2. Thomas L. Constable, "The Gospel Message," in Walvoord: A Tribute (Chicago: Moody, 1982),
He Opens Blind Eyes
that must be believed for salvation. It contains these facts: (1) man is a sinner, (2) Christ is the Savior, (3) Christ died as man's substitute, and (4) Christ rose from the dead."2 The writer then goes on to argue that surrender to Christ's authority has no place in the gospel message: "Everyone who believes the gospel believes that Jesus is the Savior (1 Cor. 12:3). But not everyone who believes the gospel realizes that the Savior has the right to be sovereign over his life. The Child of God should also let Christ be sovereign over his life (Rom. 12:1 – 2), but obedience to that command is not a condition for salvation. . . . All that is required for salvation is believing the gospel message."3
And so informing an unbeliever that "the Savior has the right to be sovereign over his life" is challenged as extraneous doctrine added to the gospel. It is, we are told, tantamount to trying to make a theologian out of an unbeliever.
I reject that. A cultist who denies the deity of Christ could wholeheartedly affirm those four truths from 1 Co rin thi ans 15:3 – 4, but that does not make him a true believer. Along with everyone else who rejects the Savior's right to be sovereign, that person is an unbeliever, no matter what other points of evangelical doctrine he or she might accept. True faith embraces not only the data of the gospel, but the Person of Christ as well. It comprehends not merely the truth that Jesus died and rose again, but also the corresponding implication: that He did this to deliver us from our sins in order to be the sovereign Master of our lives (Rom. 14:9).
The gospel is not a sterile set of facts; it is the dynamic through which God redeems sinners from the bondage of sin (Rom. 1:16). It calls not simply for the acquiescence of the mind, but for the full surrender of the heart, soul, mind, and strength (cf. Mark 12:30). Its work is not to make a theologian of a heathen, but to open the eyes of the spiritually blind.
John 9 is a clear case in point. There Jesus heals a man born blind, and in a second encounter with the same man, opens his spiritual eyes. In the interim, confronted by hostile Pharisees, the man — clearly no theologian — nevertheless gave a forceful and accurate testimony on behalf of Christ. Yet he was unregenerate, having not yet come to full faith in Christ. In fact, though Jesus had healed his sightless physical eyes, he was still in the dark about who Jesus was (v. 25). But when Jesus finished opening his spiritual eyes, he worshiped Christ as Lord (v. 38). It was not a theology lesson that brought about this transformation, but a miracle of divine grace.
2. Th omas L. Constable, "Th e Gospel Message," in Walvoord: A Tribute (Chicago: Moody, 1982), 203 – 4. 3. Ibid., 209.