THE GOSPEL WAY Articles | Videos | Invitations | Courses / Commentaries

Salvation: Faith Only, Obedient Faith and John 3:16

Have you ever heard someone say, "John 3:16 tells us everything we need to know about salvation"? Is this proper gospel teaching?

John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This verse is true in everything it says.

Folks who say that John 3:16 is all you need to be saved, however, are really saying that all you have to do to be saved is to just believe on Jesus. They conclude that obedience, especially baptism, is not necessary to salvation. This is the doctrine of "salvation by faith only." But is this doctrinal really what the Bible teaches?

Acts 3:22,23 refers to Jesus as a prophet saying: "...Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people." Now this says that we must pay attention to everything Jesus says, yet the Bible says much more about salvation than just John 3:16. How then can John 3:16 be "all we need"? If we need just one verse, why did God give the rest of the Bible? To take only part of what God teaches about a subject, while ignoring other inspired teaching, is to endanger our souls.

In Mark 16:15,16 Jesus told His disciples to teach everyone that, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved..." According to Jesus, both faith and baptism are essential in order for one to be saved.

John 3:16 truly teaches us that faith is essential. But when we learn "all things" that Jesus taught, we understand that we have a saving faith only when our faith leads us to be baptized for the purpose of having our sins forgiven (Acts 2:38; 22:16).

For more information about salvation and what it requires, please visit our Bible Instruction web site at /instruct/ and study our in-depth articles about baptism, faith, and obedience.

To study more articles like this (syndicated for reproduction) visit our Bible study topics web site. This article is freely available to be reproduced in print or on a web site under the following conditions: (1) The article must be reproduced verbatim in total without any change in content, (2) the name of the author and web site addresses must be included (as in this trailer), (3) the use must be entirely non-commercial with no fee or financial charge of any kind to the readers. Click here for more information about our copyright guidelines.

For a complete list of Bible articles and study materials by the author please visit these web sites: https://gospelway.com and https://biblestudylessons.com.

View our menu of brief Bible Study Topics and articles

Please bookmark our site in your favorites.

THE GOSPEL WAY | COURSES / COMMENTARIES, etc. | BIBLE | SALVATION | CHURCH | CHRISTIAN'S LIFE | GOD | MORALITY | MANKIND | INVITATIONS | FAMILY | CREATION | AUDIO | ARTICLES | TOPICS | RELIGIONS | PUBLICATIONS | VIDEO | GOVERNMENT | EMAIL ARTICLES

We welcome links to us from other sites :
gospelway.com - The Gospel Way: Free Bible Study Materials & Guides