WHY IS BELIEF CALLED A “WORK OF GOD”?
Apr 17, 2019
READ TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
“Dave, why is belief called a work of God in John 6:28-29?”
Charlie Bing gives an excellent answer to this important question.
SHORT ANSWER
Believing in Jesus Christ for salvation requires simple faith.
MORE DETAILED ANSWER
The question reflects a typical Jewish mindset of that time which assumed something had to be done to earn salvation.
Jesus answers simply, “This is the work of God…” Jesus does not concede to their request for a list of works, but in a play on their request for “works,” He uses only the singular word “work” as something that must be done. In other words, He answers, “If you want to know what you have to do to become acceptable to God, simply believe in the Me whom He sent.” Jesus gives nothing else to “do” but believe; that is all that God commands and all that God requires (cf. 1 John 3:23).
In a world full of religions that all have a different list of things to do to know God, get to heaven, or find salvation, how refreshing it is that Jesus teaches we must only and simply believe that He was sent by God to be our Savior from sin. If biblical Christianity loses this clear teaching, we become like all the other religions of the world that teach we must work to earn our eternal salvation.
SOURCE USED
Bing, Charles C. Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship: How to Understand Some Difficult Bible Passages. Grace Theology Press, 122-123.