Let me preface this article by saying that the Scriptures clearly teach that we must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God in order to secure salvation. Jesus said during His earthly ministry, "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins [emp. rb]" (John 8:24 NKJV). The necessity of a faith in Christ is not the issue at hand. The issue being discussed is salvation by faith alone.

The original words which are translated "faith" and "belief" in our Bibles are essentially the same - one is a noun and the other is a verb. There are also derivatives of these two words which are translated faithful, to make faithful, etc. These two original words carry the basic meanings of to believe which would encompass the thought of "to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in," as well as the idea of the conviction of the truth of anything. One writer said of the noun which is translated faith, it is "primarily, firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing." The same writer said of the verb which is translated belief, it means "to believe, also to be persuaded of, and hence to place confidence in, to trust, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not merely credence." Thus, faith and belief as used in the New Testament carry the idea of: to believe the truth of something and, as a result, to place confidence and trust in it. In this context, to have faith in Christ is to believe the truth concerning Him and to place confidence in Him that He is able to do what has been promised. As I stated at the beginning of this article, having this faith is vital if we expect to be in heaven with God.

However, no where does the Bible teach that faith is the only requirement by God for us to be saved. Again, it is necessary but not the exclusive factor in obtaining our salvation. 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 [emp. rb]" (Matthew 7:21 NKJV). In Matthew 25, Jesus taught the separating of His sheep from the goats would be based upon things which they had or had not done. It is glaringly evident that this separation into eternal punishment or into eternal life was not based solely upon confidence in Christ’s ability to perform what He had promised but also upon their deeds. We must be careful in affirming, whether by direct statement or implication, the exclusivity of an action in dealing with salvation. If we affirm that salvation is by faith alone, then there are some Scriptures which become extremely difficult for us to understand and/or explain. For instance, if salvation is by faith alone then grace is not necessary, but Paul wrote "For by grace you have been saved [emp. rb], through faith..." (Ephesians 2:8). If salvation is by faith alone then repentance - a change of mind that brings about a change in action for the better - is not necessary, but Jesus said, "... unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3 NKJV). The apostle Paul told those gathered at Mars Hill in Athens that God "now commands all men everywhere to repent.. [emp. rb]" (Acts 17:30 NKJV). If salvation is by faith alone then making the good confession of one’s faith and allegiance to Christ is not necessary, but Paul wrote, "... 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 one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation [emp. rb]" (Romans 10:9,10 NKJV). If salvation is by faith alone then obedience is not necessary, but we have already shown only those who do the will of our Father in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven. In other verses we are told that we are saved by the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-20, we are saved by Christ’s life (Romans 5:10), we are saved by calling upon the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13), we are saved by hope (Romans 8:24), we are saved by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Romans 5:9).

I doubt if there is even one religious group, who professes loyalty to Christ as the Son of God, that would deny the necessity of any of the above stated Scriptures and references for salvation. How then could they - in all good conscience - deny the necessity of baptism for salvation when the apostle Peter clearly wrote, "There is an antitype which now saves us– baptism [emp. rb]" (1 Peter 3:21). How can we be consistent and affirm the necessity of the aforementioned for salvation and yet deny the necessity of baptism for salvation? Obviously, the answer is: we cannot.

As I stated in the beginning of the article, faith is essential for salvation. Denying this is to deny the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, to affirm that salvation is by faith alone is to affirm something the Scriptures do not teach. To do so is to take away from God’s total revelation concerning the salvation of man and to leave him in a lost condition.