Fifteen of the twenty-seven NT books have either major passages (the Gospels, 1 and 2 Corinthians, James, Revelation) or are entirely devoted (Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews, 1,2,3 John and Jude) to this subject. So does the Bible teach this?
The Bible teaches
that true faith produces evidence. 1Thess. 1; James 2:14-26. Our passage indicates Paul knew they were elect because
he saw their faith, hope and love; he saw they turned from idols to serve God
(v9). James clearly says faith without works is dead.
The Bible teaches that there is fruit that
ought to be seen in the life of a true believer. Matt. 7:13-23. In Matthew
13 Jesus preached the parable of the
soils where He spoke of people who believe for a while but then turn away
because they have no root or because the faith is choked out. In the Sermon on the Mount He was clear is
speaking of false prophets. How do you
know them (Mt. 7:15)? By their fruit (v16). He then says EVERY good tree bears good fruit
and EVERY bad tree bears bad fruit (v17-20), concluding that not all who say Lord, Lord enter the kingdom but only
the one who does the will of His Father (v21).
From 1 John we see that fruit
includes knowing Christ (4:1-3), obeying Christ (2:3-6), loving the brothers
(3:10,13-14; 4:20-5:1) and steadfastness (2:18-19; cf. Col 1:21-23; Heb.
3:6,14; 1 Cor. 15:1-2).
The Bible teaches that not all professions
of faith are genuine. John 6:60-71; James 2:19; Mt. 13:1-9,18-23; Titus 1:16; 2
Tim 3:5.
We DO make a profession of faith (Rom. 10:9-10). But these passages indicate frequent
situations that where a profession is false.
The person may not intentionally lie though that is possible. Rather what we see is that time and
circumstances reveal the insincerity of that faith.
Let us ask another question in light of this: What
are we to say to a professing Christian who consistently shows no evidence of
his faith?
Do we assure him (perhaps with 1 Jn. 5:11-13) that since he accepted
Christ he is saved? I believe that is
wrong. We do not know his heart. Paul never did this in situation where he was
concerned about someone’s salvation. Nor
are we to assure them that they are just carnal
Christians. It is true that any
Christian may be living in a fleshly
way at any time. That in itself does not
mean his faith is untrue. Remember than
when Paul called the Corinthians carnal
(1 Cor. 3:1-3) he also noted that there had been evidence of the salvation of some of you (1 Cor. 6:11). He did not identify those who were and those
who weren’t saved; again he could not see their hearts!
Nor did Paul say a person could be saved and
stand in the judgment having no evidence of his salvation. 1 Cor 3:10-15 is often used: yet he shall be saved, so as by fire. But these works are the service of men like
Paul, Peter and Apollos (v4-9). To the
church Paul encourages them to examine themselves to see if their faith is
real.
We believe we ought not assure them they
are saved or tell them they are not saved.
Rather we ought to use Scripture to speak them about God’s view of true
faith. As in the preaching of the
gospel, so in reproving people: open the Bible with them and let them read it
for themselves. Exhort them to examine
themselves (2 Cor. 13:5), trusting the Holy Spirit to do the work of
conviction. And offer them hope by
encouraging them to make good on their profession (1 Tim. 6:12; Heb. 4:14;
10:23).
These words are meant to encourage you in how you view those in the body of Christ who are in need of Christian discipline. They are also a word of admonition if you are yourself suspect in your faith. One does not want to stand before Christ in the judgment and be surprised.
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