us. It just takes one sin to be condemned, and we’ve all sinned. Therefore, no amount of good works going forward would undo our dire situation.
Therefore, it requires God’s grace to overlook our past sins. And God graciously gives the gift of forgiveness/salvation to those who commit to doing his will going forward. Will we slip up from time to time? Unfortunately, yes. However, God is like a loving father; he forgives his sons’ and daughters’ missteps.
When someone becomes a Christian, the trajectory of his life changes; and his fruits attest to his conversion. As Jesus said: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit…Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:18–20).
If the trajectory of one’s life has not changed after professing to be a Christian, I would question whether he has a saving kind of faith…because faith without works is dead!
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 1/17/25
[1] Some commentators say this “baptism” refers to spiritual baptism, not water baptism.
