I came across the above video by Matt Slick, teaching the predictable “Reformed” theology of Evangelicalism, of which the following is a brief extract. At around 2:40 minutes into the video he says this:
“No law is a law without a penalty. The penalty for breaking the law of God is eternal damnation. Ezekiel 18:4 says: ‘The soul who sins will die.’ Isaiah 59:2 says: ‘But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.’”
The implication of the above, in the context of his message, is that once you have “sinned,” you have had it! There is nothing that you can do to be rescued from that predicament, and escape eternal damnation, except to “believe” in Jesus, and rely on him to save you from it. Those scripture quotes, however, are one-sided, taken out of context, and do not tell the full story. The OT prophets never say that once you have sinned, you have had it, and you have no hope until you “believe”. They never teach the “faith alone” doctrine. What they consistently teach is that once you have sinned, you have had it unless you repent! The emphasis is always on repentance, rather than on “faith”—repentance meaning to turn away from evil and sin. Ezekiel for example says the following in the same chapter:
Ezekiel 18:
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
No “faith” is mentioned in there at all. Isaiah says the same thing:
Isaiah 1:
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, [when you repent] they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, [when you repent] they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
In the above passage, verse 18 is often quoted out of context, which distorts the meaning. It requires the context of the previous and succeeding verses for the meaning to be made clear. In other words their sins will be forgiven, and become “white as wool,” provided that they repent. Repentance is the only criterion that is mentioned. No faith, or anything else. A measure of faith may be implied, but it is not the primary element. Repentance is always the deciding factor. The emphasis is always on repentance, not faith. And that is what is taught by all the Old Testament prophets. They all teach the same thing. Here is an example from Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 22:
3 Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
None of them ever taught a “faith alone” doctrine. A particularly interesting example is the case of Jonah. The people of Nineveh were not even Israelites. They didn’t believe in the “God of Israel”. They believed in their own generic version of a supreme Deity, whatever that was. Jonah did not preach to them “faith”. He did not try to “convert” them to the Israelite religion. He did not tell them to “believe in Jehovah” to be saved. He preached to them repentance. And when they repented, God forgave them. If they had any kind of “faith,” it was more like faith in the words of Jonah rather than anything else.
“Faith alone” is not biblical. In the Bible, it doesn’t matter what religion you are in. If you genuinely and sincerely repent of your evil doing, you will be forgiven. Daniel taught the same thing to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was a heathen:
Daniel 4:
27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.
He didn’t try to “convert him to Jehovah;” just advising him to repent. That is what they all teach, in the Old as well as the New Testaments (e.g. Rom. 2:6–16; Gal. 6:7–10; Acts 10:34–35). “Faith alone” is the doctrine of the devil. It is Satanic. It is an abomination. It is a heresy invented by the arch heretics of the Reformation, like Luther and Calvin and the rest. It damns anybody who goes anywhere near it.
