© Copyright January 24, 2009, Bernie L. Gillespie. All Rights Reserved.

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Those who challenge the teaching of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone use such loaded phrases as “easy believism,” and “cheap grace.” The insinuation is that salvation by faith alone is watered-down, lax, and morally weak. In the historic debate salvation by faith has been characterize as antinomian, i.e., lawless. It is assumed that Christians who believe they are saved by the sheer grace of God, with only naked faith in Christ, are ethically irresponsible and morally careless. They are seen as neglecting obedience to God and the necessity of good works. 

But if there is “easy believism,” then one wonders what “hard believism” would be like. How does one make believing harder? And should we make it harder? As we look deeper, we see that the aspersion of “easy believism” goes to the very definition and nature of faith. What is true saving faith? 

To have faith means more than to have an opinion, belief or conviction. It means far more than knowledge or acknowledgment. It means trust and reliance. "Reliance upon a thing or person supposed to be trustworthy, this is Faith."[1]As I said, some make the mistake of faulting those who hold to "faith alone" as "easy believism" or mere "mental assent." But the issue is more than "easy believism" or "uneasy legalism." The phrase "easy believism" betrays a lack of understanding concerning what Scripture teaches about saving faith. The issue is the clear meaning of saving faith as presented in Scripture.  

Some propose that we can make saving faith “harder” by adding obedience to it. Faith alone is “easy believism,” but if obedience is made essential to our salvation, then faith is made harder. What is behind the desire to make salvation “harder”? Some may claim that we honor God through obedience as part of our salvation. That would be true if we could fully obey God. The simplest answer to this is found in Romans. Paul received a new understanding of obedience that the Gospel teaches or makes possible. In Romans 1:5 Paul speaks of "the obedience of faith". While some have attempted to say that Paul means that true faith is obedience, that is the very opposite of what he is saying. Paul claims that true obedience is faith!

Read the full article at “Easy Believism: How Would ‘Hard Believism’ Affect the Gospel?”