What Must I Do?

by Stephen Bastin

contact writer

There is a problem with the Bible.  When I take my favorite verse and build a theory on that verse, it seems like there is always another verse that tears down my theory.  It’s not fair!

I ought to be able to just read those parts of the Bible I like and skip the rest.  Why do I have to explain why my theory does not fit the rest of the Bible?  That’s too much work to try to consider all that the Bible teaches.

Sound a little silly.  Well, that is the way it is in real life.  Whole religions are constructed on some theory built around a few verses while ignoring other verses.  People flock to those religions.  After all, they are teaching the Bible!

Reminds me of the fellow who went to the Bible to find some consolation.  Not knowing where to look, he simply shut his eyes, opened the Bible, pointed to a verse, opened his eyes and read, “Judas went and hanged himself.”  Not finding much encouragement, he decided to repeat the process.  The second time he read, “Go and do thou likewise.”  Not liking that advice, he tried one last time.  He read, “What thou doest, do quickly.”  He gave up.

Three good verses.  Taken together (and out of their context) they prove that you ought to go out quickly and hang yourself.  Is that what God is telling you to do?  NO!

Consider the question, “What must I do to be saved?” or something similar, like “What must I do to have eternal life?” or simply  “What must I do?”  There are different answers to this question in the Bible.  Those differences can be explained by the different circumstances for the people asking the question.  It is not multiple choice; pick the one you like.

One example (found in Matthew 19) is the rich man who came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to have eternal life?”  This man was living under the covenant of Moses so Jesus answered it based on that relationship.  “Keep the commandments,” was Jesus initial response.  When pressed for more details, Jesus told him to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor.

Jesus did not say, “There is nothing for you to do.  I am going to die on the cross and all you need to do is believe that.  Don’t you know that you cannot be saved by works and anything that you do is “works.”  That was not Jesus answer.  That is the answer that is being given by many people today, but that answer does not come from Jesus.

Another example is found in Acts 2.  Jewish people who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of weeks heard Peter preach about Jesus.  When Peter concluded by telling them that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ, they asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  Peter told them to repent and be baptized.

Again, Peter did not say, “Since you already believe that Jesus died for you there is nothing for you to do; you are already saved.”  They were to “repent and be baptized for the forgiveness” of their sins and  they would “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Certainly they had not been saved without forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.  The answer, “There is nothing for you to do” does not come from Peter.

Peter’s answer is based on the commission he had received from Jesus.  His answer was based on the new covenant of Jesus, not the old covenant of Moses.

Where did Peter get his answer?  Did he make it up or did he get it from God?  If he made it up we can ignore him and take somebody else’s answer.  If he got it from God then we need to listen!

There is a short answer and there is a long answer to the question, “Did Peter get it from God?”  The long answer gives all the detailed evidence.  The short answer is found in Jesus’ teaching, given to his apostles after his resurrection and before his ascension.  In Matthew’s account, Jesus told his apostles that he had all authority and that they were to go and make disciples, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever” Jesus had commanded them.  In Mark’s account, Jesus told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, he who disbelieves shall be condemned.”  In Luke’s account they were to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come to the apostles to “guide them into all truth.”  Peter, and the other apostles, received the Holy Spirit just before he answered the question, “What shall we do?”

Doing something which God has commanded and trying to keep the law in order to earn salvation are two different things.  Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”  There is something to do.  The writer of Hebrews wrote concerning Jesus, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.  And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.”  He saves those who obey him.  Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

In each of the examples above there is obedience required for salvation.  If the Bible says that we must obey in order to be saved, then all that is left is to ask what we must obey after we believe and before we are saved.

Peter supplied the answer as we already noted.  Our obedience must lead us to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins.  That is God’s plan.