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                  ONLY?

Take any sentence and insert this word before or after a noun and see if it does not change the entire meaning of the statement.  Are we free to manipulate God's word in this way to support our ideas of what God's conditions of salvation should be?  See Rev. 28:18-19.
Try it with the passage to the right.

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Insertion of the "Only" Word
by Dave Brown
Return to the Causes of Common Errors page

The problem is a dissatisfaction with the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).  Inserting "only" when it is not there is a violation of Revelation 22:18, which condemns that adding to God's word.  It is also a violation of Rev. 22:19, which condemns "taking away" from God's word.  Why?  Because adding the word only implies that we need not worry about any other passages that deal with our salvation or anything else.  Truth can only be obtained from God's word by taking a comprehensive approach to bible study.


Let us begin by establishing the fact that faith is a condition of our salvation.  We believe with all of our hearts the truthfulness of all bible statements, including John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life") as well as the many other passages that teach that faith is a condition of salvation.  

Given that faith is essential to salvation, it behooves us to determine from the New Testament just what this word "faith" means.  There are two basic points of view in this regard:
  • The word faith always means "faith only," and "faith only" is nothing more than a mental assent to the fact that Jesus Christ is the son of God and he shed His blood for our sins (perhaps some other things -- doctrines of men are hard to pin down).
  • The word faith when used in the bible goes beyond mere mental assent to include all of that the New Testament indicates that a person who possesses faith will have in attitude and actions.  Faith is often used to refer to all of the conditions of salvation.  LIke the word love, that infers more than just a feeling, faith implies that one has every intent to give himself totally to Christ  Gal. 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that (life) which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, (the faith) which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me."

We urge a complete study of the word faith as used throughout the New Testament in order to resolve which of these two definitions are valid.  This article will provide a starting point along those lines.

Since there is a passage of scripture in James 2 that deals directly with this subject, this provides a good place to start our study.  It is the only place in the bible that talks about what faith only is.  The term "faith only" does not appear in any other context throughout the bible.


James 2:14-3:1
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith , but have not works? can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food,
16 and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith , if it have not works, is dead in itself.
18 Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith , and I have works: show me thy faith apart from (thy) works, and I by my works will show thee (my) faith .
19 Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect;
23 and the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God.
24 Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only .
25 And in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

This passage indicates that there are two types of faith: living faith and dead faith.  It states that faith only is dead faith, and cannot save.  It gives two examples of living faith at the extreme ends of the social spectrum.  It gives one example of dead faith in the demonic world.  We are given clear definitions and we are given examples.  No further explanation should be required.

Putting the word "only" after any word changes the normative meaning of that word.  If the word faith when it appears in the New Testament always means "faith only" then this would be common knowledge and the term "faith only" would never have been invented.  Clearly they are trying to change the meaning by saying that all faith is faith only.  Why?


Is it honest to insert the word "only" arbitrarily whenever the word faith appears?  Is this something that Jesus Christ would approve?  Let us consider some other things that the New Testament states save us, and let's see what happens when we insert the word "only."  Consider the following biblical statements that have just as much force as John 3:16 (since no biblical statement has more force than any other -- they are all perfectly true):
  • Matt. 10:22 (also stated by Jesus in Matt. 24:13 in a different context) "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved."  Does "enduring to the end" ONLY save?  
  • Matt. 10:32 (also Rom. 10): "Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven."  Does "confessing Christ" ONLY save?
  • Acts 2:21 (also Rom. 10:13): "And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Does "calling on the name of the Lord" ONLY save? 
  • Acts 2:41: "They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added (unto them) in that day about three thousand souls." Does "receiving his word" ONLY save?
  • Acts 15:11 (also Eph. 2:5) "But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they."  Are we saved by "the grace of the Lord Jesus" ONLY?
  • 2 Thess 2:10: "... and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."  Does "the love of the truth" ONLY save?
  • Titus 3:5: "... not by works (done) in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,"  Are we saved "according to his mercy" ONLY?
  • Heb 7:25: "Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."  Does "drawing near to God" ONLY save?
  • Phil 2:12-13: "So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure."  Does "working out our salvation" ONLY save?

Clearly the insertion of the word "ONLY" after a condition of salvation creates a doctrine that is foreign to the bible.  On the other hand, each of these conditions of salvation stands on its own in the verses sited above and therefore the condition expressed must encompass all of the others.  None of them refers to that particular condition standing alone in the absence of all others.  Faith is often used to refer to all of by a figure of speech called 
synecdoche, where a part refers to the whole (as in "hired hands").

In order to illustrate this, let us consider those items above that require our actions one at a time (in the same ordering above, so we will omit the scripture reference):
  • Enduring to the end
  • Confessing Christ
  • Calling on the name of the Lord
  • Receiving his word
  • Loving of the truth
  • Drawing near to God
  • Obedience

An examination of these terms demonstrates that none of them is a one-time action.  All of them are ongoing. And all of them are referring to the dedicated life of a Christian.  Even confessing Christ is taught as ongoing action, since we do not just confess with the mouth once, but we confess Christ with our actions every day of our lives.  So, any one of these can be said to produce salvation because they are all equivalent to each other.  So why so many different terms?  As far as the transformation of our lives are concerned, they all mean the same thing.  However, the New Testament uses all of these terms to express the different aspects of what it means to have faith and be saved by faith.  


Yes, since we are also saved by, faith, faith must be equivalent to the items in the list above as well -- the bible does not contradict itself.  We can safely add faith to the list (John 3:16).  Faith is not just something like getting your drivers license that once it is done you need not continue to acquire it.  Like the other items on the list, faith is ongoing  -- there is nothing in the bible that would indicate that a person can meet the condition of faith by a single action.  Like all of these other things that we are told save us, faith saves us by our continued trust in Jesus Christ as the king of our lives, allowing him to guide our every action.

This is what is called obeying the gospel (2 Thes. 1:8; 1 Pet. 4:17), which is the power of God to salvation, and then living by faith.  According to Romans 1:16-17: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith."  What does it mean to "live by" something?  There is just no "only" about it.



What are the conditions of salvation given by Jesus?


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