“ ‘I’m not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me, so here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior and look forward to spending an eternity with Him….’ Is this a valid conversion?” - Veith
Robert Vacendak rightly observes that “Catholics, Calvinists, and Arminians deny absolute assurance of salvation.”1 Vacendak adds a vital hermeneutic observation that “Scholarly analyses of assurance often prioritize earlier studies, not Scripture.”2 Vacendak’s poignant reminder is a call to action that we base our understanding on the Biblical text itself.
“Piper’s most recent book, What Is Saving Faith?: Reflections on Receiving Christ as a Treasure…. Piper argues for his ‘affectional’ understanding of saving faith…. treasuring Christ is an affectional ‘act of faith,’ not in the sense of an action that results from faith, but as one of the ‘actings that constitute what faith is.’” - TGC
Reprinted from Faith Pulpit (March/April 2008).
“Easy believism,” as I am using this term, refers to a position held by those who define saving faith purely as intellectual agreement with the statement, “Jesus is the Son of God, and He promises eternal life to all who believe in Him.” This point of view is associated with the Grace Evangelical Society and particularly the writings of Robert Wilkin, Zane Hodges, Joseph Dillow, and J. D. Faust. In order to evaluate this point of view, we need to consider the following issues.
In Romans 1:16 and 17 we notice the following truths:
