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<h2 class="Heading1" style="margin: 14pt 0pt 6pt; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">Van Kampen Disagrees On Traditional Meaning Of John 3:16</h2>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><a name="pgfId-997351"></a>Like Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard, and John MacArthur, Robert Van Kampen in his book <em>The Sign</em> (Crossway: 2000) says more than belief is necessary to be saved. Van Kampen says John 3:16, and the verb <em>pisteuo</em> translated as <em>believe</em>, mean more than <em>belief alone</em>. Van Kampen claims that “many people acknowledge that Christ is the Savior and the only way to salvation, but are not saved because they have never repented of their sin and placed their personal trust in Him as King.” He says John 3:16 means in Greek to convey those requirements, and not belief alone.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><a name="pgfId-997352"></a>Van Kampen claims those who rely upon an epiphany of acceptance of Jesus is “exactly the kind of false, or incomplete, belief Jesus spoke” about in Matthew 7:21-23.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><a name="pgfId-997353"></a>In that passage, Jesus described people who had signs and prophecy in Jesus name, but Jesus denied them because they worked anomia (which means lawlessness or the negation of the Mosaic law.) Van Kampen insists that salvation depends on the “total commitment of ones heart to follow Christ,” and not “mere assent to the truth of the gospel.” In other words, an obedience for Christ.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><a name="pgfId-997354"></a>If Van Kampen is correct, then those who think believing in things like the resurrection saves them are trusting in an insufficient experience for salvation. Despite famous people and organizations endorsing this belief-alone salvation, if what Van Kampen and many others are saying is true, many who rely upon faith alone are as lost as they were before coming to believe Jesus was Savior. Only if the convert also committed his life to Christ, repented from his sins and followed Him devoutly in obedience to His commands and His position as Lord will such a convert be saved.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"><a name="pgfId-997355"></a>If Van Kampen is right, there are going to be a lot of people -- millions of people -- who will find out when it is too late that they were deluded. Van Kampen is saying they were deluded precisely in how they understood the Greek word pisteuo in John 3:16. But is Van Kampen correct?</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">For the thorough answer, see our chapter on John 3:16 in<em> Jesus' Words on Salvation</em> at this <a href="/topicindex/161-chapter-26-1jwos.html">link.</a></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Study Notes:</strong></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin: 0pt; font-size: medium; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">Christian Courier agrees that John 3:36 reveals&nbsp;<em>pisteuo</em>&nbsp;as used there, even though translated as&nbsp;<em>believe</em> in the KJV, was contrasted with&nbsp;<em>disobey</em>, and that this means in John 3:36 it meant <em>to obey</em>. The article reads reads:</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 30px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">(3) Belief can be used — and frequently is — in the full sense of being&nbsp;<em>obedient</em>. Jesus taught:</p>
<blockquote style="padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 50px; font-size: 17.5px; border-left-width: 5px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: #eeeeee; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; font-size: 15.9949998855591px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, 'Courier New', monospace;">“He that believeth [pisteuo] on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not [apeitho] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” John 3:36 —&nbsp;<span class="caps">ASV</span>).</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 30px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">[Note: The King James translators did not favor us by rendering two different Greek terms by the same English word. An important distinction was obscured. Cf. Heb. 3:18-19 &nbsp;<span class="caps">ASV</span>.]</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 30px; font-size: 16.0020008087158px; line-height: 1.67em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">In the ultimate sense, therefore, to&nbsp;<em>believe</em>&nbsp;the Lord is to&nbsp;<em>do what he says</em>, and a&nbsp;<em>refusal to obey</em>&nbsp;his will is an expression of&nbsp;<em>disbelief</em>. This is a sobering thought. (Wayne Jackson, <a href="https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/805-belief-as-used-in-the-book-of-acts">Belief as Used in the Book of Acts</a>,&nbsp;<em>Christian Courier.</em>)</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">&nbsp;Hence, "believing on" the son means obeying unto the son.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">The same usage of "apeitho" and "pisteuo" are found in Acts 14:1-4, where some "pisteuo" and some "apeitho." See <a href="http://biblehub.com/text/acts/14-1.htm">Biblehub</a>.</span></p> </td>
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