Heresies “happen whenever there is ‘any [teaching] that leaves something important out or seriously neglected’”. [1] What has been seriously neglected in Christian theology is the more than 70 verses in the New Testament that teach salvation is through means other than believing in Jesus. For example the following passages teach salvation is through:
- Repentance of our sins or humility – Luke 18:11-14, 2 Corinthians 7:10
- Belief in God – John 5:24, Acts 10:34-35
- Our conduct or actions – Matthew 16:27, Romans 2:6-10
- Our pattern of behavior or persistence – Matthew 10:22, Hebrews 10:26-27
- Our talents or the use of what is given us – Luke 16:9-11,
There is no dispute the Bible teaches that salvation is through belief or faith in Jesus’ death for our sins. However, if belief in Jesus is the only way to heaven, why did God include these verses in the Bible? Either we must ignore these passages (that is essentially telling God we know better than he does) or we must deal with the issues they raise. If we ignore these passages, what is to prevent us from ignoring any other part of the Bible with which we disagree or have a problem? If we start down that road, we might as well ignore the entire Bible. God put all these statement in the Bible for a reason. It is up to us to determine what that reason is.
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[1] Dr. D. Clair Davis as quoted by Andrée Seu Peterson, “Unstable elements”, World Magazine, September 5, 2015, p. 75.
