For example Jesus was born of a virgin for the explicit purpose that only he out of all his contemporaries is the only begotten son of God. Also regarding his resurrection he still at this time is the only holder of that distinction. For the rest of us regarding the fact that we are all here by the process of natural birth it is fact that the process of natural birth has excluded us from being a child of God. Jn. 1:13 NIV. For this reason it is ultra important for us to become born again by God to become children of God. Therefore it is of the most extreme importance for us to fully understand and enjoin ourselves by the belief of the faith that has been perfected by the crucifixion of Jesus to become born of God. Just as natural birth is common to mankind for natural life it is also fully necessary for mankind that there be one common proposal of faith to be come born of God for eternal life.

However contemporarily there is much argument, disagreement and contention. For there is no satisfactory contemporary proposal that explains the Way for us to become born of God that the Bible has not written objection against these contemporary proposals of belief. The fact is Jesus has said that the gate to use for the process of being born of God is small, very narrow, and only a few people ever find it and make every effort to use this gate. For if not you’re not a Christian.

After Jesus was crucified, rose from among the dead and ascended back to his father he was installed in the office of the high priest and relative to this is the fact that new law was put into effect. This new law described by the apostle Paul,

“the law was added so that the trespass
might increase.”

making it mandatory for each person by the faith of obedience to the authority of Jesus to obey this law to begin the process of becoming born of God to inherit eternal life as the reward. There are several facts regarding the crucifixion of Jesus relative to the new law that the world must understand first. The crucifixion of Jesus, God’s only begotten son, is the sin of murder caused by bloodshed. Since it is fact that he in the form of a man has lost his life by bloodshed, and relative to the fact that anytime a man’s life is lost by bloodshed God demands an accounting directly to him. God as a demonstration of his love for the world, by the law of the faith of Christ, has made it the lawful requirement of everyone to by faith repent of the one sin of Jesus’ murder for the forgiveness of all sins. For Jesus’ crucifixion is the obedience of one man unto death caused by bloodshed and has by the new law made it impossible for the natural born person to escape from death by not having the faith to obey only him for life. The Christian believes this to be a Christian. Any other belief is not believed by a Christian. This should clarify things.

I am also confused about what you said about Substitutionary atonement. What does it mean to believe the gospel if you reject the the central event?

Also, I can understand your hesistation about belief in the Bible as essential to salvation. It surprised me, too. However, after his explaination (and I would recommend that you download the message and listen to all he has to say), I came to understand what he meant. I imagine a person who becomes a Christian on their death bed would not need to state “I believe in the Bible” in order to go to Heaven. However, if a person lives as a Christian rejecting the Bible as God’s word and completely negelting it, how can they maintain their Christianity, not to meantion grow in godliness? The Bible is the only source where we can learn who God is, what He has done, and how we are to live. Without it, we are lost. It is our defense against sin (Ephesians 6:17), what we need to do what we are commanded (2 Timothy 3:16-17), our very life (Dt. 8:3). Pastors are repeatedly commanded to preach God’s word. If we disobey God in this, have we truly repented from our sins?

The church my mom grew up in has drifted from the Bible. When my mom was a child, the pastor was far more interested in current events than what God had to say, so that is what he preached on Sundays. God graciously saved my mom in spite of this, but she did not grow in God until she came to our current church where the Bible is preached. The church is now dying. It’s membership is reduced to a few old people who chose a man for pastor that neither knows nor agrees with the Bible. Sadly, my unbelieving great aunt who still attends is quite happy with him because he allows her to continue in ignorance as she lives they way she wants to. This is truly a tragedy. No matter what the church sings or says, can it be Christian?

I don’t mean to be argumentative. I think it is important to weigh everything we hear and not take a man’s word for it, no matter how “impressive” and godly he may be. While Mr. Dever is certainly a wise man and we would do well to listen to him, I am sure he would be among the first to say, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be acursed.” (Galatians 1:8) Let me encourage you as a sister in Christ to search the Bible for the answers.

For example: While I firmly believe in an orthodox conception of the Trinity, I see no reason to believe that the Arians — or anyone else who has a different understanding of the Trinity — should be labeled as non-Christians. While Paul (and the rest of the Scripture) clearly teaches Trinitarianism, he does not say “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Nicene Trinity, and thou shalt be saved.” It disturbs me that someone as respectable as Mr. Dever would link salvation itself with correct understanding of a theological point (important though this one is).

It also concerns me to see belief in a substitutionary atonement as a condition for fellowship — even for salvation! Such a hotly debated, widely disagreed-upon topic (that was by no means mainstream until the Reformation) should never be given such an important place. We should guard against the idea that we have to know how the atonement works for us in order for the atonement to work for us.

Finally, I am sad to see the Bible’s place in our epistemological scheme raised to a marker of salvation. So far from justification by faith, this list looks more like a doctrine of justification by evangelicalism. I pray I’ve misunderstood this message. But if I haven’t, I’m afraid that Mr. Dever has limited fellowship and salvation to evangelicals, and blocked off all others who believe in Jesus the Messiah.