Does "Believer Hath Everlasting Life" Prove Salvation Is At The Point Of Faith?

Many say a verse like John 6:47b (“He that believeth on me (Jesus) hath everlasting life”) proves salvation comes at the point of faith, thereby ruling out water baptism as also being necessary. They reason the verse says the believer in Christ “hath” everlasting life, meaning present possession, and that is said about a believer so that must mean a person presently possesses everlasting life (is saved) at the moment he believes - before he is baptized.But how would that reasoning work with a verse like John 5:24 which reads “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life”? Wouldn’t the same reasoning prove a person is saved at the point of believing in God the Father, thereby ruling out believing in Jesus as also being necessary? Isn’t the verse saying those who believe in God the Father “hath” everlasting life? That would mean all the Jews and Muslims are saved after all! But we know that is not true based on hundreds of passages that make believing in Jesus a necessity to salvation, like John 14:6 for example – “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”The simple truth is that Jesus is not intending to state all the necessary conditions of salvation in any one of these verses. It would be like me stating I caught a bass with my Zebco 202 (fishing reel). I wouldn’t mean by that statement that fishing line wasn’t necessary or that a lure wasn’t necessary; instead I would just be stating one of the several essentials. When it comes to the subject of salvation (or any other religious issue) we must take the sum of God’s word, everything he has said on the topic (Matt 4:4) - and put it all together. Then, and only then, we will have God’s complete answer to the question. When Jesus said in Mark 16:16a “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” he wasn’t lying about it.

UncategorizedPatrick Donahue