Subjective Salvation?
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One of the most spiritually destructive tools Satan ever devised, and developed into the thoughts and vernacular of men, was the notion that “It doesn’t really matter what you believe or practice as long as you’re honest and sincere.” I’m sorry to be so blunt, but of course it matters what you believe, and what you practice! If it doesn’t, why did God go to all the trouble of inspiring men to write the New Testament? If it doesn’t, why is the New Testament so replete with warnings to, and corrections of, Christians? If it really doesn’t, why did Jude urge us to “contend earnestly for the faith” (v.3); why did Paul warn Timothy about the perversion of truth (1Timothy1:6-7; et al); and why did Peter spend an entire chapter to help us recognize, identify, and combat false prophets (2Peter 2)?
None of that makes any sense at all if “it doesn’t really matter what you believe and practice as long as you’re honest and sincere.” Honesty and sincerity do not change the wrongness and impotence of either beliefs or practices. A person who honestly and sincerely believes that heading south on highway 69 will get him from Jacksonville to Dallas will never make it there. And a person who honestly and sincerely takes the wrong spiritual road does not arrive in heaven either.
But the underlying culprit in Satan’s destructive deception is the concept of subjective salvation. Since the word “salvation” is pretty clear as to its meaning, let’s concentrate for a moment on the “subjective” part of this pair of terms. “Subjective” refers to an impression or conclusion that is based on someone’s feelings and opinions, rather than on facts and evidence. It is, therefore, necessarily biased. “Objective” means pretty much the opposite- that the conclusion or result is based solely on facts and evidence rather than personal feelings and opinions. Therefore, it is necessarily unbiased.
Now we’re ready for the question: Is one’s salvation subjective or objective? That is, is salvation based on the feelings and opinions of the individual, or is there an external and impartial determining factor? There is no doubt or argument that being saved should make us “feel” certain things and ways, but the crux of the issue is whether or not those feelings are themselves the evidence of salvation.
Let’s go first to biblical history for input. The patriarch Jacob was led by his sons to believe that Joseph, his favorite son, had been killed by wild beasts, cf. Genesis 37:18-33. The deception worked in spite of the fact that Joseph was not at all dead. But Jacob was so convinced of Joseph’s death that “he refused to be comforted. And he said, ‘Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son’.” Jacob believed with all his heart (honestly and sincerely was absolutely convinced) that Joseph was dead, and continued to believe so for twenty-two years (cp. Genesis37:34-35 > 45:26-28). But Joseph was, in fact, alive and well. Jacob was honest and sincere in his beliefs- but he was honestly and sincerely wrong! Though he believed with all of his heart that Joseph was dead, the truth was that he was second-in-command over all of Egypt! This is subjectivism plain and simple. Jacob’s feelings and flawed impressions led him to believe something that was simply not true, and he thus lived accordingly for years before learning the objective truth: Joseph was alive.
So is salvation subjective? Let’s allow the Bible to speak for itself: “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” (1John 2:3); “Little children, let no one deceive you, the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil….By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” (1John 3:7-8,10). Through obedience to the Spirit-inspired words of the New Testament, we “are being led by the Spirit of God…” and “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ…” (Romans 8:14,16-17). Friends, that is objective salvation based on the impartial evidence of obedience in our lives to the Word of God, not subjective salvation based on the biased feelings of our emotions. Give it some thought, won’t you? It makes a difference eternally.
We can say Salvation is the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
Thus can say that it is the act of peace.
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