By Mark W. Christy, PhD
In modern times, evangelical churches have become increasingly focused on an overly simplified gospel which focuses exclusively on the procurement of a (verbal) believing response irrespective of a lasting change in disposition that increasingly mirrors the holiness of God. To support their efforts, they appeal to passages like Romans 10:13 where Paul writes, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”[1] This verse among many others, of course, does indeed cement faith as the only means of salvation. This being the case, those affirming an overly simplified gospel argue that they have solid support. Despite their position, many other passages in the New Testament consider the characteristics of true saving faith, and it is here that churches who present an oversimplification of the gospel must turn so as to recover a proper, biblical, God-glorifying witness for Christ. To aid in this effort, this article will examine one such passage from Luke 14:25-35 to determine a major characteristic of true saving faith that has largely been absent from contemporary teaching on the subject.
In this passage, Jesus offers some ‘hard to swallow’ statements to those who would be his disciples; moreover, He excludes any would-be disciple who does not possess these characteristics. To make His case, Jesus says, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (v.26) Then He adds, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (v.27).
Just as it was alluded to in the introduction, Jesus seems to have moved beyond mere belief in response to a gospel presentation as He moves forward in His description of those who are truly saved. To begin with, Jesus calls upon His true disciples to hate their family members. Given His frequent calls to love others alongside His own example, this mandate seems counter-intuitive. To resolve the issue, one must realize that “hate” in this context expresses preference in a familiar Semitic manner. Another example of this can be found in Romans 9:13 which quotes God as saying, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (cf. Gen 29:31). Speaking of “hate” in this way, Jesus is stating that His true disciples will give preference to God above all else including those closest to them when they are forced to do so.
Without pausing, Jesus then makes a more familiar statement that is often repeated throughout the New Testament. Specifically, He declares that true disciples are those who follow His lead to the cross. This journey, though extremely difficult even for Jesus, was made by Him because He prioritized God’s will (cf. Luke 22:41-42). Like Him, Christ’s disciples must submit to God’s will less they prove themselves to be false believers, for this hardcore understanding of discipleship is exactly what Christ puts forward in v.27.
To clarify his point, Jesus continues:
“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (vv.28-33).
Here, Jesus cements the connection between confession and commitment. According to Him, true disciples “calculate the costs” before they embark on the task of following Jesus. Knowledge of the costs of such followership is necessary to those who would “finish” what they started. By implication, those who fail to finish cannot be Christ’s disciples.
In His second illustration concerning a looming battle between two kings, Jesus portrays Himself as the greater king with twenty thousand men and the individual disciple as the lesser king. Given the lesser king’s position in the face of pending war, the wise path, according to Jesus, would be to sue for peace so as to avoid certain ruin even if that means giving up all worldly possessions. Applying this to each disciple, Jesus posits another requirement for those who would be His disciples: “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (v.33).
Given this requirement, those who would follow Jesus, according to Jesus Himself, must abandon their claim to all things in this world. This condition, of course, is not a call to absolute poverty, as many biblical saints had various material assets under their possession. This being the case, Jesus’ meaning is that true disciples have fully entrusted their sustenance to God and no longer place their hope and security in their wealth. To put this another way, they willingly abandon their material possessions if that is what it takes to continue in their commitment to Christ.
After Christ finishes making His demands for absolute commitment from those who would be His disciples, He adds a final remark that seems, at first glance, to be disconnected. This, however, must not be the case given His use of “Therefore” as a transitioning word. His final statement is as follows, “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (vv.34-35).
By looking back at Christ’s comments in the previous verses, His meaning in vv.34-35 becomes readily apparent. Up until these words (as has been noted), Christ has been elevating commitment as a necessary hallmark for identifying those who are truly faithful. In these final verses, He refers to believers in general as salt. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus made a similar comment which confirms His portrayal of Christians as salt: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”
In line with His remarks in this verse from Matthew, Jesus in vv.34-35 suggests that not all salt remains salty. In other words, not all Christians are Christians indeed. The difference, as His preceding argumentation demonstrates, involves whether or not the supposed Christian is truly committed in their followership of Christ. To state this another way, true believers move beyond a simple confessional statement of belief and go on to back up their words with action such that their lives publicly exhibit their confessed identification with Christ.
Based upon the Lord’s clear connection between confession and commitment, churches must examine their methods of evangelism to ensure that would-be disciples are being acquainted with the costs of following Christ. Along with this, churches need to follow up appeals to believe the gospel with solid discipleship training that helps disciples develop their commitment. In connection with this, they need to call upon their membership to commit to real fellowship so that members can assist one another in the development of deeper commitment to the Lord. Finally, believers themselves need to carefully test themselves to make sure that their faith is more than mere words.
[1]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.