12/22 Stephen
In
the last few verses of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible,
we find a warning not to add or take away from the words written
therein. It says “... if any man shall take away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of
life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.”
The
primary focus of this passage was on the book it was written in –
Revelation – but I find its placement at the end of the whole Bible to
be no coincidence. It follows a pattern set early in the Bible - that we
are not to add nor take away from God’s word. Early in the Bible, in
Deuteronomy 4:2, we read “Do not add to what I command you and do not
subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give
you.”
This makes sense, if the Bible is indeed the “Word of God”
as it claims to be. Who would have the right to add to or diminish
God’s Word?
In a sidewalk outreach I met a young man named
Stephan who should know this from his strong Bible church background.
But Stephan has added some beliefs to his biblical belief in Jesus as
Savior in order to accommodate all those people who don’t believe in or
know of Jesus.
The way he explains it is that there is a final judgement involving forgiveness for those who trust in Jesus, but in the meantime, Stephan believes there will be the possibility of many reincarnated lives before people get there.
Stephan must dismiss Hebrews 9:27 which reads “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”, even though it would contradict his belief. In this way he would be “taking away” from God’s word.
And his beliefs in reincarnation and people being forgiven without faith in Jesus aren’t taught in the Bible, so he would in effect be “adding to” the words of the Bible.
I sympathized with Stephan's hope that somehow people might be saved even without specific or obvious faith in Jesus, but I would have no right to adopt that belief outside of what Scripture states.
In my experience, every time I've met someone who changes or compromises a core biblical doctrine like this, it has a ripple effect on other doctrines and ultimately leads to great misunderstanding or confusion about the Gospel.
So I asked Stephan some additional questions about how one might be saved who hasn’t heard of Jesus. Although he agreed that people are basically sinful at heart and, as he put it, must “learn to be good”, he also stated that if a “righteous man” grows up in a culture with no exposure to Jesus, he still might be saved by somehow miraculously finding out about Jesus or having the righteousness of Christ apply to him regardless that he doesn’t have conscious faith.
I wondered at this and found it to be an attractive, but unbiblical, belief that leads to contradiction with the Bible. In this case, why is it that a person who has never heard of Jesus must be a “righteous” man in order to be saved regardless? Isn’t that just a repackaged version of salvation by works?
Or, put another way, maybe it IS true that “good people” can be saved without repentance and faith in Jesus but it is ALSO equally true that there are no “good people”. We may see people as good by our own standard of comparison, but God in His holiness has a much higher standard. “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory”
I worry about the “ripple effect” for Stephen’s beliefs. If he believes others are saved through being good people despite never hearing of Jesus, would he not have the same belief for himself if he were in their shoes? And wouldn’t he then just be trusting in himself rather than Jesus the same way most unbelievers do?
Let’s be careful, brethren, never to add to or take away from God’s word, lest we too experience the promise given with this warning: that “God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.”
Thanks, Stephen, for allowing me to record our conversation! It can be seen at https://youtu.be/Hj3AdUEbFz0 on my YouTube channel.
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