Regeneration, the Initial Stage of Salvation, Is Unquestionably the Most Significant Event

A Biblical response to Gary Evans’ remarks on the teachings of the True Jesus Church

The 3rd year of the AMC volunteers Training Seminar

8th – 13th January 2006 at London church

By Pr. FF Chong

Regeneration, the initial stage of salvation, is unquestionably the most significant event in human life.

Salvation, the receiving of Jesus Christ as one's Saviour, is the receiving of a living person. Consequently, new believers often find themselves in love with Christ Himself, not with a mere doctrine. They do not simply know about salvation; they know the Saviour.

· It is simplistic to separate the Saviour and salvation and in the

process, insinuate that a doctrine is ‘mere’.

· How does a person come to know about Christ? Is it not through the Bible or a preaching? The Bible contains the word of God, which obviously includes the doctrines.

· How can a Christian, who is ignorant of salvation, claim to know the Saviour? Is that possible? In the book of John, there was a person by the name Nicodemus, who wished to know more about Jesus (Jn 3:1-5). He came to Jesus to enquire more about who He was. Jesus, seizing hold of that golden opportunity, preached to him the doctrines of salvation. Here it is a clear example that knowing the Saviour cannot be separated from knowing the doctrines – the prescribed way for salvation.

How heartbreaking it is, then, to see new believers gradually diverted by unscriptural doctrines from experiencing the One they love. The True Jesus Church seeks to bring people to an initial saving knowledge of Christ. Nonetheless, some of its teachings distract new believers from a Christ-centered focus to a legalistic preoccupation with prescribed forms.

· Are the teachings of Jesus for salvation legalistic?

· Do they deviate from Christ?
This article will examine the teachings of the True Jesus Church (hereafter TJC) regarding salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, prayer, water baptism, and Sabbath-keeping. The purpose of this article is to highlight several examples of well-intentioned teachings which can actually disorient new believers from a Christ-centered walk. All of the quotations related to the doctrine and practices of the TJC are taken from "The Way of Salvation" and "Our Basic Beliefs" sections of its website, www.tjc.org.
How Can I Be Saved?
The Bible's prescription for salvation is purposely and exclusively simple - to repent and believe in Jesus the Saviour.

· It would be fair and necessary to quote scripture to support this central claim of the article.

· Let’s give an example. The Bible’s prescription (to use the phrase above) is ‘he who believes and is baptised shall be saved. He who does not believe shall be condemned’ (Mk 16:15-16).

· Here is another. In the Pentecostal Account, repentance precedes baptism in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Forgiveness of sins is necessary for salvation. Can we make a simple connection between baptism and forgiveness of sin?

This scriptural simplicity is perhaps the most striking testimony to the perfection of Christ's finished redemptive work - it leaves nothing for the sinner to do except receive it

· ‘Scriptural simplicity’ without scripture?

· Nothing to do? No need to repent? No need to believe?

· Clearly, salvation has to be explained clearly. Salvation is indeed simple but it is not simplistic.

· Salvation has to be received according to the way prescribed by the Lord (Jn 3:1-5). That is why Ananias said to Paul, ‘And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptised, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord’ (Acts 22:16).

The TJC instructs those concerned with their eternal destiny to "accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior" (The Way of Salvation). It encourages them to "confess all your past sins" and "ask for the Lord's forgiveness" (Way). But from this simple beginning, its teachings quickly muddy the salvific message by adding further, extrascriptural requirements.

· How could messages from the Bible (as seen from our articles and even in the earlier part of this reply) be termed as extra-biblical?

· Is it the case that things that do not fit into a certain pattern of belief are considered extra-biblical?

The TJC website presents a complicated five-step salvation formula:
In the first step, "Believe," the church's website states that one should believe in God and accept Christ and "the Gospel of Salvation," but then it adds the qualifier "preached by the True Church" (Way). Sadly, the gospel of salvation offered by the TJC has forsaken the Bible's simplicity for its own complex procedure.

· Simplicity - a loaded word again. Does ‘simple’ mean ‘less’ always?

· When Jesus came out to preach, He said, ‘Repent and believe in the gospel’ (Mk 1:15). Is He equally guilty of complicating the salvation process?

· John said, ‘We are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us’ (1 Jn 4:6). Has he made a mistake of adding a qualifier ‘us’, in addition to the teachings of Jesus?

The second sub-heading, "Repent," directs seekers to confess their sins and ask for the Lord's forgiveness but then adds the requirement: "Determine to change your ways and to obey the commandments of God" (Way). While it is true that a person who has freshly encountered the Saviour spontaneously desires to please Him in all things, this yearning is the result of salvation, not its prerequisite.

· Result or requisite? Can a Christian be saved if s/he fails to keep the commandments of God?

· Instead of stating without support, let’s read the Bible. Jesus said, ‘If we want to enter into life, we have to keep the commandments’ (Mt 19:17). The disciples echoed the same message in their ministries (1 Cor 7:19). In actual fact, those who do not keep the commandments of God are considered liars (1 Jn 2:3-5). Can liars enter God’s Kingdom?

· It is common for those who insist on obedience as a result of salvation to argue that those who do not keep the commandments are in the first place not saved. Is this a ‘simple’ explanation? On the other hand, it does not need logical gymnastics to see that Mt. 19:17 above is clear: keeping the commandments is a requisite of salvation.

It is not our earnestness for salvation that saves us but our faith in Christ which unites us to the Savior Himself.

· It is becoming a little tiresome to see the continued use of an indisputable fact to usher in an unsupported proposition: Faith in Christ saves – indisputable; not ‘our earnestness for salvation’ – what do you mean? Not ‘our own righteousness’ is Biblical. But it should be true that ‘he who seeks shall find’ means that our earnestness has an impact on God.

A third requirement for salvation under the TJC's formula is to "accept baptism performed by the True Church" (Way). This statement implies that water baptism is necessary for redemption and that it must be performed by their church. Admittedly, a person who believes and is baptized is saved (Mark 16:16), yet the Bible never mandates water baptism as the means for regeneration

· This directly contradicts what the Bible teaches. ‘Believes and is baptized’ – cause; ‘saved’ – effect. If we stick to discussing salvation, isn’t this verse ‘simple’ enough?

· The Bible in fact mandates Baptism as the only means for regeneration (Tit 3:5). Rather, baptism properly follows conversion

· The Bible never teaches this procedure. In fact when you compare Acts 2:38 with Acts 3:19, you will realise that conversion occurs at Baptism).

For example, we know that: The thief on the cross was granted eternal life yet was never baptized.

· Why use an exception to flout the rule. This occurred before the ascension of Jesus. When Christ was on earth, His word was vested with God’s authority to forgive sins. This is evident in the Gospels (Mk 2:5, 10). Since the physical Jesus is no longer with us, His command to baptise those who believe for salvation stands (Mk 16:15-16).

Paul was baptized three days after his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-18)

· The book of Acts never states that Paul was baptised three days after his conversion. Conversion means literally to turn, and primarily denotes a spiritual revolution.

· And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations (Lk 24:47).

· Repent therefore, and turn (be converted) again, that your sins may be blotted out, that time of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19);

· To open their eyes, that they may turn (be converted) from darkness to light and from the power of the Satan to God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18);

· They should repent and turn (be converted) to God and perform deeds worthy of their repentance” (Acts 26:20).

From the above verses, we see that repentance prepares one to turn (to be converted) for the forgiveness of sins.

· To the apostles, sins are forgiven through baptism (Acts 22:16).

· Unless a person has died to sin, and this happens in baptism, his mental determination and conscientious effort exerted in repentance alone would not turn him away from sins (Rm 6:7; 17-18).

· Now, we ask, ‘When was Paul forgiven?’ It was at baptism (compare Acts 22:16). In this light, his conversion took place when he underwent baptism.

and Cornelius and his household were baptized after they received the Spirit (10:47).

· Baptism and the reception of the Holy Spirit are the two pre-requisites for salvation (Jn 3:3, 5: Tit 3:5). One of these can precede the other and vice versa. But the important thing is that we must have both.
Most clearly, when the Philippian jailer explicitly asked, "What must I do to be saved?" the apostle Paul answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved" (16:30-31)

· Again we say, believing in Jesus must come hand in hand with accepting His word (Acts 16:32).

· That is why they were baptised immediately (Acts 16:33)

not even mentioning baptism as a requirement for salvation though given the perfect opportunity to do so.

· We think the passage must have been misread – see Acts 16:33 again. In that short period, they must have talked about baptism, otherwise how could they have been baptised so quickly? The same must have been true in Peter’s urgent command to the first Gentile converts (Acts 10:47).

The TJC adds further requirements under the sub-heading "Obey the Commandments." In order to be saved, the reader is instructed to "love God by practicing His Word" and "love others as yourself by doing good deeds" (Way). In themselves these commandments are innocuous, even scriptural, but as conditions appended to the gospel they seriously err, implying the addition of works to faith and thus diminishing the finished work of Christ.

· Has Christ belittled His work of sacrifice, when he said, ‘To enter life, one has to keep the commandments’ (Mt 19:17)?

· Likewise, have the apostles seriously erred in saying that those who do not keep the commandments do not know God (1 Jn 2:3-5)?

· It always helps to compare scripture with scripture and not scripture with a preconceived framework.

The TJC imposes further demands on the repentant sinner by admonishing him to "pray sincerely and earnestly for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit" and, in order to be saved, to "live by the Holy Spirit and become a new person" (Way). The Bible, however, charges us to be saved first and then be renewed, not to become a new person in order to be saved.

· Since having the Holy Spirit is the pledge for us to enter into God’s Kingdom (Eph 1:13-14), is it wrong to teach members to pray for the Holy Spirit? In fact this teaching originated from Christ (Lk 11:13; Lk 24:49).

· The Bible does not teach that once we are saved we are saved forever. After having been saved, we have to be constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit (cf 1 Cor 15:2-4). Otherwise, we will be disqualified from entering into life should we fail to be led by the Spirit (Gal 5:18).

The TJC's teachings again mistake the results of salvation for its prerequisites. It is only after a person is reconciled to God that he is able to experience the life-changing effects of God's organic work (Rom. 5:10).

· This again is viewed from the framework of ‘salvation takes place at a point in time’. Thus, it is impossible for one having this framework to see why other things need to be done after the fact of repentance and belief.

· On the other hand, consider the framework of ‘salvation is a lifelong process’. Then the following holds:

· The life changing effects obviously begin at baptism when one’s sins are washed away. After baptism a person is given a new lease of life (Rm 6:4).

· In fact Rom 5:10 is in support of what has just been said. Reconciliation can only take place when sins are removed.

· Thereby the life of Christ becomes our life (Col 3:3-4)).

· We are drawn again and again to supporting a framework with scripture and not to sometimes (for we are not allowed even once) do logical gymnastics with Bible passages to support a preconceived framework.

Also unscriptural is the TJC's insistence on evidence of salvation in the form of "the speaking of tongues" (Way). Paul plainly said to the tongues-obsessed Corinthians that not every Christian speaks in tongues (1 Cor. 12:30). Even more important, tongue-speaking is never taught in the Bible as evidence of salvation.