By Vince Deegan

When Free Grace folks tell unbelievers what they must believe to have eternal life—that is, to be saved from the lake of fire and live in the kingdom of God forever—we tell them they must believe in the gift and the Giver. The gift is eternal life. The Giver is Jesus Christ. Jesus guarantees that the one who believes in Him for eternal life receives it. Since the gift is eternal, it can never be lost.

When believed, such a wonderful offer brings assurance. At the very moment of faith, the person who has believed in the gift and the Giver knows he has eternal life. He knows he will live with Jesus forever.

One of the many passages used to support such a presentation of the gospel that brings eternal life is John 4:10. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, He told her that she needed to know the gift, and who it was who was speaking to her.

Recently, I was studying and came upon another passage that supports the view that one must believe in the gift and the Giver. Not surprisingly, it too gives the believer wonderful assurance of the gift of eternal life. That passage is 1 John 5:10-11.

First John 5:10-11 is found within a section of Scripture that clearly states the believer has the assurance of eternal life. In verse 13, John writes, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” No doubt, John writes this because there were those who were teaching that the believer cannot know he has eternal life. These teachers were attempting to take away the assurance that John’s readers had (1 John 2:24-26).

Whatever these teachers were saying was wrong. Of course, we have teachers like that today. They stand in pulpits and say we cannot be sure we have eternal life. We must do good works. We can lose our eternal salvation. We need to live in fear.

But that is not what God says. He has testified to the truth. John says so in verse 10:

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself…

And what has God said about this, the most important message of any age? John clearly states it in verse 11: “That God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” God declares the gift and the Giver. The gift—eternal life—has been given to the one who believes. This gift is given by the Giver, God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

In verse 10, John says that those who don’t believe this have made God a liar. It is obvious why that is the case. If God says that you must believe in the gift and the Giver, anybody who says that you don’t have to believe in those things—that you can believe in something else—proclaims that God did not tell the truth.

Theologians often speak of the content of saving faith. This refers to what the unbeliever must believe to spend eternity with Jesus in His kingdom. Many messages are out there telling people what this content is.

I am sure the false teachers in John’s day had great things to say about Jesus of Nazareth. Every preacher and teacher in Evangelicalism today does the same. But they give different answers to the question: What is the content of saving faith?

The answer is simple. Jesus gave the answer to the woman at the well. John tells us that the Father says the same thing. The unbeliever must believe in the gift and the Giver. The one who believes in Jesus for eternal life has it forever.

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Vince Deegan has a small lawn maintenance business, and lives in Mesquite. Vince had been mentored by Zane Hodges and Bob Wilkin, and has been a subscriber of GES, since the early 90s. He teaches senior Sunday school at Ridge Pointe Fellowship.