Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


  • Join Us!
  • Scripture
  • Theology
  • My Books
  • About
  • Discipleship
  • Courses
    • What is Hell?
    • Skeleton Church
    • The Gospel According to Scripture
    • The Gospel Dictionary
    • The Re-Justification of God
    • What is Prayer?
    • Adventures in Fishing for Men
    • What are the Spiritual Gifts?
    • How to Study the Bible
    • Courses FAQ
  • Forum
    • Introduce Yourself
    • Old Testament
    • New Testament
    • Theology Questions
    • Life & Ministry

Faith is Like an Excel Spreadsheet

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

Faith is Like an Excel Spreadsheet
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/544142460-redeeminggod-138-faith-is-like-an-excel-spreadsheet-john-1120-26.mp3

I originally went to college to be a Mechanical Engineer. I have always enjoyed tinkering with things, trying to learn how they work so that I can understand what is happening, and either fix or improve whatever I am working on.

As a result of my engineering background, I often approach my study of Scripture and theology in the same way. I try to understand things and how they work, so that I can attempt to explain them more clearly to others.

This is also true when it comes to the inner workings of faith. For me, as a theologian and Bible scholar who has an engineering background, it is not enough for the Bible to call me to believe … I want to know how belief works … how faith works … so that I can not only believe, but also know why I believe, and how to help others believe as well.

So the following article might be a bit technical for some people as I try to explain how faith works, but I do provide an illustration for how faith works to help it make sense.

The reason I want to explain faith this way is because there is so much misinformation out there about faith. People write emails to me all the time, and when I teach in live settings, I get questions and objections all the time, about how a person can know if they have really believed, or if they have believed enough.

In seeking to answer these questions, I first had to figure out what faith is and how faith works.

In a previous study, we learned that Faith is defined as a certainty or conviction that something is true.

house of cardsSome do not like the idea of faith as certainty. For example, author and pastor Greg Boyd once criticized the idea that faith is certainty by comparing faith to a house of cards.

Greg Boyd argued that if we believe that our faith must be certain, then any time a challenge or question comes along which threatens this certainty, our entire belief system comes tumbling down like a house of cards.

I agree with Greg Boyd that we cannot have a โ€œhouse of cardsโ€ faith in which all of our beliefs stand or fall together. But how can we avoid this if faith truly is defined as certainty?

The solution is to use a better analogy.

Rather than thinking about faith as a house of cards, a better analogy is to think about our network of beliefs as a giant Excel spreadsheet (I first heard this analogy from Dr. Dave Anderson, pastor in The Woodlands, TX).

Faith as an Excel Spreadsheet

If you are not familiar with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, it is an accounting tool which contains a series of rows and columns. At the intersection of each row and column, there is a โ€œcell.โ€ This cell can contain a bit of data.

Excel Spreadsheet faith

For example, a cell could contain a number or some sort of mathematical calculation. Spreadsheets are usually set up so that as you enter data into the cells, it automatically makes calculations in other cells.

Advanced Excel spreadsheets might contain thousands of cells set in a way so that a change in one single cell might affect the numbers or calculations in thousands of other cells. Each little change can have a ripple or cascading effect throughout the rest of the spreadsheet.

It is helpful to think about our network of beliefs in a similar way. We can think of our belief system as a giant Excel spreadsheet.

But rather than numbers and math calculations, each cell contains an individual fact. Since there are a nearly infinite number of facts, this giant spreadsheet has a nearly infinite number of cells.

โ€œThe sky is blueโ€ is in one cell, โ€œI existโ€ is in another, and โ€œThere is a Godโ€ is in third.

Furthermore, just like on any complex Excel spreadsheet, nearly all the cells are interconnected by functions, so that when one cell changes, it causes a cascading, rippling effect throughout the rest of the spreadsheet.

If we think about our beliefs in this way, we can see that when it comes to each individual statement, we can either believe it or disbelieve it. We can either know it to be true, or we can doubt that it is true. We can either assent and agree with the statement in the cell, or dissent and disagree.

While we will be reasonably certain about several statements on this spreadsheet, we will be either ignorant or uncertain about the vast majority of statements. And as we change what we think about any particular fact, this change will have a cascading, ripple effect through the related and connected cells on the spreadsheet of beliefs.

What this means is that as we come to believe new ideas, some of the beliefs which have not changed for decades might need to be reconsidered in light of new evidence. Therefore, while we can have reasonable conviction or confidence about the accuracy of any single cell (or belief), we nevertheless know that the content of that cell is based upon the ideas of other related cells, about which we are less confident.

To put it another way, the complete confidence of one belief in one โ€œcellโ€ can be based upon less confident beliefs of other โ€œcells.โ€

This way of thinking about faith provides adequate responses to many of the objections that some pastors and theologians have to the concept of faith as certainty. Many who criticize the idea of โ€œfaith as certaintyโ€ seem to think that the entire system stands or falls together.

But this is not the true nature of faith. When we think about our system of beliefs as a giant Excel Spreadsheet, we see that it is impossible for the entire system of faith to collapse.

Instead, our beliefs constantly shift and change as additional information is presented to us, so that new beliefs are turned โ€œOnโ€ in the spreadsheet while other beliefs are corrected and turned โ€œOff.โ€

Best of all, with each cell that changes you gain a spreadsheet that is more accurate than it was before. One of these truths you discover quite soon (if you allow God to teach it to you), is that God does not require a spreadsheet of beliefs that is free of error.

faithQuite to the contrary, He desires a spreadsheet of beliefs that is constantly shifting and changing as we bring our life and thoughts into conformity with Jesus Christ and the revelation of Scripture. But this is a process, a journey, or an adventure that will last a lifetime (I suspect this adventure will last into eternity as well, as we forever unravel the infinite mysteries of glorious vistas of God), and so God is patient with us as we fill out our spreadsheet of beliefs with Him by our side.

Viewing faith in this way helps you see that although one changed belief often does cause a change in many other related beliefs, your entire belief system never collapses like a house of cards. It may initially feel like this has happened, but by taking a deep breath and examining the new evidence you have been given, you will discover that most of your beliefs remain intact.

You will also discover that you now have a better and more accurate belief system through which to view God, Scripture, yourself, others, and life in general.

The Spreadsheet at Work

Let us briefly see how this works with the truth claim that โ€œJesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.โ€

I believe this truth with absolute certainty. I have many reasons for this belief, all of which reside in their own individual cells.

For example:

  • I believe that there is a God, and that only He gets to decide who has eternal life with Him and how they get it.
  • I furthermore believe that Jesus is God, and so He knew what He was talking about when He offered eternal life.
  • I also believe that the Bible can be trusted as an authoritative revelation from God.
  • I believe that I have properly understood the simple promises of Jesus to give eternal life to those who believe in Him (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47).
  • I believe that Jesus does not lie.
  • I believe that I am not able to earn or work for my eternal life on my own, because I can never be good enough to qualify for Godโ€™s perfect standard of complete righteousness.

If all these things are true, as I believe they are, then it is completely logical to be convinced and persuaded that Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it. And since I believe in Jesus, I know that I have eternal life.

But if any of these beliefs were to change, then this would likely cause me to stop believing that Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.

If I stopped believing that God existed, or that the Bible accurately records the teachings of Jesus, I might stop believing in Jesus for eternal life.

However, the more I study and learn, the more evidence I find that supports all these beliefs. I now know too much to turn back on any of these truths and cannot imagine a situation that would cause me to reject them.

The more I study and learn, the more beliefs I gain, each of which further supports the belief that Jesus gives me eternal life.

Is it possible that the authors of the Gospels failed to accurately record what Jesus said?ย Itโ€™s possible, but not likely, so I donโ€™t believe this.

Is it possible that those who copied the Bible and passed it down through the generations made a mistake? Itโ€™s possible, but manuscript evidence proves that this is unlikely, and so I donโ€™t believe it.

Is it possible that I have incorrectly understood what Jesus said and meant? Well, this is the most likely factor that could cause me to stop believing in Jesus. But since the teachings from Jesus about how to receive eternal life are some of the simplest teachings He gave (even a child can understand and believe these promises), I do not think this is likely, and therefore, I believe I have properly understood His promises.

Since my belief in Jesus for eternal life is based on a large number of other reasonable beliefs, if any one of these other beliefs were to change, there would indeed be a cascading effect of changing beliefs. As numerous beliefs changed, it might indeed feel like Greg Boydโ€™s house of cards, as if everything I thought I knew was tumbling down around me.

However, note that there are many beliefs that can safely change without affecting my belief in Jesus whatsoever.

faith is certaintyMy belief in Jesus is not affected at all by belief (or lack thereof) that Methuselah lived to be 969, that the universe was created in seven 24-hour days, or that Jesus is going to return in the future to slaughter all His enemies with a reign of terror and blood (I actually donโ€™t believe this).

These beliefs can change back and forth numerous times (as they have over the years), but such changes will not cause my entire belief system to come tumbling down like a house of cards.

Now the same sort of belief changes can be observed even with beliefs that are not โ€œtheological.โ€ The โ€œnetwork of beliefโ€ concept applies to any individual belief.

For example, I believe the sky is blue because I believe I know what โ€œblueโ€ is, and because I believe my eyes are not deceiving me. I furthermore believe that I truly exist in this world rather than in a dream world or computer simulation as in โ€œThe Matrix.โ€ Since all of these are reasonable beliefs, I can confidently believe (know) that the sky is blue.

However, if someone could persuade me that I did not exist, or that this world was a computer simulation, or that I have color-blindness and so do not accurately understand โ€œblue,โ€ then I might realize that I am wrong about the blueness of the sky.

But until these other beliefs change (which is extremely unlikely), I am fully confident that the sky is blue. (As a side note, I now actually believe that the sky is violet. I explain why in my book on faith.)

Let us consider an example from Scripture where we see this concept of spreadsheet faith being played out in real time.

An Example from Scripture

In John 11, Lazarus has died, and Jesus goes to Bethany to grieve with Mary and Martha. When Jesus arrives, Martha comes out to meet Him on the road and says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21).

Jesus responded by saying, “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23).

So Mary says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24).

Martha Jesus Lazarus John 11

Do you see what is going on here? Each of these statements is a factual statement that exists on Martha’s spreadsheet of beliefs. She believes that if Jesus had been present, Lazarus would not have died. Remember, they sent word to Jesus when Lazarus was sick, but he delayed in going to them until after Lazarus had died. So Martha is chiding Jesus a bit. She believes that Lazarus died because Jesus didn’t show up when she wanted Him to.

But then Jesus makes another factual statement. He says, “Your brother will rise again.” Now, does Martha believe this? She does. For she goes on to say, “Yes, I know, believe, agree that he will rise again … but on the future day of resurrection.”

Based on these beliefs, Jesus goes on to teach her some new ideas about Himself. He is going to make some factual statements to see if they are turned “On” or “Off” in her spreadsheet of beliefs.

So Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). Jesus makes three factual statements here. Each one is a truth claim about Jesus, and each one is dependent upon the others, and dependent upon what Martha has already stated about the resurrection. Jesus is inviting her to build upon her previous beliefs and add some new beliefs to them.

Jesus claims that (1) Resurrection and life resides in Him, (2) that those who die in Him will also live in Him, and (3) that who live and believe in Him will never die.

After Jesus makes these three factual statements, He says, “Do you believe this?”

Notice how Martha responds. She doesn’t say, “Yes, Lord, I believe these three things. I believeย that (1) Resurrection and life resides in You, (2) that those who die in You will also live in You, and (3) that who live and believe in You will never die.”

She does not restate the beliefs and affirm her agreement with them.

Instead, she says something that has confused a lot of people over the years. She says, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Lots of people read these words and get confused. They see Martha state her agreement with Jesus, but then she seems to say something back to Him that is not a restatement of what Jesus just said. She doesn’t state her agreement by summarizing what Jesus just said; instead, she states her agreement by stating her belief in something else entirely.

So people get confused by this and say, “Well, maybe to believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life is the exact same as believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”

And while we could say that the two concepts are related, the two concepts are not identical beliefs. That is, to say that Jesus is the Christ is not the same thing as saying that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. We know this for a variety of reasons. There are lots of people in the days of Jesus who believed that He was the Christ, but did not believe that He could raise people from the dead, or even that He Himself would be raised from the dead.

Furthermore, there were many people throughout biblical history who were thought of as “Messiahs” or “Christs” (that is, deliverers, saviors), but nobody ever thought that these people could raise others from death.

So since believe that Jesus is the Christ is not the same thing as believing that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, why does Martha answer the way she does?

She answers the way she does because she is saying that because Jesus is the Christ, then she trusts and accepts whatever else Jesus says, including these recent three statements about the resurrection.

To put it another way, Jesus makes three truth claims about Himself, and then asks Martha if she believes what He has said. These are new ideas to her, and she has never been told these ideas before.

So she can either accept, acknowledge, and agree with what Jesus has just said, thereby believing His words, or she can disagree with Him, thereby not believing.

But since Martha already knows and believes something else on her spreadsheet of faith, namely, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the son of God, this therefore causes Martha to realize that everything Jesus says can be trusted and accepted.

Therefore, because of her belief in Jesus as the Christ, Martha also believes these new statements about Jesus, that He is the resurrection and the life, that those who die in Him will live again, and that those who live in Him will never die.

Do you see? A cell on her spreadsheet of faith which said “Jesus is the Christ” was turned “On.” As a result of this cell, another cell on her spreadsheet of faith which said, “Everything Jesus says is true” was also turned on.

So when Jesus comes along and says something she has never heard or thought of before, and then Jesus asks her if she believes these new ideas, it does not take her long to turn these cells on as well. She didn’t fully understand the ramifications of what Jesus was saying, but she did know that Jesus was saying it, and that because He was the Christ, His words could always be trusted and believed.

So she believed Him.

Then, of course, to provide further support and proof that her believe in Him was well-founded, Jesus went and raised Lazarus from death.

believe in Jesus

This is just one example of how the network of beliefs that exists on our spreadsheet of faith works together to consider new ideas and incorporate new beliefs. We see it work very quickly with Martha, but it doesn’t always move this fast.ย Sometimes the process is much slower.

But regardless, I hope that with this illustration of faith, it can help you understand how faith works, and how you can come to consider and accept the various truth claims that bombard you each and every day.

No one is asking you to take a leap of faith. Each belief is built upon others that you might or might not have. Also, your faith is not a house of cards that can be knocked down by a passing wind of doubt or a troublesome question. Instead, your faith is a vast network of individual beliefs that are constantly moving, shifting, changing, and developing over time. It is not something to be afraid of, but can be enjoyed and anticipated as we continue to follow Jesus wherever He leads.

Now, I imagine that this illustration of faith might raise some further questions. For example, if this is how to think about faith, then what does the Scripture mean when it refers to great faith or little faith? How do these terms fit in with this concept of faith as a network of beliefs?

We will consider this question in the next study.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: belief, believe in Jesus, faith, gospel dictionary, John 11, John 11:20-26, John 11:25-26, Martha, what is faith

Advertisement

Is faith like getting in a wheelbarrow to be pushed across Niagara Falls?

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

Is faith like getting in a wheelbarrow to be pushed across Niagara Falls?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/540400641-redeeminggod-137-is-faith-like-getting-in-a-wheelbarrow-to-be-pushed-across-niagara-falls.mp3

How do you define and explain faith? How do you know you have faith? What is faith?

(#AmazonAdLink) What is FaithI have a new book coming out on January 15 which answers all of these questions about faith. The book is titled, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith? and is available for preorder on Amazon.

But between now and then, I wanted to publish several Podcast episodes which talks about faith, and looks at several tricky and troublesome texts in the Bible about faith.

We will discuss the concepts of great faith and little faith. We will look at whether there is such a thing as head faith and heart faith. We will also discuss the faith of demons mentioned in James 2.

In today’s study, I just want to introduce some of the key concepts about faith that will help you understand what the Bible is talking about when it talks about faith.

Let me begin by telling you a story, which you have probably already heard.

The Niagara Falls Tightrope Illustration of Faith

There once was a man who walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. After the tightrope had been fixed in place, he started gathering a crowd to watch his daring and dangerous feat. โ€œCome one! Come all!โ€ he shouted into his bullhorn. โ€œWatch me walk above Niagara Falls, balancing on nothing more than this little rope!โ€

faith tightrope walk

As people started gathering, he passed around a sample of the rope so people could see how small it was. โ€œOne little slip, and I will tumble to my death in the waters below!โ€ he shouted. โ€œYou never know when I might fall. The rope is getting wet from the misting water. A wind is coming up the gorge. I donโ€™t want to die, but today could be the day!โ€

As the crowd swelled even more, he shouted to those who had gathered, โ€œWho believes I can walk across the falls and back without falling to my death below?โ€

Most of the crowd shouted that they believed he could do it. Many of them cheered him on to try it. So he climbed up onto the rope, and balanced his way across Niagara Falls. When he reached the far side, he turned around and came back. He didnโ€™t slip. He didnโ€™t fall. In fact, he barely wobbled or wavered. So when he returned to the safety of the shore, he motioned with his hands for the cheering crowd to quiet down.

โ€œThat was too easy!โ€ he yelled. โ€œThat wasnโ€™t a challenge for me at all! Letโ€™s make it more difficult! Who believes I can do again, but this time, while pushing a wheelbarrow? If my hands are on the wheelbarrow, I will not be able to use them to balance on the rope. Shall I give it a try? Do you believe I can do it?โ€ He motioned to a nearby wheelbarrow, which he had brought for this very purpose.

The crowd cheered their approval, which caused the number of gathering people to swell even further. So with the help of two nearby men, he lifted a wheelbarrow up onto the rope, and then started pushing it across the Falls. He went more slowly this time, and even had a few wobbles, which caused the crowd to gasp and cry out with fear, but he made it to the other side and back without any great problem.

The crowd went wild.

โ€œThat was too easy!โ€ he yelled. โ€œWho believes I can do it again, but this time, with another person inside the wheelbarrow?โ€ The crowd roared their approval. โ€œI would not only be risking my own life, but also the life of the person in the wheelbarrow,โ€ the man shouted to the crowd. โ€œWith a show of hands, let me see how many of you believe I can do this!โ€ Almost every person in the large crowd raised their hand. It was nearly unanimous.

โ€œWonderful! I am so glad to see that you have such faith in me! I think I will give it a shot!โ€ the man yelled. โ€œNow โ€ฆ among all of you who raised your hand, do I have a volunteer to get into the wheelbarrow?โ€ Every hand in the large crowd went down. โ€œWhat?โ€ said the man. โ€œYouโ€™ve seen me walk across Niagara Falls twice without any problems, once while pushing this wheelbarrow! And most of you believe I can do it with someone else in the wheelbarrow with me! But when I ask which of you wants to get into the wheelbarrow, none of you volunteer? Do you believe I can do it or not?โ€

But there were no takers, so the crowd did not see him push someone across Niagara Falls in a wheelbarrow that day.

This story is likely fictional, but it is often used by pastors and preachers as an example of faith. They say, โ€œYou see? Itโ€™s not true faith unless you get into the wheelbarrow. Those people didnโ€™t really believe. They just said they believed. They raised their hand claiming they had faith the man could do it. But it is not enough to say you believe. It is not enough to claim you have faith. If you really believe, you have to get into the wheelbarrow. Otherwise, you have false faith. Spurious faith.โ€

faith tightrope walk niagara falls wheelbarrowThen the pastor goes on to tell the audience how they can have true and effective faith. Usually the pastor says that they need to โ€œproveโ€ the reality of their faith by their good works.

If they donโ€™t have the good works which proves the existence of their faith, then they are just like the people who claimed to have faith, but didnโ€™t prove it by getting into the wheelbarrow.

Most people go away from such a sermon wondering if theyโ€™ve really believed, and therefore, whether they are really a Christian.

But you can know that you are really a Christian and that you have really believed.

You can know that you have eternal life.

You can know that you are already in the wheelbarrow, and that it is the safest place you can be.

This knowledge of your safety and security in Jesus Christ begins by properly defining the word โ€œfaith.โ€

The Definition of โ€œFaithโ€

When we begin to define the word โ€œfaith,โ€ it is important to recognize that modern, English usage of the word โ€œfaithโ€ does not match the ancient Hebrew or Greek usage. The way this word is used today bears little resemblance to the way the word was used in biblical times.

Today, when we use the word “faith” or “believe” we tend to use it as a synonym for “hope.” We say, I believe the Red Sox will win the Word Series. But really, we only hope they win. We do not know for sure that they will win.

But this is not how the word “faith” was used in biblical times.ย In the Greek New Testament, the word โ€œfaithโ€ is most commonly used in reference to something that a person knows to be true.

For New Testament era Christians, to believe something, or to have faith, meant that they were persuaded or convinced of the truth of it. They knew it to be true.

Good synonyms for โ€œfaith,โ€ therefore, are not โ€œhope or wishโ€ but rather โ€œpersuasion, conviction, or knowing.โ€

faith is certaintyNew Testament Greek Lexicons typically provides three basic definitions for pistis. When used with an article, as in โ€œthe faith,โ€ it typically refers to the body of Christian beliefs that separates Christianity from other religious faiths. It is used this way thirteen times in the New Testament (cf. Acts 6:7; Rom 4:11; Gal 1:23).

Second, the word can be translated as โ€œfaithfulnessโ€ or โ€œfidelity.โ€ But even most of theseย could arguably be translated as โ€œfaithโ€ (Matt 23:23; Rom 3:3; Gal 5:22; Titus 2:10). We will discuss this concept in a future podcast episode.

The third possible definition for pistis is also the most common. Over 180 times in the New Testament, pistis refers to โ€œbelieving.โ€ In context, this belief occurs when a person knows something to be true.

Therefore, the primary lexical definition for the verb is โ€œto consider something to be true, to believe.โ€[1] Faith (and the verb โ€œbelieveโ€) is a confidence, persuasion, or conviction that something is true.[2] We have faith when we are fully persuaded by the evidence presented to us. โ€œTo believe is to be persuaded that some declaration is true. โ€ฆ If you think something is true, you believe it.โ€[3]

Joseph Dillow says,

Faith is located in the mind and is persuasion or belief. It is something which โ€œhappensโ€ to us as a result of reflection upon sufficient evidence โ€ฆ Saving faith is reliance upon God for salvation. It does not include within its compass the determination of the will to obey, nor does it include a commitment to a life of works. To believe is to be persuaded and be reliant and includes nothing else.[4]

So what then is biblical faith (or belief)?

We can do no better at defining faith than does the author of Hebrews, who writes: โ€œFaith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seenโ€ (Heb 11:1). The author of Hebrews is saying that faith substantiates, or sees as reality, that which we have previously only hoped to be true.

Faith is the evidence, conviction, or confidence in things we cannot see. Certainly, we also believe the things we have seen, but the faith described in the rest of Hebrews 11 is the faith that is confident in Godโ€™s promises based on what is known about Godโ€™s character and Godโ€™s Word.

A Second Look at the Tightrope Illustration

This brings us back to the illustration of the tightrope walker pushing a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls. The people truly believed that the man could walk across the tightrope above Niagara Falls. They had seen him do it. They also believed that he could do it with a wheelbarrow. They had seen him do this as well.

In both cases, their faith was real and genuine. Based on what they had seen him do, they also stated their belief that he would be able to push someone across Niagara Falls in a wheelbarrow.

However, none of them were willing to get into the wheelbarrow themselves. Does this mean that they didnโ€™t actually believe?

No, it does not. They did believe and their faith was genuine.

So why didn’t they want to get into the wheelbarrow?

First, walking across Niagara Falls on a tightrope has inherent risks. This is why it is so thrilling to watch. And given all the various things that can go wrong in such a situationโ€”many of which are completely out of the control of the man on the tightropeโ€”there is no guarantee that he will make it across.

Even if he performed this feat a thousand times in a row and became so good at it that he could run across while blindfolded, there is still no guarantee that he would be able to do the one-thousand-and-first time. Maybe a stronger than normal gust of wind would knock him off balance. Maybe it would start to rain and he would slip. Maybe a reckless bird would hit him in the head. There are just too many variables.

No matter how many times the man completes this feat, it is a statistical certainty that eventually he will slip and fall to his death.

So while the crowd could state their genuine belief every time that the man will make it across the falls, they also believe that a time will come when the man will fall. None of the people on the shore wanted to be in the wheelbarrow when that happened.

So the people on the shore had two genuine, but conflicting, beliefs.

They believed that the man could walk across Niagara Falls, and would be able to do it many times, even with a person in a wheelbarrow. However, they also believed in statistics and science, both of which say that eventually, the tightrope walker will fall.

Related to this, while the people on the shore might have had full faith in the tightrope walkerโ€™s ability to maintain his balance, none of them had faith in their own ability. It is logical and reasonable to think that the man could take someone across the Falls in a wheelbarrow if the person stayed completely still and did not move.

After all, if the person in the wheelbarrow starts flailing about, screaming in terror, or even sneezes, such movement could throw off the balance, causing both people to plunge to their death below. And as all people know, we cannot always keep fear at bay, nor can we easily hold back a sneeze.

Therefore, here again, while a person might properly believe that a well-trained tightrope walker can push a person in a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls, there are too many unknown and uncontrollable variables for any person to believe that they themselves could hold still enough to complete such a dangerous journey.

The bottom line truth is that that this fictional illustration about how nobody from a watching crowd would get into a wheelbarrow so that they might be pushed across Niagara Falls on a tightrope does not illustrate the lack of faith in the watching crowd.

To the contrary, it shows their true and genuine faith in a variety of truth claims. They believed the man could do it. But they did not believe in their own ability to sit still enough inside the wheelbarrow. They also knew (i.e., believed) that there were millions of random variables in nature that could create problems as well.

So did they believe the man could push a person across Niagara Falls in a wheelbarrow? Yes, they firmly believed that the man could do it.

But did each individual person believe the man would do this for themselves if they got into the wheelbarrow? No, they did not believe this, for the various reasons mentioned above.

They probably had somewhere over fifty percent certainty that he would, maybe even approaching ninety percent certainty in some cases. But this was not enough reasonable certainty for them to gamble their lives on it.

God is not a Tightrope Walker!

But notice how different it is when it comes to the promises of God made to us through Jesus Christ.

God is not a tightrope walker who will eventually make a mistake if we just give Him enough time. If He promises to take us across a spiritual tightrope, He will fulfill that promise every single time forever and ever without fail.

There are no spiritual or natural variables which can wreak havoc with the promises of God.

faith in God

The same goes for Jesus. When Jesus makes a promise, it is a promise with a 100% guarantee. Like God, Jesus is fully reliable.

Eternal Life is Not a Wheelbarrow

Furthermore, many of the promises of God are not at all dependent upon our own effort or involvement.

If we were to equate eternal life to getting into a wheelbarrow for a trip across Niagara Falls, then we would also have to say that on this trip, we could jump around and do flips inside the wheelbarrow and Jesus will still not lose His balance or let us fall into the waters below.

We could even try to jump out, but He will not let us fall. Eternal life is His gift to us, and this gift has an everlasting guarantee. We are safe and secure in His hands, and He will never let us go (John 10:27-29). This is His promise.

When we refuse to believe His promises, it is simply because we are refusing to believe that Jesus knows what He is talking about and can be trusted to do what He says.

Jesus is fully trustworthy and reliable. So you can believe in Him for what He says. And when He offers eternal life to anyone who believes in Him for it, you can know that if you have believed in Jesus, then you have eternal life.

When you believe in Jesus, you are already in the wheelbarrow and He is taking you across the falls, and there is nothing that you, or anyone (or anything) else can do to stop Him (Rom 8:38-39).

Nevertheless, I imagine that you still have some questions about the nature of faith and how faith works. You also might still have some lingering doubts about whether or not you really believe. Maybe you have also heard people talk about head faith, heart faith, true faith, false faith, small faith, and great faith, and you want to know how these sorts of descriptions fit with what we have learned in this chapter.

We will continue to look at these sorts of questions and issues in future podcast episodes.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

Notes for this Podcast Study on Faith

[1] Walter Bauer et al., (#AmazonAdLink) BAGD,ย ย 816.

[2] Wilkin, (#AmazonAdLink) Confident in Christ, 5, 7.

[3] Shawn Lazar, (#AmazonAdLink) Beyond Doubt, 106.

[4] Dillow, (#AmazonAdLink) Final Destiny, 276.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: believe, believe in Jesus, certainty, faith, gospel dictionary, pistis, what is faith

Advertisement

Legalism: The Biggest Threat to Church Unity

By Jeremy Myers
55 Comments

Legalism: The Biggest Threat to Church Unity

There is no greater threat to the unity of the church than legalism.

These are strong words, but history, tradition, experience, and Scripture reveal that where legalism spreads, disunity prospers.

Thankfully, God has provided an antidote to legalism through the free gift of eternal life which is received by grace along through faith alone in Christ alone.

legalism threat to unityJust as legalism breeds disunity, love and unity flourish where grace and faith multiply. The more we emphasize grace and faith, the greater our unity will be. For this reasonโ€”and simply for the sake of the truthโ€”a strong stance on the simplicity and freeness of eternal life by grace alone through faith alone is essential.

To see this, it is important first of all to know what legalism is.

Legalism Defined

Lots of people have heard about legalism, but few know what it is. Here is a basic definition of legalism:

Legalism is when people use the law of God in an attempt to gain favor with God.

legalism definedAt it’s core, legalism believes that God is angry with humanity, and that the way to make God like us again is to obey His laws. And if everybody could just obey God’s laws all at the same time, then God might love us and be happy with us again, and blessings from heaven will flow down upon us once more.

So at it’s core, legalism has some seriously faulty views about God, about sin, about the law, and about how people can get into a good relationship with God. All of these faulty views are what makes legalism so dangerous and divisive.

Legalism is Dangerous

Legalism is dangerous because it begins with the premise that God is mad at us and He gave us His law so that we could get back into His good favor.

But if Jesus tells us anything about God, it is that He is NOT angry with us. To the contrary, He loves us deeply and longs for nothing more than to reconcile us to Himself (2 Cor 5:19). It is not He who needs to be reconciled to us, but we to Him. In other words, He is not the one who has abandoned us; we have abandoned Him. It is not He who left us, but we who left Him.

By sending Jesus to this earth, God bridged the divide that we placed between Him and us. Out of His great love for us, He has come to where we are, because He knew that we would never (and could never) come to Him.

But the basic premise of legalism contradicts all this. Legalism teaches that we have offended God so deeply that He is angry with us… He even hates us… and so we must try to please and appease God by doing things He likes so that maybe, somehow, hopefully, God will love us once more.

Not only is such legalistic theology terribly wrong, it becomes terribly divisive.

Legalism is Divisive

Legalism is divisive because as soon as one person thinks that they are starting to obey God’s law and make God happy with us again, that person begins to think that the reason God is still angry with the world is not because of his or her sin, but because of everyone else’s. So if everyone else would just clean up their life and start obeying God, then God will start to love us again. As soon as legalists begin to make some headway in their own life in the “Obedience to the Law” department, they set themselves up as a manager in the department, and try to get everybody else to follow the rules as well.

But this isn’t the most dangerous or divisive element to legalism. What makes legalism so divisive is that nobody actually thinks they are legalistic.

Though there are countless Christians who are legalistic, you will never meet anyone who claims to be a legalist. This is what makes legalism so sinister. It sucks the life out of Christians who believe they stand for the truth of Scripture and the Gospel. Legalism run madly toward death, all the while thinking they are pursuing life.

legalism and obedienceSince nobody believes that they are legalistic, everybody believes they have a healthy balance between law and grace, between faith and good works. A legalist then, is anyone who places a greater emphasis on law and good works than you do. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we criticize those who take grace too far. Those people are licentious, we think. They place too much emphasis on grace and in so doing, give people license to sin.

In this way, since only “other” people are legalists, and each of us is only trying to get people to obey God and live within the principles of the Kingdom of God, the hidden legalist in each of us (myself included!) becomes judgmental, critical, and divisive in our treatment of others. Legalism tears Christians apart because it sets up laws and rules as the means by which we maintain relationships between one another and between ourselves and God. And part of the divisive nature of legalism is that nobody can agree on the rules that must be observed. Everybody has different rules and regulations that must be maintained in order to fellowship with someone else.

Legalism’s Antidote

So what is the cure? What is the fix? What is the antidote to legalism?

Since legalism is so sinister, and since it is so hard to define, one might think that combating legalism is not worth the effort. Some might be tempted to think that it is not legalism that divides Christians, but the struggle against legalism that causes the problems. If some people are legalistic and others are licentious, wouldnโ€™t it be better, for the sake of unity, to just throw up our hands, shrug our shoulders, and say “Live and let live”?

No, I don’t think so. Why not? Because Scripture seems intent on combating legalism wherever it is found. If legalism is one of the greatest threats to Christian unity, and legalism is found in every one of us, and Christian unity is something we should strive for, then legalism is worth fighting against.

In fact, it could be argued that much of the New Testament was written to combat legalism. Jesus fought against the legalism of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The apostles fought against legalism in Acts (e.g., Acts 15), and the Apostle Paul fought against legalism in most of his letters. So if they fought against legalism, we should to.

breaking the bonds of legalismHow? Most people try to combat legalism with a different form of legalism. I have seen arguments break out between a behavioral legalist and a doctrinal legalist. The first person thinks we make God happy by what we do, while the second person argues that we make God happy by what we believe.

I think it is time to back away from all of these rules and regulations, and look at how the Bible seems to combat legalism. And how is that? By emphasizing grace as much as possible.

One reason legalism is so divisive is that Christians seem so intent on putting limits and restrictions on grace. The moment we set limits to Godโ€™s boundless grace is the moment we wrap ourselves in the dark bonds of legalism, but the moment grace is unleashed and unchained, legalism shrivels up and dies.

So what is the antidote to legalism? Grace. Radical grace.

Do your best to never limit or restrict grace in any way. Let grace be extended to point of shamefulness. Let us live indiscriminate, shocking, outrageous, scandalous, senseless, irrational, unfair, irreligious, ridiculous, absurd, offensive, infinite, free grace.

Let us live life as a contest to see who can be the most gracious, loving, kind, and forgiving, and teach others to do the same. If we are going to follow the example of Jesus (and of God), we must extend grace to the point that people accuse us being friends to tax-collectors and sinners, to the point that they complain of how we allow people to get away with anything, of how we liberally shower blessings upon friends and enemies alike, and how we even show love and mercy upon those who wish to do us harm.

Such outrageous grace is what God shows us, and how we can live toward others. This kind of grace is the antidote to the legalism in all of us.

This post was part of the November 2018 Synchroblog.

Here is the list of other writers and authors who contributed to this monthโ€™s Synchroblog. Go read them all to see what others think about church unity.

  • Heathens and Hereticsย โ€“ Glenn Hager
  • What have we Become?ย โ€“ Rocky Glenn
  • Unified Through Lifeย โ€“ Jordan Hathcock
  • How Can Churches Exemplify Unity in a Divided Country?ย โ€“ Mike Edwards
  • Practicing Unityย โ€“ Tim Nichols
  • Christian Unityย โ€“ Joseph A.

God is Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: church unity, Discipleship, eternal life, free gift, free grace, grace, law, legalism, synchroblog, Theology of Salvation

Advertisement

Evangelism is Gospelism. But what is Gospelism?

By Jeremy Myers
7 Comments

Evangelism is Gospelism. But what is Gospelism?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/533614833-redeeminggod-136-evangelism-is-gospelism-matthew-115-romans-115.mp3

What is evangelism? What needs to be said in evangelism? Who do you say it to? How long does evangelism take? What Scriptures should you use? How do you know when someone has been “evangelized”? Ask these questions to 10 people, and you will get 11 answers (because there’s always that one guy who gives two answers).

There is a lot of confusion today about how to evangelize and what to say and do in evangelism.ย I believe the primary problem lies in the word itself. The word proves the truth of the saying, “The translation is the traitor!” Let me show you what I mean.

Evangelism from the Greek

You would never know it in English, but in Greek, the words “gospel” (Gk. euangelion) and “evangelism” (Gk. euangelizomai) have the same root. In fact, the word “evangelism” isn’t really a translation of the Greek word at all, but is instead a transliteration. The translators, rather than translateย euangelizomai, just changed the Greek letters intoย English, and left it:

euangelizomai
evangelism

evangelism is gospelismSometimes, the English translations use the phrase “preach the gospel” which is better than “evangelism” but tends to make us think that the gospel is spread only by preaching, which as we saw in a previous post, is simply not true.

Let me suggest a new term instead of evangelism.

How about “gospelism” (evangelizing = gospelizing)? This would help show a clearer connection between the gospel itself and the activity of spreading the gospel. This would really help clarify what gospelism is (i.e., what evangelism is) and how to carry it out.

What is Gospelism?

If (as we saw in a previous post) the gospel is more than a set of propositions which must be believed to receive eternal life, thenย gospelism is way more than just sharing a set of propositions to a person in the hopes that they will believe and receive eternal life.

Put another way, gospelism takes place whenever the gospel is revealed.ย 

And if the gospel contains all sorts of truths about the temporal and eternal benefits that are offered through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, then logically, any time we share (either by word or deed) any of the truths related to the gospel, we are gospelizing.

Since the gospel contains truths about how to live life in light of the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus, “gospelizing” is not only done with words, but with actions as well. Ideally, since the gospel is related to all aspects of life,ย our entire life – all we say and do – will be gospelizing.

Sermon Application

More concretely, since the gospel affects how we interact with others, how we spend our money, how we use our time, etc., we are gospelizing not only when we preach and teach about the gospel, but also when we treat others with kindness, fairness and honesty, when we show forgiveness and grace, when we stand up for the poor, the neglected, and the outcast, and any time we reveal the changes that the gospel has brought about in our own life.

When evangelism becomes gospelism, and we see that the gospel is for all of life, then gospelism is for all of life as well.

Gospelism is not just about eternal life, but about all of life … just like the gospel.ย 

Read these posts to learn more about gospelism:

Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 1)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 2)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 3)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 4)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 5)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 6)

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, good news, gospel, gospelism, One Verse Podcast

Advertisement

Does Jesus tell the Rich Young Ruler how to earn eternal life? (Matthew 19:16-21; Luke 18:18-23; Mark 10:17-22)

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

Does Jesus tell the Rich Young Ruler how to earn eternal life? (Matthew 19:16-21; Luke 18:18-23; Mark 10:17-22)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/530019786-redeeminggod-135-did-jesus-tell-the-rich-young-ruler-to-earn-eternal-life-matthew-1916-21.mp3

In the account of Matthew 19:16-21 (and the parallel passages of Luke 18:18-23; Mark 10:17-22), a rich, young ruler approaches Jesus and asks Him what he must do to have eternal life. (Luke also contains the account of a lawyer who asks a similar question Luke 10:25-28. I have written about the Rich Young ruler before here.)

Jesus points the young man to the law, and specifically to the Ten Commandments. The man responds that he has kept all of the commandments since he was a boy.

So Jesus says that the man still lacks one thing: he must go out and sell everything he owns, and then give the money to the poor.

At this, the rich young ruler becomes forlorn and goes away, because he was very rich.

What is the Story of the Rich Young Ruler about?

Many pastors and scholars point to this passage as primary evidence that good works and obedience to the commandments are required to receive eternal life.

believe in Jesus for eternal lifeBut there are numerous considerations from the text which reveal that this is not what Jesus is saying, and this is not how we should understand the passage.

1. We must first understand the meaning of “eternal life”

What is eternal life, and how is it gained?

To answer this, let me briefly summarize some of what I teach in my online course, The Gospel Dictionary.

There are three main truths to remember about eternal life.

First, eternal life begins the moment we believe in Jesus for it.

Since eternal life is the life of God given to those who believe in Jesus Christ, it begins the moment we receive Him (John 3:16; 5;24; 6:47; etc).

Eternal life is not some future possession, but is something we receive now, at the moment we are placed in Christ Jesus through faith.

Since eternal life is the life of God, and since this life is in Jesus, then anyone who shares this life with Jesus, also shares this life with God. To put it more succinctly, since Jesus is eternal life (cf. 1 John 1:2), we receive eternal life when we receive Jesus.

Second, eternal life is eternal.

In other words, everlasting life is everlasting.

This means that once you have eternal life in Jesus, you can never lose it.

Earl Radmacher used to say that โ€œIf you can lose your everlasting life, it has the wrong name.โ€ Just as you cannot be unborn after you are born, so also, when you are born again into the family of God, you cannot ever go back and become unborn.

Once a person believes in Jesus for eternal life, they receive it permanently, and no matter what they say, think, or do in the future, their new birth into Godโ€™s family is a historical fact and cannot be undone.

Every single passage in the Bible which appears to teach that eternal life can be lost is not in fact talking about eternal life, but is instead referring to something else, such as physical life here on earth, inheritance and reward in the future, or to some sort of deliverance (salvation) from temporal catastrophe or disaster.

There is no verse in the Bible which teaches that a person can lose their eternal life.

Finally, since eternal life begins the moment we believe, and since eternal life is forever, this means that we can begin experiencing eternal life now.

Some seem to believe that eternal life does not begin until we die, at which point we will float around on clouds and play harps. When people have such an idea, it is no wonder they are not all that excited or thrilled about experiencing eternal life.

But once we understand that eternal life begins in this life, when we receive the life of God through faith in Jesus, it becomes much more thrilling to think about it.

To experience eternal life with God means that we live up to our full creative, adventurous potential as human beings, so that we begin to experience true life now.

It refers to experiencing โ€œthe age to comeโ€ here and now in this age. Eternal life is not just a future experience to be longed for, but is a way of life that can be lived here and now.

It is helpful to think of eternal life as a whole new life in a whole new world.

We pass through the doorway into this new this world by faith in Jesus Christ. And the doorway is not a revolving door. It is a one-way door. Once you are through the door and in the new world, you can never go back.

But once we are through the door, there is a whole world to explore. Those who sit at the entrance, bemoaning what they have left behind, have not yet begun to experience all the lies ahead.

Newcomers are encouraged to do more than just sit at the doorway, content that they have entered into a new life with Jesus Christ. Instead, they are encouraged to follow Jesus into all the beauty and adventures that awaits them in this new world. Jesus calls people who have entered into new life with Him to follow Jesus wherever He leads, to go higher up and further in.

In this way, it is not wrong to recognize that while eternal life is a free gift and a present expression, it not only refers to the quantity of life (life that never ends) but also the quality of life (the experience of God’s life that only gets better over time).

This clarification is extremely helpful when trying to understand various tricky texts in the Bible about eternal life, and especially in those texts that seem to imply that eternal life can be earned or inherited. Such texts are not talking about how we can earn or work for the free gift of eternal life, but are instead referring to the ongoing experience of eternal life here and now.

Let me summarize these three truths about eternal life:

Eternal life is Godโ€™s life in us so that we can have life with Him that never ends, and it is freely given to all who believe in Jesus, and experienced in greater degrees as we follow Jesus.

While it is an eternal possession that is received by faith alone in Jesus, it can also be a present reality that is experienced when we follow Jesus in discipleship.

Eternal life refers to both an eternal possession we receive by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone and a present experience we can enjoy here in this life as we follow Jesus by faithful obedience to His leading.

This brief study of eternal life helps us understand the story of the Rich Young Ruler inย Matthew 19:16-21 (cf. Luke 18:18-23; Mark 10:17-22)

The Rich Young Ruler Matthew 19:16-21

2. Matthew 19:16-21 is about inheriting eternal life, not earning eternal life

First, the passage is clearly about inheriting eternal life, not receiving it (cf. Matt 19:29; Mark 10:17, 30; Luke 18:18, 30).

Support for this is found in the following context where Jesus says that it is difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:23; Mark 10:23; Luke 18:24), and then equates the Kingdom of heaven with inheriting eternal life (cf. Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30).

So the rich young ruler is not technically asking about how to receive eternal life, but how to inherit it, or experience it, in this life. Jesus answers accordingly.

The man felt that he should be experiencing eternal life because of his strict obedience to the law, but he also felt that something was lacking. So he asked Jesus about how to inherit, or experience, eternal life now. Jesus ran a quick diagnostic test on the man, and quickly determined two sources of the manโ€™s problem.

First, the man was proud.

He thought he had perfectly obeyed the law. He said he has obeyed it from his youth.

This, of course, is completely impossible, as Jesus knew. Yet rather than challenge the young man on his perceived moral perfection, Jesus โ€œupped the anteโ€ on the man as a way to show the man that he was not as righteous as he thought.

Jesus told the man to do something which the man could not do. He should sell all his riches and give the money to the poor. Yet even this was not the end, for after he did this, Jesus told the man to โ€œCome, follow Meโ€ (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22).

The point of Jesus was that the young man would never โ€œarrive.โ€ The main thing holding the young man back from experiencing the life of God was his self-righteous spiritual pride. The words of Jesus were intended to begin dismantling this pride.

Rich Young Ruler

Second, Jesus recognized that wealth was the source of the rich young rulerโ€™s problem.

This is why Jesus focused on the riches of this young man, instead of on some other area where the young man was blind to his own sin.

After all, even though Jesus asked about the commandments, there is no commandment or statement in the Mosaic Law to sell everything and give it away. So why does Jesus seem to shift from focusing on the commandments to giving up riches?

The answer is found within the law itself. The law promised wealth and riches to those who completely obeyed the law (cf. Deut 28:1-14). This young man was rich and wealthy at a very young age, which made him believe that he must have obeyed the entire law since his youth.

This is why Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give away all his wealth. It wasnโ€™t exactly about the money. It was about the false sense of moral perfection that the money created in the manโ€™s heart. When Jesus told the man to give up his wealth, He was saying that the man could not look to his wealth as a sign of Godโ€™s blessing.

In fact, it is quite possible that this young man did not keep the law as well as he thought. In the Ancient Mediterranean world, it was thought that wealth was a โ€œzero sum game.โ€ They believed that there was a fixed amount of material wealth in the world, so that the only way people gained more money and riches was if others lost it.

Of course, from a theological perspective, the only way someone would lose their riches and wealth is if they were sinful, and God displayed His displeasure by taking away their wealth and giving it to someone else who pleased Him.

But is this how the world really works? Is it only the righteous who are rich and only the wicked who are poor? No. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The same was true in biblical times as well, which is why some of the prophets wonder why the wicked prosper and the faithless live in ease (cf. Jer 12:1).

The sad reality is that the rich often (but not always) become rich because they murder, steal, and bear false witness, which are exactly the sins Jesus questioned the rich young ruler about (Matt 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 19:20). It is entirely possible that the rich your ruler became rich at such a young age because he, or his family, engaged in various practices which made them rich at the expense of the poor.

But this young man was ignorant or blind to such things, and thought that because he was rich, he was blessed by God, and therefore, obedient to the law. By telling him to sell his riches and give his money to the poor (who, according to this line of thought, were poor because they were sinners), Jesus was challenging this entire way of thinking.

So although eternal life is mentioned in this passage, the rich young ruler is not asking, and Jesus is not explaining, how to gain eternal life.

The rich young ruler isnโ€™t asking about how to go to heaven when he dies. He is asking about the new world that God is going to usher in, the new era of justice, peace, and freedom God has promised his people. And he is asking, in particular, how he can be sure that when God does all this, he will be part of those who inherit the new world, who share in its life.

Jesus and the rich young ruler are talking about how to experience Godโ€™s life (eternal life) in this life.

While the commandments are mentioned, the instructions of Jesus are not even about keeping the commandments, but about spiritual pride and arrogance.

What is the Meaning of Matthew 19:16-21 and the Rich Young Ruler?

Therefore, when all the factors are considered, we see that the passage is primarily about how Jesus challenged the status quo theological belief that the rich are loved by God while the poor are under His judgment.

camel through eye of a needleJesus sought to reverse this entire line of thought, as the following contexts make quite clear (Matthew 19:23-30; Mark 10:23-30; Luke 18:24-30). It is difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven because they rely on their riches as evidence that they are already living the life God wants for them.

Many of the rich people in the days of Jesus (and even many today) believe that their riches prove that they are under God’s blessing and are part of His family. Jesus is saying, “If you think your riches prove that you have eternal life, give up your riches. They don’t prove anything about eternal life one way or the other.”

Eternal life is received by believing in Jesus for it. And there is no amount of good works you can do to keep, earn, or prove that you have eternal life.

But once you have eternal life through faith in Jesus, you can gain a better experience of eternal life by following Jesus on the path of discipleship. This might require you to make some difficult decisions in life.

Bottom line: You DO NOT need to give away your wealth to receive eternal life … but you might need to be more generous with it if you want to experience the reality of God’s life in you.

Do you want to inherit, or experience, eternal life in this life? You first, of course, need to make sure you have received the free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus.

But after that, to experience eternal life, you must not depend on your riches or worldly success, nor your self-deceived ability to obey all of Godโ€™s law (which doesnโ€™t lead into love anyway, see Law), as signs that you are fully experiencing all that God has for you.

Instead, to live within the Kingdom of God and experience the joys and blessings of eternal life, you must humbly follow Jesus wherever He leads, even if it is into poverty and obscurity.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: eternal life, everlasting life, gospel dictionary, Luke 18:18-23, Mark 10:17-22, Matthew 19:16-21, money, Rich Young ruler, riches

Advertisement

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • …
  • 54
  • Next Page »
Join the discipleship group
Learn about the gospel and how to share it

Take my new course:

The Gospel According to Scripture
Best Books Every Christian Should Read
Study Scripture with me
Subscribe to my Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to my Podcast on Amazon

Do you like my blog?
Try one of my books:

Click the image below to see what books are available.

Books by Jeremy Myers

Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
  • Theology of God
  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
  • Theology of Jesus
  • Theology of Salvation
  • Theology of the Holy Spirit
  • Theology of the Church
  • Theology of Angels
  • Theology of the End Times
  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
  • Bible Studies on Esther
  • Bible Studies on Psalms
  • Bible Studies on Jonah
  • Bible Studies on Matthew
  • Bible Studies on Luke
  • Bible Studies on Romans
  • Bible Studies on Ephesians
  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

Advertise or Donate

  • Advertise on RedeemingGod.com
  • Donate to Jeremy Myers

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

© 2025 Redeeming God · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Knownhost and the Genesis Framework