By Zane C. Hodgesi
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw” (John 4:13-15).
It is surprising that the simple reality the woman at the well understood immediately—that one drink would forever quench her thirst (John 4:15)—is often lost from sight in the Christian church. Of course, there are many who directly deny its truth. Instead, they insist, the water of life can be lost through serious disobedience or through departure from the faith. A person who has once possessed it may need to obtain it again. But in so saying, they flatly contradict the Lord Himself.
But others do not quite say this. What they do say, in effect, is that the drinking itself must go on and on. And they add that if the drinking ever stops, it never really began! But the confusion here is enormous. The simplicity of the Savior’s offer is lost sight of completely.
The concept just mentioned is found quite commonly in Lordship Salvation. According to some of its proponents, if someone “really believes,” they will keep on believing to the end of life. And if this supposed faith fails, it was not true faith to begin with.
This view of things is utterly unknown to the Bible. Nevertheless, there are many who have been confused by this kind of teaching. It is necessary, therefore, to look at the Savior’s words more closely…
The imagery of a drink of water is so pointedly clear in the Biblical story. Jesus possesses the water. He gives a drink of it to the Samaritan woman, and it is hers forever. Indeed, it transforms her inwardly. From then on, she will possess an inward fountain, or “spring,” whose supply of water is as unending as eternity itself.
Here again, we meet the miracle of regeneration. The life-bearing Word of God accomplishes an inner transformation when it is received in faith. The reception takes place at a point in time—it is like taking a drink of water. But the effects of that drink are unending.
Or to put it another way, the water of life is received once, and it is possessed forever. It is a forever gift!…
But many evangelicals are out of tune with the Biblical perspective. In Scripture, saving faith is a simple and uncomplicated issue…
At the precise instant that a man or woman believes in Christ, eternity itself invades human experience and transforms our inner beings into something wonderfully and permanently new.
How perfectly the songwriter has captured this truth when he says:
Born of the Spirit, with life from above
Into God’s fam’ly divine;
Justified fully through Calvary’s love,
O what a standing is mine!
And the transaction so quickly was made,
When as a sinner I came,
Took of the offer of grace He did proffer,
He saved me, O praise His dear name!
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,
When at the cross the Saviour made me whole;
My sins were washed away
And my night was turned to day—
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!
—John W. Peterson “Heaven Came Down”
Let there be no mistake about it. The Bible teaches exactly that kind of wondrous transaction.
The Biblical picture of the saving experience is masterful in its clarity and simplicity. A single, one-time appropriation of God’s gift results in a miraculous inward transformation that can never be reversed.
Since this is true, we miss the point by insisting that true saving faith must necessarily continue. Of course, our faith in Christ should continue. But the claim that it absolutely must, or necessarily does, has no support at all in the Bible…
The Bible predicates salvation on an act of faith, not on the continuity of faith. Just as surely as regeneration occurs at a point in time for each individual, so surely does saving faith.
That is why, in the case of Abraham, the moment of his justification is historically fixed. It is in the precise historical circumstances described by the context of Genesis 15 that we read: “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6).
So, according to the Biblical record, it was on this occasion—and on this occasion only—that Abraham was justified by faith. The statement of Gen 15:6 is utterly unique in the Scriptural account. Nothing like it is to be found anywhere else in the inspired narrative of the patriarch’s life.
Nor should we expect there to be. After all, both justification and new birth are unrepeatable events, just as is the faith that appropriates them. Both events occur at the same point in time for every Christian, and that particular historical moment is also the moment of saving faith.
Through justification, we acquire the very righteousness of God, which is credited to us on the basis of faith alone (Rom 3:21-22). Through regeneration, we acquire the very life of God, which is imparted to us likewise on the basis of faith alone. Therefore, in a moment of time, we obtain both perfect acceptance before the bar of God’s justice as well as full membership in His family.
And all of this is absolutely free and absolutely permanent. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29).
There is no return trip.
Zane Hodges taught New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary for 27 years, authored over a dozen books, and was passionate about the grace of God.
i This article is drawn from Chapter 5 (pp. 47-57) of the book Absolutely Free. It has been slightly edited.
