Gospel/Evangelism
ONLY A FEW INCHES
By Homer Duncan
Only a few inches can make a big difference in a number of things. For example, football games have been lost because a team missed the goal line by inches. Also, races are won and lost by mere inches.
However, more important than any sporting event is the fact thousands of professing Christians all over the world are missing Heaven by only a few inches. By this, I mean the distance between the head and the heart. Can the distinction between “head belief and heart belief” be substantiated by the Word of God? Is it a valid theological observation to make a distinction between what we believe with our heart and what we believe with our head (our mind)?
This issue has been raised over the meaning of the words “by which you are saved unless you believed in vain” in 1 Corinthians 15:2. Evidently, the Apostle is stating it is possible to have a kind of faith that does not save, a vain, worthless kind of faith.
Multitudes of people all over the world profess to believe in God, in Christ, in the Bible, and in some cases, they are sound, fundamental, orthodox, but they are not saved, even though they think they are. The Lord Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonderful works in Your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
The Bible does not teach that we are saved by faith and by works, but it does say if we have a saving faith it will produce works. Changed and transformed lives are the greatest evidence of the validity of the Christian faith (John 13:35). A faith that does not give us a desire to do the will of God is a dead faith, and a dead faith cannot save (Jas. 2:20).
When the Apostle John wrote, “he who does the will of God abides forever,” he was not teaching salvation by works but was showing that saving faith will result in obedience.
The demons believe and tremble (Jas 2:19). They are very orthodox, very fundamental, but they are not saved. They do not have the right kind of faith.
Judas Iscariot gave every indication of being a true believer, but he was a devil and not a regenerated child of God (John 6:70). How do we know that Judas gave evidence of being a true child of God? When the Lord Jesus told the disciples, “one of you will betray me,” all of the disciples did not immediately look at Judas, but they looked at one another doubting of who He spoke (John 13:21). Judas had lived in such a way that no one suspected him of being the betrayer.
Consider some of the Scriptures that make it abundantly clear that “a heart belief” is necessary for salvation. Romans 10:9,10 states, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God Has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, man believes to righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made to salvation.”
When the risen Christ walked with the two disciples on the Emmaus road, He said, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).
The Apostle Paul commended the saints in Rome that they had “obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which (they) were delivered” (Rom. 6:17)
“As [a man] thinks in his heart so is he” (Prov. 23:7). Christians are exhorted to “do the will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:6).
Paul states that some Gentiles were not able to believe because of “the hardening of the heart” (Eph. 4:18).
Though it is beyond the scope of this booklet to attempt to give a full treatment of what the Bible teaches about “heart belief” and “head (mind) belief”, I will share with you statements from a number of recognized authorities on the subject.
The usual word for heart in the New Testament is “kardia.” In their Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Arndt and Gingrich define “kardia” in this way, “as center and source of the whole inner life, with its thinking, feeling and volition, in the case of the natural man as well as the redeemed man.”
“Heart is used….as the center or focus of man’s inner personal life.” (Baker’s Dictionary of Theology).
Dr. H. Wheeler Robinson states, “In 15 cases heart denotes personality or the inner life; in 13 cases it is the seat of emotional states of consciousness; in 11 cases, it is the seat of intellectual activities; in 13 cases, it is the seat of volition.” (Taken from The Christian Doctrine of Man, as quoted in Baker’s Dictionary of Theology).
While the Bible does not speak of believing with the mind, it is obvious that we do believe with our minds. We accept many historical, geographical and scientific facts as being true.
To my surprise, the New Testament does not even one-time speak of believing with the mind. It speaks of “minds (nous) that were blinded” (2 Cor. 3:14). It states that “the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Cor. 4:4). It states that it is possible for our minds to be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3). In several references, mind and heart are used together (1 Sam. 2:35; Matt. 22:37; Phil. 4:7).
What must we believe in order to be saved? We must believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15: 1-4). What is the Gospel? It is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (15:3). We must see, we must understand, that the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, died on the cross in our place and stead (Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 1 John 2:2).
But, if we stop with the substitutionary death of Christ, the Apostle tells us we are of all men most miserable (1 Cor. 15:19). The Lord Jesus “rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (15:4). It is the risen Christ who saves us (Matt. 1:21). He tells us, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (Rev. 1:18). “He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
It is not enough to give mental assent to these historical facts. There must be a vital transaction and a vital relationship between us and the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not exercise saving faith in Christ unless we are convicted of our sins and recognize our need of a Savior. If we are convicted of our sins, we will repent of, and turn from them (Luke 3:8; 13:3,5; 24:47; Acts 20:21; 26:20; 2 Peter 3:9)
We are saved by placing our faith in Jesus. To receive him by faith means believing/trusting in Jesus and not ourselves for salvation. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him, but as many as received Him to them gave He the right (authority, power) to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:11, 12).
God wants us to have the assurance of our salvation. The First Epistle of John was written to give us this sweet and blessed assurance. “These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).
In addition to the great truth we find in First John, God has given us three lines of evidences whereby we may know we are saved, “and a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecc. 4:12).
First, we can know we are saved on the basis of the Word of God. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes on Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
Second, we can know we are saved by the witness of the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16).
Third, if we have saving faith, if we are truly born again, some definite changes will take place in our lives. Some of these are:
- We will have a new desire to do the will of God.
- We will have a new love for other Christians.
- We will have a concern about the salvation of the lost.
- We will have a new sense of the sinfulness of sin.
- We will have a new love for the Word of God.
- We will have a new understanding of the Word of God.
- God’s chastening lets us know we belong to Him.
- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
When should we believe on Christ? “Behold now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Prov. 27:1). “He who is often reproved and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy” (Prov. 29:1).
