Wilkin begins the article by answering a reader's question about Matthew 7:21-23 and whether or not "this passage teaches that one must submit to the Lordship of Christ to be saved." Wilkin correctly identifies this teaching as "Lordship Salvation". Lordship Salvationists use this passage to teach that Jesus is requiring people to live holy lives in order to get to heaven. They say that this is what Jesus meant when He spoke of the one who "does the will of My Father" (v. 21). But Wilkin outlines three biblical truths which highlight the flaws of the Lordship interpretation. Wilkin explains:
"There are several problems with this interpretation. First, God is perfect and one cannot enter His kingdom without becoming absolutely perfect (Isa. 64:6; Gal. 3:6-14; Heb. 10:1-18; James 2:10). Second, one cannot be said to have done the will of the Father unless he does it completely, 100%. To violate even just one of God's commands is to break them all (James 2:10). Third, even if these first two objections were not valid, this view leads to the unbiblical conclusion that no one can ever be sure that he is saved until he dies or is raptured. No one could ever know if he had obeyed enough. Yet the Scriptures are clear that the apostles knew with absolute certainty that they were saved and they wanted their readers to know this as well (Luke 10:20; John 13:10; Rom. 8:31-39; 2 Pet. 1:1; 1 John 2:12-14, 25; 5:13)."1
Wilkin then proceeds to explain his view of the passage (which in this case is the traditional Free Grace view) and in particular what Jesus meant when He said, "he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21, NKJV). In short, this phrase simply means believe in Christ (cf. John 6:28-29). It does not carry the connotations of performance and holy living which have been introduced into it by Lordship Salvationists. Wilkin writes:
"There is another view as to what Jesus meant by the expression 'the will of My Father.' When Jesus spoke of doing the will of the Father to obtain kingdom entrance, He had one act of obedience in mind: believing the gospel. It is God's will that none should perish but that all should come to a change of mind [i.e. 'repentance'] about the gospel (2 Pet. 3:9). When asked the question, 'What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?' Jesus said, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent' (John 6:28-29)."2
Wilkin goes on to cite John 3:36 in support of his position, as well as the highly regarded Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament by Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich. Wilkin closes the article with a personal appeal to the reader, which is excellent. In the quotation below, notice how Wilkin specifies that "the right answer" for kingdom entrance (i.e. receiving eternal life) is not merely trusting in the person of Christ, but actually "what Jesus did for me upon the cross"! Here is "The right answer" to the gospel in Wilkin's own words:
"What would you say if you appeared before God and He said, 'Why should I let you into My kingdom?' Matthew 7:22 is the wrong answer. The right answer is, 'Lord, I am an unworthy sinner who has placed his complete trust upon what Jesus did for me upon the cross, and He promised that whoever believes in Him has eternal life' (Luke 18:13-14; John 3:16; Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5)."3
That was the right answer to the gospel in 1988, and it's still the right answer today. Have you believed it? If not, you can do so right now! As it is written: "Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, today is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2, NASB 95).
References:
1 Bob Wilkin, "Not Everyone Who Says 'Lord, Lord' Will Enter the Kingdom" (December 1988), GES News.
2 Ibid., bold and brackets added.
3 Ibid. For more information, see the article by Jonathan Perreault titled "The Cross Under Siege" (FGFS, August 6, 2009).
1 comment:
This is not directly related to the article at hand, but I'd be interested in your opinion, as from a Free Grace perspective, what do you think of the IFB/Independendent Baptist movement? I quite recently visited an IFB church, and they tend to have often Free Grace-friendly beliefs without using that label. (As I did some research, almost all of the most famous IFB authors like Hyles, Rice and Hutson were basically Free Grace) The IFB pastor I personally met believed that Free Gracers are brethren, but they are often wary of parachurch organizations like the FGA due to generally being wary of open tent groups, as they believe in stronger forms of ecclesiastical separation.
I also knew another IFB person from a Free Grace view of salvation, but he also refused close affiliation with Free Grace organizations because of many other doctrinal distinctives which the FGA does not share. Independent Fundamental Baptists tend to believe that they have a physical succession from the beginning of church history, tend to be King James only or atleast TR-only, and emphasize personal standards like women not wearing pants and men not wearing shorts (although how rigid the standards are depend on the congregation). And I have noticed in some interactions is that DTS-influenced Free Gracers and IFB Free Gracers tend to get heated on those things.
But what I also found interesting is that Yankee Arnold and Florida Bible College seems to be like a "middle ground" between the IFB Free Grace and DTS Free Grace views. Yankee Arnold teaches many IFB-like doctrines like heavenly sprinkling of Jesus' blood, KJV preference, the physical incorruptability of Jesus' blood and such, however he does not seem to subscribe to the stricter doctrine of standards some IFBs hold to, and certainly not to Baptist successionism.
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