The Problem with Saying It's Not a Salvation Issue

You’ve probably heard this question before, but in case you haven’t, no, the answer is not five. People typically ask this question to highlight something important about the way that we discover and describe truth. The reason that the answer is not five is simple: calling a “tail” a “leg” doesn’t make it one. The important truth that this demonstrates is that while our perceptions might shape our view of reality, they cannot shape reality itself – at least not at relates to absolute truth. Our thoughts about whether a thing is or is not don’t change that thing in any way (no matter what happened to Schrödinger's cat).

Sadly, even people who know this to be true seem to forget it whenever the Bible is involved. Have you ever heard people discuss beliefs or behaviors that stem from the Bible by describing them in light of their relationship to salvation? Typically, this happens when someone wants to disconnect a belief or behavior from the idea of salvation. They’ll cap off a study or a discussion of that thing by saying, “It’s not a salvation issue.” Effectively, they’re saying that while a certain thing may be worth considering or discussing, it’s not something that really matters, because it’s not something that Jesus will mention when we appear before His judgment seat (2 Corinthians 5:10).

There definitely are some things that are not “salvation issues.” For example, Paul told Titus, “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless” (Titus 3:9). While Paul would definitely say that the law, i.e., the Law of Moses or the Old Testament, is worth studying and considering (and he did in fact say that – Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11), he didn’t want Titus (and by extension us) to get involved in certain fights relating to its content. Theologically, this is because we have become “released” and “delivered from the law” (Romans 7:1-6), but even if we didn’t know that, we would know that these things weren’t salvation issues because an inspired author told us not to worry about them.

The problem with saying, “It’s not a salvation issue,” though is that we don’t typically do so simply in agreement with passages like Titus 3:9. Most of the time when we say this, we add two of the most dangerous words in the world: “I think.” But why are these words so dangerous, especially as relates to salvation?

Remember Naaman? Naaman was the “commander of the army of the king of Syria,” a great man who had one big problem: he had contracted leprosy, a skin disease which in those days was typically life threatening (2 Kings 5:1). To make a long story short, Naaman was given a solution to his leprosy by the prophet Elisha, who told him through his servant Gehazi to immerse himself seven times in the Jordan river. Rather than do so at first, Naaman “was angry,” and said, “Behold, I thought” (2 Kings 5:11 ESV). He then described how he believed his salvation would have come to pass before speculating about washing in the rivers of his country rather than the muddy waters of the Jordan (2 Kings 5:12).

Naaman had thoughts and those thoughts were tied to strong emotions. The question though is, did Naaman’s thoughts and/or emotions change anything about Elisha’s solution? No. What if the solution given to Naaman was given to a group of lepers as well? If Naaman said, “I don’t think washing in the Jordan is a salvation issue. We should be able to wash in the rivers back in Syria too,” would that have made it so? Again, the answer is no, and the reason again is that our perceptions do not shape reality or truth.

Our judgments about things do matter to some degree. In a somewhat difficult passage, Paul said,


However we understand this passage, we shouldn’t try to make it contradict what Paul said just a couple of chapters earlier:


Reflecting on the context, at the very least, I believe Paul is saying this in 1 Corinthians 4: while my skills in judgment could potentially determine how a brother should be treated who is obviously living in sin (1 Corinthians 5:3) or even help two quarrelling brothers to find a resolution to their problems (1 Corinthians 6:1), I am not a judge. That position belongs exclusively to Jesus. As James said, “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” (James 4:12).

But what about 1 Corinthians 6? What does Paul mean when he says that the world and the angels will be judged by the saints (i.e., Christians)? Given that judgment does indeed belong exclusively to Jesus, I believe that at the very least it means that as a Christian, I will one day be expected to stand with Jesus in full agreement of His judgment. It’s inconsistent for us to have been added to the body of Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:13) and yet judge things differently than our Head does. This is why the Corinthian letter begins with an appeal for us to “be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). This is not only to prevent divisions with each other; it is to keep us in agreement with Jesus. Jesus wants us to be united both with each other and with Him.

This means that there could be at least two very real problems with our declarations about what is or what isn’t a salvation issue. One, our declarations do not change the truth of the matter in any way. In fact, they may actually obscure the truth for someone who is searching for it. Two, getting into the habit of declaring things to be or not to be salvation issues does not prepare us to stand united with Jesus and in full agreement with His judgment one day.

What if, instead of saying, “I don’t think that’s a salvation issue,” we got into the habit of opening the Bible to see what the New Testament of Jesus Christ actually says? It’s not as though Jesus thought His words were mysterious or unknowable. On the contrary, even He depersonalized the judgment that rightfully belongs to Him. “I did not come to judge the world,” He says, not because He won’t, but because His judgment will be totally in line with His revealed Word: “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:47-48). Yes, there are some things in Jesus’ New Testament that are “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16), but nothing that is impossible to understand if we put forth enough effort (Ephesians 3:4; 5:17).

Again, Jesus is the final arbiter in matters of salvation. Let’s not run the risk of opposing Jesus’ judgment by attempting to disconnect any aspect of His revealed Word with salvation unless His word does so first. And let’s seek to be united with Him and with other Christians in all things.

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org