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Ge1Dl1Ulinme CCih1ritim?
Part I
I. Introduction
The most important knowledge that
any human being can possess is clearly
understanding the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and how one can become a Chris-
tian. Part of this understanding is ac-
curately grasping what is entailed in be-
ing a Christian. A very common evan-
gelical belief is that professing Christ
is equal to being a Christian. For some,
the walking down the aisle during an
evangelistic plea and professing Christ
in front of a church congregation is an
absolute guarantee that they are a Chris-
tian. Though a person may be truly
saved during such a service, the mere
act of professing Christ in this manner
is no guarantee of salvation. The Bible
does not equate profession of Christian-
ity with genuine salvation. There are
several biblical instances which clearly
demonstrate that it is possible to make
a Christian profession and yet still be
spiritually lost and doomed to an ever-
lasting destruction in Hell.
It is almost an axiom that wherever
there is a genuine item there will al-
ways be a counterfeit For our spiritual
welfare, it is vital that we distinguish
between the genuine and the counterfeit.
If we don't, then our souls very well
may be in dreadful jeopardy. I can think
of no greater tragedy than for a person
to live his entire life in a state of
spiritual delusion and die in that state of
delusion. He thinks that he is a real
Christian when, in reality, he is lost.
The purpose of this article is to set
John M. Otis Is
a PCA pastor
residing In
Roswell, Georgia
1by ]olhum M. Orois
forth the biblical teaching concerning
what it means to be a genuine Chris-
tian. It is sad that one has to use the
word "genuine" when referring to a
Christian. It is because there is great
confusion in the Christian community
regarding this issue. Who is the gen-
uine Christian? What are the distin-
guishing characteristics of this person?
Can we have assurance of our salvation
in light of the fact that we can make a
false profession of faith? This article
seeks to give these answers.
ll. Accepting Jesus
as Savior or Lord?
Can one be a genuine Christian by
only receiving Jesus Christ as his Sav-
ior apart from submitting to Jesus' Lord-
ship? There are those who believe and
teach that the Gospel of Christ only re-
quires that a person accept Christ's
atoning work on his behalf. One merely
receives Christ as one's Savior. Later
on and as one's commitment to Christ
increases, one then accepts Christ as his
Lord. Thus, this view teaches that it is
possible to be a genuine Christian and
not simultaneously have Jesus as one's
Lord. Those who hold to this view
insist that to demand Lordship as part
of salvation is to deny the great doc-
trinal truth - salvation by grace through
faith alone. There is a prominent evan-
gelical organization that explicitly
teaches that one can have Jesus in one's
life and yet sinful ego can still be on
the throne of one's life - that is - ego is
the controlling influence in one's life.
According to this teaching, one vir-
tually cannot distinguish the Christian
from the unbeliever. It is the "spiritual"
Christian who has Christ on the throne
of his life. It is this "spirit-filled" Chris-
tian who submits to Christ's Lordship.
This doctrinal belief is commonly
known as the "Carnal Christian Doc-
trine." Summarizing this belief, it is
possible to behave as an unbeliever and
still be a genuine Christian. The reason
is that the Gospel merely exhorts us to
receive Christ as Savior in order to have
salvation.
Is this carnal Christian doctrine
biblical? Can a person be a genuine
Christian without simultaneously ac-
cepting Christ as Lord? Can one live
like a heathen and have assurance of sal-
vation? Such teaching is totally un-
biblical. In fact, it is so dangerous that
it has deluded many a person into a
sense of false security. They think that
their anchor is in heaven when, in
reality, they are on the broad path to
eternal destruction in Hell. The fol-
lowing examples are true stories. This
author had a friend who was doing
neighborhood visitation, and he came
across a woman who happened to be the
town prostitute. This woman believed
that she was saved because as a young
girl she walked the aisle in an evan-
gelistic meeting and professed Christ as
Savior. Also, this writer once talked
with a man who was committing
adultery against his wife and who had
separated from his wife and children.
The man insisted that he was a Chris-
tian because he once went forward dur-
ing an evangelistic plea. He said that he
felt that all his sins were forgiven.
When I asked him whether he confessed
his sins and committed his life to
Christ as Lord, the man said that he did
none of these things. Yet, he believed
he was a Christian despite the fact that
he was openly living in rebellion
against God's Word. Both these people
are convinced they are spiritually secure
in Christ. It will be tragic to hear from
Christ on judgment day that they are
rejected. Such is the deplorable conse-
quence of the carnal Christian doctrine.
The Bible clearly teaches that a gen-
uine Christian is one who receives
Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord
simultaneously. Let's consider who
Jesus is and how He is presented in
Scripture. In the New Testament, Jesus
is frequently referred to as "kurios."
This is the Greek term for "Lord."
'l'he Counsel of Chalcedon, April-May, 1988 ---------------------------Page 7
Christ is called "Lord" 747 times in the
New Testament. In the book of Acts,
He is referred to as Savior only twice;
however, He is called Lord ninety-two
times. The key lies in the meaning of
the term "Lord." Greek dictionaries clear-
ly demonstrate that its usage conveys
the idea of master, ownership, rule,
dominion, etc. The prevailing idea is of
one who has controlling authority over
another.
Romans 10:9,10 says, "that if you
confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
for with the heart man believes, re-
sulting in righteousness." It is quite ap-
parent that the confession is in Christ's
Lordship. It is with man's innermost
being - his heart - that a person believes.
in Christ's Lordship. More will be said
later about the biblical meaning of
"belief' and "faith." It is the commit-
ment to Christ's Lordship that results
in salvation, according to, this verse.
The genuine Christian is. one who sub-
mits to Christ as his master, acknow-
ledging Christ's ownership over him. In
a spiritual sense we are Christ's slaves.
I Corinthians 7:22,23 states, "For he
who was a slave when he was called by
the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similar-
ly, he who was a free man when he was
called is Christ's slave. You were
bought with a price, do not become
slaves of men." Romans 6:16-18 is
equally as clear, "Do you not know that
when you present yourselves to some-
one as slaves for obedience, you are
slaves of the one whom you obey,
either of sin resulting in death, or of
obedience resulting in righteousness?
But thanks be to God that though you
were slaves of sin, you became obedient
from the heart to that form of teaching
to which you were committed, and
having been freed from sin, you became
slaves of righteousness." Colossians
3:22-24 clearly associates Christ's'
Lordship with spiritual slavery,
"Slaves, in all things obey those who
are your masters on earth, not with
external service, as those who merely
please men, but with sincerity of heart,
fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do
your work heartily, as for .the Lord
rather than for men; knowing that from
the Lord you will receive the reward of
the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ
whom you serve." How much more
plain can it be? Submitting to Christ's
Lordship is no option for the Christian.
In fact, it is part and parcel with being a
genuine believer.
The true Gospel that is preached to
all nations is unmistakably the preach-
ing of the Lordship of Christ for one's
salvation. Peter states in Acts 10:34-
36, "I most certainly understand now
that God is not one to show partiality,
but in every nation the man who fears
Him and does what is right, is welcome
to Him. The word which He sent to the
sons of Israel, preaching peace through
Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)." In
Acts 16:31, Paul and Silas told the
Philippian jailer, "Believe in the Lord
Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and
your household." The apostles' preach-
ing is succinctly summarized in II Cor-
inthians 4:5, "For we do not preach our-
selves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and our-
selves as your bond-servants for Jesus'
sake."
The Scripture presents Jesus Christ
as both Savior and Lord together in
man's salvation. It is this majestic Lord
who is our Savior. When sinful man
lays down his spiritual sword of re-
bellion and surrenders to Christ's Lord-
ship,over him, then Christ has become
his Savior indeed. When Jesus enters
our heart, He enters as our Master,
claiming exclusive rights over every
facet of our being. It is Scripturally
unthinkable to imagine a person who
has eternal life and yet whose sinful
desires are the controlling influence of
his life. Friend, if Jesus Christ isn't the
Lord of your life, then you are yet lost
in your sins.
ill. The Necessity of
Repentance and Faith
Those who would refute the notion
that submitting to Christ's Lordship is
necessary for salvation would still in-
sist that this perverts the simplicity of
the Gospel. Some even have called it
heretical. In one sense, the Gospel is
simple in that the message is not com-
plex. Romans 10:13 does say, "Who-
ever will call upon the name of the
Lord will be saved." And, the Philip-
pian jailer was told to believe in the
Lord Jesus and he and his household
would be saved. Simplicity does not
detract from the necessary content that
must be present in order for the promise
to be effectual. This simple Gospel
makes great demands upon the in-
dividual.
There are two absolutely essential
parts in this simple Gospel. They are
repentance and fillth. Without these
there is no genuine salvation, and the
profession of faith without these quali-
ties is merely an empty profession.
A. The Role of Repentance
in Salvation
When we say that repentance is a
necessary part for genuine salvation, we
are not saying that repentance is the
basis for salvation. The basis for sal-
vation will always be the work of
Christ done on behalf of the sinner.
Repentance is a means of salvation; it
is through this avenue that salvation is
realized. This will become apparent as
we look at several biblical references.
It is necessary that we define "re-
pentance." The word conveys the ideas
of great sorrow for our sins and a com-
plete change of mind that leads to the
forsaking of one's sins. This sorrow
that is part of repentance is seen in II
Corinthians 7:9,10, "I now rejoice, not
that you were made sorrowful, but that
you were made sorrowful to the point
of repentance; for you were made sor-
rowful according to the will of God, in
order that you might not suffer loss in
anything through us. For the sorrow
that is according to the will of God pro-
duces a repentance without regret, lead
ing to salvation; but the sorrow of the
world produces death. The idea of for-
saking sin as part of repentance is seen
in Ezekiel 18:21,30 which says, "But if
the wicked nian turns from all his sins
which he has committed and observes
all My statutes and practices justice and
righteousness, he shall surely live; he
shall not die .... Repent and turn away
from all your transgressions, so that ini-
quity may not become a stumbling
block to you."
Page 8 --------------------------The Counsel of Chalcedon, April-May, 1988
The story of the prodigal son in Luke
15 is a good example of one who re-
pents. In Luke 15:18 the prodigal son
says, "I will get up and go to my
father, and will say to him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and in your
sight." The son recognizes his pathetic
condition, and he determines to abandon
his former life and seek the mercy of
his father.
When an unbeliever repents, he clear-
ly sees the nature of his sins in relation-
ship to God's holiness. He grieves that
he has offended a holy God, and he
desires to have a changed life that is in
conformity with God's holy Law. No-
tice what happened during Peter's ser-
mon on the day of Pentecost in Jerusa-
lem. Peter's convicting sermon causes
many in his audience to be "pierced to
the heart" and to ask Peter, "Brethren,
what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). Peter
says, "Repent, and let each of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins, and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"
(Acts 2:38). These people had a deep
sorrow for their sins and wanted to
know how they could rectify their situa-
tion. The solution was to repent.
Now that we know what constitutes
biblical repentance, we now tum our
attention to those passages which
demonstrate the necessity of repentance
for one's salvation. Jesus was very clear
when He said, "I tell you, but, unless
you repent, you will all likewise
perish" (Luke 13:3). There are several
passages which explicitly state that
forgiveness of sins is contingent upon
one's repentance. Acts 2:38 stated that
forgiveness of sins followed repentance.
Acts 3:19 says, "Repent therefore and
return, that your sins may be wiped
away, in order that times of refreshing
may come from the presence of the
Lord." In Paul's defense before king
Agrippa, he recounts the mission that
Jesus gave to him. Paul was to "open
their eyes so that they may tum from
darkness to light and from the dominion
of Satan to God, in order that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and an
inheritance among those who have been
sanctified by faith in Me. . . .1
Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not
I I
prove disobedient to the heavenly vi-
sion, but kept declaring both to those
of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem
and then throughout all the region of
Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that
they should repent and tum to God,
performing deeds appropriate to re-
pentance" (Acts 26: 18-20). The Bible is
clear. There can be no salvation without
God's forgiveness of our sins, and re-
pentance is a means by which God for-
gives our sins. Without repentance
there is no forgiveness. We have learned
that biblical repentance is a deep sorrow
for sin, a forsaking of our sin, and a
desire to obey Christ. This is totally
consistent with a submission to
Christ's Lordship as we saw in the pre-
vious section.
Not only does repentance lead to the
forgiveness of our sins, but the Bible
says that repentance also leads to fruit
or deeds appropriate to repentance (Acts
26:20). In Matthew 3:8, John the
Baptist told the corrupt Pharisees and
Sadducees, "Therefore bring forth fruit
in keeping with your repentance." True
repentance is not an empty act; it will
always give evidence to its validity
through actions that are God-honoring.
More will be said on this in a sub-
sequent section concerning the necessity
for spiritual fruit in the life of the gen-
uine Christian.
In summarizing the role of repent-
ance in one's salvation, we have seen
that man's entire being is involved - his
mind, his heart, and his will. A person
must know in his mind that he stands
condemned before a holy God because
of his sins. A person must have a sense
of sorrow for having transgressed God's
Law and for having offended a holy
God. He must also hate his sin because
God hates sin. Finally, a person must
choose by an act of his will to forsake
his former life of sinfulness and choose
to live a life of obedience to God's Law.
Is the preaching of repentance a neces-
sary part of the Gospel message? It
surely is. Just prior to His ascension,
Jesus told His disciples, " .... Thus it
is written, that the Christ should suffer
and rise again from the dead the third
day; and that repentance for forgiveness
of sins should be proclaimed in His
name to all the nations - beginning
from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46,47).
Thus, Jesus commanded his disciples to
preach repentance for salvation. Paul
understood this well when he said to the
Ephesian elders, ". . . .I did not shrink
from declaring to you anything that was
profitable, and teaching you publicly
from house to house, solemnly testify-
ing to both Jews and Greeks of repent-
ance toward God and faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:20,21).
One reason why there are so many
false professions of faith today and why
there are so many so-called Christians
whose lives in no way reflect godliness
is because of faulty preaching. The
necessity for repentance in order to be
saved is missing in much evangelistic
preaching today. So much emphasis is
placed on numbers of conversions. The
consequences for such shallow and
unbiblical preaching can be tragic for
the souls of some of those who re-
spond. Their so-called shepherds have
unknowingly led them into the jaws of
wolves. They think they possess eternal
life, but they actually are doomed to
eternal death.
B. The Role of Faith
in Salvation
Biblical conversion is comprised of
two components - repentance and faith.
We have looked at one of those compo-
nents, and we now tum to the other
necessary ingredient - that of faith. The
key word in this discussion is the word
"belief." What meaning is given to this
word, and is it possible to "believe" and
still not be a genuine Christian?
The Bible is filled with several ex-
amples of those who had a spurious
faith - it appears to be real but it is
actually false. In much evangelistic
preaching today there is the call to
simply believe and you shall be saved.
Of course, this is true in one sense.
However, the biblical meaning of
"believe" is much different than the
content that is given to it by this
shallow evangelistic preaching. This
shallow preaching usually presents faith
in Jesus as a mere acceptance of His
deity and atonement. The glaring defi-
ciency is the absence of any commit-
The Counsel of Chalcedon, April-May, 1988 ----------------------------Page 9
ment to Christ as being the true nature
of biblical faith. The result may be a
great number of Christian professions
of faith, but many of these. professions
often turn out to be vain conversions.
What are some examples of a counter-
feit faith? It is possible to clearly
understand that Jesus is truly God and
that he died an atoning death for man's
sins and still be lost. An intellectual
faith alone will not save anybody.
James 2:19 says, "You believe that God
is one. You do well; the demons also
believe, and shudder." Matthew 8:29;
Mark 1:24; Mark 5:7 all demonstrate
that the demonic realm "believes" who
Jesus really is. Does their belief save
these demons? Of course not!
One of the most glaring examples of
a spurious belief is the story of Simon
Magus in Acts 8. Simon was said to
have been one who practiced magic who
was astonishing the people to the ex-
tent that they considered him to possess
the great power of God (verses 9-11).
Phillip preached the Gospel to the
Samaritans which led many to "believe"
and to be baptized. Verse 13 says that
Simon "believed" and was baptized!
Simon was astonished by the signs and
great miracles that were being done in
Jesus' name, especially the receiving of
the Holy Spirit when Peter and John
laid hands on the Samaritans. Simon's
spurious faith is manifested when he of-
fered the apostles money for the ability
to do the same (verses 18,19). Notice
Peter's assessment of Simon's spiritual
status in verses 20-23, "May your
silver perish with you, because you
thought you could obtain the gift of
God with money! You have no part or
portion in this matter, for your heart is
not right before God. Therefore repent
of this wickedness of yours, and pray
the Lord that if possible, the intention
of your heart may be forgiven you. For
I see that you are in the gall of
bitterness and in the bondage of
iniquity." Church history informs us
that Simon never did repent because he
later helped propagate an heretical doc-
trine known as Gnosticism. Remember,
Simon is said to have "believed" and
was baptized! Yet, Peter correctly in-
forms Simon that he is still lost in his
sins. Simon's faith or belief was merely
in the miraculous works of the apos-
tles. It was void of any genuine commit-
ment to Christ.
Another good example of a belief
that is not a saving belief is found in
John 8. In this discourse, Jesus was
informing the Jews as to His real origin
and nature. In verse 30 many are said to
have believed in Him. To these same
Jews who believed in Him, Jesus says
in verses 31,32: "If you abide in My
word, then you are truly disciples of
Mine; and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free." We
find a very interesting dialogue that
follows in verses 33-59. These same
Jews who believed in Jesus in verse 30
claim to be Abraham's offspring, which
Jesus proceeds to refute because of their
actions. In fact, Jesus declares them to
be the children of the Devil. These Jews
even try to kill Jesus because of His
claim to Deity (verses 58,59). Was
their "belief' a saving faith leading to
salvation? Obviously not.
Now that we know that we can have
a false faith, what is true saving faith?
The key lies in the meaning of "faith."
There are several Greek words which
relate to faith. These are: pisteuo,
peitho, pistis, and pistos. The context
in which these are found all convey the
idea of "binding," which itself implies a
submission. Some of the ways that
these words have been translated are
"believe," "trust," "commit," "assur-
ance," "faith," "faithful," and "true."
One of the most important phrases in
the New Testament is - "to believe in
Christ." Several prominent Greek scho-
lars have noted the significance of be-.
lieving in Christ. There is a difference
in believing about Christ and believing
in Christ. Believing in someone entails
a commitment to the person and to all
that the person represents. To believe in
Christ carries the meaning of trusting
completely in Him. It involves subniit-
ting to and obeying Him.
[To be continued, with The Nature of
Justifying Faith, next month.] D
'--Page 10 ---------=------.....-.-----------The Counsel of Chalcedon, April-May, 1988