Faith plus nothing
A Simple Message
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
– Ephesians 2:8-9
“Faith plus nothing equals salvation.”
These words from Dr. J Vernon McGee provide, what I believe to be, the best summation for the above passage of scripture.
One of the greatest challenges facing the modern church is religion itself — defined as “a system of faith or belief,” or alternatively as “an interest to which someone prescribes supreme importance.”
I use the word religion very distinctly from the concept of genuine worship and relationship with Christ.
From the day recorded in the book of Acts when the apostles watched the ascension of Christ, throughout the formation of the Catholic church, the schism of the Church of England, Martin Luther’s protestant reformation, and the subsequent branching out of the dozen or so well-known Christian denominations and the debatable thousands of lesser-known branches from those, it can be truly difficult for a new believer to know where even to begin in having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
For this reason, the challenge of religion is not only a potential stumbling block for the church, but also for anyone seeking to become a believer or grow therein.
While each denomination has come to being for its own reasons, with specific teachings they each consider of supreme religious importance, to the new believer such divisions and distinctions serve merely as distractions keeping them from Christ.
That’s why I reference the above scripture and the words of Dr. McGee. Faith plus nothing, simply by placing our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, a willingness to accept the gift of God’s love, in this act we begin an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ.
This raises the question of how does a new believer learn how to grow in Christ, then? As Christ said to Peter in the final chapter of the gospel of John, “Follow me.”
What denomination or religion allows one person to follow Christ may not be the same as what helps another believer.
If, by faith, we follow Christ, Christ Himself will lead us to exactly where we need to be and what we need to do.
So be it determining what church to attend, what version of the Bible to read, or even how to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ in the first place. The simple answer is faith.
If you’re willing to trust Christ with your soul, your choice, your life, Christ is willing to do the rest.