Grace Evangelical Society

P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202
  • About
    • Home
    • Beliefs
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
  • Resources
    • Grace in Focus Blog
    • Grace in Focus International Blogs
    • Grace in Focus Radio
    • Grace in Focus Magazine
    • Free eBooks
    • Journal of the GES
    • Book Reviews
    • Partners in Grace Newsletter
    • Audio Messages
    • Videos
    • Email Subscription
    • Bookstore
    • Online Tracts
  • Store
    • Main Page
    • On Sale
    • Return Policy
    • Your Cart
    • Your Account
  • Events
  • Connect
    • Contact Us
    • Free Grace Church and Bible Study Tracker
    • Free Grace Jobs
    • Ministry Links
  • Donate
    • One Time Donation
    • Monthly Donation
    • Your Account
  • Search
Home
→
Blog
→
Can We Believe in a Promise If We Do Not Know What Is Promised?

Can We Believe in a Promise If We Do Not Know What Is Promised?

August 31, 2022 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Believing in Jesus for everlasting life, one gospel or multiple gospels?

A theologian who does short-term missionary teaching made an interesting suggestion in a 2018 article. He wrote:

If eternal security must be the object of one’s belief, why is it spoken of as a result in passages designed to assure those who believe? In John 5:24 the object of belief is “Him who sent Me” and the result is “eternal life.” But after saying that, Jesus adds, “he [the one who believes in Him for eternal life] [brackets his] shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life.” This is an assurance about the result of eternal life, not the requirement for eternal life. Likewise, in John 6:35, Jesus says belief in Him as the Bread of Life results in never hungering or thirsting (which could be taken as satisfaction in this life and into eternity), but then states in verse 37 the assurance that He will never cast out those who come to Him, and again in verse 39 that He will lose none the Father gives Him. Yet again, in John 10:27-30, Jesus gives assurance that those who hear Him (believe in Him) have eternal life, shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of His hand or His Father’s hand…

While we might argue that someone who believes in Jesus Christ for eternal life should understand that eternal demands or implies irrevocability, this may not be initially or explicitly understood; it may not even be on their radar. Neither is it the exclusive way that John and Jesus presented the gospel message (or Luke or Paul, for that matter) (see here for the quote and full article).

This theologian raises two important issues that are exceedingly practical. Everyone who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should understand and be able to explain both issues.

Issue number one is whether someone can believe in something of which he is not aware. Can someone believe in the promise of everlasting life if he is not thinking about everlasting life? How would that be possible?

What this theologian suggests is that a person can believe in Jesus for everlasting life without thinking about everlasting life.

That is impossible. You can’t believe in someone for something unless you are thinking about that something.

During the pandemic, President Biden guaranteed to give every American $600. Would it be possible to believe President Biden for that $600 without knowing that he was promising $600? If $600 was not on your radar, then you could not believe his promise for $600.

In the same way, a person can only believe in Jesus for everlasting life if he is thinking about everlasting life. See John 3:16; 5:24; 1 Tim 1:16.

Issue number two is his suggestion that there are different saving messages in the NT. Believing in Jesus for everlasting life, according to this theologian, was one saving message that John and Jesus presented. But they had other saving messages. And Luke and Paul had other saving messages as well.

Are we to understand that there is more than one saving message in the NT?

I remember that during my doctoral studies at DTS, I was reading a chapter in Unity and Diversity in the New Testament by James Dunn. The chapter was entitled, “Kerugma or Kerugmata?” He argued in the chapter that there were different saving messages in the NT. I found that suggestion to be inconsistent with the NT. I was surprised that nearly all the other doctoral students in the class had no difficulty with that idea.

There is only one saving message. There are not multiple saving messages.

One must believe in both the gift of God (everlasting life) and the Giver of the gift, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 4:10, 14, 25-26). One cannot believe in Jesus for the gift of God without having in mind what that gift is. That is why the Lord Jesus was always careful to make sure His listeners understood what it was that He was promising. He put it on their radar, so to speak. So should we.

Subscribe by Email

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
Bob_W

by Bob Wilkin

Bob Wilkin (ThM, PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is the Founder and Executive Director of Grace Evangelical Society and co-host of Grace in Focus Radio. He lives in Highland Village, TX with his wife, Sharon. His latest books are Faith Alone in One Hundred Verses and Turn and Live: The Power of Repentance.

If you wish to ask a question about a given blog, email us your question at ges@faithalone.org.

Cart

Recently Added

March 22, 2023

1 Peter–Part 03–1:22-2:10

Welcome to Grace in Focus radio. Today, Bob Wilkin, Philippe Sterling and Ken Yates are talking about the contents of 1 Peter. There are many...
March 22, 2023

Was Zane Hodges’s View of the Saving Message Misguided, Anemic, Inconsistent, and Evasive? Part 1

A 2019 doctoral paper by Nicholas James Claxton (available online—see here) is entitled “Faith Without Works: The Gospel According to Zane Hodges.” Claxton’s paper is...
March 21, 2023

1 Peter–Part 02–1:3-21

Welcome to Grace in Focus radio. Today, Ken Yates, Philippe Sterling and Bob Wilkin are continuing a short study of 1 Peter from the New...

Grace in Focus Radio

All Episodes

Listen to Stitcher

Listen on Spotify

Grace In Focus Magazine

Grace In Focus is sent to subscribers in the United States free of charge.

Subscribe for Free

The primary source of Grace Evangelical Society's funding is through charitable contributions. GES uses all contributions and proceeds from the sales of our resources to further the gospel of grace in the United States and abroad.

Donate

Bookstore Specials

  • Here Walks My Enemy: The Story of Luis (Hardcover) $13.95 $5.00
  • Here Walks My Enemy: The Story of Luis (Paperback) $6.95 $3.00
  • Hebrews: Partners with Christ $22.00 $15.00
  • The Road to Reward, 2nd Edition $9.95 $5.00
  • Absolutely Free, 2nd Edition $20.00 $12.00
Grace Evangelical Society

(940) 270-8827 / ges@faithalone.org

4851 S I-35E Suite 203, Corinth, TX 76210
P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube