By Mike Lii and Bob Wilkin
Introduction
Have you heard it charged that those of us who accept the Focused Free Grace position teach “easy believism”? Those who level such a charge usually mean that we make salvation too easy by not requiring that people turn from their sins, commit their lives to Christ, and obey Him. Instead, we teach that people are eternally secure simply by being convinced that Jesus gives everlasting life to all who believe in Him.
We plead guilty as charged. Salvation is free and potentially easy—for us. The Lord Jesus Christ has done all the work. It wasn’t free and easy for Him. All we need to do is believe in Him to receive the gift of everlasting life. But He had to suffer greatly in order to make salvation possible (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2).
Is the Saving Message Easy or Hard to Believe?
Is it easy to simply believe (be convinced that it is true) the saving message of Jesus found in John 3:16?
“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.”
Both authors of this article were evangelized with Eph 2:8-9. One of us believed in Jesus for secure salvation right away. The other took a long time to believe. Ephesians 2:8-9 says:
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.
Is it easy or hard to believe that Jesus gives everlasting life to everyone who believes in Him alone for that gift with no works ever required?
The answer to this question depends on the individual and the amount of theological misunderstanding and debris that need to be cleared before one can believe in Him for everlasting life. For some, believing in Jesus for the free gift of everlasting life is easy. For others, it is hard to believe.
Mike’s Easy Believism
I am an example of “easy believism,” in the sense that it was easy for me to believe the gospel. I didn’t grow up attending church regularly. Even when I attended church, the teaching was often in Mandarin Chinese or Taiwanese. Since I was born and raised in the United States, language was a barrier to my understanding of what was being taught when I went to church.
My understanding of Jesus and the Bible during my high school years was as follows:
From childhood stories, I knew that Jesus was a special person (but didn’t know that He was God) who turned water into wine, walked on water, and fed the 5,000. I thought of the Bible as a special book containing truth, although I knew relatively little of its contents. Due to my limited knowledge of the Bible, I had never heard of any of the problem passages that are misinterpreted to teach salvation, or proof of salvation, by works (e.g., Jas 2,1 John, and Heb 6 and 10).
I did not know that Christmas celebrated Jesus’ birth. I didn’t even know why the cross was the symbol of Christianity, just as I did not know the story of Jesus dying on the cross and rising again on the third day.
When I was a junior in high school, it was finally explained to me that Jesus died on the cross for my sins (although I don’t recall the Resurrection being mentioned when I was evangelized). Using John 3:16 and Eph 2:8-9, the youth group counselor explained that only by believing in Jesus (and not by any works), I could be sure that my eternal destiny would be with Jesus in heaven.
I don’t recall anyone’s telling me the saving message before that night. Despite my limited knowledge base, I knew enough about Jesus and respected the authority of the Bible enough that I was ready to believe as soon as someone explained the message of John 3:16 and Eph 2:8-9. So, I was convinced of the truth in those verses the first time they were explained to me. That evening, I experienced the joy of knowing that I had everlasting life and that my eternal destiny was with Jesus forever.
In a sense, I was blessed by not growing up in the church and being subjected to years of the false teaching that works are necessary to being saved or to proving one’s salvation. My ignorance of problem passages and relative freedom from theological misunderstandings made it easy for me to believe the truth of Eph 2:8-9 the first time it was explained to me. My experience was a case of “easy believism.”
Bob’s Hard Believism
I was raised in a sinless-perfection holiness group that taught an extreme form of works salvation. In my senior year of college, a friend, John Carlson, asked me, “Is it possible your view of the gospel is wrong?”
I had been enslaved to salvation by allegiance for fourteen years. I had prayed long and hard for assurance of my eternal destiny. But I could not find it.
John’s question shook me up. He helped me contact Warren Wilke, an Athletes in Action staff member. I asked Warren to help me find assurance of salvation.
In our first meeting, Warren quoted Eph 2:8-9. I told him, “That’s too easy. What about Jas 2:14-26?” He answered and quoted Eph 2:8-9 again. He must have quoted it ten times during our first meeting.
We met four more times. Each time, he quoted Eph 2:8-9 over and over again. He was like a broken record. When I’d ask how he could explain another tough text, he’d give a short answer and then say, “But whatever that text means, it can’t contradict ‘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.’”
I finally believed it. It took going to a College Life meeting and talking with Warren for five hours over five days. It was a real struggle for me. But once I believed, I was overjoyed. I wanted to tell everyone this amazing message.
Conclusion: It’s Always Believism
Whether it’s “easy believism” or “hard believism” depends on how difficult it is for a person to be convinced1 of the truth of Jesus’ promise:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47).
For some who have been indoctrinated with years of false teaching, it is hard to believe the saving truth. For others who don’t have such theological baggage but know about Jesus and respect the authority of the Bible, it is easy for them to believe the truth when presented. In all cases, whether easy or hard, it is believing in the saving promise of Jesus that brings everlasting life that can’t be lost.
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Mike Lii is a finance attorney. He and his wife, Letitia, a member of the GES board, and their son, Payton, live in Dallas and serve at Vista Ridge Bible Fellowship in Lewisville, Texas. Mike and Letitia also run the Zane Hodges Library online (zanehodges.org).
Bob Wilkin is Executive Director of Grace Evangelical Society. He and Sharon live in Highland Village, TX. He has racewalked ten marathons.
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1 The word believe is one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible. It means to be convinced or persuaded. It does not mean to be committed, to surrender, to obey, to turn from sins, or to follow. See Chapter 1 in Bob’s book The Ten Most Misunderstood Words in the Bible.