WHAT MUST I DO?

When Paul and Silas were thrown in jail for preaching the gospel, and a massive earthquake shook the prison, opening the doors and losing the chains of the prisoners; the jailor, “…fell down trembling before Paul and Silas… and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved’ (Acts 16:29-31). This, along with other similar statements in the New Testament, highlights the simplicity of the gospel message of personal salvation for mankind; “Believe on Jesus Christ, and you’ll be saved!” 

Still, for the last two-thousand years of church history, this simple message has been redefined and manipulated by the minds of men, and endless perspectives about exactly what it means to “believe on Jesus Christ”, have abounded. One passage of Scripture, which has probably caused more controversy in regard to this subject than any other, is Paul’s address to the Church in chapters nine through eleven of the book of Romans. 

The argument actually starts back in Romans 8:29, when Paul begins to expound upon the idea that God has actually chosen to elect some to salvation based upon His foreknowledge, which has been used to promote the belief that, believing upon Christ for salvation has nothing at all to do with the individual, but everything to do with God. John Calvin based his theology upon this idea, which later became known as, Calvinism. 

He, and his followers believe that, “…becoming a Christian is ultimately rooted in God’s free choice…” and the doctrines of, “...unconditional election and eternal security…” (Moo 279), arose from this understanding of these chapters. Augustine, who is believed to be a forerunner of Calvinism said that, “God does not choose us because we believe, but that we may believe” (Moo 305). However, those who, at least in part, contend with this view, are known as Arminians, who are perhaps best represented by John Wesley and the Methodist church that he founded, and also many evangelical and Pentecostal churches around the world today. 

Arminian theology believes that this position is taking Paul’s words out of context with the rest of the book of Romans, as well as the rest of Scripture; since there are ample references to man’s free will, and the need to choose God by believing in His Son Jesus. In short, they do not believe that, “…God has chosen us (the Calvinist view); we are chosen because we believe (Moo 279). Most Arminianists also believe that these chapters are not dealing with individual salvation at all, but rather, they are addressing God’s election of the Church as an institution of His grace, while setting aside Israel, until the “time of the gentiles” is over.

While Augustine would agree with Arminian theology that, ‘The sinful choice of Adam and Eve was freely made” (Westerholm 20), he would also argue that, “…God Himself has predetermined who will believe and who will not, and who of the former group will persevere in their faith to the end” (Westerholm 21), which obviously agrees with Calvinist theology. Martin Luther also believed in the doctrine of predestination, but he struggled with the, “…tension between the God who reveals himself as offering grace and salvation to all on the one hand, and on the other the hidden God whose salvific purposes are more limited” (Westerholm 40). 

In other words; Scripture obviously teaches that God’s grace is available to “whosoever will” accept it by faith, so why does Calvinism teach that Christ’s blood offered only a, “limited atonement”? Taking this to an extreme, Wesley believed that, “Predestination is a bad idea. It cannot be supported from Scripture. God wills the good of all His creatures and offers salvation to every human being. …They must themselves choose between good and evil, life and death” (Westerholm 87). 

Interestingly enough, more ancient sources closer to the time of Paul writing Romans, agree with both positions. Origin wrote, “That we may be good or evil depends on our will; but that the evil man should be appointed for punishments of some sort and the good man for glory of some sort depends on the will of God” (Taylor 26). Chrysostom concurs with Origin as well and, “…defends both the justice of God, and human free will…” because if humans were, “…free from all responsibility… this would be inconsistent with Paul’s emphasis elsewhere on free choice…” (Taylor 26-27). 

Given these various views and perspectives which have been generated throughout the centuries, that tend to either lack context or error with a decidedly unscriptural premise; I feel that it is best to conclude that the Bible, in its entirety, is the only inspired perspective that is authoritative in our lives, even if we don’t understand it or agree with it. Therefore, any effort to define the basis of our doctrine necessitates emphasis on the whole Word of God as the source of our beliefs. Accordingly, the adherence to the belief system of any one group within Christianity, whether it's Fundamentalism, Pentecostalism, Calvinism, Arminianism, Charismatic, Dispensational, Reformed, etc., is unwise. 

It is unrealistic to think that any individual man-made system of beliefs is completely error free or, conversely, without merit at all. Therefore, I believe that individual salvation, as expressed by Paul himself, as well as by Jesus, and the other writers of the New Testament, is by the grace of God, through our faith in His Son Jesus and what He accomplished through His death and resurrection, that God has indeed predestined those who will be saved, but that He has also given us the ability to choose Him or to reject Him, and based on that choice, He makes His choice by the foreknowledge that only He possesses and understands.

By Pastor Glen Mustian

Works Cited:

-Moo, Douglass. Romans: The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI: 2000. 

-NKJV New King James Version. Holy Bible. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN: 2000. Print.

-Taylor, John. The Freedom of God and the Hope of Israel: Theological Interpretation of Romans 9. Southwestern Journal of Theology, Issue 56.1. 2013. Print.

-Westerholm, Stephen. Perspectives Old and New on Paul. Eerdmans. Grand Rapids: 2004. Print.