ANNOUNCER: John 3:16, does this verse actually say how a person can be saved, how they could be born again? Why do some people think not? Can we be sure? What does “believe in Him” mean? Well, thank you for joining us today, friend, for Grace in Focus. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We have a website, faithalone.org And we have a YouTube channel, YouTube, Grace Evangelical Society. Come and view our short videos there, subscribe and like them, and tell a friend about them as well. Check out our free subscription magazine, Grace in Focus, at our website, faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr. 

SAM: All right, Bob, we’ve got a question from Brady and this is about John 3:16. Probably the most memorized verse in the entire Bible. But his question is, well, there’s no question mark anywhere in this paragraph, but I’ll make a question out of it. Calvinists say that John 3:16 is a statement that is true, but then they say it does not answer how a person can be saved. So the question is, does John 3:16 explain how a person can be saved or is it just a true statement? 

BOB: Okay, so that’s a great question, Brady, and there’s really two parts of it. So John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world,” and we know that’s talking about God the Father, because he says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” That’s clearly referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some commentators have pointed out that the giving of the Son both looks back to verses 14 and 15 and ahead to verse 17. So if it looks back, the giving would refer to the cross, right? “As Moses lifted up the serpent, so shall the Son man be lifted up that whoever looks to Jesus and believes in him has everlasting life.” 

So number one, He gave His Son in terms of the crucifixion, but He also gave His Son in terms of the incarnation. Because what does 3:17 say? 

SAM: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” 

BOB: So sending a Son into the world, what do we call that theologically? 

SAM: The incarnation. 

BOB: Yeah, the incarnation. So we’ve got the crucifixion in the incarnation in both of those I think are tied into John 3:16. And then he says, He sent his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish,” and that’s a subjunctive, which means he will not perish if he believes. In fact, some translate that “will not perish, but has everlasting life.” 

And some people say, like Calvinists will say, well, it does say whoever believes in Him, but for them believing in Him is kind of a mystical thing. Because I’m sure Sam, you’ve heard Calvinists say, unbelievers can believe correct doctrine about Jesus. So you can’t tell you’re born again just because you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and He rose bodily from the dead. That He’s God in the flesh, that He gives salvation to certain people, etc. They would say, that’s just head faith, or that’s just intellectual faith, or that’s just mental assent. Well, the problem is once you say that, you’ve really gotten confused, and they also divorce what it means to believe in Him from what He promises “will not perish, has everlasting life.”

And by the way, I have some good friends from within Free Grace circles who used to be very active within GES and used to speak for GES at our annual conference used to write for us. And they’re now saying that John 3:16 does not tell us what we need to do to have eternal life. In fact, they will say that the “will not perish, but have everlasting life” are the result, but they’re not what we believe Jesus for. So they say, we don’t believe that by faith in Jesus we have everlasting life, because they would say that’s a sanctification issue. 

And of course, the Calvinists would say, well, we can’t know that till we die, because according to the Calvinists, you’ve got to persevere, right, persevere to the end of your life. 

SAM: Right. So being saved is disconnected from having everlasting life. And for Calvinists being saved is not a guarantee that you’ll be saved eternally, it can be temporary or it can be something that’s lost. And I guess for a flexible person, you can believe you’re saved, but not believe that you have everlasting life. 

BOB: See, the thing is, the old line Calvinists would never do that. The old style Calvinists would say, you prove you never were born again in the first place. But the new Calvinists say at the moment of faith, you get something they call initial salvation. And what do they say you get if you persevere to the end of your life? 

SAM: Final salvation. 

BOB: Final salvation. Well, what’s initial salvation? It can’t be everlasting life because everlasting life can’t be lost, right? Whatever it is is something short of final salvation where you get everlasting life. So if you follow Calvinist way of thinking, nobody is born again on earth yet because they haven’t persevered yet. They have some sort of temporary salvation, some initial, but you could substitute the word temporary, which is why I think Sam that Calvinists are a lot like Arminians. Arminians say you can lose your salvation. Well, Calvinists say you have initial salvation and you can’t really lose initial salvation because an initial salvation isn’t final. You’ve got a persevered to the end to win final salvation. 

In fact, the book by Tom Schreiner and Ardel Caneday, they called The Race Set Before Us. And on page 40, they show somebody running a race and they say, the prize is eternal life. And if we continue to run the race till the end, we’re going to win everlasting life. Well, that is what a lot of Calvinists believe. But some of the Free Grace people will say, okay, you need to believe in Him, but what does that mean? So let me suggest there’s two problems, Brady, with both Calvinists and other people on what believing in Him means. First of all, as the belief part, the second part is the “in Him.” 

ANNOUNCER: We will return to today’s topic, but to inform you about GES’s online seminary, it is now Grace Evangelical Theological Seminary at faithalone.org/seminary. Apply through August 2; registration closes August 16th for the fall semester and the semester begins September 16th. You can earn an MDiv degree and full scholarships are available with good academic standing through our generous donors. Come study with us—Grace Evangelical Theological Seminary at faithalone.org/seminary.

BOB: We would say, right, Sam, that believing is being what persuaded or convinced of the saving truth. And that would be the “in him” part. We’ll talk about that in a minute. But what would most Calvinists say believing means? 

SAM: Well, it gets confusing because they have two kinds of belief. There’s genuine belief and then there’s non-genuine belief. 

BOB: They’re saving belief and non-saving belief and most believe the same set of facts. 

SAM: Right, but genuine belief means you really, truly deep, deep down believe it. And as a result, there’s some kind of change in your life or fruit or something to show for it. Whereas non-genuine belief is just a head faith and there’s nothing to accompany it. 

BOB: Not quite though because a lot of Calvinists say, no, no, a false professor can have temporary good words. Based on the parable of the four soils, they can spring up and they can have temporary good works. They may even go all the way till the time they die. That’s why when Calvinists are on the deathbed, they still don’t know where they’re going because they aren’t sure they’ve lived a good enough life or whatever. 

But I would say if you read John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, a five point Calvinist toward the end of his life, not early. He would say that belief is turning from sins and committing your life to Christ and following Christ. In fact, the subtitle of the second and third edition of The Gospel According to Jesus is, what did Jesus mean when He said, follow me. So for him following Him is believing in Him. And so a lot of the people would say the belief part is turn from your sins, commit your life to Him, follow Him, obey Him persevere. 

The other part is what is the “in Him” part? Well, there are people within free grace circles that say the belief part is just being persuaded. But the “in him” part, well, now that’s flexible. I’ve known some people within Free Grace circles would say if you believe Jesus died in the cross for your sins and rose again, then you’re born again. Even if you don’t believe you have everlasting life. Even if you think you can lose your salvation, because you believe He died for you and rose again, that’s believing “in Him.” Others I know would say if you believe Jesus is God in the flesh, that’s enough even if you don’t believe you have eternal life. Others would say if you believe Jesus is sent from God, that’s sufficient. 

And I would say the real simple answer from John 3:16 itself is we’re believing in Him for what he promises which is everlasting life. And you find this all through the Gospel of John. Repeatedly there are three elements in what Jesus teaches. You need to believe, not commit, not repent, not follow, not obey, not persevere. In fact, when He uses the illustration of drinking, living water, how many drinks does it take to forever quench your thirst? 

SAM: Just one. 

BOB: And how about eating the bread of life in John 6:35? One parttaking of the bread of life and you’ll never hunger again. So it’s not perseverance. It’s not any of those other things. And the believing in Him is for what He promises everlasting life. So the three elements are believing, in Jesus, for everlasting life. And you see that also in Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8-9, you see it in 1 Timothy 1:16, Revelation 22:17, John 4:10 and following. 

Brady, John 3:16 is real clear. And if you’re talking to a Calvinist or anyone, and they say, John 3:16 doesn’t tell us what we need to do to have eternal life, then say, well, tell me what you think believe in Him means. Let them talk about it. If you believe in Him, what do we know you have? They’re going to say everlasting life, right? And then they’re going to say, but I can’t know that. 

I heard these two Calvinists talking and they were saying, we can’t know for sure if we’re a genuine believer or false professor. And this one guy calls in and goes, I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know I’m saved forever. And they said, yeah, but you don’t know you really believe. He said, I don’t know what you guys are talking about. Of course, I know I believe. How could I not know what I believe? I believe in Jesus. He’s my Savior. He’s saved me. I’m secure forever. And they’re like, well, that’s nice, but you can’t know that. And he said, well, I’m sorry for you, but I do know that. 

And that should be all of us, right? I’m here with anybody. And it’s a beautiful message. And I would encourage you, if you’re talking to them, encourage them to pray about it and read the Gospel of John and just ask the Lord, could this be true? I’ve written some articles called, “Most Evangelicals Need Evangelizing.” I’m convinced that pastors and missionaries and seminary professors, they need to hear this message. 

SAM: I’m glad we have clear verses like John 3:16. And we have to defend them because if you let someone twist a clear, cut-and-dry passage like this, then what are they going to do to more complicated parts of Scripture? 

BOB: Yeah, exactly. And what they do is they go to those complicated parts and then interpret John 3:16 in light their faulty interpretation. Well, thanks so much, Brady. And thanks, Sam. And remember, let’s keep grace in focus. 

ANNOUNCER: Would you be interested in some free ebooks on topics you hear on this program? Well, if you are, you need to come visit us at faithalone.org. That’s faithalone.org. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you’ve got a question, comment, or some feedback. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us a message. Here’s our email address. It’s radio at faithalone.org. That’s radio at faithalone.org. And when you do very important, please let us know your radio station call letters and the city of your location.

On our next episode: is it sin to do anything without faith? We’ll see you next time. And in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.