FAITH + WORKS = SALVATION?
May 31, 2019
READ TIME: 2-3 MINUTES
“Dave, I’m confused because some Bible teachers say John 3:36 means a person is saved if he believes in Christ and lives a life of obedience. Is that true?”
I don’t think John 3:36 is teaching that a person is saved if he or she believes in Jesus and lives a life of obedience. John MacArthur in The Gospel According to Jesus (1st edition) claims that John 3:36 teaches that without the ongoing production of obedient good works, there is, in fact, no saving faith at all (see pp. 33, 47, 53, 174, 178). Of course, a Christian should certainly live a life of obedience, but this isn’t necessarily proof that he or she is a believer.
Some Lordship Salvation teachers see in the translation “obey” in this verse support for their teaching that genuine initial faith in Jesus for salvation always displays itself afterward by an obedient lifestyle. I’m referring to these teachers:
Wayne Grudem, “Free Grace” Theology: 5 Ways It Diminishes the Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 53-54; idem, “Perseverance of the Saints,” in Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace, ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 180.
Another example is George Turner who wrote this: “The fact that John used [apeith?n] as the opposite of “believe” suggests that for him saving faith in Christ also included obedience to Christ. The person that did not believe to the extent of becoming obedient was not born again and naturally did not have eternal life” (George Allen Turner, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.), 102).
In my humble opinion, the passage is teaching that a person is saved if he or she obeys the command to believe in Christ.
It helps to view a similar passage seen in the context, verse 18, where unbelief is the reason for present condemnation: “whoever does not believe is condemned already.” This compares with the statement in verse 36: “the wrath of God abides on Him.” When we consider this and the fact that the Gospel of John’s presentation is overwhelmingly presented in terms of belief for eternal life and unbelief for condemnation, the NKJV translation makes perfect sense. All John is doing in the context is presenting Jesus Christ as one who has been given the authority of God the Father and therefore should be obeyed as such. The first and foremost obedience God requires is to believe in Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Those who equate faith with obedience or say faith guarantees obedience make works of obedience an essential condition for salvation by making works essential to faith. This is against the entire teaching of the New Testament that salvation is by grace through faith not by works, much less the clear emphasis in John’s Gospel on the sufficiency of faith alone as the condition for eternal life.
Sources Used
Bing, Charles C. Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship: How to Understand Some Difficult Bible Passages. Grace Theology Press, 119-120.
McCoy, Brad. “Obedience is Necessary to Receive Eternal Life.” < https://faithalone.org/magazine/y1994/94E2.html>.
Stegall, Tom. “Does John 3:36 Require Faith + Works for Salvation?” < https://www.gracegospelpress.org/does-john-336-require-faith-works-for-salvation/#_ftn2>.