GES promotes the view that to be born again a person must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting life that cannot be lost, or the equivalent (e.g., everlasting salvation, guaranteed home forever in Christ’s kingdom, permanent justification).

Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of pushback from people within Free Grace circles. In the last month or so, I’ve been confronted with this objection three times, twice via email and once in a conversation. In each case, someone was firmly asserting that there is no place in John’s Gospel or in the NT that says we need to believe in Jesus for everlasting life in order to have that life. They argue that everlasting life is the result of believing in Jesus, not the condition.

John 3:16 is a promise, and we can’t believe that verse unless we believe the promise.

Those who disagree say that the essential part of John 3:16 is just the first part: “For God so loved the word that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him...” They think the rest is helpful but need not be believed in order for one to be born again.

But that is an incomplete thought. What is the Lord Jesus promising the person who believes in Him? If you leave out the last part of John 3:16, you no longer have John 3:16.

If we don’t need to believe in Him FOR the promised result, then we don’t need to believe in Him FOR anything. We don’t need to believe in Him for forgiveness of sins, salvation, heaven, etc. We just need to believe in Him. We don’t need to be convinced that we get anything due to believing. Learning about the benefits of believing in Him is a sanctification issue, they say.

And what would it mean to “believe in Him” if it didn’t mean believing in Him for what He promises? Well, that’s another blog.i Devoid of believing in Him FOR something, believing in Him is nebulous.

By the way, there are verses in the NT that do say we must believe in Jesus for everlasting life. I’ll give you three to meditate on:

1. John 11:25-27. The Lord states two propositions. First, the one who believes in Him, though he may die, will be raised, glorified, and delivered to His eternal kingdom. Second, he who lives and believes in Him will never die spiritually. Those are two promises of eternal security. He then asks Martha, “Do you believe this?” Her response is word for word what John 20:31 says we must believe in order to have everlasting life. The object of saving faith is Jesus’ promise of everlasting life that can’t be lost.

1. 1 Timothy 1:16. Paul said that he is an example of those who “are going to believe in Him for everlasting life.” The expression believing in Him for everlasting life is there. The Greek reads πιστεύειν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. The preposition εἰς means for.

1. The expression promise of life is found in 2 Tim 1:1. Variations of that expression occur in Acts 5:20, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life,” and in Phil 2:16, “holding fast the word of life…” You cannot accurately evangelize anyone without proclaiming the promise of life or the equivalent.

When people say we don’t need to believe in Him FOR anything—we just need to believe in Him—they are saying that people who do not believe in life after death are saved if they “believe in Him.” People who don’t believe Jesus is coming again to establish His kingdom are born again if they “believe in Him.” People who do not think they receive anything for believing in Jesus are eternally secure.

Now, someone may object. “You do have to believe in Him for something. But that something doesn’t need to be permanent. It can be salvation for now. It can be forgiveness of my sins committed up until now. It could be the reception of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with believing in Him for everlasting life. But there are other benefits we can believe in Him for.”

The funny thing is, they don’t have a verse in the Bible that speaks of believing in Him FOR any of these temporary benefits. And the Lord Jesus did not give the option of believing in Him for probation.

The only evangelistic book in the Bible, John’s Gospel, is clear that we must believe in Jesus’ promise of everlasting life in order to have that life. Dozens of times in evangelistic contexts the Lord Jesus said that the one who believes in Him will never hunger, thirst, die spiritually, perish, be cast out, or be plucked from His hand. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. He repeatedly promised everlasting life to those who believe in Him.

To keep grace in focus, you’ve got to be clear that Jesus’ promise of everlasting life is the bullseye. It is what we believe Him FOR.

ⁱ I plan to write a separate blog on what Jesus meant when He said, “He who believes in Me…”