The Minimum that One Must Believe to Be Saved

5/13/2012

A few weeks ago I delivered a paper at the WTS meeting on the subject of the minimum that one must believe to be saved. The paper is on this website here. This blog post will give you an opportunity to respond to that paper once you have read it (comment below). Below is an excerpt:

My understanding of prevenient grace significantly impacts my view of the unevangelized. I believe that prevenient grace is extended to everyone in the world. If one responds to prevenient grace, no matter how far removed he is from missionary influences, God will give him (or her) more light and grace. This grace can eventually enable the seeker to exercise faith in Jesus, even if the seeker doesn’t know the name of Jesus, or even if God has to send a missionary or angel to reveal important truths to him. God will save anyone who seeks the one true God of creation with his whole heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

No one will stand before God and truthfully say that it was impossible for him to find the true God and trust in Jesus. If someone is not a seeker of God throughout his life, he will realize when he stands at the judgment that he could have begun to seek God and would have been given sufficient special revelation (at least enough to exercise implicit faith in Christ) if he had been a genuine (and persistent) seeker of God.

34 Comments

Dustin Bryant

6/5/2012 06:00:50 am

In response to the question of "minimal beliefs required for salvation", I think that Luke 23:v39-v43 will provide a great deal of clarification. Namely, we see that the "penitent thief" is (1) remorseful for his sins (he declares that he is justly deserving of condemnation) -- v40 and (2) recognizes that there is but one God --v40 , (3) he believes Jesus is the Messiah-- v42 (the reference to "his kingdom") (4) Jesus was sinless -- v41 (5) and he trusts Jesus -- v42. The believe that these beliefs are required at a minimum, but I might be wrong.

Mark Bird link

6/20/2012 06:48:38 am

I appreciate your helpful comments, Dustin. I will remember them as I continue to study this issue. I'm sure that God expected the thief to believe those things about Jesus, and if he didn't, I'm not sure how he could have been saved. These were truths within his reach, since he had heard about and met Jesus. But even these truths are not all that we would expect people today to affirm. The thief on the cross likely did not understand that Jesus would rise from the dead. My paper makes the distinction between truths that must be affirmed and truths that must not be denied. The resurrection of Jesus is one that must not be denied. But the thief on the cross did not deny that truth. The question remains: what if that thief had never met or heard about Jesus? Would God have required the same belief for him to be saved?

Cliff

11/6/2012 08:15:04 am

Sometimes it is really hard to grasp the concept that God can somehow penetrate those people who never one time hear about God but yet believe in some sort of morality. Some cultures after years of learning and experience made laws that some things are bad and some things are good without categorizing the bad as sin. Someone can argue that how much light do these people can have in order for them to be saved given the status quo of no 'Bible Knowledge.' Again the Bible talks about some Gentiles, who feared God, eg Cornelius who was revered as a man who feared and loved God. How possible is that? Well God has given everyone the prevenient grace, to do the right thing in the best they know how to live.

Jorge A Romero

1/18/2013 01:56:57 pm

Cornelious is a great example of a true seeker of God. But how about Abram, the Bible says that he came from an Idol worshipers land. God can definitely call anyone anywhere. Prevenient grace is available to anyone seeking God, I believe.

Kent

11/8/2012 12:16:27 pm

At the end of your post you say that a seeking person would be given "sufficient special revelation," do you think it is possible for someone to make it to Heaven if the only thing they know is that there is a God in Heaven watching them. I ask this question because my grandmother was raised not knowing that there was a God. The first time she heard that there was a God in Heaven she was nearly 10. Upon hearing this she did become seeking God, but she knew very little. She says that during those days she would argue with her sister and begin to feel bad in her heart, and so she would go outside, look at the stars and say, "I apologize." In your opinion, if she would have died during that point in time, not knowing anything about Jesus, or the necessity of full surrender, would she have been accepted into Heaven?

Mike King link

12/9/2012 10:24:24 pm

I fully agree on the minimum requirements for salvation. Along with prevenient grace, the Holy Spirit is a main part of leading one to salvation. Missionary work is of utmost importance with unsaved souls. I also agree that angelic visions and visions of Christ to Muslims have occurred. We cannot limit God's ways of saving his creation as some would believe. God can do whatever he pleases when he pleases.

anonymous

12/11/2012 10:54:43 am

Is it possible to state certainly that God will give further truth to those that seek with all they know, or with all their heart? Is it not possible that some seek and yet do not seem to have any revelation given to them? I am simply looking for a basis for your statement, "If someone is not a seeker of God throughout his life, he will realize when he stands at the judgment that he could have begun to seek God and would have been given sufficient special revelation (at least enough to exercise implicit faith in Christ) if he had been a genuine (and persistent) seeker of God."

Dustin Bryant

12/11/2012 11:58:35 am

"Is it possible to state certainly that God will give further truth to those that seek with all they know, or with all their heart?"
--- No, certainly not. The world is full of religious people all seeking what they call "God". Also, I think it would be nice if people quoted scripture in their responses.
"The question remains: what if that thief had never met or heard about Jesus? Would God have required the same belief for him to be saved?"
I prefer not to think of God as a man with a check list; men have check lists, not God. So, I would affirm that the thief had a 'relationship' with Christ; if the man had not met Jesus then I suspect it would be right for him to be under the wrath of God. This is something that is hard for us to reconcile with, but it is also clear that not all will receive the same degree of punishment for sin.

In regards to "truths that must be affirmed and truths that must not be denied.", I honestly don't see how these are different? I'm a mathematician not a theologian, so the only wiggle room in this "formal statement" is ambiguous terms. Would truths that must not be denied include truths that are not know to an individual. For example, suppose there is a certain attribute of God which God cannot allow man to deny (in the sense that denying such an attribute would destroy the relationship/connection between man and God); would the ignorance of man of such an attribute be excusable (i.e. is this what your paper addresses?).
Or as another example, I cannot (fully) grasp the trinity but I do affirm each individual basis for such theology; also, I neither affirm nor deny other certain aspects of God (the antinomies for example -- FYI, an antinomy is NOT the same thing as a paradox, as a "paradox" can be resolved by changing the phrasing or choice of words in a statement).

Dustin Bryant

12/11/2012 11:58:44 am

Dustin Bryant

12/11/2012 12:38:13 pm

Chris Adams link

12/13/2012 03:15:07 am

I agree with this excerpt on prevenient grace. God is not a God to allow for someone to go without knowledge of Him and go to hell. Even if no one tells them specifically about God, He gives knowledge through creation etc. Teleological argument:The universe gives evidence of a design thus needing a designer.
More defined it would be the intricate design in the world argues for a rational and purposeful first cause.

Jorge Romero

1/18/2013 02:02:05 pm

Prevenient grace is a great gift of God, but I believe we as Christians should be careful not to rely on it as a way out of fulfilling our call to make disciples and reach the lost. There is a reason why we have to reach those that have never heard about Jesus. And this is where I get somewhat anxious in knowing that if we don't reach them they could loose their lives. There comes a point when I just think, I will do my part and let God do His part.

Andrew Lamicela

4/26/2013 05:06:02 am

I agree that prevenient grace is extended to everyone; a number of Scriptures support this idea. Once prevenient grace is given, it is up to each individual person to respond to it. If a person accepts it, God will give him more light in whatever way he chooses; but if a person rejects what he has been given, he cannot be saved. Jeremiah 29:13 sums it up well: “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Maricka Herrer

11/12/2013 04:54:54 am

I most definitely agree with you, Dr. Bird. It was always my inclination on this topic, and after a semester's worth of studies on this topic, Scripture has only confirmed it. It is the only position on "the fate of the unevangelized" that is in line with the whole character of God as revealed in Scripture. It balances both His justice and grace/love, and yet, at the same time, it does not undermine the need for evangelism, because, regardless of how people get saved, we are still commanded to go and make disciples. It leaves all mankind "without excuse" and holds true to the promise those that seek God will find Him. Any other way of looking at this matter seems unsatisfactory and, at least from my study of Scripture and theology, leaves us with a skewed view of God's character and the working of prevenient grace.

Tim McKnight

2/24/2014 12:27:22 am

It is by grace through faith that we are saved, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. Can it be any clearer than that? We are saved by grace through faith plus. . .nothing. I believe that the unbeliever on his death bed can be saved within a moment of dying by simply claiming that promise.

Elijah Lloyd

12/8/2014 12:50:44 am

Thanks, Dr. Bird, for this post. I appreciate the view on prevenient grace. It really helps explain the problem many people have with the idea of 'only one way': if God only lets Christians go to heaven, then isn't He unjust to keep those who have never heard the gospel, from heaven? It definitely is justified by scripture to say that God reveals Himself to people when they respond to the light that is given them.

J.J.

12/9/2014 01:33:22 pm

I believe you are right in this assumption. If a person is truly seeking, then we can be sure that God will show them more light. God may communicate through a missionary, angel, vision, dream, or any other means which He deems necessary. We are told that it is God's will for all to be saved. If this is so, and one is truly willing and seeking, then I see no reason to believe He will not be faithful in helping the person to grow. The only reason I see that God would neglect the person is because of a rejection of light given. The person then may need another to tell him/her that God will forgive, but even this God could do without us.

Benjamin Highley

12/13/2014 03:42:57 am

Acts 10:35 is a minimal as it gets.

1. Fear God.
2. Do what you know is right.

Regardless of exposure to the gospel all men have seen (or, if one is blind, experienced) God's creation. The creation is a testament to the Creator. Therefore all men should recognize that there is a God. Secondly, all men have a conscience built into them. Through their conscience they know that they are accountable to the Creator. So, just by being born, all men are able to meet the criteria of Acts 10:35.

Prilia Nareswari

12/16/2014 02:17:44 am

Thank you Dr. Bird for this article. I ever had an argument with somebody about this matter. I always thought that unevangelized people would never enter heaven, because they never knew about and accepted Jesus. However, if I think about it deeper, it is going to be unfair for some people who live in remote areas without any missionaries. The Bible verses you have given explain the truth. The minute I realized this truth, the more I realize that God really has a greater grace than anything else; He is still willing to reveal himself to the lost souls. But in my opinion, this truth should not compromise any Christians to sit still without doing the Great Commission.

matthew potter

11/15/2015 07:38:50 pm

Dr. Bird, i always love this subject and all that it entails. people often want to know the answers to this question and i am glad you have provided a biblical detailed answer! if this question comes up ( and im sure it will) i am sure i will draw my answers from your paper and other things we have discussed in your classes. very helpful!

Bobbie Jo King link

12/10/2015 02:19:08 pm

Dr. Bird I have really enjoyed reading your article on 'The Minimum that One Must Believe to Be Saved'. After having been a missionary in Germany for six years and having traveled to other countries doing short term mission work I completely agree that the prevenient grace of God is revealing Himself to everyone and is faithful to the working out His salvation plan in the lives of those who are "seeking Him with their whole heart."

As God is not a lier He has to be faithful to His word. God as Creator, and Savior desires that "all men be saved" from the coming judgement. He does not leave this knowledge of salvation to chance but is involved in peoples lives to reveal His existence through creation and their conscience, otherwise known as general revelation. Once they acknowledge the all powerful, sovereign, holy God, then by God's prevenient grace enables them his special revelation of Himself through dreams, visions, angels and missionaries. One of the first conversions on the Nazarene mission field in Zimbabwe was "witch doctor or Chief" who had been waiting for "white man" to come and tell them about a man name Jesus. As soon as the missionaries stepped into the jungles they were welcomed by him and he shared the story of a vision he had. There was a voice telling him he was following the wrong god. That the one he needed to seek was Jesus. The voice then told him that a man would come and tell him about Jesus and that he must believe. The witch doctor began changing and waited for years till one day missionaries arrived in the village. The witch doctor listened to the gospel of Jesus, placed his life in his hands and became a nazarene pastor in that Zimbabwe village.

God's prevenient grace made a way and kept the witch doctor ready till he brought salvation through Jesus Christ. God is the God of justice, mercy and love. He will judge fairly and rightly according to the perfect standard He has set out. According to His mercy He reveals truth to every man and will bring salvation to all who seek the "One true God", who acknowledge there sins, and turn to Him for "all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Silas

12/18/2015 09:41:47 am

I agree, I think that their are many people in the world today that have encountered just that. If one desires to follow the truth I believe God will reveal to them nothing but the truth and Christ will share with them that HE is that truth they are trying to discover.

BOBBIE JO link

5/2/2016 01:45:50 pm

I think we sometimes make salvation too complex and weigh people down with burdens or guilt they are not meant to carry by putting stipulations on them, which they are not ready for, that even God himself has not required. We must have patience; pray diligently for the eyes of people’s understanding to be open to the word, and allow the conviction of God and the Spirit to draw them to the light. As they walk in the newfound light of God’s truth they then, at the right time - when they can handle more - God will reveal more truth to them whether through special revelation or through missionaries, just as he did in the Old Testament! God desires to make Himself known and will do so. He does not tease or say ‘no’ you are not who I want in heaven so just stay where you are. He reveals himself to all people and once they seek Him with all their heart and acknowledge that He is all-powerful Creator God, and that they are sinners and cannot save themselves then He will reveal to them the next step of their need for salvation and that he provides the Savior for them. God’s ways are so much higher than our own!

I agree that for those who have not been given the truth of the Word of God through Christian teachers and preachers implicit faith is a valid faith which has been given only by the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives with that of general revelation and maybe special revelation. Just as those faithful men of old did not have all knowledge of the future redemption after having believed in all - powerful God, and surrendered their lives to him forsaking sin and all false gods of the day, their faith was counted unto them as righteousness. WE can also see this in the New Testament with the thief on the cross and even the disciples. Their true faith, conviction of the Holy Spirit and repentance to all-powerful God will save them. As God brings others into their lives to help them grow in faith and more knowledge then they will be held accountable for the knew knowledge they have to walk in the light, if they deny the light then they are rejecting true faith and are walking in darkness.

Kevin S

5/16/2016 09:43:26 am

Thanks for the article Dr. Bird. It is very helpful. This has been one of my questions for quite sometime. I now feel better prepared to answer questions to this topic and help people understand that the God we serve is NOT willing that any should perish.

Amy Martin

11/28/2016 08:18:15 am

Dr. Bird, Thanks so much for this article. It's been very helpful to me as I have been thinking about the people groups who have never heard the Gospel. Realizing that God is merciful, gracious, and just to all, and at the same time never compromises His holy nature inspires awe.
I can affirm from personal experience that God extends an amazing amount of prevenient grace to sinners. His will is that all would be saved ( I Tim. 2:4) and He is incredibly merciful, loving and patient with His creation.
I am thankful for the promise in Romans 8:31-32 "... If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

Christopher Cravens

12/4/2018 04:18:43 pm

I found this article to be so refreshing. It seems like I hardly ever hear about the minimum requirements to be saved. I fear people are not willing to get saved because they think it's a long difficult process but in actuality its very simple and I believe you expressed that clearly in this article.

Smith

5/14/2019 05:09:07 pm

Really great points made in this blog post. I think that this grace doesn’t just come to people before they are saved. It continues on even after people receive salvation. From my class I learned that Gregory the Great said: “The divine goodness first affects something in us without our cooperation, and then as the will freely consents, cooperates with us in performing the good which we desire.” It is very interesting talking about this subject with others.

Cale Manley

6/30/2019 08:26:25 pm

This question is a recurring one posed by believers and unbelievers alike: "How do people get saved who have never heard the gospel?" Many times, our answer is not satisfactory to unbelievers.

The answer in this article (responding to prevenient grace), is the answer I believe is most biblical and helpful. I believe that God's grace is extended to everyone, and we are each responsible to respond to what we know. God will be faithful to provide us what is necessary to believe. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. . ." (Tit. 2:11 NAU).

Megan Whittaker

7/25/2019 03:47:10 pm

It really is such a beautiful thing to think about how God has really kept the matter of salvation so simple, and in doing so has made it possible for everyone to have the chance to be saved. I think that this, in and of itself, gives such a clear picture into the character of God, especially in that He is such a loving yet just God.

Dominic link

12/14/2019 04:02:10 pm

I essentially see the issue this way:
In order to be saved, one must believe in
1) Yahweh as the only true God
2) That Christ's work and atonement alone can save
3) That this salvation is acquired by being unified to Christ through faith
Also, a person must not deny,
1) The Trinity
2) Salvation by faith alone, or justification apart from merit on our part
I'm not sure if this is perfectly accurate or complete, but I tend to summarize it in my mind like this.

Steve Christian link

8/15/2020 05:21:07 pm

Great topic. Will be just as relevant 1000 years from now if the Lord delays his second coming.

Pasted in your (numbered) points, and made some additions.

1. There is a transcendent personal and powerful Creator God. Jesus Christ is the transcendent Creator God. Seek God with your whole heart. Turn from any false god.
YES.

2. Man is sinful.
"Sinful" means that a moral code exists and has been violated. So that belief seems to also entail a belief about God's right to establish a moral code, which defines "sinful", when violated.

3. Man is separated from God and in need of salvation.
"Separated from God" is ambiguous. God's holy nature has caused God to put that person in a position of "guilty" of sin, and deserving of punishment.
"In need of salvation" is ambiguous. Salvation from punishment and from the state of "separation from God".

A lot of people in the world want to have supernatural power on their side and so might say they believe in Jesus, in order to have good luck, NOT really caring about spiritual things. Is such a person saved?

You have almost no mention of physical death, afterlife, heaven or hell. What if the person thinks that he/she will be reborn infinitely, as maybe half the people on the planet think? Is the person saved in case he thinks that he will be saved out of that cycle, or that God will allow more chances for salvation out of that cycle in future lives? It should be clear that the person is saved out of a life of sin and non-allegiance to God and destiny in hell, and into a life of loving God and man, and destiny in heaven with God.

4. Man is helpless; he cannot save himself.
"Helpless" entails the idea that God does NOT determine whether a person is saved by comparing a person's good and bad deeds against each other and saving the person in case there are more good deeds than bad. And you said that as sort of an addendum to the list of 5 decisions/actions in "The Act of Faith" section.

5. God cares for his human creatures and will respond to their cry for mercy.
YES. "Jesus, as the God-man, died for our sins. Jesus rose bodily from the dead."

6. There is a Savior that is willing to save me.
YES. You said "Trust in Jesus for salvation." But can this be a savior incorporated into a Hindu or Bahai or American pluralist worldview, where the person thinks that there are many visitations from God over the course of human history and many ways of salvation and that he/she is choosing Jesus from among many valid and possible ways? Maybe half the world would default to including such a belief when they say that they believe in Jesus, unless they are told otherwise. It is unclear whether that is saving faith. Maybe you were addressing this when you said "Salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone." However, it is not clear what concepts are being excluded with "alone" in that sentence.

So, we may need to address possible wrong beliefs which logically conflict with the concept of salvation and the spiritual state of having been saved.

Eric Miller

12/16/2021 02:40:31 pm

How would you deal with the objection that exercising explicit faith in Jesus and confessing him are absolute requirements for salvation?

Scott

5/16/2022 05:25:36 am

This is definitely important to know! How can you be saved. What are the steps of salvation and what that does for us. Once you memorize this you can share it wiht others.

Anonymous

5/15/2024 10:56:28 am

I found the following excerpt from the paper to be helpful to me personally:

"Everyone in this world has or will have an opportunity to seek and find the true God (since God is drawing everyone to Himself), but the likelihood of each person responding to the call of God depends on a number of factors, including prayers of the saints for the lost, and active evangelism. This teaching of the possibility of salvation for everyone in the world should spur us on to do more evangelism since we know that God out of love and concern is at work in every heart and that we can increase the possibility of salvation for any person by bringing more light to him. If God is saving some apart from our work, how much more will He do if we intercede for the lost and witness to them?"

"Since God requires more of those who are given more, we should tremble at the responsibility that we have. Let’s be diligent in seeking God with our whole heart, let’s obey him with our whole heart, and let’s diligently reach out to the lost in the world so that they will not only know the “minimum” to be saved, but that they will also be motivated to act on that knowledge."

My belief that God will be faithful to provide everyone with the opportunity to seek and find Him can seem to undermine evangelism and missionary activity if I'm not careful. Of course, I will choose to be faithful to God and obey Him. I understand that missionary activity and evangelism are the normal ways God uses to connect an unbeliever with the gospel. But how big of a difference am I making if God will give them the opportunity to respond either way? This section of your paper answered my question -- without putting all the responsibility on either God, me, or the sinner! By God's grace, I will do my best to pray for the lost and to look for opportunities to share His glorious gospel and love with others so I can increase their likelihood of accepting its message.

I'd also love to see a Scriptural study on this point, as I'm sure this is a position that most Calvinists would disagree with.

The Minimum that One Must Believe to Be Saved

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