Does John 1:12 Present Two Steps to Salvation?

Summary

Grace in Focus Podcast Summary
Episode: Does John 1:12 Present Two Steps to Salvation?
Date: June 4, 2026
Hosts: Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr
Podcast: Grace in Focus (Grace Evangelical Society)

---

Overview

In this concise, 13-minute episode, hosts Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr address a commonly debated theological question: Does John 1:12 teach a two-step process for salvation—first receiving Christ, then believing in Him? Drawing from the passage and wider scriptural context, the hosts argue for a single-step salvation by faith alone. They also discuss the misinterpretation of “receiving” Christ as inviting Him into one’s heart, tracing this error to popular evangelistic practices.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Listener's Question and John 1:12 Context

[01:10]

• Listener’s Concern: Some claim John 1:12 shows two steps—receiving Christ and then believing in His name.
• Scripture in Focus:
  • John 1:12-13:
    • “But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name.”
    • “Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

2. Grammar and Explanation: One Step, Not Two

[01:49] – [04:33]

• “Receiving” and “Believing” Are One and the Same:

  • The phrase “to those who believe in His name” explains what is meant by “as many as received Him.”
  • Sam Marr:
    • “The them there is those who believe in his name. It's not saying two steps, it's saying one step. The one step is believing in his name.” ([03:25])
  • The hosts clarify that the appositive structure in Greek (and reflected in English punctuation) indicates these phrases are equivalent, not sequential or separate steps.

• Restating in Plainer English:

  • Bob Wilkin:
    • “Is what you're saying as many as received him is the same as those who believed in Him?” ([03:53])
  • Marr confirms this, suggesting the verse could be paraphrased as, “Whoever believes in his name is a child of God.”

3. Misunderstanding ‘Receiving’ as Inviting Jesus into the Heart

[05:06] – [07:03]

• The phrase “receiving Christ” is often misused in evangelism, equated with inviting Jesus into one’s heart or life.
• Sam Marr:
  • “Inviting Jesus in doesn’t give anybody eternal life. And that's not what receiving him means.” ([06:00])
  • Recalls personal experience of inviting Jesus in “hundreds of times,” thinking sincerity was key to being born again.
• The common expression is not a focus in the Gospel of John; rather, “belief” is emphasized repeatedly (e.g., John 3:16, 6:47).

4. Scriptural Interpretation Principles

[07:38] – [09:08]

• Wilkin: The less common term (“receive”) must be interpreted in light of the repeatedly used, clearer term (“believe”).
• John’s writing style helps—key terms like “believe,” “everlasting life,” and “in Him” appear often, clarifying his main focus.

5. Other Misapplied Verses: Revelation 3:20

[09:08] – [11:30]

• The only other verse sometimes used for “inviting Jesus in” is Revelation 3:20, but this is about fellowship with believers, not regeneration or salvation.
• Sam Marr:
  • “That's a verse about fellowship. That's not a verse about regeneration. And that's a verse directed to a local church, the church at Laodicea. It's not a verse directed to individuals.” ([09:48])

6. Origins of the Error in Evangelism

[10:00] – [11:50]

• Historical context: Bill Bright’s “Four Spiritual Laws” popularized closing evangelistic conversations by urging people to pray and “invite Jesus into your heart.”
• This method, while making evangelism easier, is unscriptural and can cause confusion, even distress (esp. among children).
• The only evangelistic book in the Bible—John—focuses on faith in Christ alone for everlasting life.

7. Final Summary and Takeaway

[12:30] – [12:49]

• One step for salvation: believe in Christ.
• Belief in His name, belief in Him, or belief that Jesus is the Christ are all synonymous for receiving eternal life.
• Encouragement to be Bereans (Acts 17:11)—search the Scriptures to confirm these claims.

---

Notable Quotes

• Sam Marr ([03:25]):
  “The them there is those who believe in his name. It's not saying two steps, it's saying one step. The one step is believing in his name.”
• Bob Wilkin ([03:53]):
  “Is what you're saying as many as received him is the same as those who believed in Him?”
• Sam Marr ([05:06]):
  “A lot of people have said that receiving him is inviting him into my heart... inviting Jesus in doesn’t give anybody eternal life. And that's not what receiving him means.”
• Sam Marr ([09:48]):
  “[Revelation 3:20]...That's a verse about fellowship. That's not a verse about regeneration.”
• Sam Marr ([11:36]):
  “Believing in Jesus is simple. Inviting him into your heart is nutty.”
• Sam Marr ([12:16]):
  “John 1:12 is not giving a two step approach. It's a one step approach. And the one step is believing in him.”

---

Important Timestamps

• [01:10] — Introduction of the listener’s question about John 1:12 and the “two-step” claim
• [03:25] — Explanation of apposition in John 1:12
• [05:06] — Addressing “inviting Jesus into your heart” as a misunderstanding
• [07:38] — Advocating for interpretation based on repeated terms in John
• [09:08] — Contrasting John 1:12 with Revelation 3:20
• [11:36] — Critique of the “invite Jesus in” method in evangelism
• [12:16] — Final summary: salvation is by believing in Christ alone

---

Style, Language & Tone

Throughout, the hosts speak plainly yet theologically, combining personal experience with scriptural exegesis. They maintain a conversational and encouraging tone, aiming to clarify misunderstandings within evangelical culture and point listeners back to clear scriptural teaching.

---

Takeaway for Listeners

John 1:12 does not teach a two-step process for salvation. “Receiving” Christ and “believing in His name” are synonymous, not sequential. The single condition for becoming a child of God is faith in Jesus Christ. Invitations to “invite Jesus into your heart” are well-meaning but misplaced and unsupported by John’s Gospel. Always test evangelistic methods by the clear teaching of Scripture—be a Berean!

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. Welcome friend. This is Grace in Focus and today we're going to explore John 1:12 to see if it presents a two step process for salvation. Some say it does. Why do they say this and how should we counter this assertion? What does it mean to receive Jesus? Thank you for joining us on Grace in Focus. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society we office in North Texas and our website is faithalone.org at that website get information about our online seminary with full scholarships available for students maintaining good academic standing. The window is open right now for application and registration for our fall semester. It is Grace Evangelical Theological Seminary. We'd love to have you study with us. Why don't you explore this? Get the information you need at our website faithalone.org and now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr.

[B]

Alright, welcome in everybody. We've got a question from Bert and this is on John 1:12. His question is pretty simple. He says, I've heard this verse used to promote a two step redemption. Step one receiving. Step two believing. And then the question is just why do people say that? And then how do we counter that teaching? So John 1:12 says, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. And then I think you need 13 with it. Yeah, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

[C]

Right. So basically what Bert is saying is he's heard people say that first you need to receive Christ. And step two is you need to believe in him or believe in his name. And so what are we believing about Christ according to that view? What does believing in his name mean according to that view? If I've already received him and in the context verse 11 says he came to his own, and his own received him not. Notice, verse 11 says nothing about believing. It just says he came to his own and his own did not receive him. And then 12 is a contrast. Some people call this the pinnacle of the prologue. But as many as received him the but shows the contrast. As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. And in almost every translation we what follows? That is a small piece of punctuation. What is that piece of punctuation?

[B]

Mine's got a comma, comma.

[C]

And comma means that what follows is in apposition to what precedes and apposition Means we don't have a preposition in there or we don't have a conjunction in there. So it doesn't say as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. And to those who believe in his name, or to those who believe in his name, or if they believe in his name, or when they believe in his name, or something along those lines. The point is, what you get with opposition is the expression to those who believe in his name explains what it means as many as received him to them. The them there is those who believe in his name. It's not saying two steps, it's saying one step. The one step is believing in his name.

[B]

Well, let me clarify first, because you're using some five dollar words and some grammar like commas and stuff like that. But is what you're saying as many as received him is the same as those who believed in Him?

[C]

Yes.

[B]

You could rephrase the sentence and say, as many as received him, believed in him, or believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Or if you want to just eliminate the part about receiving, which I get, it's in there. But if you just wanted to eliminate it, you would say, whoever believes in his name is a child of God and is born of God. Verse 13.

[B]

Right. And we see something similar in verse 13, grammatically, where it says, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So again, those who are born is connected to the of God. And everything in between is clarifying. It's not this, not this, not this, it's this. So you could reorder that sentence and say, but who were born of God, not of blood, of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man. It's just the way John is phrasing these sentences.

[C]

And notice that born of God is what you see in John chapter 3 when Jesus talks to Nicodemus about the new birth. So a lot of people have said that receiving him is inviting him into my heart, inviting him into my life, something like that. And there have been people who have evangelized that way. They've asked the person they're talking to to pray a prayer in which they ask Jesus, please come into my heart. I'm sure there are untold millions of people who have invited Jesus into their heart. I, from about the age of, say, 10 to about the age of 20, I invited Jesus in hundreds of times because I had been told, if you invited him in Sincerely, then you were going to be born again. Well, inviting Jesus in doesn't give anybody eternal life. And that's not what receiving him means. And verse 11 makes it clear. He came to his own, his own did not receive him. If you read the Gospel of John, you don't find receiving him a common expression. It's here alone. But what you find over and over and over again is believing in his name and believing in him and believing in me. And so over and over again in John's Gospel, you get John 3:16. Whoever believes in him will not perish, but has everlasting life. You get John 6:47, he who believes in me has everlasting life. And so believing in his name explains what it means to receive. It's not the other way around. A lot of people say, what does it mean to believe in Him? Oh, you invite him into your heart. No, that's backwards. The believing in his name is explaining what it means to receive. And in this context, you don't receive a preacher by inviting him into your heart. You receive a preacher by believing what the preacher says.

[A]

The Grace Evangelical Society's recently published Old Testament Commentary Volunteers Volume 1 is now available. Find [e-mail] store. It's where you can also find Bob Wilkins latest book, the Gospel is Still Under Siege, as well as many other titles by Grace Evangelical Society authors. Please come by and have a look Today. You'll find the GES store at our website, faithalone.org that's faithalone.org store. Now back to today's topic.

[C]

It's important to recognize here in John 1:12 that there's no two step. It's one step.

[B]

And you're right that he doesn't commonly use the phrase receive or received him. So we need to interpret the less common, less easy to understand words and passages in light of the clearer ones. And something great about John and his writing style. You see it in this and in the letters and in the revelation of Jesus Christ that he repeats key words so frequently. He really, really hammers home what he wants the reader to understand, right? So in First John, brothers, beloveds, brethren, he says it all the time. And he talks about fellowship over and over and over and abiding over and over and over. And in John, the Gospel of John, same authority. He doesn't use those words very often because that's not what he's writing about. What he's writing about is how to have everlasting life. So the words he repeats a lot are believe, believe, Faith, everlasting life, and in him, in Jesus, in Christ, and then whatever illustrations and illusions he uses, like bread and water and other things like that. The point I'm making is he makes really, really clear what he wants the readers to focus on. And so if receive is used here and it's not used very often, then it's pretty obvious that it's being used alongside belief for a reason. And we're going to interpret that word in light of the word that's repeated many times.

[C]

Yeah, that's a good point. And let me mention that the only other place in the entire New Testament that people go to to try to say you need to invite Jesus into your heart is they'll cite John 1:12 and they'll cite Revelation 3:20. Well, those verses appear in the four spiritual laws that I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ now crew for four years, and those verses were there. But I always felt that those verses were misleading because Revelation 3:20 is not where Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, dine with him, and he with me. That's a verse about fellowship. That's not a verse about regeneration. And that's a verse directed to a local church, the church at Laodicea. It's not a verse directed to individuals. And the whole point is about fellowship. And so that's misinterpreting it. I could also say this. When I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, I remember talking with one of the people that was high up in the organization. I think he was one of the few people that had a Ph.D. in theology. This person told me, he said, before Bill Bright came up with the Four Spiritual Laws Booklet, or I think the way it would have been said is before God gave Bill Bright the Four Spiritual Laws Booklet, or the Holy Spirit gave him the Four Spiritual Laws booklet, He said, we used to share our faith, but we would stumble and bumble. When it came down to closing the conversation, we didn't know what to say at the end to get them to actually believe in Jesus. What Bill Bright gave us was get them to pray the prayer, get them to receive Christ by inviting them into their heart. And that made it easier. Well, the problem with that is believing in Jesus is simple. Inviting him into your heart is nutty. You know, I've heard stories of little children start crying when they hear this, because they go, there's not enough room in my heart for Jesus. It'd kill me if he came into my heart and they go, no, no, honey, you don't understand. This is just a figure of speech. Okay, well explain it to me. People are saying this and they're having teenagers and adults that are inviting Jesus into their heart, like somehow this will give me eternal life. It's kind of like the sinner's prayer, right? You know, you get people and they come up with some prayer and they think if I pray this magic prayer going to be saved. Well, why? Well, I don't know. Somebody told me what we need to base our eternal destiny on is the Scriptures. Right? Right. Ideally, it would be great to go to the only book in the Bible that's evangelistic, the Gospel of John, John 20, 30 and 31, and know that if I believe in him, I have everlasting life. And John 1:12 is not giving a two step approach. It's a one step approach. And the one step is believing in him. Or it's also called believing in his name. Or it's also called in John's gospel believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. Because in John's gospel, to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God is the same as believing that by faith in him I'll never perish and I have everlasting life. Well, Bert, good question. And I hope you all will be students of the Word. Be like bereans to search the scriptures to see if these things are so. And let's remember to keep grace in focus. Amen.

[A]

Be our guest and subscribe to our 48 page magazine, six issues per year, also called Grace in Focus. It's free by emailing your name and snail mail address to gesaithalone.org that's faithalone. Maybe you've got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org and when you do, please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible. That would be a great big help on our next episode. Is belief in the forgiveness of sins a saving message? Hope you'll come back and join us for that. And in the meantime, let's keep grace in focus. The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.