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Believing the Gospel

In some circles, it seems the emphasis on the Gospel has turned into an overemphasis.

Now that I have your attention, let me suggest that the problem is that some evangelistically-minded Christians are too narrowly focused on the moment of coming to faith in Christ. Elaborate strategies to spread the Gospel are developed and those who show any interest at all are urged to make a decision to “receive the Lord Jesus as Saviour,” to “believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation,” or something like that. There are several other phrases employed and most convey the impression that the moment of decision is all important. However, the kind of faith that actually saves us is not about a momentary believing in something, but is about a profound change in the inner life that reorients the person and sets a new course for his or her life.

This is where repentance comes in. Repentance is an ongoing thing that offers some balance to the tendency to overemphasize the moment when one begins to believe and then ignore the life of faith, which God expects to follow. I have observed that when undue emphasis falls on conversion, social conformity often serves as a substitute for spiritual.

The problem associated with moment-of-decision emphasis is that emotional distress in difficult circumstances can cause us to “believe" simply for the purpose of alleviating our distress. It is absolutely true that faith (not even necessarily faith in God), can carry people through a difficult time. When we focus all of our attention on the moment of believing, we assume that people who find comfort in the emotional release associated with faith have become Christians - that they have begun a life of faith.

This is not always the case, as we see in the parable of the four soils. Jesus talked about those who believe easily and quickly, but then, having no root, wither and soon die. The kind of faith that God is looking for is that which perseveres – faith that carries beyond some moment of crisis and becomes integrated into the philosophy, the lifestyle, and the very personality of the person who has begun to believe. “Those who endure to the end will be saved.”

I confess to being a little nervous about those who cling to some moment from the past that “proves” their salvation (or that of a loved one). In some cases, it is quite evident that there was no conversion at all in the sense of profound inner change demonstrated by conformity to the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. To claim to have become a Christian without any lasting change is to mock the whole message of the Gospel. On believing, we enter into an entirely new life which includes getting new values that align with God’s values, coming to see sin the way God sees it, learning to see God’s Son the way God sees Him, and so on. It is dangerous to draw comfort from a moment in the past when we “believed,” if we do not see any change thereafter. People who do this may well be deceiving themselves.

Faith is an ongoing thing. It is not the faith I had as an eight-year-old boy when I “asked Jesus into my heart” that gives me confidence that I am saved, today. That faith saved me that day, but it is the faith that I have right now that saves me right now. Faith is a living thing. It’s not about some moment in the past when we said a prayer, had a funny feeling in a meeting, or made a public confession faith. It is about what I believe at this moment and at this moment, I believe that Jesus died for my sins. I believe that He was raised for my justification. I believe that He returned to Heaven. I believe that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell within me to empower and gift me for service. I believe that He is the promise of the spiritual inheritance that I am to receive in eternity. It is my believing these things at this moment that saves me and gives me the foundation for my spiritual life.

I don’t want to give the impression that I am trusting my faith to save me; I am trusting in Christ to save me. The Bible states that faith is a gift of God. Once this is received, we can be sure that we have it and it will never be called back because God’s “gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29) No doubt there are people who are saved today, who have fallen into sin for a longer or shorter period of time. However, they are aware that they are sinning. They are aware that they are rebelling against God. And one day, they will confess those sins and begin to live again by their earlier repentance. They will do this because they are believers in whose innermost being the light of the gospel has shone.

I believe that we need to emphasize the Gospel more than ever, but perhaps deemphasize the huge concern with the moment of conversion. It’s a distortion to consider that the moment of conversion is the end, when, in fact, it is just the beginning – the beginning of a life of faith and an eternity with God.

Ron Hughes
© February, 2007