August 28, 2024
You may recall the phrase, “easy believism.” It is used to describe those who preach a gospel that doesn’t include repentance from sin. In the view of those who preach ‘easy believism’, all that is needed to be saved from hell is simple faith or trust in Jesus Christ. ‘Easy believism’ is the rejection that any degree of repentance from sin is required for faith or belief to be saving.
A complete (hyper) Calvinist will say that regeneration, grace, and faith are all unconditional. God gives these things to His elect. To the partial Calvinist, it will be noted that men and women have the ability to exercise faith in Jesus Christ and receive God’s grace. They are depraved but not totally and completely. The complete Calvinist believes that repentance will follow regeneration. Some moral improvement will be evident in the life of the person God has elected. Nonetheless, many full Calvinists still believe that regenerated individuals sin in thought, word, and deed every day. Some partial Calvinists also believe that repentance from sin will be evident, but others believe that repentance from sin is not a condition of saving faith and salvation. Some even believe repentance from sin is not a necessary fruit of salvation. Charles Stanley thinks that a born-again Christian may not exhibit any fruit and may be living in unrepentant sin. That is the very definition of ‘easy believism’. Christianity like that will not save the world but will condemn it.
Are faith and believing two different things, or are they synonymous in their meaning as it pertains to salvation?
“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name.” John 20:31 KJV. Belief yields abundant life here and now, a new relationship with God Almighty, and eternal life hereafter. Believing in Jesus Christ is the door through which all saved children of God enter.
“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26
“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.” Ephesians 2:8-9.
Faith and belief are often used interchangeably in the context of salvation. These terms are used interchangeably. The critical question is, what is saving faith? What is saving belief?
Does faith or belief mean we acknowledge the truth that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God? Does it mean that we accept specific facts about Christ as truth? For example, does it mean that we trust that Christ, by dying on the cross for us, paid the penalty for our sins even if we never reduce or stop any of our sins? “Easy believism” says yes, that is all that it takes to be saved. Repentance from any sins is not a condition or necessarily the fruit of saving faith or saving belief. It is easy to see why ‘easy believism’ is so popular. It suggests that you can believe in Christ and go your own way, doing as you please.
Can that be true? It is easy to say you believe in specific beneficial facts about proper diet and exercise. Still, it is not always easy to exercise or eat healthily. Believing these facts alone will be of no benefit unless the person is motivated to take proper action. People often think that facts are actual, but they do not necessarily lead to obedience or change in behavior. James chapter two, talks about the fact that demons believe in God, yet they are not saved because their faith (belief in God) is empty. Faith without works of righteousness is dead, says the writer, James. An intellectual acknowledgement of God’s existence or any facts about Him is not sufficient and is not saving faith or saving belief. Belief and faith must result in trust, obedience, and whole-hearted commitment to Jesus Christ before they are considered saving faith or saving belief. Repentance from sin is implied in saving faith or saving belief.
Repentance from sin?
Numerous scripture verses proclaim that we are to repent and believe to be saved. Those verses of scripture cited above that did not specifically demand repentance must be understood as including repentance from sin. That notion is contrary to what the antinomians (another word for those who teach ‘easy believism) today preach and teach.
“And saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:15. Repent from what? Believe what? Most agree that repentance means a change of mind about God, Christ, and sin. It most certainly does not mean forming a new opinion of the mind that does not alter the person’s behavior. Repentance is a change of mind and conduct. What were they to believe? Would-be followers of Christ were instructed to believe what Jesus Christ was telling them about the truth of the gospel. Now let’s consider what the Word of God teaches regarding repentance.
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. Without repentance from sin, there is no remission of sins or the gift of the Holy Ghost.
“Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19. Calvinists most often tell us that first comes conversion or regeneration, then comes repentance. This passage tells us that repentance comes first, followed by conversion or regeneration. I’m going to get a lot of pushback on that one!
“But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentile; that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” Acts 26:20. Paul is again telling us that first we should repent and turn to God. He adds that we should do works that correspond with repentance. We should not be sinning, and we should be doing good works. What else can this passage mean?
“Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham as our father, for I say unto you. That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Luke 3:8. The Jews believed in a doctrine of eternal security. They believed that because they were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they were automatically saved and were going to heaven. Jesus came to tell them that they were mistaken. If they were saved, they would be bringing forth fruit worthy of repentance. Without the fruit of repentance, there is no salvation for them because there is no genuine repentance without fruit. True repentance is always fruitful.
John the Baptist and Jesus Christ both preached repentance, which is a turning from a life of sin to a life of holiness by the grace and truth of God. It is a wholehearted turning away from everything displeasing to God and a turning to everything pleasing to God. This is what repentance means. It is a change of mind, heart, and will with respect to sin in our lives. It is a change in the end for which we live. Jesus proclaimed, “Go and sin no more.” Most Christians actually do not believe Jesus was serious because of the false teaching of ‘easy believism’ and carnal Christianity.
Jesus in Luke 13:3 said, “I tell you, no; but unless you repent, you will likewise perish”. In Luke 5:32, Jesus said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Now tell me, if you can with a straight face, that Jesus was not calling the unrighteous to righteousness, and I will marvel at your blindness.
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31. The issue God has with humanity is not our lack of knowledge or our inability. The problem is our sin. That is why the central message of both the Old and New Testaments is that of repentance from unrighteousness and a turning to righteousness. The entire Bible is focused on calling men and women to repent of their many sins and be converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness: but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. God waits patiently for the unrepentant to repent because He does not want to condemn anyone. He desires the salvation of all men and women, not just the chosen/elect few. There are many more verses I could quote, but I will leave it to the ones above.
What’s the problem?
Many pastors proclaim that all one needs to do to be saved is to believe in the LORD Jesus Christ, “believe and be saved”. The only condition of salvation is to believe. Repentance from sin has no part in it. It is the gospel of “easy believism.” The antinomian gospel of today is to believe in Christ or have faith in Christ, which only means that you trust that Christ paid the penalty for your sins. Repentance from sin is not a condition or necessarily the fruit of belief. That false gospel will save no one, literally or figuratively. The false gospel preached in many pulpits today is the gospel of being saved in our sin and not from our sins. Matthew 1:21. It is salvation from the penalty of sin, but not the practice of sin.
Moreover, many of these individuals believe that believing in or having faith in Christ is a work of God, not our own, and not a condition that we must meet to be saved. The strict Calvinist believes that God elects some (not all) to regeneration, gives them faith, which includes some repentance from sin. They think that even with the grace and power of God, sinners can never expect sin to be the exception in their lives, rather than the rule. These antinomians teach that we, as “regenerated Christians,” sin in thought, word, and deed every day. The blood of Christ is clearly inadequate to cleanse sinners from the practice of sin in their theology.
I am convinced that the scriptures command us to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. These two conditions rest on us. We can and must repent and believe. To many of these folks, that means we save ourselves and that we do not need God. Meeting the conditions of salvation gives us the right to become children of God. It doesn’t mean we save ourselves. Jesus Christ alone met the most critical condition of our salvation by His shedding of innocent and pure blood on the cross for our sins. It was the love of God toward sinners (that for the sake of which, the prime moving cause of our salvation) that gave us the atonement. We are required to meet the conditions of repentance and faith (that not without which). Just because we believe there are conditions to salvation, it doesn’t mean we think we can save ourselves. We know that we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God. There is no room for boasting. Just because a gift has conditions attached to receiving it doesn’t mean the nature of the gift is changed.
Our Judicial System and God’s Justice
It is true that sinners can never save themselves because they are guilty of a crime against God. Sinners are not necessarily guilty of breaking every law of God. When one law of God has been violated, a crime against God has been committed. How is a sinner going to pay for that sin against God? We have nothing to offer God to atone for our sin. We can’t tell God that we didn’t break some of His commandments; therefore, He should overlook the crimes we actually committed. It doesn’t work that way in heaven or on earth.
Likewise, a bank robber can’t plead his or her obedience to other laws to offset their crime of robbing a bank. The law condemns, along with many other such criminal actions, the crime of robbing a bank. The same goes for God’s laws. If we have broken one or more of God’s laws, we can’t plead our obedience to a few of His laws to offset the breaking of some of His laws. Justice demands that we pay for our crimes. Some vainly imagine that God has a scale and He balances our sins against our good deeds. And if the good deeds outweigh the evil deeds, we get into heaven. It doesn’t work that way in our judicial system, nor does it work that way in God’s.
Meeting the conditions of salvation does not earn salvation. They qualify us to receive salvation. Repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ are conditions of salvation that we must meet. The choice is ours, not God’s, contrary to what many Calvinists believe. Believe and be saved!
October 5, 2024, additional comments
I recently watched a YouTube video by Brian from Faith on Fire. In this video, he shared his thoughts about faith and repentance. He wanted everyone to know that faith is the sole condition of salvation and that if people think repentance from sin is also required for salvation, they are adding works to the gospel message. He doesn’t seem to realize that he added the “work of faith” to the gospel message.
Brian produces some good stuff about the errors of Calvinism, but doesn’t understand that unless a person is a five-point Calvinist, they add the work of faith and or repentance to the gospel of salvation by definition. A ‘work’ is something we must bring to the table. Five-point Calvinists believe that God alone picks and chooses who will be saved and who will be lost. Only these Calvinists can claim that people bring nothing to the table.
What Brian doesn’t seem to be able to get his head around is that he has added the “work” of “faith” to the gospel of salvation. As R. C. Sproul said, “Is not faith (supplied by men and women to be saved) a good work? Surely it isn’t a bad work.” I prefer to look at faith and repentance as conditions of salvation. Conditions are the “that not without which” while the procuring cause of salvation is the love of God, “that for the sake of which”. Think of an inheritance that contains conditions before the inheritance will be distributed. It is still a gift, and the conditions are in place to ensure that the gift is used appropriately.
Brian believes that if we see repentance and faith as being the same thing, then we have not added ‘works’ to the message of salvation. He believes that repentance means only that we change our minds and believe in Jesus Christ. He doesn’t think this implies or demands repentance from sin. Repentance from sin is a gradual process of sanctification, but it is not part of the salvation message, according to Brian. He couldn’t be more wrong about repentance and the faith that saves. Godly sorrow for sin and a commitment to put away all sin now and forever are conditions of forgiveness and justification.
In many passages, we are told to repent and believe. If repentance only means believe, the message is redundant. It makes the message ‘believe and believe.’
Please refer to my book, When Lies Become Truth, Chapter Six, “Eternal Security,” for a refutation of the doctrine of eternal security. Additionally, please refer to many of my other articles on holiness as a condition of salvation.
Brian is another former Calvinist who still holds to the doctrine of ‘Eternal Security,’ unaware that it is embedded in Calvinistic determinism. He claims to have come out of Calvinism but is actually a three or four-point Calvinist. How so?
Calvinism’s TULIP
- T = for total depravity or total inability
- U = for Unconditional election or salvation
- L = for Limited atonement
- I = for Irresistible Grace
- P = for Perseverance of the saints.
If you believe in eternal security and that the only condition (work) of salvation is faith generated by the free will of men and women, then you think that grace is resistible until you are saved. But once you are saved, grace is now irresistible (a deterministic tenet of Calvinism); you can never leave or fall away from salvation. Now salvation is unconditional, another tenet of Calvinism. Before salvation, men and women have free will and the ability to choose to believe, but after their initial salvation, they lose their free will and the ability to change their minds. (Another tenet of deterministic Calvinism).
Those who believe in eternal security also think that we can exercise faith in Christ to be saved. But once we do exercise faith in Christ, we now have an “inability” to get out of that relationship. Inability is another tenet of Calvinism.
People like Brian and Leighton Flowers, who believe in eternal security, are likely three- or four-point Calvinists, as demonstrated. Yet they claim that they have rejected all of Calvinism. They have not; they have just modified it.
No Nonsense Christianity YouTube channel
I recently watched a 2.5-hour video produced by this gentleman. He believes that repentance from sin is a false gospel. The only condition of salvation is to believe or have faith in Jesus Christ. Not surprisingly, he also believes the Bible teaches eternal security.
He rightly points out that the words ‘repent or repentance from sin to be saved’ are never mentioned in the New Testament. The words “repent,” “repentance,” and similar terms are used in a variety of ways in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. That is all true. In the Old Testament, we read of God repenting numerous times. That is another true statement. Repentance does not always mean repentance from sin. In multiple places, God repented. God is without sin; therefore, repentance in these cases does not mean repentance from sin. It means that God changed His mind.
For example, based on mankind’s wickedness, God was sorry that He had made man. God repented that He had made man. He destroyed the earth in a flood and only saved Noah and his family. Here is another example: God told Jonah to go to Ninevah and tell them that in 40 days He would destroy their city. When God saw their humble repentance, He changed His mind (repented) and did not destroy the city. God has always offered mercy to the repentant person and nation, and in that sense, He did not change at all. The people of Ninevah changed and repented; therefore, God no longer needed to destroy them. God relented and did not destroy Nineveh.
In the places where repentance is mentioned in the Bible, this YouTube channel does not believe that repentance from sin is a condition of salvation, a part of salvation, or a fruit of salvation. For example, when Paul in Acts 17:30 confronted the group who worshipped the unknown god in Athens, Paul told them to repent of this idolatry. The website author doesn’t believe this was about repentance from sin, as if idolatry is not sin. (See the first two of the ten commandments.) His argument is so pathetic that it is hard to believe. He thinks that if someone poses the obvious question, ‘Isn’t idolatry a sin?’, that is a stupid question to begin with. His response to them is to avoid foolish questions. Does he really think that is an answer?
He then goes on to associate this question with illogic and a lack of basic math skills. Say what? He says, if you can understand logic and basic math, you can understand why this is a stupid question. Apparently, I do not understand logic or basic math because his comment seems ridiculous to me. He goes on to say that idolatry does not equal sin but is only a subset of sin; the question is stupid. Say what? In other words, unbelief doesn’t equal sin but is a subset of sin. I have no idea what he is attempting to say! The Bible clearly labels unbelief a sin, even though guys like Charles Stanley call unbelief a state and not a sin. Isn’t unbelief both a state and a sin? Of course it is.
He then goes on with this absurd illustration. He says a cat is a mammal and a dog is a mammal; therefore, a cat is a dog. That is stupid, and it is just like someone asking the foolish question, ‘Isn’t idolatry a sin?” If you can make sense out of this, you are more learned than I am. Sometimes people believe that if they talk long enough, their word salad will convince others that they know what they are saying.
Then the video shifts to another preacher, who states that God views justification as a single event that lasts for all time. He never revisits it. Once a person is declared not guilty, they can never again be found guilty. In other words, God declared us not guilty of our future sins even before we commit those sins. (Please see my book, When Lies Become Truth, and the chapter on Justification). If this idea is not repugnant to you, then I am not sure anything I say will make a difference.
This pastor goes on to quote scripture that states, He that believeth hath eternal life, but he who doesn’t believe hath not the life, but the wrath of God abides on him. His interpretation is that once God declares you not guilty and gives you eternal life, which can never be lost, you can never become guilty again, even if you commit unspeakable evil. I do not believe the devil could dream up a more creative falsehood.
This pastor thinks Paul’s comment was just about idolatry and not repentance from sin in general and in its entirety. I find that it is almost impossible to believe that these pagan idolaters were not also breaking other commandments of God, as well as the sin of idolatry. How about you? Was Paul suggesting that they stop their idolatry, but not the different things they were doing that offended the one true God? Impossible.
In the gospel of John, the only stated condition of salvation is to believe. Therefore, this guy believes that it is the only condition in the entire Bible. This guy actually lumped Charles Stanley into the teachers of a false gospel because at times Stanley actually told people that they needed to repent of their sins when they come to God in salvation. If he knew what Stanley really taught, he would understand that Stanley believed exactly what he believes, and that the only condition of salvation is to believe or have faith. Moreover, Stanley taught that believers do not need to repent of any sins or have any fruit to be saved, just like this guy believes.
He quotes Michael Pearle as if he were like himself, believing the only condition of salvation is to believe. Pearl thinks that if a person has true faith, they will obey the gospel and produce good works. They reject that idea and think that is the Lordship salvation false teaching, which Pearle claims to deny, but they say he really doesn’t. They say lordship salvation is the ugly cousin of the ‘repent of your sins’ teaching. And this is much like the carnal Christianity so prevalent today in our evangelical churches.
Another preacher in this video says that only God Himself can keep all of God’s commandments. In other words, God never expected us to obey His laws because He knew we could not. This guy must either be ignorant of the “T” in Calvinism’s TULIP, or he is not telling the truth. He wants us to believe that God issued impossible commands to us and then damns us to hell for not doing the impossible. If that is true, which it is not, then repentance from sin is utterly ridiculous unless God makes us sinless without any help from us.
Works-based salvation is what we teach, and those who teach that repentance is a necessary part of salvation. You should have works, but if you don’t, that’s no big deal. You are still saved because God declared that you are not guilty once, and that declaration lasts for eternity. It makes no difference if you continue to break God’s laws in the future. The declaration of not guilty lasts for eternity. Faith in Jesus is counted for righteousness. Good works and not sinning are not essential. Jesus said He who comes to Me, I will never cast you out; under any circumstances or any conditions. Faith in Jesus is counted as righteousness for us, no matter if we don’t stop sinning or do not perform any good works. That is what they believe, and it is precisely what Stanley believes as well. Those with saving faith may not turn from any sins at all or have any good fruit at all. In the clip, the preacher was telling all these ‘repent from sin’ false teachers, like me, to ‘shut up’, from one clip to the next. What a miserable exhibition of Biblical truth and the gospel. This team, and others like them, are the reason why the Church of Jesus Christ looks and acts like the unsaved world around us.
This guy also believes that the stop sinning false teachers (like me) believe in Christian perfectionism or sinless perfection, and both are heresy. But what is Christian Perfectionism? Finney described a group that believed in Christian perfectionism, which teaches that one is perfect despite one’s sinful living. Today, the definition of Christian Perfectionism may vary significantly and encompass Christians who believe in Entire Sanctification, Holiness, Perfect Love, the second blessing, the second work of grace, and similar concepts. Christian perfection may involve the following: humility, which consists in acknowledging our sins, repenting of them, and trusting in God’s forgiveness. It may include growing in holiness or virtue by God’s grace and not of one’s own strength. It may also involve accepting flaws because that is part of human nature and our inherent weaknesses. Can you imagine such awful teaching? My goodness, how far have we fallen? Some deluded Christians actually think the truth and grace of God can save us from our sins, and not in our sins.
Another Christian website states that Christian perfection or sinless perfection is a heresy, and it holds “that it is possible for Christians to completely defeat sin in the present life and to live holy lives like Jesus did.” This site asserts that it makes sense because Jesus came to save us from sin, and He sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome sin and to be obedient in this present time. Titus 2:11-13. They say, “Christians should have the highest aspirations for living holy lives and rejecting all sin.” So, what’s the catch? Where is the but? They say that if a person claims to have no sin, they deceive themselves and the truth is not in them. 1 John 1:8. (That is not what 1 John 1:8 teaches at all. And as proof of that statement, read the rest of the book of 1 John, where it is said numerous times that no one born of God commits sin or is a habitual sinner. I John 1:8 is simply stating that the persons who claim to have never sinned in the first place, are deceived. Some Jewish leaders at the time did claim that they had never sinned. Also, see my article “If we say we have no sin.”)
This site goes on to say that “Until the resurrection, we must be at war with sinful desires: Galatians 5:16-17. Sin is an enemy that lives within and feeds off our fallen human desires and weaknesses. James 1:13-15. That is why sinless perfectionism is not only untrue but also dangerous,” according to this site.
By the way, this is not what James 1 states or implies. Plus, who says human nature is fallen at birth, and we are unable to say no to sin? The pagan doctrine of Original Sin, that is, who. In other words, death, not Jesus, is our savior from sin. Desires are how we are tempted. To have ‘fallen desires’ is temptation and isn’t sin. To yield to those desires is when we sin. So, in other words, the atonement of Jesus Christ is inadequate to cleanse us from all sin, and the grace of God is not strong enough to cleanse us from sin. Do you believe that?
Any person who has sinned, even once, can never claim sinless perfection, even if they have only sinned once in their entire life. They need a savior for that one capital crime against God. Jesus is the savior.
This site then tells the story of Charles Spurgeon testing a preacher of perfection by pouring milk on his head, only to watch the preacher become enraged. Perfection debunked, says the site. They do go on to warn about the peril of Christian complacency, suggesting that sin is inevitable and that we justify it in our lives. This is just as bad, according to this site. TGC Australia edition.
Do real Christians sin?
No one is suggesting that a Christian cannot sin or will never sin again, but rather that a Christian can live without sinning. That is a big difference. No honest Christian is claiming sinless perfection. Real Christians live in holiness, which we are commanded to have and to be.
This website wants us all to think that these Christians are all Sinless Perfectionists. As explained, that is not true. Those of us who believe that the grace and truth of God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness are Bible-believing Christians. We believe that sin will become the exception in our lives, rather than the rule. No one is claiming sinless perfection. These folks teach that sin is the rule in a Christian’s life. They also teach that those Christians who refuse to repent of their sins are eternally secure. What teaching is the most dangerous?
Not surprisingly, this author believes we add good works to the conditions of salvation. He fails to understand or admit that he has already added the good work of faith to the gospel as the only condition. He didn’t sound like he was a 5-point Calvinist. And only they can logically claim that they have no conditions at all for salvation. All others have at least one condition for salvation. So, these guys are teaching a works-based salvation that they profess to reject! And believing in eternal security, they are also believing tenets of Calvinism at the same time they claim to reject such things as total inability, irresistible grace, and determinism.
Titus 1:1 states that all truth leads to godliness in those who hear and embrace the truth. Telling ‘Christians’ that they are eternally secure in their unrepentant sins is the exact opposite of the truth, encouraging godliness. Lies always encourage compromise and more sin, always. And that is what these false doctrines bring.
The serpent in the Garden of Eden is the first one to teach the lie of eternal security. He told Adam and Eve that God lied to them and that the day they ate of the forbidden fruit, they would not surely die, as God said.
“Believe and be saved” is the truth only when what it means to believe in Jesus Christ is adequately understood. Saving faith always includes repentance from sin. That message is contrary to most of evangelicalism today.
