Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer has pointed out in his Systematic Theology that "upwards of 150 passages of Scripture condition salvation upon believing only (cf. Jn. 3:16; Acts 16:31)."[1] It was probably about twenty years ago when I first read this statement, and I wanted to compile these Bible verses for myself. So I set about to study the Scriptures and compile a list of Bible verses in which the noun faith (Greek pistis) and the verb believe (pisteuo) are given as the one condition for salvation.This study does not answer the question "What is the Gospel?"[2], nor does it answer the question "What is the definition of faith?"[3] This study simply lists each occurrence of the words "faith" and "believe" (at least that I could find) when they occur or are given as the one and only condition for salvation in the New Testament. So this study isn't a list of each occurrence of the words "faith" and "believe" in the New Testament, but a list of each occurrence of the words "faith" and "believe" in a salvation context. I specifically checked for a salvation context and only included these words in my list if the context had to do with salvation (specifically justification). And in the context of salvation, "faith" or "believe" had to be the only condition for salvation.
The list of Bible verses actually took a lot of time to compile. It was a long process because it's not simply a list from a concordance. Of course, I did use a concordance as a starting point, but as I said, I specifically checked the occurrence of each word for a salvation context. Additionally, the words "faith"/"believe" had to be listed as the only condition for salvation (as opposed to, for example, "believe and follow," "believe and forsake all," "believe and promise," "believe and confess," "believe and put Jesus on the throne of your life," "believe and make Jesus Lord of every area of your life," etc.). Furthermore, I also checked for other English words besides "faith" and "believe" to see if they used the same Greek words pistis and pisteuo, because these Greek words are not always translated as "faith" and "believe" in the New Testament. What's more, I also compared my list with other similar lists such as the ones by Lewis Sperry Chafer and J. B. Hixson.
So these are the occurrences of the words "faith" and "believe" specifically in a salvation context and when either the one or the other word is given as the only condition for salvation.
Justification By Faith Alone
The Bible overwhelmingly testifies to the fact that faith is the sole condition for salvation - for one to be justified before God. The noun "faith" (Greek pistis) is the one condition for salvation approximately 70 times in the New Testament. The verb "believe" (Greek pisteuo), which is simply a synonym of faith, is the only condition for salvation approximately 180 times in the New Testament. Altogether, 250 times in the New Testament justification is based solely upon a person's faith or belief in Jesus Christ as Savior.
The noun "faith" (pistis) is the only condition for salvation in the following passages:[4]
Matthew 9:2
Mark 2:5, 10:52
Luke 5:20, 7:50, 18:42
Acts 3:16, 15:9, 26:18
Romans 1:17, 3:22, 3:25, 3:26, 3:27, 3:28, 3:30, 3:30, 3:31, 4:5, 4:9, 4:11, 4:13, 4:14, 4:16, 5:1, 5:2, 9:30, 9:32, 10:6, 10:17, 11:20
1 Corinthians 15:14, 15:17
Galatians 2:16, 2:16, 2:20, 3:2, 3:5, 3:7, 3:8, 3:9, 3:11, 3:12, 3:14, 3:22, 3:23, 3:23, 3:24, 3:25, 3:26, 5:5, 6:10
Ephesians 1:15, 2:8, 3:12, 3:17
Philippians 3:9, 3:9
Colossians 1:4, 2:12
2 Thessalonians 2:13, 3:2
2 Timothy 3:15
Hebrews 11:6, 11:7, 12:2
1 Peter 1:5
The verb "believe" (pisteuo) is the only condition for salvation in the following passages:[5]
Matthew 27:42
Mark 5:36, 15:32
Luke 8:12, 22:67
John 1:7, 1:12, 1:50, 2:11, 2:23, 3:15, 3:16, 3:18, 3:18, 3:36, 3:36, 4:21, 4:39, 4:41, 4:42, 4:48, 4:50, 4:53, 5:24, 5:38, 5:44, 5:46, 5:47, 5:47, 6:29, 6:30, 6:35, 6:36, 6:40, 6:47, 6:64, 6:69, 7:5, 7:31, 7:38, 7:39, 7:48, 8:24, 8:30, 8:31, 8:45, 8:46, 9:18, 9:35, 9:36, 9:38, 10:25, 10:26, 10:37, 10:38, 10:38, 10:38, 10:42, 11:15, 11:25, 11:26, 11:26, 11:27, 11:40, 11:42, 11:45, 11:48, 12:11, 12:36, 12:37, 12:38, 12:42, 12:44, 12:46, 12:47, 13:19, 14:1, 14:10, 14:11, 14:11, 14:12, 14:29, 16:9, 16:27, 16:30, 16:31, 17:8, 17:20, 17:21, 19:35, 20:8, 20:25, 20:29, 20:29, 20:31, 20:31
Acts 5:15, 8:37, 8:37, 9:42, 10:43, 11:17, 11:21, 13:12, 13:39, 13:48, 14:1, 14:23, 15:5, 15:7, 15:11, 16:31, 16:34, 17:12, 17:34, 18:8, 18:8, 18:27, 19:2, 19:4, 21:20, 21:25, 22:19
Romans 1:16, 3:3, 3:22, 4:3, 4:5, 4:11, 4:17, 4:18, 4:24, 6:8, 9:33, 10:4, 10:11, 10:14, 10:14, 10:16, 13:11
1 Corinthians 1:21, 3:5, 14:22, 14:22, 15:2, 15:11
2 Corinthians 4:4, 4:13
Galatians 2:16, 3:6, 3:22
Ephesians 1:13, 1:19
Philippians 1:29
1 Thessalonians 1:7, 2:10, 2:13, 4:14
2 Thessalonians 1:10, 2:11, 2:12
1 Timothy 1:16, 3:16, 4:3 (Greek pistos), 1 Tim. 4:10 (Greek pistos)
2 Timothy 1:12
Titus 3:8
Hebrews 4:3, 11:6
James 2:23
1 Peter 1:8, 1:21, 2:6, 2:7
1 John 4:16, 5:1, 5:5, 5:10, 5:10, 5:10, 5:13, 5:13
Jude 5
ENDNOTES:
[1] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 Vols., Vol. 7, pp. 265-266. Elsewhere Chafer writes: "Upwards of 115 New Testament passages condition salvation on believing, and fully 35 passages condition salvation on faith, which latter word in this use of it is an exact synonym of the former. These portions of Scripture, totaling about 150 in all, include practically all that the New Testament declares on the matter of the human responsibility in salvation". (Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 Vols., Vol. 3, p. 376.) Chafer goes on to write: "In the preceding pages it is also pointed out that the New Testament declares directly and without complication in at least 150 passages that men are saved upon the sole principle of faith; and, in this connection, it has been demonstrated that it is not a matter of believing and repenting [i.e. believing and repenting are "two sides of the same coin" so to speak], of believing and confessing Christ, of believing and being baptized, of believing and surrender to God, of believing and confessing sin, or of believing and pleading with God for salvation, but it is believing alone. Such belief is apart from works (Rom. 4:5), it is a committal of one's self to Christ (2 Tim. 1:12), and it is a definite turning [i.e. repenting] - an act of the will - to God from every other confidence (1 Thess. 1:9)." (Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 Vols., Vol. 3, p. 392-393.)
[2] See 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 for the definition of the Gospel.
[3] See Hebrews 11:1 for the definition of faith.
[4] If a Scripture reference is repeated twice in a list it means that there are two occurrences of the word "faith" in that verse.
[5] If a Scripture reference is repeated two or three times in a list it means that there are two or three occurrences of the word "believe" in that verse.
No comments:
Post a Comment