Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
In going through the four Gospels, only once did Jesus say we "must" experience something, and then it turns out to be something we can't "do." He told Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). And in only one other place in the New Testament are we told we "must" do something, and that is in Hebrews 11:6 where we are told, "He that cometh to God must believe that He is ..." And when the jailer asked Paul and Silas, "What must I do to be saved?" they answered, "Believe ..." (Acts 16:30, 31). Were they teaching the heresy of "only-believism"?
First, let's face reality: John 3:16 does not list all the things we must "do" in order to "have everlasting life." It plainly says, "Believe." So, was Jesus teaching "only-believism"?
Second, when Hebrews 11:6 says we "must believe" it is stating the one and only thing Scripture tells us we "must" do. "The Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). We can't force the Bible to teach salvation by faith AND by works; it teaches salvation "by grace through faith," "faith WHICH works" (Eph. 2:8, 9; Gal. 5:6).
Third, when Jesus says we "must be born again," He is not talking about a program of works. Can't be; nobody can "born" himself (forgive me!)--or give birth to himself. We must be born (passive voice of the verb). And who does the conceiving and "giving birth"? Jesus says in John 3, verse 8, as you can't tell where the wind comes from or goes, "so is everyone that is born of the Spirit."
It is He who conceives in you the new life and gives birth to the new heart; you welcome the new birth, you let it happen, you stop the abortion practice you've been doing all your life prior. Call it cooperation if you wish, but please don't think of it as being 50 percent your own Savior. You cooperate by letting Him do His blessed will in you. And when all is done at last, to Him alone will you give all the glory.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 27, 1997.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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