Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to his nephew, August 10, 1787.
When it comes to understanding the new covenant, this quote from Thomas Jefferson’s letter to his nephew is very apropos. We must fix reason firmly in her seat. The understanding of the new covenant “is too important, and the consequences of error too serious.” We must “divest ourself of all bias in favor of novelty & singularity of opinion and embrace the truth. We are talking about our eternal salvation.
Once again I have heard a nationally recognized and well respected teacher of the Word of God teaching a falsehood that is easily disproved. Let’s look at Romans 10:10. “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Is the man who has believed with his heart saved? Be careful how you answer that question.
We believe the Bible to be God’s Word. The New Testament is God’s roadmap to the salvation offered by the new covenant. If we are to gain the salvation offered by the God of the new covenant, we must follow the roadmap of the new covenant. When Paul states, “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness,” what does he mean? If righteousness is salvation, why does Paul make the distinction between a belief in the heart and a confession of the mouth? If the one who believes with his heart does not go on to confess with the mouth, is he saved?
The man I heard over the weekend on a prominent Sunday morning show said, “Yes,” even though God said, “No.” Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. After the sermon on Sunday morning, there are untold thousands of people believing they can be saved by believing in their heart that Jesus died on the cross for their sins while the Word of God, God’s holy Word, the only means we have of knowing the truth, tells us something entirely different. If we were to fix reason firmly in her seat, none of us would believe the lie taught by the renowned Bible teacher; none of us would place our hope and trust in a falsehood.
Sadly, I’m afraid many, many people trust the words of well meaning teachers and preachers who over emphasize God’s love at the expense of God’s righteousness and holiness. They fail to fix reason firmly in her seat and call to the tribunal of the Word of God every fact and opinion spouted by perceived great men of God. These men have amassed to themselves great ministries, great churches, and much accolades; they have the appearance of being greatly blessed by God. But in truth, they teach the things itching ears want to hear.
Mankind is desperate to hear God loves them. They are desperate to bathe in the love of God and so anyone who comes along preaching the love of God is automatically given a measure of prestige. Add to this a measure of organizational abilities and people skills and the great masses of people will seek these individuals out and the falsehood they teach will become the falsehood of the masses and the truth will be lost to all except those who fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion.
If salvation is gained by confession, how can it also be gained by a belief of the heart? Paul clearly states that righteousness is gained by the heart faith and if righteousness were salvation, would Paul not have said so? Thomas Jefferson’s point was that God created mankind with a mind, which included the powers of reason. Being created with this capacity, is it not reasonable that God would expect us to reason out the truth? If we are told salvation is gained by a belief of the heart; should we not reason the validity of that statement with veracity? In Isaiah 1:18, we are told by the Lord, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” What has reason to do with being cleansed?
We hold the written Word of God in our hands. Wouldn’t it be different if we had to rely on the spoken Word of God for truth? But, no, each one of us can turn in the book to see if what is being said can be found there. Holy men of old were commanded of the Holy Spirit to write down the words He gave them to write and today we are not dependent on the anointed teaching of called and prepared ministers of God’s Word for truth.
The words that I write here can be checked against the book for veracity. When I say the new covenant has two parts, each and every one of you can go to the book to see that Jesus said, “I have not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it.” Each and every one of you can understand that Jesus had to live by each and every statute and commandment of the law, then die under the penalties of disobedience in order to fulfill the law. Each and every one of you can then know that Jesus died under the authority of the old covenant law but then established a new covenant with His own blood, the blood of God, upon His resurrection. If, as Paul stated, we must believe in our hearts for righteousness first, before we can be saved, then belief in Jesus’ death under penalty of sin must be received first before we can be saved and salvation is different than righteousness. The new covenant began after the old covenant was fulfilled.
When I tell you there is no unending pool of Jesus’ blood in heaven to wash away sins, each and every one of you can consult the Word of God to see that Jesus took His blood to heaven to sprinkle it over the articles of furniture of the new covenant tabernacle. We can all understand thereby that it is the new covenant that deals with sin eternally; it is the new covenant, a covenant established by Jesus’ blood that washes away sin. Thus, it is the keeping of new covenant law that makes us free from the law of sin and death.
We must divest ourself of all bias in favor of novelty & singularity of opinion, and search the Word of God for ourselves for if we fail to inherit eternal life, we have no one but ourselves to blame. Thomas Jefferson, in writing to his nephew said; indulge them (the novelty and singularity of opinion) in any other subject rather than that of religion. It is too important, and the consequences of error too serious.
Eternity is a long time to realize that minister you followed without question was wrong in his teaching. It is a long time to beat yourself up over subscribing to that doctrine that did not provide eternal life. The Word of God is not difficult to understand if you start with the supposition that it is God’s Word. Approach the Word of God with the intellectual honesty it deserves and it will give up its secrets to you like just ripe fruit hanging cleanly on its branches. If, however, you approach its pages with incredulity and a belief that you cannot possibly understand its truth; if you approach God’s Word believing you need others to expound it to you, its truth will be distorted and laid out like a buffet of fine rich foods and you will dine until you are fat and happy and deceived into believing a lie and lost for eternity.
Mankind desperately needs to fix reason firmly in her seat and call to her tribunal every fact and every opinion. If belief in Jesus saved, Paul would have said so; but when the jailer asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul did not say believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and you shall be saved. If belief in Jesus’ death saved; if righteousness were salvation, Paul would have said so. He did not. Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved,” because it is not a belief in the Christ, the Jesus who died on the cross, it is belief on the resurrected Lord that saves; it is the second part of the new covenant that guarantees salvation.
Paul clearly states for all who want to know, “With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Notice the word, “and.” Paul is describing two events in connection with the new covenant, not one. Fix reason firmly in her seat and call before her tribunal ever fact, every opinion. If a simple belief of the heart is all it takes to be saved, don’t you think Paul would have said so? God is trying to instruct you how to be saved. These aren’t empty words on a page; these are instructions in eternal salvation. This is why we are told, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”
The problem is; too many Christians are conditioned not to think for themselves. That’s why they pay the pastor; to think for them, so they don’t have to. The problem with that is, you are making another man responsible for your salvation. So if the belief in the heart provides righteousness but not salvation, what is the confession with the mouth that is made unto salvation? What does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and how is it different than belief of the heart?
Words have meanings. God went to a great deal of trouble to give us His written Word. The words He chose have great importance. There is a difference between the belief of the heart that provides righteousness and a confession of the mouth that provides salvation. Anyone should be able to reason the truth of this. Is Romans 10:10 true in your mind? Can you trust the veracity of God’s written Word? Are you looking for an anointed minister to explain the Word of God to you? Are you seeking God to speak His spoken word to your heart to confirm His written Word?
The sentence, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved,” contains two of Jesus’ titles, Lord and Christ. The title, Christ, was earned by Jesus when He died on the cross; the title, Lord, was given to Him at His resurrection by His Father. This according to Philippians 2:6-10. Jesus first humbled Himself to die a sinner’s death on the cross but was raised from the dead with all power. Thus, Jesus is both, Saviour, or Christ, and Lord, representing the two parts of the new covenant. To believe in Jesus’ death for sin is to believe in the Christ whereby one receives the righteousness Jesus earned by living up to the standards of the law but it is belief on the Lord that saves us. If Jesus is Lord, He has the authority to command us and if we obey the first commandment Jesus issues after His resurrection from the dead, a stream of words flow out of our mouth, proving beyond all shadow of doubt that we have yielded to that commandment. It is the keeping of Jesus’ commandments that saves.
Again, we must believe in the veracity of God’s written Word. Jesus said, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me and he that loves me will be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” This, is eternal salvation!
Look, if we are to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus as Paul states in Romans 10:9, instead of confessing Jesus as Lord, which is what some people preach and teach, then it is going to take obedience of a commandment to make Jesus Lord. In fact, let’s just look at Romans 10:9 instead of me referring to it.
“That if you will shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Question, where is the instruction to believe in your heart for righteousness? Paul passes right over the first step of eternal life to focus in on the need to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus. There is no question we must believe in our heart for righteousness before we can acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship but salvation is all about Lordship.
The first part of Romans 10:9 addresses the need to “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus.” The second part emphasizes a belief on the resurrection of Jesus. Remember, Jesus died under the authority of the old covenant but established the new covenant at His resurrection. We believe in the finished work of the cross for righteousness but salvation is gained through belief on the resurrection side of the cross.
The Greek word, “en” is at the heart of this teaching. It is a preposition and can be translated, “in” or “on” depending on the context of the subject. The English word, “in,” means, “to be clothed by,” thus to believe in Jesus is to be clothed by His righteousness but to believe on Jesus, the word, “on,” meaning, “a place arrived,” is to believe on the resurrection of Jesus, the place arrived through belief in the Christ.
The translators of the King James Version of the Bible somehow understood this logic but later translators of other versions did not and in an effort to be consistent, translated the Greek word, “en,” in, consistently, regardless of the context of the word. Jesus told the Pharisees, “Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life but they testify of me,” John 5:39. If what I am saying is not true, why are there so many scriptures to prove it to be so?
Look, Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of this country, wrote his nephew saying, Your reason is now mature enough to examine this object (religion). In the first place, divest yourself of all bias in favor of novelty & singularity of opinion. Indulge them in any other subject rather than that of religion. It is too important, and the consequences of error may be too serious. On the other hand, shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
We are talking about eternal life. You have the luxury of indulging your biases in all other arenas of your life, but to indulge them in the arena of God, is to miss eternal life altogether. We have one chance to get it right. If we indulge the falsehoods put forth by so many well meaning ministers of the gospel message, all we do is muddy the waters of salvation for hundreds more and the lies we embrace today for convenience are taught for subsequent generations to thousands.
Search the scriptures for yourselves, for in them you think you have eternal life but the messages being preached from its pages cannot be found there in reality. It takes intellectual honesty to inherit eternal life. This game Christians are playing where they buy into anything coming out of their preacher’s mouth does not end well. You can hold fast to your falsehoods or embrace the truth. The choice is yours to make but if you want to make heaven your home for eternity, you are going to have to choose integrity.
The pastor I heard on Sunday told his congregation and television audience a belief in Jesus’ death was all it takes to make it to heaven but this concept contradicts the Word of God in multiple places. He said one does not need to make Jesus Lord even though Paul emphasized belief on Jesus’ resurrection over belief in Jesus’ death. If Jesus is Lord, obedience of any commandments He issued as Lord become critical to salvation, which is why Paul said we must confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus, not confess Jesus as Lord. You cannot ignore the authority of the Lord and expect to receive eternal life. The love of God will not overpower His righteousness and holiness to give to you what you have not received through obedience.
We live in the age of the new covenant, not the age of the old covenant. Keeping all the commandments of the old covenant will not gain you favor with the Lord of the new covenant. Just use your powers of reason given to you by God. Mr. Jefferson told His nephew to shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Too many churches use the old covenant commandments to try and control the behavior of Christians but old covenant commandments have about as much to do with the new covenant as light has to do with darkness.
We have a responsibility to God and His Word, a responsibility to preach the truth and not the falsehood that has been taught historically as truth. As Mr. Jefferson said, “Question everything.” It is the Lord who proclaims, “You will find me when you search for me with your whole heart.” Even John 3:16 does not say belief in Jesus will save you. The word is should, not would. The word, should, means an expectation not a guarantee. Those who believe in Jesus should go on to believe on Jesus and receive eternal life but those who don’t, won’t.
Does it seem reasonable to you that you would be able to gain eternal life without giving honor to the Lord of the new covenant? A better question might be, “Which salvation are you trying to gain; the long and prosperous life of the old covenant or the eternal God kind of life of the new covenant?” If you are trying to access old covenant salvation, you might check to see if you are a Jew; the old covenant was drafted and ratified with Jews alone. Non Jews had to convert to Judaism before they could become a part of the covenant but who would want a long prosperous life when eternal God life is offered?
Let reason be your guide and faith be your friend and question everything for if there is a God, intellectual honesty in your pursuit of Him would be more important than blind faith.