There are many people who think that a person can be ignorant of Bible doctrine and still be saved. You can easily prove this by asking any 10 professing Christians what a man must know in order to be saved. Note the answers & then fine tune the question by asking them, or another different 10 if you like, whether or not a man must believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. And if you want to make it real interesting ask your pastor. Then ask him to explain the gospel. Im willing to bet you will receive lots of surprising answers. I did. Here are some samples of actual words of people.
"You think faith can't exist alongside any degree of confusion or ignorance."
"I distinguish between Arminians and Arminians. Some are just ignorant and say 'I don't understand it all'; "
"It is clear from Scripture that saving faith _does_ often co-exist with a degree of ignorance or unbelief (cf. Mark 9:24)." [The verse this fellow offers has nothing at all to do with saving faith.]
This is what people are saying about the gospel! Yet you will search in vain to discover the gospel presented to us in the context of 'ignorance or unbelief'! The Bible teaches the exact opposite; that salvation comes by belief & proper knowledge of God.
Jn 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
1Jn 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Many other verses could be cited. Notice these verses all speak of salvation & eternal life. Notice also that they all speak of knowledge, truth & the understanding. Why is this? Because the Bible tells us that God is the God of Truth; Jesus is the Truth; He brought grace & Truth; but I am getting ahead of myself.
You may have heard people say... "Salvation is not found in any Doctrine... salvation is found in a Person". This is an unbiblical message that not only disparages sound Biblical doctrine... which is necessary for both salvation and the Christian life... but encourages Empiricism and Mysticism. Most people don't know what Empiricism or Mysticism are while at the same time they base their entire approach to Christianity on them! Empiricism is the notion that knowledge is subjective & comes by way of the senses, not objective propositional truth. Mysticism is an attempt to arrive at truth by means of one's Emotions. It bypasses the mind and focuses on feelings. People given to empiricism & mysticism tell us that Christianity is an "encounter with God"... or... "Salvation is an Experience." And so they say things like...
"Truth is revealed to us. It is not merely an intellectual assent to truth but the reality of it coming to the *heart* of the Christian."
This person's use of the word 'heart' refers to the emotions or something other than the intellect. Many people think this is the meaning but we shall see that this is not Biblical! Many of you may well be both surprised and shocked! But more sayings of people who think Empiricism or Mysticism is Christianity...
"MOST OF THE PEOPLE I KNOW WHO BELIEVE THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE CAME TO THEM *AFTER* THEIR *SALVATION EXPERIENCE* AS A MATTER OF GROWTH IN GRACE."
Notice the 'experience' of salvation comes first... afterward comes doctrine. One more...
"But it better be more than doctrine you are holding on to. It had better be **more** than the word of God... [?!] I am trying to say that it is a relational *experience* not *JUST* a doctrinal one."
I may add more as I 'collect' them but you get the point. This explains why most people who claim to be saved function by their feelings rather than the principles of Scripture that speak to the mind & the intellect. As anyone can see, Empiricism & Mysticism caters to the flesh and relieves the mind of the tedious task of studying doctrine... which is only boring & divisive anyway! Let's just all 'Love Jesus'. But Scripture is opposed to such a notions. What those who say such things are doing is attempting to justify unbiblical notions of Empiricism or Mysticism by basing them on the Biblical doctrine of the Love of God. When they read of the Love of God in the Bible they make the mistake of equating it with human love... which is all based on feelings & emotions... and coming up with an erroneous doctrine of God's love as 'feelings & emotions' ... and they end up in the errors of Mysticism & Empiricism. But Mysticism is not Christianity. Most Arminians are nothing but mystics because Arminianism stems from & encourages Mysticism by downplaying doctrine & focusing on the emotions.
The gospel comes to us by way of two main avenues,. those being Truth & Doctrine. As you can see they compliment each other. It is possible to have doctrine apart from truth... for example, one might believe in the doctrine of evolution. But it is impossible to have truth without doctrine. This is because truth is propositional and doctrine is the expression of truth. As such both truth & doctrine conform to the rules of Logic & the law of non-contradiction. Otherwise there is nothing but insanity! Additionally, the Biblical concepts of Truth & Doctrine leave no room for either Empiricism or Mysticism.
Jn 1:1 In the beginning was the Logic, and the Logic was with God, and the Logic was God.
This is not only a perfectly valid translation of Logos but is actually more accurate. Logic is God because He does not function apart from logic. The only other alternative is il-logic and God is not illogical! Truth is expressed in logical propositions that can be grasped & understood by the mind. It is in this manner that a man truly can 'know' God. On this account we may now safely say... No Doctrine... No knowledge of God and therefore... No salvation! This is in accordance with John 17:2. If you look at the context you discover it speaks also of the doctrines of Election & the Atonement. Therefore eternal life is embedded in sound doctrine & without such there is no gospel.
But what now of the objection noted above that the gospel is more than "merely an intellectual assent to truth but the reality of it coming to the *heart* of the Christian." Doesn't it say 'believe in thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead"? Doesn't the Bible say "keep thy heart with all diligence..."? Yes it does say all this; the question remains... what exactly does the word 'heart' mean in Scripture?
To answer this I shall quote from Professor Gordon Clark, the well known evangelical thinker of the 20th century. The error he points out is the idea that the 'heart' as used in the Bible is something other than the understanding; a notion that finds its roots largely in the writings of the Puritans. With reference to the well known Puritan Thomas Manton, Clark notes...
"For him therefore the heart is something other than the understanding. But in the Bible the 'heart' in about 70 or 75% of the instances, means the understanding, without affirming or denying the presence of a volition. In another 20% approxamately the heart means the will, with or without any explicit reference to the understanding. Accordingly less than 10% of the instances refer to anything other than the intellect and will. Manton's spurious verse [Rom 10:9,10] itself says that the heart believes. Now, belief is definitely intellectual and volitional. The good news.... must be understood and assented to. This is belief; and it is the heart that believes. Therefore the heart is the intellect." The Johannine Logos; Trinity Foundation p113
Clark then cites verses that show clearly that this is indeed so. For example...
Ge 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.
Imagination & thought are activities of the mind & intellect & here they are attributed to the 'heart'. Therefore Clark is correct in saying that the heart, as used in Scripture, is the intellect.
Ge 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
Ge 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall [a child] be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
De 29:19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
One does not "bless himself in his heart, saying"... through the emotions. This is an activity of the mind & intellect. Hundreds of other verses could be noted that show the heart means the organ of understanding & knowledge. Says Clark...
"When any popular preacher contrasts the head and the heart, meaning
that the heart is something other than the intellect, he is distorting
Scripture and thinks falsehood in his heart."
ibid p 114.
Why is this important? Because, since both Mysticism & Empiricism deal largely with feelings & emotions... the erroneous idea the the heart is something other than the intellect is none other than a subtle way of attempting to attribute the gospel to Mysticism & Empiricism. In this way men can 'have their cake & eat it too' by saying that one need not be concerned about doctrine... which is a matter of the mind & intellect. He can ignore doctrine & still 'be saved' by way of 'believing in Jesus in his heart'; or by way of some 'encounter' or 'experiance' that renders doctrine unnecessary. This is the heart of the false gospel of Arminianism. This is why they argue so strongly against the necessity of properly understanding sound doctrine in order to be saved. The Arminian message is false because it denies the truths of the Bible. It is not simply 'another version' of the gospel. It is a completely false gospel because it is based on the lies of Empiricism & Mysticism while at the same time it denigrates the doctrine of God. It says, as I have shown, that ignorance is a friend of the gospel... whereas the Bible is clear that ignorance is the enemy of the cross. One or two passages will suffice to show that ignorance is not the gospel.
Rom 1: 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is
the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first,
and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Notice that here we have the very heart & soul of what the gospel is; the revelation of the one thing that man most desperately needs in order to be accepted by God... Righteousness. And not just any righteousness. No! Man needs nothing less than the righteousness which is of God! No man has this righteousness in & of himself. Men come into this world completely devoid of such perfection and are fully engulfed in their own self-righteousness which, if not addressed, will land them in hell for all eternity. But herein is what the good news of the gospel of God is all about... God has provided, thru the work of Jesus Christ, this most desperately needed item... His own Righteousness; and it is the gospel. It is the only thing that can save. Now... the question is... can a man be ignorant of the good news of the gospel of God's righteousness revealed in Jesus Christ and still somehow be saved?
Rom 10: 1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is,
that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge.
It is obvious from this passage that Paul accounted Israel as lost! And what was it that prompted Paul to make such a rash judgment against the chosen OT people of God? Notice...
3 For they being... what??? ignorant.... of What? of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
And so ladies & gentlemen... the plain & obvious teaching of the Bible with respect to the gospel is that the knowledge... not ignorance... of the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ is an indispensable, necessary element that must be known... understood and received by faith... or their can be no true gospel & no salvation! And since the Arminians as well as many of those who give lip service to doctrines of grace... tell us that doctrine is not all that important, and that a man can be saved while he remains ignorant of gospel doctrine... therefore... those who say such things preach a false gospel & are under the indictment of Gal 1:6-9 and those who believe such notions are still in their sin!
Ignorance is the antithesis to faith & doctrine and is anti-gospel. Both faith & belief are activities of the mind & intellect. One does not believe in anything with one's emotions. Therefore the notion of ignorance is anti-christ! It is a mark of those who know nothing of the gospel or the God of the Bible. It is a dead give-away that those who traffic in ignorance are lost sons of darkness! Notice this clearly in the following passage...
Eph 4: 17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye
henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the Ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness
of their heart:
Notice also the references to the mind & understanding as being
attributed to man's 'heart'. These people that Paul refers to here are
Lost folks... and the badge of honor that distinguishes them as lost is
that of Ignorance!!! Therefore...
you
may draw your own conclusions concerning those who preach the 'gospel'
of ignorance... or... 'no doctrine but Christ' or... 'Christ first...
doctrine
later'. If anyone is Ignorant of the righteousness of God in
Jesus
Christ he is lost!
Anyone who does not preach the Righteousness of God in Christ is not
preaching the true gospel!
But there is an even greater problem with ignorance in the face of the gospel. It maintains the age old saying that ignorance is no excuse... and this is manifestly true with respect to salvation. Aside from the damaging reference to ignorance in Romans 10 the Bible seldom contrasts faith with ignorance. Rather it contrasts the idea of faith with unbelief. That is to say... there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to the truth. A person either believes the truth or he does not believe it. A person does not have to know truth in order to disbelieve it! One does not have to know that God exists in order to not believe in Him. Lost people do not believe in God or the gospel ipso facto... whether or not they ever hear of either. Perhaps a verse will suffuce to show this...
Jn 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
We may ask... does the man who has never heard of Christ & the gospel believe such? No. Then, according to this verse, if he does not believe then he is what?... condemned. Even tho he is.... Ignorant!... of the truth it makes no difference. Ignorance does not exonerate anybody from the sin of unbelief, which sin is universal. Another verse...
1Jn 5: 10 ¶ He that believeth on the Son of God hath the
witness
in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he
believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us
eternal
life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life.
Notice what the passage says of those who do not believe on the Son of God! It says that they are accounting God to be a liar!! Ignorance of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not some condition of 'neutrality' with respect to the truth of God whereby a man might find some loophole of an excuse for his sin. Rather Ignorance is nothing more than calling God a liar! Why? Because if a person is 'ignorant' of the truth of the gospel he cannot believe it. But John says that those who do not believe what God says about His Son in the gospel are 'making God a liar'! And all liars shall have their part in the Lake of Fire!
So even if the Arminian wants to plead ignorance he cannot do it. Worse... many 'calvinists' who hold to reformed doctrine also try to claim such, usually because they want to allow those who have little or no knowledge of the Righteousness of the gospel or the Atonement to be called believers. But the Bible is clear; If a man is ignorant of God's righteousness in Christ he is lost according to Romans 10. He is calling God a liar according to 1John 5. And if he is ignorant of... or outright denies the Biblical doctrine of the Atoning work of Christ... he too is yet in his sin & is lost. This is elementary...
1Co 15: 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which
I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what
I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
This is the Atoning work of Christ and it must be fixed & understood 'according to the Scriptures' says Paul. As such it is the gospel. Now if a man does not believe this Atonement... or contradicts or denies it... can he be saved? Let Christ answer for us...
Mr 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall still be saved as an Arminian who
needs
to be straightened out doctrinally later on !!!
This is not meant to be funny at all folks. It is what many in
our day will have us believe. But the verse says that those who
do
not believe the gospel of Christ... which Paul tells us consists in His
Atoning work whereby He procured the righteousness of God for His
elect...
are damned!.... along with their ignorance. From this point
onward
there is nothing more to be said of the matter. The onus is
upon
those who attempt to unite faith with ignorance to demonstrate such
from
the Bible and they cannot. Therefore, those who propagate such
unbiblical
notions show that they neither understand what the gospel is nor do
they
preach it. And those who give ear to them do so at the peril of
their
own souls.
Postscript:
It is often erroneously concluded that we are saying that a man has
to be a 'full-blown' Calvinist; or he must understand the '5 points' in
order to be saved. This is not what we are saying. We do
say
that a man must believe the gospel and that's undeniable; Mark
16:16.
To put it another way that might lend itself to clarity, one must
believe
the Doctrine of the gospel; Rom 7:17. He must believe the Truth.
Here Doctrine & Truth are in the singular, not the plural.
The
conglomerate of 'doctrines' or 'truths'... plural, that a man
eventually
comes to understand & hold to will be the direct outworking of the
basic, bedrock foundation of 'Truth' that he 'subscribes' to.
When
Pilate asked Jesus 'What is truth' this is what he meant; he did
not ask, 'What are the truths...'. He was referring to
truth
as an organic quality of knowledge from which all other, true
'doctrines',
or understanding of reality will flow. Thus when Jesus said.. 'I
am the Truth' this is what He meant. To know Christ is to
know
'the' Truth... from which all other truths flow & will conform
to.
When man is in possession of 'the' Truth he then has the
foundation
upon which to judge all other ideas, doctrines, propositions etc... set
forth in the name of Truth. He has the ability to tell whether or
not these 'doctrines' are true or false. The result is that he
will
recognize & embrace that which is of the truth... and he will
reject
that which is not. In practical terms this means that, when God
saves
a person by the Truth of the gospel... even though he may not be able
to
write a systematics book... he will nevertheless recognize &
embrace
all the 'doctrines', plural, of the Bible as true. Nor does this
mean 'omniscience' or 'infallibility' with respect to the entire
Bible.
We mean here, those truths that are vital to the gospel of salvation.