A couple days ago, one of the usual suspects (referring to the street preachers I’ve interacted with here in Toronto that I’ve mentioned a few times in my articles now) replied to a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) where he rightly pointed out that salvation is based on Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection ALONE (his exact quote was: It’s because the death, burial and resurrection of Christ ALONE is not enough for some people. They think they need to “do their part”, so-called.).
The problem is, while his statement on X there was 100% correct, he doesn’t actually believe the words he wrote in that reply (even though he thinks he does), which I know because I’ve discussed this very topic with him before.
You see, like so many other Christians, the man going by the name “Gospel Testimony” who made that post actually thinks that people in fact do need to “do their part” too (by choosing to believe that Gospel/Good News about Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection which he was referring to in that reply) or else they won’t be saved after all. Which ultimately means he doesn’t believe that Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection ALONE (as he rightly put it in his post) actually was enough to save anyone without them “doing their part” (meaning making a specific choice) as well.
I mean, at the end of the day, if Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection ALONE (without anyone having to “do their part” in any way whatsoever) actually was enough to save us, we’d all be saved without having to do anything (including having to make a choice to believe the right thing, since having to make a choice would fall under the category of “anything”). If we do have to choose to do something (even something as seemingly simple as choosing to believe that Good News), on the other hand, it means people actually do have to “do their part” after all, since if without doing that part (that part being choosing to believe something specific) we aren’t saved, how can it be said that people get saved without “doing their part,” or that salvation is based on Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection ALONE?
This should really be as clear as day to everyone, but somehow almost no Christian is able to see it. There is a reason for this, however — In fact, there are at least two reasons — and the first reason is because of all the passages in the Bible which talk about how one does have to believe something specific in order to be saved. And these passages are all correct, because one does have to believe something specific in order to be saved. However, at the same time, the Bible says that we don’t have to believe anything at all in order to be saved, because we’re saved because of Christ’s death for our sins, burial, and resurrection ALONE. And both of these statements are equally true at the same time without any contradiction.
But how is it that these statements can both be equally true, and how can it be that almost no Christian is aware of it if this is the case (not to mention, how is it that almost no Christian can even guess how both statements can possibly be true at the same time, at least based on the many discussions I’ve had with Christians about this topic)? The answer to this is the second reason I alluded to above, which is found in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, where Paul wrote: But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Simply put, the god of this world has kept most Christians (who are not in the true body of Christ despite mistakenly believing they are, since they don’t actually believe the Gospel that “Gospel Testimony” basically accidentally proclaimed in that X post at all) from understanding the majority of the Bible, and especially from understanding the Gospel (and if you don’t actually understand the Gospel, it’s hard to actually truly believe it). And because of this, almost no Christian can figure out why both seemingly contradictory statements are actually equally true at the same time.
That said, I’m not going to share how these two statements are equally true in this article, because if I did, most Christians would automatically dismiss my explanation out of hand without a lot of other scriptural evidence that I don’t have the room to get into in this article to back my answer up. Fortunately, I already provided all that evidence and more in an eBook that I wrote some years back, which you can read for free here: Pauline Universalism
So if you want to know how these two statements are both equally true, please read that eBook, as it explains how in excruciating detail (with over a thousand scriptural references). That said, the god of this world will keep most Christians who read this article from actually going ahead and reading my entire eBook because he doesn’t want them to learn the truth and join the actual body of Christ, I’m sorry to say. I do hope and pray that you aren’t included among that number, though.