The Greatest Need in Evangelism Today is One Word: Believe

By Jeff Ropp

In "The Greatest Need in Evangelism Today is One Word: Believe," Jeff Ropp encourages Christians to use the one word the Bible uses the most in evangelism: Believe! By avoiding unclear cliches and using the word God uses most (believe), Christians can become more effective in witnessing to non-Christians and be more pleasing to God as a result. This book defends this truth by discussing the Scriptures that support it and the Scriptures that are thought to teach otherwise. Those who are confused by the array of 'gospels' today will greatly benefit from reading this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Ropp
• Release date: Dec 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9780615938288

Jeff Ropp

Since graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary, Jeff Ropp served as a pastor in four different churches in the Midwest over a period of nearly 20 years. He and his family are now transitioning to the mission field in southeast Asia to share the precious Gospel of Grace with those whom God has prepared to hear and believe, and then be taught how to live the Christian life.

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The Greatest Need in Evangelism Today is One Word: Believe

By Jeff Ropp

Copyright © 2014 by Jeff Ropp

Smashwords Edition

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the

NEW KING JAMES VERSION Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Graphic design by 289Design.org

Acronyms Used:

NASB: New American Standard Bible

NIV: New International Version

BAGD: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and

Other Early Christian Literature

To my beloved wife, Pat, whose love and support is second only to Jesus, to my precious daughters who are God’s gifts of grace to me, and to the most courageous and committed evangelists I know – Bob Tebow, Charles Stone, and the members of the Solid Rock Gospel Ministers Association in the Philippines.

Acknowledgements

First, I want to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for His amazing grace which makes it possible to even write about Him and the simplicity of the Gospel. Were it not for Him, none of this would be possible.

I also want to thank the many pastors, professors, family, and friends who have read or reread this manuscript and provided feedback that has improved the content of this book. You know my heart’s desire is to see more people in Heaven by keeping the Gospel message clear and simple. Thank you for your input.

I want to thank Bob Wilkin who provided many helpful suggestions about how to organize my thoughts and put them on paper. His insight was invaluable.

I am also indebted to Evelyn Celander, Paul Miles, Danny Ray, and Russ Perry whose editing abilities greatly improved the flow of this book and whose critiques made this a better book.

Special thanks goes to the 2 8 9 Design publishing staff who pulled the final manuscript together for publishing. Their input and helpfulness are greatly appreciated.

I pray this book will encourage many current and future evangelists to use the words God uses most in evangelism (believe and faith) so that more people will populate Heaven and enjoy their eternal lives together with Him who sits on the throne. To Him be all the glory!

1

People Are Being Told to Do Everything Today except Believe

I believe the greatest need in evangelism today is not for godliness among Christians, nor being more relevant to the needs and interests of non-Christians, nor social action such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or educating the disadvantaged. I do agree that these are important needs, but they are not the most important need in evangelism today.

You and I can live godly lives, but if we do not clearly communicate the most important message given to all of lost humanity, we are more likely to have given the lost a good works-filled life to admire on their way to the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15). We can use the most relevant methods in evangelism today which bring in larger groups of lost people to our churches, but if we are not clear on how God wants a non-Christian to respond to His Gospel message, we are more likely to have larger churches filled with satisfied people thinking they are on the path to life but walking the path to eternal destruction. Moreover, if we clothe, feed, and educate people without clearly communicating how God wants them to respond to His saving message, we are more likely to have well-fed, well-clothed, and well-educated people who will actually be separated from God forever.

When you read through the New Testament, what is the one word God uses most when inviting a non-Christian to respond to His Gospel of grace? It is the verb believe (pisteuō)¹ and its noun form faith (pistis).² These two words are used 270 times in contexts dealing with the doctrine of salvation from Hell. God uses these two words more than any other words when inviting a non-Christian to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.³

Yet how often today do you hear a Christian use the word believe when inviting a non-Christian to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It rarely happens. Search the internet and see how many Christian churches and organizations use the word believe or its synonym trust in their plan of salvation as the sole condition for obtaining eternal life from Jesus Christ. It is very seldom. Instead they use unclear clichés and phrases such as accept Jesus, give your life or heart to Jesus, ask Jesus into your heart, repent or turn from your sins, confess Jesus as Lord, or submit to Jesus as your Lord. Lost people are being told to do everything but believe in the Lord Jesus for eternal life. I am convinced that the greatest need in evangelism today is for Christian workers to return to using the words that God uses most in evangelism – the words believe and faith.

I am not the only one with this concern about using the words believe and faith more in evangelism, however. When the apostle Paul wrote the book of Galatians he was deeply distressed when he learned that the Galatian believers were being enticed by Judaizers (false teachers) to turn away from the true Gospel (faith alone in Christ alone for justification – 2:16) to a different gospel which taught you had to keep the Law to get to Heaven (1:6-7; 2:3-4, 11-16; 3:2-3, 5, 10-13, 21; 4:10, 21; 5:1b-3, 6, 11; 6:12-13, 15). Paul warned his readers that if he and the other apostles (we) or an angel from heaven preached a different gospel than what Paul preached to them, he is to be accursed or under God’s displeasure (1:8-9). Paul used the words believe and faith 15 times when referring to justification before God (2:16; 3:2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 22, 24, 26) in the book of Galatians. He used no other words as a condition for justification. He warned the Galatians not to support or join those who do not preach a believe/faith alone Gospel (1:6-9; 4:12, 21-30; 5:1-12; 6:17).

There is also a tract by Gene Greeson called Whatever Happened To The Word Believe ⁴ that expresses the same burden. Years ago an Awana missionary named Donald Bunge expressed similar concerns in an excellent book called What Happened To The Word Believe? ⁵

2

We Honor the Lord When We Use the Word Believe in Evangelism

The motivation to write this book came from John 7:14-18:

¹⁴ Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. ¹⁵ And the Jews marveled, saying, ‘How does this Man know letters, having never studied?’ ¹⁶ Jesus answered them and said, ‘My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. ¹⁷ If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. ¹⁸ He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.’

Christ was teaching in the temple during the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles (v. 14a). The crowd was amazed that Jesus could teach with such authority since He had no formal education (v. 15). Jesus tells the people, My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me (v. 16). Jesus was not self-taught nor did He receive His message from men. He obtained His message from His heavenly Father, the One who sent Him. If anyone was willing to do God’s will, not just to know God’s truth, God would enable that one to believe that Jesus’ teaching came from Heaven: If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority (v. 17). Although this verse applies to all of Christ’s teachings, it particularly applies to what a person must do to receive everlasting life. Everyone who is willing to do what God teaches is necessary for eternal life will learn what the one condition is for obtaining eternal life. Sadly, many of Jesus’ listeners did not want to do God’s will as it relates to receiving the gift of everlasting life (John 5:40). Instead, they wanted to murder Jesus and dismiss His teaching (7:19-20).

The Holy Spirit pierced my heart with what Jesus said next in verse 18, He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Jesus sought to glorify the One who sent Him by teaching the doctrine His Father gave Him (7:16; cf. 5:19-20; 12:49-50). Jesus did not seek His own glory. What Jesus taught was always consistent with what His Father taught. When a person advances the ideas of another person, it glorifies his teacher rather than himself. However, when he advances his own ideas instead of his teacher’s, it dishonors his teacher and glorifies himself.

For example, if my earthly father told me to