The Grid Of Human Intellect
Human understanding is a continuing process by which we view the world and judge or assess everything in it. It is a kind of grid of critical knowledge that tends to expand as it accepts and rejects new information, much of which has been tested by what has been previously regarded as true. This process is always taking place in our minds as we learn about any subject in the universe. We do this subconsciously. For example, we believe the earth is round. That understanding, therefore, becomes our basis upon which we build additional related truth.
I would think that, in all matters related to life on earth, we all want to be right. But being right in any given matter depends in great part on what we accept as true at the crucial time of formulating that portion of our understanding. It’s possible to believe something wrongly. There are many wrong beliefs, ideas, and opinions in our world. No one would deny that differing views exist in all realms of so-called, “understanding”. This is especially so in the realm of the spiritual. And the spiritual realm exceeds all others in importance because many spiritual things have bearing on eternity.
The Biblical Theological Grid
Like all knowledge, spiritual understanding becomes a construct. When we learn about the Bible, whether we learn a doctrine truly or falsely, we form a doctrinal grid in our minds by which we accept or reject additional ideas and doctrines. It’s important to understand that process because what we accept as true doctrinally becomes our standard of judgment as we proceed in biblical learning. We will test related ideas by this established standard of truth. That’s great if our standard is correct; it’s extremely harmful if our standard is false or otherwise inaccurate (Matthew 6:23). Therefore, the formulation of a true doctrinal grid, based on sound and accurate interpretation of Scripture, is paramount. Nothing is more detrimental than a false doctrinal grid because truth that may be introduced to it after its formation is likely to be judged by it and dismissed. Sadly, many people have unwittingly rejected tenets of truth in this way.
The Strength Of Pre-conceptions
It’s hard to dislodge a doctrine or idea in which we have come to believe. That’s because we each have in our minds what is known as a confirmation bias. We are inclined egotistically and emotionally to believe we are correct in our learning, opinions, assessments, and ideas in general. We are prone to approve ourselves and seek support of our views from any quarter. This is what Alexander MacLaren called, “the blinding dominance of a fixed idea”.
The Power Of Preference
People can also lean preferentially toward a particular doctrine or belief system. They may select their theology according to what they want to believe or how they want to live. In other words, they place limits on what they will accept from Scripture. That course is disastrous. We are told in Scripture that our own hearts can be deceptive (Jeremiah 17:9). For that reason, we must be honest with ourselves when approaching Scripture and be willing to go wherever it leads, even if new understanding challenges formerly held beliefs or lifestyle (Luke 8:15; 2Timothy 4:16). Theology should always dictate faith and lifestyle, not the other way around (Romans 10:17).
The Doctrinal Grid Relating To Salvation
Most important in a person’s biblical grid of understanding is what he perceives to be the plan of salvation. Naturally, what a person believes about salvation becomes the rule by which he will judge all other such claims. This method is valid because there can only be one plan of salvation but the accuracy of the method is totally dependent on the correctness of one’s belief.
For example, let’s consider mere faith in Jesus versus Acts 2:38 as the plan of salvation. Many people today believe all a person has to do to claim salvation is to believe in Jesus, or, as they sometimes say, accept Him as their personal Savior, or recite the sinner’s prayer. Apostolics, on the other hand, believe that Acts 2:38 is the plan of salvation. We have good reason to do so because that is what Jesus commissioned His Apostles to preach and it is corroborated by all the examples of Christian salvation in the book of Acts, beginning on the Day of Pentecost. And there is nothing in the New Testament, rightly interpreted, that differs with it.
The disparity between the two positions is accounted for in the following way. Those who believe mere faith in Jesus is sufficient for salvation mistake the principle of salvation for the plan of salvation. To be sure, faith in Christ is the principle of Christian salvation. It’s precisely because of faith in Christ that we obey His tenets. But just believing in Christ is not the plan of salvation. Christ made that clear in His Great Commission, which enumerates and highlights the tenets of faith. (See lesson 10, Water Baptism And The Great Commission, on the Various Bible Lessons page.)
The Main Biblical Source For Salvation Doctrine
The same disparity regarding salvation doctrine can be seen in the regard the separate religious camps have for certain books of the Bible. Certainly, all the books of the New Testament are inspired and each one has its purpose for being in the Christian canon. But Apostolics tend to believe the book of Acts is the most relevant book regarding salvation doctrine because it is an inspired history of the early Church’s evangelism and growth, which exclusively reveals and displays salvation under the ministry of the Apostles. The examples of salvation are so clear and numerous that they leave little need for interpretation. Acts, among all the New Testament books, has this special role. On the other side of the debate are those who believe Romans is the premier New Testament book on salvation because it is a treatise on Christian salvation in general. It explains why we need salvation, how it is singularly efficacious, and why we must retain it. But it does not evangelistically present salvation to a single soul. The plan of salvation is nowhere specifically stated, though its tenets are addressed separately in its chapters as a matter of theology.
Importantly, many people fail to understand that Romans is theologically based on the salvation experience of Acts, which Paul, its author, shared and taught (Acts 9, 19). Therefore, it is a book to be interpreted in this light. It does not introduce a different means of salvation. In fact, the salvation tenets of repentance, baptism in Jesus’ name, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost, so apparent in Acts, are included in Paul’s work in chapters 2, 6, and 8 respectively. They are the essence of his frequent theological expression, justification by faith.
Error is subtle and dangerous.
People who claim Romans as authority to simply believe in Jesus for salvation apart from the tenets of salvation explicit in the Great Commission and the book of Acts are at a tremendous disadvantage. By contending for a misinterpretation of justification by faith, they miss the Christian plan of salvation revealed on the Day of Pentecost and construct a false grid of salvation doctrine which becomes their basis for rejecting the truth. They may reason that Acts 2:38 cannot be the plan of salvation because justification is by faith. And every encounter they have thereafter with true salvation doctrine will be dismissed out of hand accordingly. If only they could see that the choice is not between Acts 2:38 and justification by faith. Acts 2:38 is justification by faith. To think differently invites error.
How Error Works
This is how the error of missing Acts 2:38 tends to work:
A person has been taught an incorrect understanding of justification by faith, usually based on a misinterpretation of Romans, Galatians, or both. He is assured that salvation does not involve any tenets to be obeyed, such as repentance, baptism, seeking the Holy Ghost, etc. Therefore, he regards any such tenets as “works” that take away from the finished work of Christ on Calvary. This position may sound feasible to him from his unsaved perspective, though it isn’t true. But he accepts it as ”the Gospel” so, to him, it is true. Sadly, his skewed perception is his reality and becomes his basis for rejecting anything else.
Later, he is confronted with the plan of salvation (Acts 2:38) or a portion of it. He immediately dismisses what he hears as superfluous to salvation, or possibly even antagonistic to it. He will reason that justification is by faith, citing Paul, not any kind of “works”, like baptism, all the while failing to understand that Paul was baptized three days after believing in Jesus in order to have his sins remitted (Acts 22:16). (And remission of sins is the chief component of justification.) He vigorously declares he is already saved because he believes in Jesus. He, thereby, rejects the great salvation introduced on the Day of Pentecost that provides remission of sins and the infilling of the God’s Spirit, both of which he may falsely claim to possess, simply based on his mere faith in Christ.
Incidentally, we Apostolics summarily dismiss false salvation doctrine on the very same basis. We judge it by the exclusive tenets of Acts 2:38 (John 3:5). As Paul argued in the book of Galatians, anything else is leaven, by which the whole lump is ruined (Galatians 1:8-9; 5:9). As I said previously, this method of dismissal of false doctrine is valid because, in the universe in which we live, there can only be one plan of salvation (Ephesians 4:5). But the outcome is only correct if a person has the truth.
Conclusion
Jesus said the way to life is narrow (Matthew 7:13-14; John 3:5). But, graciously and thankfully, it is open to all who want it. No one is excluded who would receive the great Gospel provisions available to those who wholly turn to Christ in faith. Those provisions include baptism in Jesus’ name for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38).
The Bible is a fountain of truth, which cannot bring forth both sweet water (truth) and bitter (falsehood). Its message of salvation is crystal clear. We, as servants of Christ, are to faithfully contend for the faith which was once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3; Acts 2:38-39). That is how we honor and please Christ (Galatians 1:10) because each tenet of salvation was procured exclusively by His shed blood (Matthew 26:28).
The truth is only antagonistic to false doctrine which attempts to keep souls from salvation. It is kind to souls who want to be sure of their eternal future and see the face of Jesus Christ.