Debunking John MacArthur's View of Saving Faith - Bob Wilkin

How does John MacArthur of Grace Community Church define saving faith or the meaning of "believe" in Jesus? Does John MacArthur have a biblical definition or does his definition not align with the Bible? Bob Wilkin of the Grace Evangelical Society looks at John MacArthur's definitions of "faith" and "believe" in MacArthur's books, "Faith Works" and "The Gospel According to Jesus", and shows that the Bible views "faith" and "believe" as a conviction or persuasion of the truth of the saving message, "whosoever believes in Jesus has everlasting life", instead of "repent, surrender or obey", as MacArthur defines.

#johnmacarthur #freegrace #faith #beleivethegospel #believeinjesus #faithandworks

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[bndwoodlands]

Just to be clear, salvation does not come from believing that Jesus Christ exist, rather salvation comes through believing that Jesus Christ took the penalty of our sins upon himself to satisfy the wrath of God, so that we can be declared righteous in the sight of God and have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. That’s what belief is.

There is no salvation whatsoever in simply believing that Jesus Christ exists.

[AnnGie]

The whole problem is about confusion between what salvation really means.
If we mean JUSTIFICATION, then it's purely the work of God. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
But after our justification, comes a lifelong SANCTIFICATION. Where God works in us so we can reflect the character of Jesus.
This is what the books of James, Hebrews, Galatians are all about.
Work out the free gift of salvation with fear and trembling.
SANCTIFICATION gives us the opportunity to the
inheritance/ co-heir with Jesus in the future kingdom, the Millennial reign.
Not all believers who just believed and did nothing afterwards because they believed in 'once saved always saved', which is true, will reign with Jesus.
Entering is not the same as inheritance.
Once we established that, we can clearly understand
the parables, i.e., talents, faithful servant, 10 virgins, uninvited guest, etc.

Paul who wrote the book of Romans, which is all about eternal security, also wrote 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Philippians 2:16; 3:13-14.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15

2 Corinthians 2:10 says, "we will all appear before the (Greek work bhma) judgment seat of Christ." He is talking to the believers in Corinth.
Also in Galatians, he did not warn the believers that they will lose their salvation.
5:16-25 warns of the believers who still follow the works of the flesh, WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

That's why we are called to perseverance: To not lose our rewards. Even Jesus warns us, to "hold fast to what you have and not let anyone take away your crown." Revelation 3:11

We are all a work-in-progress.
We are asked to be OVERCOMERS...
and in the end, hear those precious words from our Lord, "Well done, good and faithful servant..."

[doJ]

MacArthur was my first pastor, baptised me, taught how to study the Bible, and why it's important. All good. Then he let the Calvinism in, and now 'his men' are all over the country teaching it. Like all of us, he will give account to God. See James 3:1. Blessings to all that follow our Lord in truth and sincerity 🙂

[sandragambrel]

Between the ages of nine, and 12, I read enough of the Bible to understand that God sent Jesus to save us, to save me, and why I needed to be saved. For many years, I kept thinking I'd lost my salvation, or, never really believed, and had never been born again. Every Sunday, I'd be convicted of sin, feeling guilty, in need of being cleansed, and go to the Altar again, again, and again. I fell away from the Church, so embarrassed that I had not overcome sin, but, not the Word of God. I would go to special services. Like when the Missionaries we supported would be in the US, special singing groups coming in, Easter, Christmas, etc.. Then one Saturday night, I attended a singing service, and was strongly convicted from the first song they sang to the last. They had a long Alter call that night, I wasn't the only one convicted. And, many that knew me, stayed after the others had gone, and prayed for me. But, I held my ground, and refused to rededicate, as they called it. They had no idea what was going on in my head, and heart. But, God heard me. I quit that night. I quit trying to change myself, into a Christian. A "good" one, that is. I told Him, if He wanted me to be a perfect Christian, He was going to have to make me one. I was done. From then on, I had to shut out all the voices, and hear Him, and Him, alone. I had to listen to the Holy Spirit, who inspired men like me, to write the Word of God (don't be concerned, I'm not confused, I am a woman). I'm 68 now, and He has taught me how to abide in Him, while teaching me about Him. Hallelujah! 1 John 2:20, 27. He leads me into all truth, and shows me things to come! We are blessed! Thank you, GES.

[johnbishop]

It Christ's faith that saves us its a gift Given to us when we are born again

[johnbishop]

We are not saved by our little faith we have to be given faith OF JESUS CHRIST HIS FAITH

[maxrockatanski]

Lordship salvation is a twisted theology … it MESSED me up. He makes obedience a prerequisite to salvation instead of a natural byproduct of salvation.

[paulsu]

“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”
‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

[FaithfulReasoning]

MacArthur doesn't believe what he's saying at all

[docbrown]

Again, Calvanism creates hoops to jump through and after you've jumped, you look up and they've made six more hoops.

[johnalexir]

It always struck me that there was something Pharisaical about MacArthur.

[krisjustin]

This was beautifully articulated Bob! Certainly Good News!

[TheElizabethashby]

YOU MUST BELIEVE TO BE SAVED BORN-AGAIN IN THE HOLY SPIRIT JOHN 3: 1-21 KJV

[TheElizabethashby]

YOU ARE SPOT ON THANK YOU BLESSINGS FROM THE UK

[ok-qtkr]

Such good clarification Bob!

My goodness, what utter confusion MacArthur's legacy has brought in so many dear souls I've known .

His Reformed Calvinism can only incur Doubt of one's Everlasting destination, on the Best of days, if one is looking to one's Perseverance till death in a Never Knowable level (%) of behavioral performance (works) to merit and earn the "Free Gift" ...

How THAT can make sense to a dude as "smart" as John MacArthur remains at the Top of my list of all-time Head Scratchers .

How is it that people like him, R.C. Sproul, John Piper, Wayne Grudem, or Dr. Michael Brown (et al) could possibly be persuaded of such Objectively verifiable incoherence ?

Seems that a 2 Corinthians 4:4 Methodology must somehow be operational, in that case .

[PeaceChildGuy]

Yup. Thx Bob. You are correct. On this most-vital-of-all topics, inexplicably, our dear ‘emperor’ of many years has no clothes. 😎🌵

[no-deih]

Beautiful truth!

John 3:16 & Ephesians 2:8-9 remain the Twin Towers of Everlasting Life.

MacArthur's message denies that and instead turns His doubtless Guarantee into a Lifetime Question mark ...

Truly, a "Gospel of Doubt" .

[fredost]

Excellent post...no Calvinist would buy it however. Thank God im not a Calvinist.

[robertwheeler]

I'm afraid that Mr. Wilkin is missing the whole point of salvation. The reason we need to be saved in the first place is because we are guilty sinners in the sight of a holy God, justly deserving of His wrath and condemnation. Christ died on the cross as an atonement for our sin. But we cannot receive the forgiveness of our sins unless we first acknowledge that we are sinners, that we deserve God's wrath and condemnation. The clear implication is that we confess our sin and ask for forgiveness. That is what repentance is. Our intention is not to return to the sinful lifestyle we formerly had.
And Mr. Wilkin appears to be advocating the Roman Catholic definition of "Faith": "Notitia" (knowledge) and "assensus" (assent). But the Protestant Reformers realized that there is something more to it: "fiducia" -- an active trust and reliance on Christ as our only Savior from sin. To see how the Bible describes faith, read Hebrews Chapter 11.

[johnbishop]

Faith is one of the fruits of the spirit its a gift . It's not worldly faith