The writer of the Book of Hebrews declares Jesus Christ the “author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). This is vitally important to understand. There are many Christians who sing the song, “I have decided to follow Jesus” who do not realize they are not following Jesus. They are following the traditions of men. No one can really “decide” to follow Jesus. You don’t believe me? Well then, let us look to the Scriptures and see what they have to say on the subject.
“Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48,NKJV). Other translations use the word “ordained” in the place of “appointed.” Please note the ones appointed or ordained believed. God gave them something in advance which caused them to believe when they heard the word.
Speaking to His apostles, Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16) Who chose who?
Looking at the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who would become the apostle to the nations, he tells us that his conversion is the example of how others would come into the kingdom of God. Seriously, do you think Saul, who was in the process of killing the church, “decided” to follow Jesus? Or was he captured? Here is the condition in which we find Saul, just prior to his “conversion.” You decide whether he was in a condition of “godly sorrow” or repentance just before his conversion or if, in fact, just the opposite was the case.
“Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do You want me to do?’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. (Acts 9:1-6, NKJV)
At the same time The Lord spoke to Ananias, a part of the body of believers. Here’s what the Lord told Ananias concerning Saul, who would become Paul:
“Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15, 16). We see here quite clearly, that God had already planned to save Saul and knew in advance what Saul would do for His name’s sake. We do not find a trace of “free-will” here. We find the sovereignty of God acting to bring Saul into a work pre-planned by God. We see in this passage of Scripture God Sovereignly exercising His right to “elect” someone He has predestined to a specific “calling.” We do not see Saul “deciding” anything. Later Paul tells us his conversion is the example for others who would come into the body of Christ through the preaching of the gospel. Paul says,
“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting (aionian) life” (1 Tim 1:15,16). The chiefest of sinners merely heard the voice of God and was changed. He was predestined to a work and spent the rest of his life fulfilling that work until the day he could say that he accomplished that work. This is how people are “saved” by the True and Living God.
Why do we have a difficult time believing the Scriptures when they plainly declare, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). We don’t believe because we have been seduced by the traditions of men. Equally, why don’t we believe that every single person drawn by the Father will come to Jesus; that Jesus will not lose a single soul? Because today’s traditions teach the opposite. We do we not believe Jesus when He said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day” (John 6:37-40). Yes, sadly, most Christians do not believe the plain words of Christ. These words are too wonderful for them to believe. Surely they must perform works of some kind to enter into the life promised by Jesus. It cannot be this simple. But it is. Entrance into the abundant life produces the works of God. We do not produce “works” in our own strength that we might have the abundant life.
While many Christians have memorized Ephesians 2:8, “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,” truly few Christians really believe this Scripture and are able to walk out their Christian lives in this assurance.
If most Christians cannot and will not believe these simple wonderful truths, how can they possibly accept the plain simple words of Jesus Christ when He openly and plainly declared, when speaking of what manner of death He would die, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). This passage has been twisted by tradition into all sorts of lies. Tradition cannot accept it as stated. They must interpret it. Why? Because in its simple form, it conflicts with the creeds and articles of faith of most denominations. Therefore, they must color it in accord with their doctrines, rather than allow the blood of Christ to speak for itself. The Scriptures declare we all put Christ on the cross. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “There is none righteous, nay, not one” (Rom. 3:10). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). We all have need of a savior, every single one of us. Here is Jesus’ request to the Father on behalf of every person on this earth who has need of forgiveness, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Jesus said he only did and speak what He saw His Father doing and speaking. He came to fulfill His Father’s words and works. Do you think perhaps God the Father honored His Son’s words by accepting them … by bringing them to pass? “Father, forgive them….” Do you find any conditions in this statement? I don’t.
Let’s return to the subject at hand. There are many passages of Scripture which the Calvinists love because they speak of the absolute Sovereignty of God, election, and predestination. Arminianists, those who believe in “free-will,” have a tendency to blind themselves to these Scriptures because they find Calvinism quite repugnant. I, too, find Calvinism in its broadest expression, a very repugnant system. However, we cannot throw out Scriptures merely because they agree with Calvinism and not the “free-will” camp (nor vice-a-versa). Christians who have aligned themselves into either one of these two branches of Protestantism have forced themselves into favoring a certain set of Scriptures above another set when dealing with the subject of God’s Sovereignty versus mankind’s “free-will.” Each camp has certain truths. Each camp, also, has certain errors caused by their rejection of Scriptures which do not agree with their foundational teachings. I have found that one must leave both of these groups if one is to be able to rightly divide the Word of God. Each group is too loyal to their pet Scriptures at the expense of other Scriptures which seem to contradict their beliefs. It is possible to reconcile all the Scriptures with each other. But it is not easy to see the way to do this while being blinded by the sectarian teachings of either camp. For example, most Arminianists (free-willers) cannot truly grasp the power of Scriptures like this one:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he predestinated, these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with him also freely give us all things. Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. (Rom. 8:28-33)
It would behoove those of us raised on the “free-will” Scriptures to read this chapter to the end several times. Prayerfully ask allow the Holy Spirit to shed some light on the subject of Sovereignty, election, and predestination.
When I was in the “free-will” camp, when reading a Scripture like this one, my preconditioned mind would automatically go to one of those “Arminianist” Scriptures like “Many are called but few are chosen.” Another favorite Scripture which would come to mind would be, “Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name and done many wonders in Your Name?’ ‘And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:21-23). As a result of these “free-will” type of Scriptures coming to my mind, I was unable to read the Sovereignty, election, and predestination type of Scriptures for what they literally said. I had to “interpret” them in light of the “free-will” set of Scriptures. This method of Bible reading is not rightly dividing the Word of Truth. It will not reveal the fullness of His truth. As I said before, the only way one can rightly divide the word is to get out of all these camps, traditions, sects, and mindsets so that you can read the Scriptures without trying to defend your sect’s foundational teachings. We all like to be on the winning team. When we have chosen a team to be on, we will automatically become prejudiced in our ways of doing things, including how to interpret Scriptures. We become biased in our reading. We develop blind spots without realizing it.
The right frame of mind when reading the Bible will allow one to open-mindedly read Scriptures which seem to contradict each other without favoring one set over another. The Holy Spirit will eventually sort everything out if we do not come to premature conclusions on our own or with the help of our sect’s interpretations.
Looking at Roman Chapter eight, we clearly see that it is God who starts the process and does what is needed to bring salvation to completion. It is all God, from start to finish! Man’s most difficult labor is ceasing from his labor and receiving unmerited favor. The Scriptures boldly declare that one is saved by “grace through faith.” Jesus Christ is the “author and finisher” of our faith. Even faith is a gift which we cannot receive apart from God giving it. We are quite incapable of coming to God apart from this faith. Once this faith is received, it is Jesus Christ who finishes the work in us, not ourselves, lest we boast. There are many Scriptures which make this quite clear. However, there appear to be Scriptures which contradict this understanding. Only the Holy Spirit will be able to sort out the confusion for a believer. It is not the purpose of this paper to show how all these two seemingly contradictory sets of Scriptures can be harmonized, but they can be.
I felt I had to touch on this subject merely to give the “free-will” type of Christian the understanding that it is not our faith that saves us, it is the faith of Jesus Christ which we receive as an unmerited gift that saves us, not our faith in Him. So where do many Christians (the majority actually) get the idea that salvation begins by our putting our faith or trust in Jesus Christ instead of receiving faith from Jesus Christ? There are hundreds of thousands of church leaders who teach this. Christian literature is overflowing with this teaching. We find this teaching in some of the leading selling Bible translations. I don’t really want to get into the subject of the differences among Bible translations, but the Scriptures we are presently looking at are so important, we must make sure we are truly receiving the actual meaning which the original writers wanted to convey.
In these Scriptures, we will see that changing a single word from “of” to “in” changes the whole meaning of a sentence and even more, changes the whole understanding regarding how a person becomes “saved.” I am first going to quote three Scriptures from the New King James Version dealing with faith. The NKJV claims to remain true to the original meaning of the text found in the original King James Bible of 1611. We will see this is not the case at all. How they rendered the following three Scriptures will show how easy it is to dramatically change key doctrinal passages by simply changing a two-letter word. We will see that the substitution of the little word “of” for the word “in” can change the very foundation of Christianity itself! Let us first compare the KJV with the NKJV. Then we will see if we can determine which rendering is the correct one.
“…A man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” (Gal. 2:16, NKJV)
“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Gal. 3:22, NKJV)
“That I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith…” (Phil. 3:9)
The original 1611 King James reads:
“…A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Gal. 2:16, KJV)
“But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. (Gal. 3:22, KJV)
“And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Phil. 3:9, KJV)
I pray that the reader sees the dramatic difference these two little words make. If a person “decided” to put their faith in Christ and as a result receive righteousness, then the first step was taken by man and not God. A person who has made a “decision” for God can have a right to boast is his decision. He can pat himself on the back, so to speak, that he was smart enough to give his life to God. Evangelists often count how many “decisions” for Christ they were able to secure during their services so they can say they were successful.
It is interesting to note, the leading competing English Bible in the Seventeenth Century to the King James Bible was the Geneva Bible. This Bible, like the King James Version, used the word “of” instead of “in.” You see, the King James Bible translating committee had quite a few Calvinists on the committee who would have been more proned to place salvation in the realm of predestination and election. The Geneva Bible, of course, is a Calvinist Bible.
The four leading selling English Bibles in recent years have been the NIV, NASB, KJV, and the NKJV. Only the KJV uses the word “of” in these passages. The other three have opted for “in.” When looking at the makeup of the translating committees of these Bibles, it becomes evident that translators and editors seem to be unable to translate without their denominational biases being involved. Those of the Arminian persuasion (the majority), have chosen to translate these passages in such a manner to support the idea of a free-will which must be exercised towards God before one can begin to enter the salvation process.
Can we, as non-experts in Greek, determine which rendering most reflects the heart and intent of the original authors? I think we can. There are Scriptures which deal with the same subject in which it is much more difficult to twist the passage to conform to a theological bias. Let’s take a look at the leading selling English Bible, the New International Version, which has chosen to follow the Arminian bias (free-will) in its translation process. We noted in Gal. 3:22, this translation used “faith in Jesus Christ” as opposed to “faith of Jesus Christ.” However, the very next verse is translated, Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law” (Gal. 3:23-25, NIV). We see here this faith was not available under the law to anyone! This faith came when Jesus Christ came! People believed in the coming Messiah under the Law of Moses. Their hope was in this Messiah. But this “faith” which we are talking about was not available in the ancient world except a handful of men and women God used to weave His marvelous story. Most of these men and women heard the audible voice of God. Some of them saw mighty visions which gave them the strength and vision to fulfill that which Yahweh required of them. It is difficult for most of us to image what happens to our perspective of things after hearing the audible voice of God. Obviously, for these men and women, it was life-changing.
On the day of Pentecost nearly 2000 years ago, this “faith” instead of dropping on a handful of men and women scattered over several thousand years, began to be poured out to many thousands at a time. Faith is the substance which allows one to see that which cannot be seen with the natural mind. It is not something we inherently possess, contrary to what most of the church believes and teaches.
Let us look at a text which should seal the coffin to this issue of whose faith is being exercised in the salvation process. In the NIV version, we read in Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It is quite clear here where our faith came from and Who is perfecting or completing it. It is the faith of Jesus Christ, deposited in a people who He is bringing into a fullness which the world will one day behold! Oh, yes, once it is deposited, we may claim this faith as our own, but we must never forget its source. Forgetting that it is a gift given from God which we did not earn will cause a Christian to travel the road which leads to self-righteousness and will surely end in spiritual death. This is the condition of too many Christians today. The churches of the world are filled with self-righteous, prideful, arrogant people who think they are better than the rest of the world. They have been deluded into thinking they play a part in their salvation. They have become so blind, they do not even know what salvation truly is. The Arminian concept of Christian salvation is false. (But that’s for another article.)
The churches of the world are filled with people who have listened to church leaders and read Bibles produced by their scholars, that told them to repeat a simple little prayer, put their faith in Christ and receive eternal life and avoid eternal torture in hell if they continue on the right road. This road varies greatly from one Arminian type Christian denomination to another. The differences between these denominations, as wide as they are, really don’t matter much. They all lead to spiritual death.
(Let the reader understand, I am not writing as a Calvinist. I am not a Calvinist! I abhor much of the theology of the Calvinist system. I want the truth! Period! I don’t like Calvinism, but the Calvinists are right regarding where faith comes from. I don’t like the King James Bible. Read some of my criticisms of it in other articles I have written if you don’t believe me. But in this case, the King James Bible has translated correctly, while the other leading selling Bibles have revealed the theological bias behind the committees which produced their translations.)
So then the beginning and end of salvation for a believer is all God. Man is incapable of offering anything to the process except the fruit of his lips … praise and thanksgiving.