​‘Salvation Is Easy’ – Motivation & Misrepresentation

‘People will find teachers to tell them what they want to hear.’ (2 Timothy 4:3)
 
I recently received a comment on a short video I posted about John the Baptist calling people to repent and then baptizing them. The comment was so confusing to me that I thought the person had maybe mis-written it. He said that John – in calling people to repent – was not talking about turning away from their sin, but rather turning to Jesus.
I want to keep this reflection really short. So let’s jump straight in and look at only two points.
 
1. Misrepresentation
 
Let’s stay with the word ‘repentance’. Although repentance does mean changing one’s mind, one’s direction, it is used often in the sense of changing one’s mind, one’s direction, about sin. Contexts and words and focus make this clear.
  
In Mark 1:5 we are told that people were coming out to John, ‘confessing their sins’, and being baptized – and this is before John knew to point them to Jesus.
 
John was trying to prepare the way for God, but he did not yet know it was Jesus, so he was not pointing people to Jesus. Not initially. He was ‘preparing people’. How? By calling them to repent of their sin – to change their mind about it, their direction about it, their lifestyle. John was calling people to clean house in order that Jesus might be revealed. (Do you ever clean house for a special guest who is coming?)
 
‘I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.’ (John 1:31)
 
John’s whole ministry was to prepare the way. When Jesus actually came, John bowed out of ministry: ‘It is time for me to become less, and for him to become more.’ (John 3:30) When Jesus came, was revealed, John’s disciples left him and followed Jesus. (John 1:37) John was done, so to speak. His part had been played. His part was to prepare the way for Jesus, not preach about Jesus. He was not pointing people to Jesus, until the very end of his ministry, when Jesus appeared and was baptized. At this point John said (effectively):
 
‘We have been confessing and turning away from our sin. But now Jesus is here – the ultimate sacrifice for sin - not symbolically as we are doing with the cleansing of water, but in truth, in Spirit.’ (John 1:29/Neh 8:8)
 
John’s call to repentance was all about sin. For this reason people asked John for specifics about their sin. What should we do? Well, you guys (soldiers) should not exploit people. You other guys need to be generous, charitable, share what you have… (Luke 3:10-14)
 
It is simply wrong teaching to say that John was not calling people to repent of sin but rather to change their minds on Jesus. This is a complete ‘mishandling of the Word’ (2 Timothy 2:15). It is not subtly wrong; it is obviously wrong. It does not even follow the explicit order of events in the Gospels.
 
So why this false teaching? There is always a motive.
 
Why would someone be trying to get ‘repentance of sin’ completely out of the gospel message?
 
2. Motivation
 
I think the motivation behind the ‘Salvation Is Easy’ movement, is so we do not have to address sin in our own lives, and in the lives of others.
 
If I can just pocket salvation with a quiet belief - about Jesus and his death and resurrection – and others can to, then we can ignore, never mention, never address sins such as sexual immorality (pornography, lust), homosexuality (LGBTQ), love of money, wealth and pleasure. Repentance of sin does not matter, I’m safe, I’m saved, so let’s now live and let live.
 
The hardest thing for me when I started following Jesus (not just secretly believing in him), was that I had to change my lifestyle – my sin. And with this stand and change, I had to also explain to people around me why I was no longer participating, i.e. because certain things were wrong to do, sinful.  
 
All through the life and teaching of Jesus, there is a call, not only to turn from sin, but also to allow our ‘good deeds’, our new life and direction, to be seen by others. (Matthew 5:16)
 
Jesus said a good tree could not bear bad fruit, and bad tree could not bear good fruit. And he said we would know ‘good’ people by their fruit – their walk and not their talk. (Matthew 7:15-20)
 
Look at this shocking verse in Timothy:
 
‘God’s foundation stands firm with this inscription on it: Everyone who confesses Jesus must turn away from wickedness.’ (2 Timothy 2:19)
 
God hates hypocrisy – believing one thing, but living another. Jesus hates cowardice, also – believing in him, but not standing with him in his heart, holiness, teaching and sacrifice.
 
‘If anyone is ashamed of me… I will be ashamed of him.’’ (Luke 12:8-9)
 
When you love someone – which is the number one call of God on our lives (Matthew 22:36-40) – you stand with them and are not ashamed of them in their convictions, principles and teaching.
 
‘Let us go outside the camp, stand with Jesus, and bear the disgrace he bore.’ (Hebrews 13:13)
 
The motive behind the ‘Salvation Is Easy’ movement, from where I am standing, is one of cowardice. It is trying to bank the salvation of God, but avoid the sacrifice of standing with Jesus in his holiness and on the issues of sin.
 
Why? So we can avoid the cost of following Christ.
 
It is really hard to seek God and find ways to navigate sin, both in our lives and that of the world around us. But to believe in the issue of sin, and God’s teaching on sin, does not mean we have to be condemning to people. In fact, if we are condemning in spirit and words, we have got this issue of sin wrong. Jesus leads in another, Spirit-filled way.
 
I have struggled with, and sacrificed for, dealing with the topics of sexual sin – both in the church (heterosexual sin), and outside the church (homosexuality). Sometimes I have got it right, sometimes wrong, but the Lord has been showing me ways to truly know his heart, his Word, his holiness, and yet not fear loving people caught in these areas of sin and deception. God has shown me how to be strong in my understanding, convictions, heart for people, and yet not lose my joy, my courage, my connection with people.
 
We do not have to fear holding true to God’s Word and his holiness, when living in this hurting world. We need to trust Jesus, love Jesus, and listen and learn how to hold true. Paul admonished Timothy to contend with certain false teachers, but he says, ‘The goal of this command is love…’ (1 Timothy 1:5) There is a way of love available to us, in standing with Christ and sharing him.
 
‘Salvation Is Easy’ is a false teaching. I believe it is designed to get Christians off the hook of dealing with sin in their own lives, and taking a stand about sin in the world we live in. What will result is more sin. This deception – and cowardice – will end up trapping many Christians in personal sin, and also leaving many unbelievers lost in their own sin with no one pointing the way out.
 
Many unbelievers are crying out to hear about the path, the freedom, the second-chance that ‘repentance’ offers them. Repentance of sin is a gift and freedom path for those crippled in guilt and shame. It is wrong for Christians – and so-called teachers – to deny this clear teaching of God and Christ.
 
Conclusion
 
Yes, there are times this word – repentance – in its Hebrew/Greek form - might be used in the general changing of mind, even in the case of God in the Old Testament. But to point to that use of the word (and not the context), in an attempt to nullify its use regarding people turning from their sin, is completely disingenuous. It is wrong. It is false teaching.
 
We use all kinds of words that change in their focus depending on context and intent. For example, ‘sex’. You might argue that a school brochure uses the word ‘sex’ 39 times, and therefore it is an inappropriate brochure. But they are using it in the sense of ‘gender’, in the sense of ‘harassment’. To simply point at a word and not reference the context – and then use that to nullify its meaning in another context – is a complete mishandling of language and semantics. And this is how the ‘Salvation Is Easy’ movement is mishandling the word ‘repentance’ and the Scriptures themselves.
 
The gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented in many ways. Probably the most common way is through legalism, i.e. you can’t be saved unless you also clean up this sin or that sin in your life. (And I can see how ‘Easy Salvation’ might be a type of reaction to that). But it is also a misrepresentation to jump on one definition of the gospel in the Bible – such as 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 – and say that this is a type of watertight equation, a hole-in-one verse. It is not.
 
There are multiple other examples in Scripture where the ‘gospel’ is defined differently. There are stories where Jesus made salvation contingent on selling all your possessions and giving to the poor. (Mark 10:21) Does that apply to everyone, every situation? No. Because it did not seem to feature when Jesus was dealing with other wealthy individuals, such as Nicodemus, Cornelius or Joseph of Arimathea.
 
We cannot be simplistic and misleading about the gospel. Where people add to it, or where people dumb it down, both are false.
 
Jesus is the gospel. The gospel is Jesus. He is God in the form of man, and comes to us in person. When we turn to him for help, for hope, for healing, we are in that same turn, turning our back on sin and darkness and evil. It is, in essence, the same turn.
 
‘Then Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’’ (Mark 8:34-38)