Four Spiritual Laws, Bill Bright, Campus Crusade, Wonderful Plan, Persecution, Repentance

11/29/19    Bill and Sue  (see HERE)

Have you followed the Four Spiritual Laws?

After initiating a conversation with a couple named Sue and Bill, I soon found out they are devout Christians who came to faith in Jesus through the outreach efforts of an old high school friend and coworker who himself had recently become a Christian.  After a dinner invitation, he had given Bill his Bible to read, and gave a “Four Spiritual Laws” gospel tract to Sue, who later responded to its message by giving her life to Christ.

But that was 40 years ago!  So, what are these Four Spiritual Laws, and are they still relevant today?  Are they still helpful for evangelism? 

The “Four Spiritual Laws” were written by Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright as a simple way of sharing the good news of the salvation that is available through faith in Jesus Christ. Campus Crusade claims to have distributed over 2 billion copies as gospel tracts. 

These four biblical points were referred to as spiritual “laws” much like indisputable natural laws.  40 years ago, the divine authority of the Bible was largely accepted, and people like Bill and Sue just needed a clearer explanation of it’s central message.  Post-modernists, however, can be quick to reject such authoritative claims, so expect a lot of push-back on this.

I’ll write the laws below, and include some of my own comments after each law.   (Note: My comments may seem unfairly critical, but I originally wrote them based on the tract’s longer explanation of each law, which I didn’t have space to include here.  For a longer explanation, look up the Four Spiritual Laws at GotQuestions.org)

Law #1 - God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life (John 3:16; 10:10).

This first law puts what I believe to be undo emphasis on man’s personal happiness rather than on God’s glory.  It reduces the Gospel to a self-centered competition with all other human endeavors that might bring us happiness and self-fulfillment.  Instead, Jesus tells us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added as well.”  Instead of the pursuit of happiness, we are to pursue righteousness, and Jesus tells his followers to expect persecution (Mark 10:30), so we need to be careful about this emphasis on God’s “wonderful plan”.

Law #2  Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life (Rom. 3:23; 6:23).

To say “man is sinful”, while true, doesn’t really personalize our accountability or describe just what those sins are.  Have we personally lied? stolen? disrespected God’s name? Have we broken the spirit or the letter of any of the other Ten Commandments? Or, do we think these offenses are trivial?  And what exactly does it mean to be “separated from God”?  Some view this as freedom from God’s rules.  Based on the first “law” they reason, a loving God would never punish us, so they avoid any mention of torment or hell.

Law #3 - Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life (Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 15:3 - 6; John 14:6).

Jesus IS the Gospel.  But why?  What is the connection between the cross 2000 years ago and the forgiveness of our sins today?  This third law proclaims a wonderful truth, but why emphasize that Jesus is the “only” way without explaining what makes Jesus so unique?  Much of the New Testament explains this connection, so why not at least begin to explain it here?)

Law #4 - We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives (John 1:12; 3:1 - 8; Eph. 2:8 - 9; Rev. 3:20).

With the emphasis on personal happiness in the first law and the trivializing of sin in the second, its no wonder then that repentance isn’t included here in what it means to receive Jesus.  The context of the verses chosen that describe belief in Jesus assume an audience that had already heard John’s the Baptizer’s call to repentance.  The audience this tract was intended for 40 years ago may have been more likely to assume the need for repentance as well, but now that can no longer be assumed.)

I don’t want to underestimate the role this Gospel tract has had in the salvation of so many people like Bill and Sue.  But in our increasingly secular and diverse culture, we can no longer assume biblical literacy, familiarity or acceptance of basic parts of the Gospel message that may have been taken for granted 40 years ago.  Thanks, Bill and Sue, for our conversation!  It can be seen HERE at https://youtu.be/7oSwTjF7_q0