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What Does John 5:24 Mean?

By JD Myers
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What Does John 5:24 Mean?

What does John 5:24 mean? The verse is one of the clearest statements Jesus ever made about eternal life, and it is also one of the most neglected. Many people can quote John 3:16. Fewer have lingered over what Jesus says here. Yet the two promises belong together, and John 5:24 makes some of the same truth even more explicit.

โ€œMost assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.โ€ (John 5:24)

Jesus is not offering a possibility, a process, or a probation. He is describing a present possession, a future protection, and a completed passage. If we take Him at His word, this verse settles several questions people still argue about today.

He Who Hears and Believes Has Everlasting Life

The first thing to notice is the tense. The one who hears the word of Jesus and believes โ€œhas everlasting life.โ€ Not โ€œmight have it someday,โ€ and not โ€œwill have it if he keeps believing, obeying, and proving himself.โ€ He has it now.

That same present tense appears in other invitations in the Gospel of John. Jesus invites people to believe in Him for eternal life, and He describes that life as something the believer already possesses. I have written about this invitation in The Clear Gospel Invitation: Believe in Jesus for Eternal Life. John 5:24 belongs in that same group of texts. Hearing and believing are not meritorious works that earn a wage. They are how a person receives what Jesus gives.

There is also a striking detail in the wording. Jesus says the person โ€œbelieves in Him who sent Me.โ€ In other words, the object of faith here is the Father who sent Jesus. This helps explain how people who lived before the ministry of Jesus, or who have never heard His name, can still receive the life that comes only through Him. They believe in God, and God gives them the eternal life that Jesus purchased and offers. God has always revealed Himself, and Scripture gives examples of people who believed in God and were counted righteous, such as Abraham in Genesis 15:6. The point is not that there is some other savior besides Jesus. John 14:6 still stands. The point is that the life Jesus gives can be received by believing in the God who sent Him, even when a person does not yet know all of the details we now know.

A grassy path at sunrise, suggesting the completed passage into life that Jesus promises in John 5:24

Shall Not Come into Judgment

Jesus then adds a promise about the future. The one who believes โ€œshall not come into judgment.โ€ This is not a claim that Christians never stand before God, or that our lives will never be reviewed. It is a claim about the judgment that decides whether a person has eternal life or remains in death. The believer will not come into that judgment, because the matter has already been decided.

If a person could believe in Jesus, receive everlasting life, and then later lose it, that person would have to come into judgment again, and the verdict would have to be reversed. Jesus says the opposite. The believer shall not come into judgment. Once again, if that promise can fail, then Jesus has misled us. He has not. I have discussed this kind of argument from the words of Jesus in Did Jesus Lie About Eternal Life?

This is also why assurance does not have to wait until the end of life. You do not need to measure your performance in order to know whether you have passed out of death. You look at the promise. If you have believed in Jesus for everlasting life, then according to His own words, you have it, and you will not come into the judgment that would leave you in death. I have written more about that kind of certainty in How Do I Know I Have Eternal Life?

Has Passed from Death into Life

The last clause is just as strong as the first two. The believer โ€œhas passed from death into life.โ€ The movement is described as already completed. It is not a road you might wander off before you arrive. You have already crossed from death into life.

Spiritual death, in this sense, is the state of being without the life of God. Once God has given that life, the person cannot return to the state of not having it. You can no more become unborn spiritually than you can reverse your physical birth. A child may become sick, rebellious, or estranged, but that child is still a child. In the same way, the person who has passed from death into life remains a person who has life, even when that life is not being lived well.

John returns to this idea later in his letters. He writes that we know we have passed from death to life, and he discusses what love and hate look like among people who already have that life. I have a study of that later text in Death to Life in 1 John 3:14. The later passage is not a different gospel. It is a description of how people who already have life can live in love instead of in death-like ways. The foundation, however, is still John 5:24. The passage from death into life has already taken place in the one who believes.

A worn open Bible on a wooden table, illustrating Jesusโ€™ words in John 5:24 about hearing His word and believing

Why This Verse Matters for the Gospel

John 5:24 is not a verse to be used only in debates about eternal security, though it certainly speaks to that issue. It is a gospel invitation. Jesus tells us what a person must do, what that person receives, and what will never happen to the one who has received it. Hear His word. Believe in the One who sent Him. The result is everlasting life now, no coming into judgment, and a completed passage out of death.

That is why I keep coming back to the simple invitation of the Gospel of John. Jesus does not add a list of works to this promise, and He does not describe eternal life as a temporary gift that might be recalled. If you have heard Him and believed Him for that life, then according to John 5:24, you have it. You shall not come into judgment. You have passed from death into life.

Learn More in The Gospel According to Scripture

The Gospel According to Scripture book cover by J. D. Myers

I discuss John 5:24, the gospel invitation, and the permanence of eternal life in my book The Gospel According to Scripture. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. You can also read more on the book page.

If you want to study these truths with others, join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship group.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

God is Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: believe, believe in Jesus, Books by Jeremy Myers, eternal life, gospel, gospel according to Scripture, Gospel of John, grace, John, John 5:24, Theology of Salvation

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Eternal Life vs Abundant Life: Whatโ€™s the Difference?

By JD Myers
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Eternal Life vs Abundant Life: Whatโ€™s the Difference?

Eternal life vs abundant life is one of the most important distinctions in the whole Bible, and one of the most often confused. Many people treat the two as if they were the same thing, or as if abundant life were simply a livelier name for the gift Jesus gives to those who believe. They are related, but they are not the same. Eternal life is received. The abundant life is lived. When we blur that line, we end up adding conditions to a free gift, or neglecting the life God wants us to live after we have received it.

This is why so many gospel conversations go off course. We spend all of our time talking about how to begin the Christian life, and very little time talking about how to live it. Or we do the opposite, and we preach the Christian life as if it were the way to receive eternal life. Scripture does both things, but it does not mix them together as if they were one condition.

Receiving Life and Living Life

Think of your life as a timeline. There is the point at which you receive eternal life, and then there is all the time between that moment and your death. The offer of eternal life is found frequently in the Gospel of John and in a few chapters of Paulโ€™s letters. The majority of the rest of Scripture is about how to live life with God. Most of the gospel truths in the Bible are related to the time between conversion and death. The Bible places a heavy emphasis on how we are to live, and if we are going to live in light of the gospel, then we will too. But those instructions are not given so that we can receive eternal life. They are given so that we can live the abundant life.

It is the difference between receiving eternal life and living the abundant life. A small chart might help.

Eternal Life Abundant Life
Free Gift Worked For
Faith Alone Faithful Living
Once for All Time A Daily Practice
Instant Justification Lifelong Sanctification
Jesus Has Done It All We Cooperate with Jesus
Believe in Jesus Follow Jesus as Lord

The left column is the gift. The right column is the life that gift makes possible. If you move the items in the right column over to the left, you have changed the gospel invitation. Following Jesus as Lord, cooperating with Him, and practicing faithful living are good and necessary for the life God wants for His children. They are not how a person receives eternal life in the first place. I have written about that invitation in The Clear Gospel Invitation: Believe in Jesus for Eternal Life, and about the difference between the gift and discipleship in Eternal Life and Discipleship in the Gospel of John.

An open palm turned upward in sunlight, a picture of eternal life as a gift that is received

Why the Confusion Is So Costly

When these two are confused, people who have already believed in Jesus are sometimes told that they might never have been born again, because their lives do not look the way someone thinks they should. That is a cruel thing to say to a struggling believer, and it is not how the New Testament treats the people of God. Scripture is full of instructions, warnings, and encouragements for Christians who are not living as they should. The writers do not take the gift back in order to motivate obedience. They call the people who already have life to live it.

The comparison to physical life makes this clear. If someone is doing a poor job of living in this world, we do not come alongside them and say, โ€œMaybe the reason you are having trouble is that you were never born in the first place.โ€ That suggestion would be nonsense. They need help, friendship, instruction, and a way forward, not a denial of their birth. It is the same in the Christian life. When someone is doing a poor job of living as a child of God, they do not need to hear, โ€œMaybe you were never born again.โ€ That sentence is unhelpful, and it is usually untrue. What they need is someone to walk with them, teach them, and help them live the life they have already received.

Far too often, the church does the opposite. A person believes in Jesus for eternal life, and then is left almost alone, as if a Bible, a pat on the back, and a โ€œGood luckโ€ were enough. If a new child in a family were abandoned on the delivery table, no one would be surprised that the child grew up sick and poorly taught. The same thing happens with new believers. Then, when those neglected believers struggle, they are sometimes told that their struggle proves they were never really Christians at all. That is not how a family treats its children, and it is not how we should treat people who have received eternal life. The gift is already theirs. What they need is help living the abundant life.

The other cost is that the abundant life gets neglected. If the whole message is about how to make it to heaven, then the rest of the Bible starts to look like fine print. But God has more for His children than a ticket to eternity. He wants us to live now in love, service, fellowship, and obedience. That life takes time, practice, and cooperation with Jesus. It is worked for, not in the sense that we earn Godโ€™s favor, but in the sense that it is a daily way of living. I have written about that calling in Living the Gospel.

This is also why good works matter, and why they must be kept in their proper place. Good works are part of living the abundant life. They are not the condition for receiving eternal life, and they are not the proof that the gift was real. I have discussed that problem in Are Good Works Necessary for Eternal Life? The person who has believed in Jesus already has the gift. The question that remains is whether that person will live in light of it.

Two people walking a country path at sunset, suggesting the abundant life as a daily way of following Jesus

Both Belong in a Full Gospel

A full understanding of the gospel will keep both sides of the chart in view. We must be clear about how a person receives eternal life, because if we are muddy there, we will burden people with conditions Jesus did not require. We must also be clear about the abundant life, because if we ignore it, we will leave believers with a gift they do not know how to live.

So when you read the Bible, it helps to ask which part of the timeline you are in. Is this passage about receiving the free gift, or about living as a child of God? Many debates in the church would become much clearer if we asked that question more often. Justification is instant. Sanctification is lifelong. Jesus has done everything necessary to give eternal life to those who believe in Him. We then cooperate with Him as we learn to follow Him as Lord.

If you have believed in Jesus for eternal life, you have the gift already. The abundant life is the invitation that comes next, not a second entrance requirement, but the life God desires for the people He has already made His own.

Learn More in The Gospel According to Scripture

The Gospel According to Scripture book cover by J. D. Myers

I discuss the difference between receiving eternal life and living the abundant life in my book The Gospel According to Scripture. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. You can also read more on the book page.

If you want to study these truths with others, join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship group.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

God is Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: abundant life, Books by Jeremy Myers, Discipleship, eternal life, good works, gospel according to Scripture, grace, justification, sanctification, Theology of Salvation

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Does Faith Always Result in Good Works?

By JD Myers
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Does Faith Always Result in Good Works?

Does faith always result in good works? Many Christians are taught that it does. They are told that if a person has truly believed in Jesus, a changed life will inevitably follow, and that the absence of good works proves the person never had eternal life in the first place. The teaching sounds careful and serious. It is also a way of turning the result of faith into a condition for it.

I want to be clear from the beginning. Christians should live lives of obedience, love, and good works. Scripture is filled with commands, encouragements, and warnings about how the people of God are to live. The question is not whether good works matter. The question is whether they always, automatically, and necessarily follow from faith, and whether they can be used as proof that a person has eternal life.

A Necessary Result Is Still a Condition

Some teachers would never say that good works are a requirement for receiving eternal life. They say instead that good works are the necessary result of real faith. If the works are not there, the faith was not real. In practice, this is the same thing as making works a condition. The person is told that he cannot know he has eternal life unless the works appear, and that a lack of works means he was never saved.

That is not how a free gift works. If God gives eternal life to the one who believes in Jesus, then the gift is given at the moment of faith. What happens afterward matters greatly for the kind of life that person will live, but it cannot be turned into the test of whether the gift was given. I have discussed this confusion in Are Good Works Necessary for Eternal Life? and in Faith is NOT a Work.

The difference can be stated in a short contrast: should is not the same as will. Christians should live faithfully. That does not mean they will. God does not force His children to obey Him. He invites, commands, teaches, and disciplines, but He does not irresistibly compel people to do His will. If He did, the long lists of commands in the New Testament would be unnecessary. There is no need to tell people to do what they cannot help doing.

Loaves of bread on a wooden table, a picture of ordinary daily living rather than proof of eternal life

Scripture Is Honest About Believers Who Fail

The Bible is more honest about the people of God than many of our theological systems are. It tells us about people who belong to God and still live in rebellion, foolishness, or compromise. Cain, Lot, Esau, Saul, and Solomon are only some of the examples. The Corinthian believers were called saints, and yet many of them were living in ways Paul had to rebuke sharply. The point is not that such lives are acceptable. The point is that Scripture does not treat those failures as proof that the people in question were never Godโ€™s people at all.

If faith always resulted in good works, these stories would not read the way they do. We would be forced to say that anyone who falls badly was never born again, and we would end up saying that about people the Bible itself does not describe that way. A better reading is the simpler one. People can receive eternal life and then fail to live in light of it. That is tragic, but it is not impossible.

This is also why we should be very slow to look at a struggling person and say, โ€œMaybe you were never a Christian.โ€ That sentence is often used as a shortcut when discipleship would be harder. The New Testament writers do not usually handle failure by taking people back to the starting line. They remind them of who they already are, and they call them to live like it.

Good Works Do Not Prove Eternal Life

There is another problem with using works as proof. Jesus Himself said that some people will do impressive works in His name, and He will still say that He never knew them. In Matthew 7:21-23, the people who say โ€œLord, Lordโ€ point to their prophecy, their exorcisms, and their many mighty works. Those works do not prove that they have eternal life. If good works were the evidence that a person has been born again, this passage would be almost impossible to explain.

Works can be imitated. They can be done for praise, for fear, or for religious advancement. They can also be absent for a time in the life of a genuine believer. That is why I have argued that good works do not prove you are a Christian. The way you know you have eternal life is not by adding up your performance. It is by believing the promise of Jesus. I have written about that assurance in How Do I Know I Have Eternal Life?

Two people walking together on a country path, suggesting sanctification as companionship rather than a test of faith

Good Works Belong to Sanctification

None of this is an argument for careless living. Good works are part of sanctification, the lifelong process of learning to live as a child of God. After a person has believed in Jesus for eternal life, Scripture calls that person to love others, to serve, to put off the old way of life, and to walk in the Spirit. Those things are important. They are simply important for the right reason. They are how we live the life we have received, not how we get it, keep it, or prove it.

This also helps us talk with people who are afraid. Some Christians live in constant doubt because their works never feel adequate, and they have been taught that inadequate works mean they may not be saved. Other people hide their failures because they are afraid that honesty will be taken as evidence that they were never Christians. In both cases, the teaching that faith always results in good works has done damage. It has taken a free gift and turned it into a performance review.

So, does faith always result in good works? It should result in a changed life, and the Spirit of God works toward that end. But โ€œshouldโ€ is not โ€œwill,โ€ and a necessary result that must appear in order for the gift to be real is no longer a result. It has become a condition. The person who has believed in Jesus for eternal life has the gift already. The call that remains is to live in light of that gift, not to use works as the test of whether God has kept His promise.

Learn More in The Gospel According to Scripture

The Gospel According to Scripture book cover by J. D. Myers

I discuss faith, good works, and the difference between receiving eternal life and living it in my book The Gospel According to Scripture. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. You can also read more on the book page.

If you want to study these truths with others, join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship group.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

God is Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: believe, Books by Jeremy Myers, eternal life, faith, faith and works, good works, gospel according to Scripture, grace, sanctification, Theology of Salvation

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John 6:37: Will Jesus Ever Cast You Out?

By JD Myers
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John 6:37: Will Jesus Ever Cast You Out?

Will Jesus ever cast you out? John 6:37 gives a direct answer, and it is stronger than many people realize. In the middle of His teaching about the Bread of Life, Jesus makes a promise to the person who comes to Him. He will not turn that person away, now or later.

โ€œAll that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.โ€ (John 6:37)

The words โ€œby no meansโ€ are emphatic. Jesus is not leaving Himself a loophole. The one who comes to Him will not be rejected, discarded, or later thrown out. If we take Jesus at His word, this verse is one of the great assurances of the Christian life.

The Bread of Life and the One Who Comes

John 6:37 does not stand by itself. It belongs to a larger statement in John 6:35-40. Jesus says, โ€œI am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.โ€ Coming to Jesus and believing in Him are two ways of describing the same response. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus uses pictures for faith. People come, drink, eat, look, and hear. The invitation underneath those pictures is still the same: believe in Jesus for everlasting life. I have written about that invitation in The Clear Gospel Invitation: Believe in Jesus for Eternal Life.

When Jesus says that the one who comes to Him shall never hunger, He is not talking about physical hunger. He is talking about the desire we have for eternal life. Once we receive that life, we will not hunger for it again, because we have it. If eternal life could be lost, then those who lost it would hunger for it again, and Jesus would have been wrong. But Jesus does not lie. Those who receive eternal life will never lose it, and they will never hunger for it again. I have discussed this kind of argument more fully in Did Jesus Lie About Eternal Life?

A rustic loaf of bread on a worn wooden table, suggesting the welcome of the Bread of Life

I Will by No Means Cast Out

That is the setting for John 6:37. The one who comes to Jesus will be received, and he will not be cast out. Some people hear this only as a word about the beginning of the Christian life, as if Jesus were saying, โ€œI will let you in.โ€ He is saying that, but He is saying more. He will not cast out the one who has come. The promise covers the future as well as the first moment of faith.

If Jesus later sent away people who had come to Him for eternal life, then He would be doing the very thing He said He would not do. A person cannot come to Jesus, receive life, and then be thrown out without turning John 6:37 into an empty statement. The words will not allow it. โ€œBy no meansโ€ is not the language of a temporary welcome.

This also means that the person who has believed in Jesus does not need to live in fear that some later failure will cause Jesus to reject him. There are consequences for sin, and there is such a thing as a wasted life. But being cast out by Jesus is not one of those consequences for the person who has come to Him. The welcome is not revoked. I have written about the broader promise that eternal life cannot be lost in Eternal Security: Once Saved, Always Saved.

He Will Lose None of Them

Jesus continues in John 6:38-40. He says that He has come down from heaven to do the will of the Father who sent Him. That will is โ€œthat of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.โ€ And again, โ€œeveryone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.โ€

This is the same promise in different words. The Fatherโ€™s will is that Jesus lose none of those who have come to Him, and that they be raised on the last day. If people could receive eternal life and then lose it later, Jesus would have lost them, for they would not be raised in the resurrection of life. If He had them and then lost them, He would once again be caught in a lie and should not be trusted. It is much better to take Jesus at His word and believe that He will never lose a single person who has come to Him for eternal life.

Notice how closely coming, believing, everlasting life, and the last-day resurrection are held together. The person who comes to Jesus has everlasting life, will not be cast out, will not be lost, and will be raised up. These are not four different offers, as if a person might receive one and miss the others. They are one promise, spoken from several sides, so that we will not miss it.

An open wooden door with warm sunlight spilling in, a picture of the welcome Jesus promises in John 6:37

Take Jesus at His Word

John 6:37 is a verse for people who wonder whether they have stayed close enough, obeyed well enough, or held on tightly enough to remain in the family of God. Jesus does not point those people back to the quality of their performance. He points them to His own promise. The one who comes to Him will by no means be cast out. The Fatherโ€™s will is that Jesus lose none of them, and that He raise them up at the last day.

If you have come to Jesus, that is, if you have believed in Him for everlasting life, then this promise is yours. He has not received you only to send you away later. He will not lose you, and He will raise you up. That is why this verse can give rest. The certainty is not in your grip on Jesus. It is in His word that He will not cast you out. I have written more about that kind of confidence in How Do I Know I Have Eternal Life?

Learn More in The Gospel According to Scripture

The Gospel According to Scripture book cover by J. D. Myers

I discuss John 6:35-40, the permanence of eternal life, and the words of Jesus in my book The Gospel According to Scripture. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. You can also read more on the book page.

If you want to study these truths with others, join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship group.

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

God is Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: believe in Jesus, Books by Jeremy Myers, eternal life, gospel according to Scripture, Gospel of John, grace, John, John 6, John 6:39, Theology of Salvation

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How to Share the Gospel in a Simple Way

By JD Myers
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How to Share the Gospel in a Simple Way

How do you share the gospel in a simple way? Many Christians feel paralyzed by that question. They have heard long presentations, lists of laws, and outlines with several steps, and they are afraid of leaving something out. Others have been taught that a person must understand a large set of truths before he can believe and receive eternal life. The result is that sharing the gospel starts to feel like a lecture rather than an invitation.

The New Testament is simpler than that. When Jesus and the apostles invited people to receive eternal life, they did not require a four-step outline. They called people to believe in Jesus for everlasting life. That invitation can be spoken clearly, and it can be explained as questions arise, without turning the first conversation into a complete course in theology.

Start with the Invitation Itself

The simplest way to share the gospel is to begin where Jesus begins. He invites people to believe in Him for eternal life. That invitation has three elements: we believe, in a person, for a promise. The person is Jesus. The promise is eternal life. The response is faith.

I have explained this more fully in The Clear Gospel Invitation: Believe in Jesus for Eternal Life. The point here is that you do not need a better word than the one Scripture already uses. The New Testament almost universally describes this response as believing, or as faith. When we replace that word with others we think are clearer, such as trust, commit, repent, or surrender, we often add conditions Jesus did not include, and we risk turning faith into a work.

This is also why you do not need to follow a fixed set of โ€œlawsโ€ in order to share the gospel. Those outlines can be useful in some settings, but they are not the biblical invitation. Jesus and Paul are already clear. Texts such as John 3:16, John 5:24, John 6:47, John 11:25-27, and Romans 4:4-5 tell a person what to believe, in whom to believe, and what is promised. If you stay close to that wording, you will not go far wrong.

Two women in a thoughtful conversation at a wooden table, a picture of sharing the gospel in a simple way

Think of a Target, Not a Script

One image I have found helpful is a target, or a bullโ€™s-eye. At the center is the invitation itself: believe in Jesus for eternal life. Around that center are many other gospel truths, some closer and some farther out. A person does not need to know everything in the outer rings in order to receive the gift in the center. The farther a truth is from the center, the less a person must understand it before believing.

This is why I have asked, in another study, how much a person needs to know in order to receive eternal life. The answer is not โ€œas much as possible.โ€ The answer is the invitation itself. There are other truths that help a person understand that invitation, and I have discussed those as gospel preparation truths. They are valuable. They are not a second center of the target. If a person already understands the invitation and is ready to believe, you do not have to walk them through every surrounding truth first.

In theory, a person could hear the simple invitation, believe it, and receive eternal life, even if that person knew very little else. I have sometimes used the hypothetical of someone in a remote place who hears only that Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him, and who believes it. Would that person receive eternal life? According to the words of Jesus, yes. In ordinary life, of course, people usually know more than that, and they have questions that belong to the outer rings of the target. The hypothetical is only meant to keep the center clear. We must not add more to the invitation than Jesus did.

Listen, Then Move Inward

In actual conversations, the simple way is often to listen first. People rarely begin with a blank mind. They have questions about sin, about the church, about suffering, about who Jesus is, or about whether God would accept them. Those questions are not interruptions. They are usually points on the outer rings of the target. You can start where they are and move inward toward the invitation.

If someone wants to talk about how a person should live, you can agree that the Christian life matters, and then explain that this is not how a person receives eternal life. If someone is burdened by guilt, you can talk about sin and forgiveness, and then come to the promise of life in Jesus. If someone is curious about Jesus Himself, you can start with who He is, and then say what He offers. The goal is not to win an argument or to finish a script. The goal is to arrive at the center: believe in Jesus for eternal life.

This also means you can mention Jesus, mention the promise, and invite mere belief without waiting until you have covered every objection. A person may still have more to learn. All of us do. But a person does not need a complete theology in order to believe the promise Jesus made. I have a much longer practical discussion of this in How to Present the Gospel. This post is only meant to keep the method simple. Stay with the words of Jesus. Keep the center of the target in view. Answer questions as they come, and do not turn those answers into new conditions.

A forest path opening toward sunrise light, suggesting a simple way toward the gospel invitation

Keep the Invitation Clear

The reason this matters is that a complicated gospel is easy to distort. When we add extra steps, we often add extra conditions. When we delay the invitation until a person has mastered our outline, we imply that understanding a system is what saves. And when we use words other than โ€œbelieve,โ€ we can confuse the very people we are trying to help.

Sharing the gospel in a simple way does not mean being shallow, and it does not mean avoiding hard questions. It means knowing what belongs at the center and what belongs around it. Believe in Jesus for eternal life. That is the invitation. If you can say that clearly, listen to the person in front of you, and walk with them toward that center, you have shared the gospel in the way Scripture itself presents it.

Learn More in The Gospel According to Scripture

The Gospel According to Scripture book cover by J. D. Myers

I discuss the gospel invitation, presentation truth, and how to keep the message clear in my book The Gospel According to Scripture. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. You can also read more on the book page.

If you want to study these truths with others, join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship group.

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God is Redeeming Books, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: believe in Jesus, Books by Jeremy Myers, eternal life, evangelism, faith, gospel, gospel according to Scripture, grace, preach the gospel, Theology of Salvation

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Books by Jeremy Myers

My New Book is Out!

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Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
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  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
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  • Theology of Angels
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  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
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  • Bible Studies on Psalms
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  • Bible Studies on Matthew
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  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

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