Nature of Belief and Eternal Life

The believer is not offered an unconditional existence with Christ forever. To have eternal life he must maintain his life in Christ in accordance with the Scripture. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit...I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned...Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples...If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (Jn 15:1-10). The branches (believers) that are cut off are actually part of the vine. Hence even though no man can pluck any one from the Father’s hands, the Father Himself can cut off the fruitless branches who have proved their faithlessness through fruitlessness. “Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shall be cut off” (Rom 11:20-22).

The true life needs to be sustained by eating the meat which is doing the will of God: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (Jn 4:34). Jesus Christ gives the meat which gives everlasting life: “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (Jn 6:27). “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life...This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man may eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world...Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me...It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (Jn 6:47-63). ‘Eating the flesh of Christ’ refers to believing in Him. ‘Drinking His blood’ refers to receiving eternal life which is in Him.

Thus continuing to believe in Jesus Christ is the key to have everlasting fellowship with Jesus Christ. “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die...” (Jn 11:25-26). Hence if the believer is to have eternal life, he has to keep believing in Christ until death. Believing in Jesus Christ is the only condition for salvation. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). The word ‘believes’ implies total and continuous acknowledgment of the truth in Christ and obedience to His commandments. Bible does not offer eternal life to the one who once ‘believed’, but does not ‘believe’ now. The words ‘believes’, and ‘follow’ whenever used in the Bible in connection with salvation or eternal life imply the person’s continuous state of faith, until death. Hence ‘believing’ is the act and process of faith which is to be continued from the moment of new birth until death in order to have salvation or eternal life. This point is clear from Jn 3:15 and Jn 10:27-28. There is the promise that whosoever “believeth” shall not perish but have everlasting life (Jn 3:15). There is also the assurance that those who “hear” the voice of Christ and “follow” him shall not perish (Jn 10:27-28). Notice that the words ‘believeth’, ‘hear’, and ‘follow’ are in the present tense. This means that the person has to continue to hear, believe, and follow Christ throughout his life, if the promise is to be available to him. The act of keeping the faith is the personal responsibility of the believer. Hence Paul stated that he kept the faith until the end (2Tim 4:7-8).

The Nature Content and Duration of the Belief Which Gives Salvation

THE FAITH WHICH GIVES SALVATION IS FAITH IN CHRIST. There are no categories like true faith, false faith, faith etc. The faith that gives eternal life is the faith which is unceasingly active and producing results throughout the life of the person. The believers must live every moment of their life by maintaining their absolute and unshakeable faith in Jesus Christ. (Rom 1:17; Gal 2:20). It is being or living in faith always. It should not be reduced to depending on God for food, shelter and clothing alone, which is a purely materialistic interpretation of living by faith.

THE FAITH OF A PERSON WHICH SHOULD LEAD TO SALVATION MUST PRODUCE LOVING OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S COMMANDMENTS. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?...Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone...Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? ...Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only...For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”(Jas 2:14-26). It shows that faith can die without works. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”(Eph 2:8-10). It must be noticed that the failure to obey the commandments does not presuppose failure to believe.

BELIEVER MUST BE A DOER OF THE WORD. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (Jn 10:27-28). For salvation both faith and works should go together. But what about the possibility of a dying man who was hitherto an unbeliever, and has now believed unto salvation, but unable to do good works. The point is that if the saved person is allowed to live, his salvation is conditional to glorifying God by continuous repentance, confession, belief and obedience. Good works are expected in addition to obedience.

God allows an unsaved person to die only when God in His omniscience realizes that the person has reached a stage from where even if he is allowed to live, he will not repent and be saved.

 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son”(2Jn :9).

Belief in Jesus Christ is the only condition for salvation. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). Faith comes through believing on the Word of God (Quote Rom 10:17). If the person responds to the Word with faith and believes on the Word of God when he hears the proclamation of the gospel, he is saved. Belief in God's Word is salvation. But belief should not be misunderstood as a means for the payment of sins. On the other hand belief is only the acknowledgement of the need to be saved and also the acknowledgement of the cross only as the means and fulfillment of that need.

There is only believing. There is nothing like truly believing and untruly believing.  The unbiblical categorizations of true belief, apart from belief, confuses and mystifies the whole issue of belief and salvation. The terms must be defined first. This position that the one who truly believed is free to do any crime without endangering eternal life. The true biblical position is that the believer who commits murders lose salvation and goes to hell. Because by the act of murder he has proved that he had already ceased to believe.

BELIEF IMPLIES TOTAL AND CONTINUOUS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE TRUTH IN CHRIST AND OBEDIENCE TO HIS COMMANDMENTS. We are asked to believe on him always. Meditate on Him day and night. Love Him with all our  heart, strength, mind and soul. Belief is the present tense of pistis, faith. Salvation is not offered to one who believed once, or one who will believe. But only for those who believe. Hence believing is the act and process of faith which is to be continued until the end to receive its benefit which is salvation. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life”(Jn 3:15). It is not that just by one act of faith or a split second phenomenon, without any further personal responsibility and willful faith in the life of the person, for eternal life. The act of believing should not be reduced to a split second phenomenon. But a commitment which begins at a particular point of time which has to be diligently kept until the last moment of one’s life when one is able to exercise one’s free will. Hence one has to keep believing and thus maintain one’s faith. Paul kept the faith until the end. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing”(2Tim 4:7-8). Keeping of faith is perseverance. But man does the preserving work only because of the ennoblement of the Holy Spirit. But this enablement of the Holy Spirit will be available to the person only if the person positively cooperates. Belief is a moment by moment process until death. Hence belief has to be willfully maintained. It is not a hit and run process.

JESUS CHRIST IS THE TRUE SOURCE OF SALVATION AND ETERNAL LIFE FOR MAN. TO HAVE CHRIST IS SALVATION AND ETERNAL LIFE. Anyone who sins cannot have Christ. (See 1Jn). Hence salvation can be lost. Salvation can be ultimately lost only by unbelief or apostasy proven by words and deeds. The point is that since salvation is through faith and belief, it can be lost only if a person gives up his belief. The issue is between good faith and bad faith, not good works and bad works. But bad works could be the evidence of having given up faith or dead faith. Because faith without works is dead. The purpose of the continued life of the believer is to produce good works and glorify God. Rewards and chastisement have to do with good works and bad works of the believer respectively. Salvation or not having salvation has to do with having belief in Christ or not having belief in Christ respectively. (See also worker at the 11th hour gets same reward=salvation is not for work, but for obedience).

BELIEF LEADING TO ETERNAL LIFE HAS TO BE DEFINED IN RELATION TO TIME UNTIL DEATH. Belief is to be a continuous process which begins from the moment when he exercises his free will accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and lasts until the last moment of his life when he is capable of exercising his free will if to be saved. The gap between these two moments could be from zero moment to any number years he lives until death. Belief can begin in a moment of time, but cannot be complete by that moment itself unless the believer dies at the end of the moment. He has to continue to believe through the remaining moments of his life, if he ought to be ultimately saved. If one lives after believing in Christ, the salvation of the believer is conditional to his obedience to the commandments of Christ as in the Bible. Here is the responsibility of the believer. Salvation is a state of existence from which the possibility is open for the believer to fall until death. Hence the time between the moment of new birth and death is extremely crucial for the believer. It would either produce rewards or eternal death. If he ceases to believe after having once believed (apostasy), he has no more chance and he loses salvation forever. No second salvation or second born again. For such a person there is no more sacrifice for sins. Because it is impossible to bring such a person (apostate) back to repentance.

BELIEVETH

Believeth, trusteth etc are in the present tense. The issue is whether he believes or trusteth at this particular moment of life, now, (until death) not some time in the past. Past tense is never used. If you believe now, Holy Spirit abides in you forever, i.e., potentially everlasting. BIBLE NEVER MENTIONS THAT IF A PERSON HAD EVER BELIEVED, HOLY SPIRIT WILL BE ABIDING IN HIM FROM THAT MOMENT ONWARDS, FOREVER.

Everything consist in Christ. Hence time, eternity, forever, everlasting etc also consist in Christ and apart from Christ they have neither existence nor meaning. God has summed up everything in Christ. If a person, even if he believed in Christ once in past, does not abide in the doctrine of Christ, he has no God. That means if he does not believe in Christ and abide by now, he does not have Christ in whom is eternity, forever... consist. Hence to such a person the forever becomes un-applicable. (The problem to understand this issue arises because of the lack of understanding of Christ’s relationship with the various dimensions like time, eternity, forever etc..). Hence the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the person is conditional to faith in Christ. If no faith in Christ, he has no Christ, and no Holy Spirit. If no Christ, means no eternal life.

But only God can determine exactly when a person loses his faith irrevocably (apostasy). It is impossible to bring them back to repentance. Because God has not given a provision for that. To say that such people never truly believed is a wrong approach to the issue.

BELIEVER MUST CONTINUE IN FAITH OR KEEP HIS FAITH. ONE RECEIVES SALVATION BY FAITH IN CHRIST. ONE CONTINUES IN SALVATION ONLY BY CONTINUING IN FAITH. “And beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”(2Pet 1:5-11). 7. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and life. “I am the resurrection and life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die...”(Jn 11:25-26). Hence if the believer is to have eternal life, he has to live and believe in Christ until death.

One must hear for believing the words of Christ; and must believe for keeping them (Jn 12:47-48; Rom 10:14). Paul and Bernabas exhorted the people to continue in the faith (Acts 14:22).

FOR SALVATION ONE HAS TO BELIEVE. FOR NOT LOSING SALVATION ONE HAS TO MAINTAIN THAT BELIEF. But then does maintaining belief become a work? No. Because all the believers are asked to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. “...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”(Phil 2:12).