I believe the greatest Christian heresy to be the one which goes something like this, “Only believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved and go to heaven.” That doctrine must be based primarily on the following statement by Paul,

⁵ For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. ⁶ But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:5-13 ESV)

Am I saying, then, that I believe Paul to have been in error when he said this? Absolutely not. Paul spoke as the Holy Spirit led him to and his words recorded in the New Testament are every bit as much a part of Scripture, the inerrant word of God, as even the Gospels. The problem is that we water down Paul’s words and flippantly interpret them. To “confess” that Jesus is Lord means that we speak the same things as Jesus our Lord said. It does not mean that we can simply think or approve of the thought that Jesus was the Son of God who died for our sins and then believe we will automatically be saved and “go to heaven” It does not mean that if we simply “say” Jesus is Lord that we will be saved. Jesus himself makes this very clear when he says,

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

No, the belief and confession that Paul envisions assumes an active “faith” in a person, a faith that assents to the truth that Jesus embodies and which then endeavors to work out that truth in his life on earth. The Bible calls a person with this type of faith an “overcomer.” The most succinct definition of an overcomer occurs in Revelation 12 and makes these ideas very clear. John wrote,

¹¹ And they have conquered [overcome] him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12:11)

“By the blood of the Lamb” here speaks of the essence of our faith. Overcoming Christians know that their righteousness and their salvation rests in Jesus, not in themselves. They know that the blood of the Lamb washes their sins away from them, leaving their spirits pure and holy. They believe in Jesus’ work of redemption, not in their own works. They are not “self-righteous;” they are “God-made righteous.” Thus they possess the righteousness which comes by faith and not by works. They do not boast in their own righteousness. They rest in Christ’s righteousness which God accounts to them.

Second, “the word of their testimony” concerns their confession of Christ. This is that which Paul writes about in Romans 10 above. The overcomer’s testimony, the overcomer’s confession, is the very same testimony and confession of Jesus Christ himself. Remember that Jesus Christ is “the word of God made flesh.” Remember that all of God’s word is “truth.” Jesus himself was God’s truth manifested on earth. Likewise do God’s overcomers speak his truth. “The word of their testimony” thus is “the word of truth.” Overcomers never call good “evil” and never call evil “good.” Overcomers, like Jesus, call marriage between a man and a woman “good.” They call raising children in the fear and admonition of the Lord “good.” They call loving their wives “good.” They say that loving and helping their neighbor is “good.” On the other hand they declare sin to be sin just as Jesus declared sin to be sin. God’s moral law, unlike man’s, does not change. Adultery was sin in Jesus’ day. Adultery is sin today. Murder was sin in Jesus’ day. Murder is sin today. Theft was sin in Jesus day. Theft is sin today. And society’s new definition of “marriage” between a man and a man or a woman and a woman is sin today just as it would have been sin to Jesus. Jesus through John makes all of this very clear at the very end of the Bible. He succinctly states those who will make it to heaven (New Jerusalem) and those who will not. He says,

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes,^[e] so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:14-15)

Third, the overcomers “loved not their lives even unto death.” This speaks of the second death, the death of the carnal soul. Overcomers embrace God’s life to the exclusion of their own lives. Thus Jesus proclaims,

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:24)

Satan entices all of us to indulge our lives, to partake of the pleasures of sin. He would have all of us to be adulterers and thieves and drunkards. The “ruler of this world” offers us vast riches and limitless carnal pleasures if we would but deny God’s ways and walk in the way of sin instead. But no! The overcomer will have none of this. Instead he will choose to die to the lusts of his flesh. He will embrace God’s way. He will “confess” God’s way. He will trust in the blood of the Lamb that cleanses him from all unrighteousness and he will learn to speak the same things as God in the hope that one day he will fully possess God’s life and be fully rid of his carnal life and desires. The overcomer longs for the day when he will become fully conformed to God’s image!