Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Sin, Salvation and God's Word
Before getting into the subject of salvation and sin, let me ask you a question. What is a True Believer supposed to do? Believe the doctrines that have been taught for centuries through interpretations of scriptures, or believe the verses that God's Word states clearly?
Since very early on in Christianity, Catholicism began teaching that sin sends us to hell and that we are saved by faith and works. They have backed up these teachings with several scriptures they interpret to mean as much. The problem is like many of their teachings, these beliefs were only based on interpretations. There are no scriptures that actually come right out and say these things. Later when the Protestant churches broke away from Catholicism, these teachings were so ingrained into their beliefs, that many of them never questioned those teachings. They simply continued to interpret these scriptures to mean we are saved by works and sin sends us to hell. Some of the protestant churches have broken away from these doctrines, but the majority of them still teach it.
The truth is, there is not one single verse that says a true believer who sins will go to hell. There isn't even a scripture that says a non-believer will go to hell because of the sins they commit. Not a single one.
So back to the question. Which do we believe? The verses that are interpreted to mean something they never actually say, only because this is what we have always been taught? Or should we look at what the Word of God does tell us clearly and believe that? Let's take a look at what the Bible does say clearly.
John 3:18 (NASB)
18 The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
It is hard to interpret this verse to mean anything other than what it plainly says. If you believe in Jesus, you will not be judged. If you do not believe in Jesus, then you are already judged simply because you do not believe. Notice there is no mention of refraining from sin or anything else.
Think about what this means for a moment. If sin did in fact send us to hell, what about the believer who sins? If someone who believes in Jesus would go to hell because they sin once, then would that not be in direct contradiction to John 3:18? For how can a believer go to hell for a sin, if this scripture tells us plainly that one who believes will not even be judged?
Let's look at another scripture, shall we?
Ephesians 2:8 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Think about what this is telling us. What is 'Grace'? Grace is basically goodwill. This verse is telling us...
1) Why are we saved? It is by the goodwill of God that we are saved.
2) How are we saved? Through our faith. As John 3:18 told us it is through our faith in Jesus.
3) It is nothing we do ourselves. It is strictly a gift of God.
This 3rd point is very important to recognize. It clearly says salvation is a gift of God. A gift is something that is given freely. If you have to pay for it, then it is not a gift, it is something you bought. If you have to do anything for it, it becomes a reward. It is only a gift if it is completely free. The only thing anyone must do to receive a gift, is accept it.
If salvation is truly a gift, as Ephesians 2:8 clearly says it is, how can anyone say that a believer who sins will go to hell? That would then mean that in order to be saved, you must also either refrain from sinning, or ask God to forgive you for your sins. These are both things we intentionally do on our own part. Which would then make salvation no longer a gift, but a reward. Remember, a gift is free. You do not need to do anything to earn it. You only need to accept it.
So now we have two scriptures that are very plainly stated that contradicts the belief that sin will send us to hell. Yet there is not one place in the Bible where it clearly says that sin will send us to hell. I have had many debates on this subject and every time I ask people to show me one place where the Bible says the sins we commit will send us to hell. The only scriptures they ever give me are scriptures that are only interpreted to mean as much, but never actually says it.
So what should we believe? The scriptures that God states plainly, or man's interpretation of scriptures? But if those two scriptures do not clarify it enough, lets look at some other verses in the Bible...
Acts 2:21 (NASB)
21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
This does not say "Those who calls on the name of the Lord, and refrains from sin, will be saved." It says "Everyone" who calls on His name will be saved. A believer who is stuck in a life of sin can still call on His name.
Romans 1:16 (NASB)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
John 3:15 (NASB)
15 so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
John 3:16 (NASB)
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
All three of these verses clearly say "everyone" who believes will be saved. There is not one case where the Bible says "Everyone who believes and refrains from sin will be saved."
These scriptures are what I call "Primary Scriptures". A Primary scripture is any scripture that is so plainly written that there can only be one interpretation. It can only be interpreted to mean exactly what it says. In all, there are 19 primary scriptures in God's Word that tell us how we are saved. All 19 of them tell us it is through believing in Jesus and not one of them mentions anything about refraining from sin or repenting from sin.
19 scriptures telling us we are saved by believing and no mention of any other means to our salvation. Yet nobody has ever given me a single scripture where the Bible clearly says the sins we commit will send us to hell. So again I ask you. Do you believe what God's Word actually says very clearly over and over, or do you believe a few scriptures that are only interpreted to mean something they never actually say?
Many believe that sin sends us to hell because the bible says Jesus died so we could be forgiven for our sins. Let's look at some of these verses...
Romans 5:8 (NASB)
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Peter 2:24 (NASB)
24 and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed.
Romans 6:23 (NASB)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Notice something very important about these scriptures? They never says that He died so we can be forgiven. That is only how many churches interpret them. What if I told you that God forgave sins even before Jesus died on the cross? Wouldn't that blow your mind?
Consider the word "Atonement". Do you know what atonement is? It is the actions one makes to right a wrong in hopes of forgiveness. All one has to do is search for the word in a Bible app and they will find it comes up quite a lot in the Old Testament. You see, in the OT, God often demands His people to sacrifice animals to atone for their sins. Now I ask you, if God was not going to forgive them for their sins, why would he bother to command the senseless slaughter of so many innocent animals for atonement?
The truth is, it is a false doctrine that the churches teach that God would not forgive sins until Jesus died on the cross. He did forgive sins throughout the Old Testament.
All of those verses I listed are very true, but none of them actually say Jesus died so we could be forgiven. The problem is you are not fully taught well on what Jesus sacrificed Himself for.
The truth of sin starts with Adam and Eve. Before they sinned, God warned them that if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would die. Then the moment they sinned, their bodies began to break down and age and die. That is the first effect of sin. The wages of sin is death. Physical death! But when they sinned, that sin didn't just upset God. It corrupted their souls. They now understood the difference in right and wrong and found sin was enticing. Sin is like a spiritual cancer. Once it touched their souls, their souls became stained with that sin.
Throughout the Old Testament, God was willing to forgive their sins through animal sacrifices. Through the shedding of blood. The problem was that no animal would ever be pure and holy enough to do more than allow God to forgive the sins we commit. They would never be enough to wash our souls clean from the cancer of sin. That's why Jesus came to us.
Revelation says Jesus is called the Word of God. Well John 1:1 says this...
John 1:1 (NASB)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus was no ordinary man. Jesus was God in the flesh. When He died on the cross, He became a sacrifice that was so pure and holy it was enough to forgive the sins of the entire world as well as wash our souls clean.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
There are things one needs to understand when reading this scripture. 1) Paul is writing to other believers. 2) These are not sins he lists off, but they are sinners. 3) A sinner is not someone who sins. It is a title for someone who has not accepted Jesus.
Paul is telling the church in Corinth that all these sinners are going to hell, and they used to be these sinners themselves, but they are no longer. They have been washed clean.
SO when Jesus died on the cross it was for the automatic forgiveness of sins and the washing clean of the souls of anyone who believes.
The Word of God never once tells us that a believer who sins will go to hell. It often tells us that anyone who believes will be saved. It tells us that salvation is a gift and those who accept the gift by believing in their hearts it is real are saved. It tells us that Jesus died for our sins in that 1) We will be forgiven for our sins and 2) We will be washed clean.
The problem is that churches have been teaching misinterpretation of scriptures for so long, that they are ingrained in their beliefs. What are you looking to believe? The truth of what God's Word actually says, or the interpretations the church has pushed for centuries?
Now one other reason why so many have a problem with this truth is because it sounds like I am teaching that it is alright to live in sin and still go to heaven. If that is what I was saying, I would call myself a heretic. If that is what you are worried about, please read this article.... The Consequence of Sin
One last note...
John 1:29
29 The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Notice it does not say He makes it so we can be forgiven, but clearly says He takes our sins away. There is a big difference in the two.
Since very early on in Christianity, Catholicism began teaching that sin sends us to hell and that we are saved by faith and works. They have backed up these teachings with several scriptures they interpret to mean as much. The problem is like many of their teachings, these beliefs were only based on interpretations. There are no scriptures that actually come right out and say these things. Later when the Protestant churches broke away from Catholicism, these teachings were so ingrained into their beliefs, that many of them never questioned those teachings. They simply continued to interpret these scriptures to mean we are saved by works and sin sends us to hell. Some of the protestant churches have broken away from these doctrines, but the majority of them still teach it.
The truth is, there is not one single verse that says a true believer who sins will go to hell. There isn't even a scripture that says a non-believer will go to hell because of the sins they commit. Not a single one.
So back to the question. Which do we believe? The verses that are interpreted to mean something they never actually say, only because this is what we have always been taught? Or should we look at what the Word of God does tell us clearly and believe that? Let's take a look at what the Bible does say clearly.
John 3:18 (NASB)
18 The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
It is hard to interpret this verse to mean anything other than what it plainly says. If you believe in Jesus, you will not be judged. If you do not believe in Jesus, then you are already judged simply because you do not believe. Notice there is no mention of refraining from sin or anything else.
Think about what this means for a moment. If sin did in fact send us to hell, what about the believer who sins? If someone who believes in Jesus would go to hell because they sin once, then would that not be in direct contradiction to John 3:18? For how can a believer go to hell for a sin, if this scripture tells us plainly that one who believes will not even be judged?
Let's look at another scripture, shall we?
Ephesians 2:8 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Think about what this is telling us. What is 'Grace'? Grace is basically goodwill. This verse is telling us...
1) Why are we saved? It is by the goodwill of God that we are saved.
2) How are we saved? Through our faith. As John 3:18 told us it is through our faith in Jesus.
3) It is nothing we do ourselves. It is strictly a gift of God.
This 3rd point is very important to recognize. It clearly says salvation is a gift of God. A gift is something that is given freely. If you have to pay for it, then it is not a gift, it is something you bought. If you have to do anything for it, it becomes a reward. It is only a gift if it is completely free. The only thing anyone must do to receive a gift, is accept it.
If salvation is truly a gift, as Ephesians 2:8 clearly says it is, how can anyone say that a believer who sins will go to hell? That would then mean that in order to be saved, you must also either refrain from sinning, or ask God to forgive you for your sins. These are both things we intentionally do on our own part. Which would then make salvation no longer a gift, but a reward. Remember, a gift is free. You do not need to do anything to earn it. You only need to accept it.
So now we have two scriptures that are very plainly stated that contradicts the belief that sin will send us to hell. Yet there is not one place in the Bible where it clearly says that sin will send us to hell. I have had many debates on this subject and every time I ask people to show me one place where the Bible says the sins we commit will send us to hell. The only scriptures they ever give me are scriptures that are only interpreted to mean as much, but never actually says it.
So what should we believe? The scriptures that God states plainly, or man's interpretation of scriptures? But if those two scriptures do not clarify it enough, lets look at some other verses in the Bible...
Acts 2:21 (NASB)
21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
This does not say "Those who calls on the name of the Lord, and refrains from sin, will be saved." It says "Everyone" who calls on His name will be saved. A believer who is stuck in a life of sin can still call on His name.
Romans 1:16 (NASB)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
John 3:15 (NASB)
15 so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.
John 3:16 (NASB)
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
All three of these verses clearly say "everyone" who believes will be saved. There is not one case where the Bible says "Everyone who believes and refrains from sin will be saved."
These scriptures are what I call "Primary Scriptures". A Primary scripture is any scripture that is so plainly written that there can only be one interpretation. It can only be interpreted to mean exactly what it says. In all, there are 19 primary scriptures in God's Word that tell us how we are saved. All 19 of them tell us it is through believing in Jesus and not one of them mentions anything about refraining from sin or repenting from sin.
19 scriptures telling us we are saved by believing and no mention of any other means to our salvation. Yet nobody has ever given me a single scripture where the Bible clearly says the sins we commit will send us to hell. So again I ask you. Do you believe what God's Word actually says very clearly over and over, or do you believe a few scriptures that are only interpreted to mean something they never actually say?
Many believe that sin sends us to hell because the bible says Jesus died so we could be forgiven for our sins. Let's look at some of these verses...
Romans 5:8 (NASB)
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Peter 2:24 (NASB)
24 and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed.
Romans 6:23 (NASB)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Notice something very important about these scriptures? They never says that He died so we can be forgiven. That is only how many churches interpret them. What if I told you that God forgave sins even before Jesus died on the cross? Wouldn't that blow your mind?
Consider the word "Atonement". Do you know what atonement is? It is the actions one makes to right a wrong in hopes of forgiveness. All one has to do is search for the word in a Bible app and they will find it comes up quite a lot in the Old Testament. You see, in the OT, God often demands His people to sacrifice animals to atone for their sins. Now I ask you, if God was not going to forgive them for their sins, why would he bother to command the senseless slaughter of so many innocent animals for atonement?
The truth is, it is a false doctrine that the churches teach that God would not forgive sins until Jesus died on the cross. He did forgive sins throughout the Old Testament.
All of those verses I listed are very true, but none of them actually say Jesus died so we could be forgiven. The problem is you are not fully taught well on what Jesus sacrificed Himself for.
The truth of sin starts with Adam and Eve. Before they sinned, God warned them that if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would die. Then the moment they sinned, their bodies began to break down and age and die. That is the first effect of sin. The wages of sin is death. Physical death! But when they sinned, that sin didn't just upset God. It corrupted their souls. They now understood the difference in right and wrong and found sin was enticing. Sin is like a spiritual cancer. Once it touched their souls, their souls became stained with that sin.
Throughout the Old Testament, God was willing to forgive their sins through animal sacrifices. Through the shedding of blood. The problem was that no animal would ever be pure and holy enough to do more than allow God to forgive the sins we commit. They would never be enough to wash our souls clean from the cancer of sin. That's why Jesus came to us.
Revelation says Jesus is called the Word of God. Well John 1:1 says this...
John 1:1 (NASB)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus was no ordinary man. Jesus was God in the flesh. When He died on the cross, He became a sacrifice that was so pure and holy it was enough to forgive the sins of the entire world as well as wash our souls clean.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
There are things one needs to understand when reading this scripture. 1) Paul is writing to other believers. 2) These are not sins he lists off, but they are sinners. 3) A sinner is not someone who sins. It is a title for someone who has not accepted Jesus.
Paul is telling the church in Corinth that all these sinners are going to hell, and they used to be these sinners themselves, but they are no longer. They have been washed clean.
SO when Jesus died on the cross it was for the automatic forgiveness of sins and the washing clean of the souls of anyone who believes.
The Word of God never once tells us that a believer who sins will go to hell. It often tells us that anyone who believes will be saved. It tells us that salvation is a gift and those who accept the gift by believing in their hearts it is real are saved. It tells us that Jesus died for our sins in that 1) We will be forgiven for our sins and 2) We will be washed clean.
The problem is that churches have been teaching misinterpretation of scriptures for so long, that they are ingrained in their beliefs. What are you looking to believe? The truth of what God's Word actually says, or the interpretations the church has pushed for centuries?
Now one other reason why so many have a problem with this truth is because it sounds like I am teaching that it is alright to live in sin and still go to heaven. If that is what I was saying, I would call myself a heretic. If that is what you are worried about, please read this article.... The Consequence of Sin
One last note...
John 1:29
29 The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Notice it does not say He makes it so we can be forgiven, but clearly says He takes our sins away. There is a big difference in the two.
