Does Matthew 7:21 Say that We Must Continuously Believe to Have Everlasting Life?

Summary

Grace in Focus Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Does Matthew 7:21 Say that We Must Continuously Believe to Have Everlasting Life?
Air Date: March 31, 2026
Hosts: Bob Wilkin & Ken Yates
Podcast: Grace in Focus, Grace Evangelical Society

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Episode Overview

This episode centers around the meaning of Matthew 7:21 and examines whether "doing the will of the Father" means a continuous, lifelong faith as a requirement for eternal life. Bob Wilkin and guest Ken Yates engage with a listener's question about whether the Greek participle in Matthew 7:21 implies ongoing belief or if a one-time faith in Jesus is sufficient to secure everlasting life. The discussion also contrasts views within Free Grace theology and mainstream evangelical interpretations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener’s Core Question: What Is “Doing the Will of the Father”?

• [01:34]
  • Marie, the listener, asks whether Matthew 7:21 requires continuous belief or a one-time act of faith for eternal life.
  • The passage in question: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
  • Bob states his interpretation: “Doing the will of the Father here means believing in Jesus for eternal life, right? And you take that from a verse in John, ‘this is the will of my Father, that you believe in the one whom he sent.’” (Bob, 01:41)

2. Greek Grammar: Present Articular Participle

• [02:45] – [04:33]
  • Marie points out that "does" is present tense in the Greek. Bob and Ken clarify it’s actually a present articular participle—an “-ing” word (“the doing one”).
  • Common evangelical scholars (Dan Wallace, Darrell Bock) claim that the “believing one” (ho pisteuōn) means “he who continually believes.”
    • “For example, Dan Wallace...says that in John 3:16 where it says, ‘whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life,’ that refers to continuous faith.” (Ken, 04:10)
    • “Dr. Darrell Bock…says that saving faith is not at a point in time only, but it must continue over the course of the whole life.” (Ken, 04:39)

3. Theological Implications: Is Continuous Belief Required?

• [05:00] – [06:12]
  • If “doing” or “believing” means continuous action, assurance of salvation is elusive.
    • “If that means I must continuously believe, then when would I be guaranteed I wouldn’t perish but have everlasting life?” (Ken, 05:33)
    • “Well, you wouldn’t have it in this life because you’ve got to continue to the end of your life.” (Bob, 05:43)
  • This view leads to lack of assurance: “That’s why…our pews are filled with people who don’t know they have eternal life.” (Bob, 06:06)

4. Contextual Analysis: The Will of the Father in the New Testament

• [06:49] – [07:59]
  • Referencing John 6:39–40 as the clearest statement of God's will regarding salvation:
    • “And this is the will of him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.” (Bob quoting John 6:40, 07:27)
  • Bob and Ken assert that in both John and Matthew, the “will of the Father” means believing in Jesus—not performing works.

5. Is the Participle About a Lifestyle or Identity?

• [09:04] – [11:49]
  • Ken offers a linguistic argument using parallel participles:
    • John 11:26: “Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” Both “lives” and “believes” use the articular participle.
      • “If you have to continuously believe in order to get everlasting life, then you’ve also got to continuously live. In other words, if you ever died, you just proved you’re never going to get it, right?” (Ken, 09:33)
    • John 4 (woman at the well): “Everyone who drinks (ha pinōn)…”—refers to the act of drinking, not a continuous act.
    • John the Baptist: “the baptizing one” (ha baptizōn) is still called this long after he baptized anyone.
  • These examples support the reading that the participle describes someone identified by one-time faith or action, not endlessly recurring behavior.

6. Assurance of Salvation: Once Saved, Always Saved

• [11:49] – [12:36]
  • Ken and Bob reinforce that assurance is possible and aligns with Free Grace Theology:
    • “If you hold that view, Marie, anybody else, New Testament scholars, then realize you’re not born again yet…Because you’ve got to continue.” (Ken, 12:10)
    • “We know we have eternal life when we believe in Jesus. That is the will of the Father.” (Bob, 12:19)
    • “Even if we stop believing, right?” (Ken, 12:26)
    • “Even if we stop. Yeah. I’m a believer. I am the believing one. And if I stop believing, that doesn’t change the fact of what I am.” (Bob, 12:28)
    • “Because I believed in Him, and once saved, always saved.” (Ken, 12:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s not those who say Lord, Lord… but those who have believed in him for eternal life. That’s the will of the Father.” – Bob, [02:25]
• “If you ever died, you just proved you’re never going to get it, right? Because you’ve got to continuously live.” – Ken, [09:33]
• “We would just say the believer… It’s a verbal noun, right? Like we say the Baptist.” – Ken, [11:36]
• “We know we have eternal life when we believe in Jesus… Even if we stop believing, right?”
  “Even if we stop. Yeah… And if I stop believing, that doesn’t change the fact of what I am.” – Bob & Ken, [12:26–12:32]
• “Once saved, always saved.” – Ken, [12:36]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:34] Introduction of Marie’s question and context of Matthew 7:21
• [02:45]–[04:33] Discussion of Greek grammar and scholarly debate
• [05:00]–[06:12] Implications if faith must be continuous
• [07:05]–[07:38] John 6:39–40: “Will of the Father” as believing in Jesus
• [09:15]–[10:44] Use of participles with “believe,” “live,” and “drink”
• [11:36] “The believer” as a verbal noun, not about ongoing action
• [12:26]–[12:36] Final assurance: Once saved, always saved

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Conclusion

Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates make a strong case that Matthew 7:21 and similar passages should not be read as requiring continuous, lifelong faith for eternal salvation. Instead, both the grammar and contextual evidence support the view that believing in Jesus—even as a single act—fulfills the will of the Father concerning eternal life. This position, aligning with Free Grace Theology, affirms assurance for believers and distinguishes justification by faith alone from works or perseverance-based systems.

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For more resources and future questions: faithalone.org

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace evangelical society. Matthew 7:21. What does it mean to do the will of my Father in heaven? What is the will of the Father in respect to eternal salvation? Is this about having continuous lifelong faith for the maintaining of eternal salvation? Some say so. We'll discuss it today here on Grace and Focus. Thank you friend for joining us. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org you can learn a lot about us there, including about our online free seminary where you can earn an M. Div. Degree. Our magazine also called Grace in Focus, which is free and comes out six times per year. Our bookstore, where you can find Bob Wilkins latest book, the Gospel, is still under siege. And our conference, our national conference, it's coming up soon. We want to invite you to it. The dates this year are May 18th through the 21st. It is at a beautiful setting, Camp Copass, surrounded by a lake, great accommodations, great fellowship, great fun and food and great teaching. On our topic, believe in Christ for life. We also have VPs for the kids. They will be studying rewards and crowns. So get your family registered. Signed up today. The information you need is at faithalone. And now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates.

[B]

Bob, we have a question sent in from Marie, who heard you talk about Matthew 7:21. And in Matthew 7:21, this is towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, right? And the Lord says, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who, and here's the critical part, does the will of my Father in heaven. You mentioned she said she heard you or read you. Where you say doing the will of the Father here means believing in Jesus for eternal life, Right? And you take that from a verse in John, this is the will of my Father that you believe in the one whom he sent.

[C]

Right? You have that one. There's quite a few.

[B]

And so Jesus is saying in Matthew 7:21 that, that it's not those who say lord, Lord that's going to enter into the kingdom or those who are saying, well, you're the Lord of my life and I've done good works. But it's those who have believed in him for eternal life. That's the will of the Father. But Marie said she looked up this word does and it's a. Well, she doesn't say this, but it's a present participle.

[C]

Yeah, she says it's a present tense. Like it's A present indicative. But it's not a present indicative. It's articular participle, which means it's an ing g word, like loving, hoping. In this case, doing, with the definite article. The doing one.

[B]

The doing one. But she says it seems to mean continue to do. So she says, why would Jesus say that? The one who continues to do the will of My Father. And so she wanted some clarification on that. Because what we're saying is, no, it's the one who believes. It's the one who believes. It's not the one who continues to believe.

[C]

Okay, so we have two issues, right, Ken? One issue is, what is the will of the Father? Let's say that Marie agrees that the will of the Father here is to believe in his Son, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His promise of eternal life. That still doesn't answer her second question. What does ha' poyon mean? What is the one doing or the one who does the will of the Father? What does that mean? Does that mean continuous? As you know, many New Testament scholars say that the articular participle with the word believe, the believing one.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Ha pistuon, refers to continuous lifelong faith. Right?

[B]

Right.

[C]

For example, Dan Wallace, who was at Dallas Seminary during some of the time I was there. Then he went off and taught somewhere else and came back. He's a leading grammarian, and he's written a grammar. And he says that in John 3:16, where it says, whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, that refers to continuous faith.

[B]

So the believing one there is he who continues to believe is what he's

[C]

saying basically for his whole life.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And another New Testament prophet, Dallas Seminary, we both had in our doctoral work as Dr. Darrell Bock, and he was part of a book on the Lost Gospel. In that book, he says that saving faith is not at a point in time only, but it must continue over the course of the whole life.

[B]

And so the issue here is, does the present articular participle either he who believes or he who does? Does that mean he who continues to believe and he who continues to do?

[C]

Okay, so now we've got a third issue. If it means, then when would a person be born again? If I've got to continuously do the

[B]

will of the Father or continually believe,

[C]

when would I become born again? When would I have everlasting life? John 3:16. Whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting. If that means I must continuously believe, then when would I be guaranteed? I wouldn't perish but have everlasting life.

[B]

Well, you wouldn't have it in this life because you've got to continue to the end of your life.

[C]

Right. So in other words, you wouldn't have a single person on earth today who has everlasting life. You have people who are on their way to it, but in order to get it, they've got to persevere to the very end of their life. There's a lot of people in Christianity that say your eternal destiny hangs in the balance every day.

[B]

Sure. And that's why. Well, one of the many reasons why our pews are filled with people who don't know they have eternal life.

[C]

Right.

[A]

It's coming. It'll be here before you know it. What am I talking about? The Grace Evangelical Society's National Conference 20, May 18 through the 21st at Camp Kopas, an absolutely beautiful campground in North Texas, right on the lake with lots of recreation, great food, a great place to stay, wonderful fellowship and wonderful free Grace Bible teaching information and online registration [e-mail] events. First timers waive registration fees. Faithalone.org

[C]

first of all, on the issue on the will of the Father, I would encourage you to do a study of that. Steve Elkins has done a really terrific study on this. I believe he says there's 10 uses of the will of the Father. One of the ones I would go to all the time is John 6, 39, 40.

[B]

Well, let me read that for you. John 6, 39, 40. I'm sure this is what Marie heard you talk about, John 6:39, where he says, jesus says, this is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up on the last day. And this is verse 40. And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up the last day.

[C]

Yeah. So John 6:39,40 shows the will of the Father as believing in the Son. But I would also encourage you to look at the expression in Matthew's Gospel. Stick within it. I believe it's always believing in the Son in Matthew's Gospel and in the entire New Testament. But that's question one on this issue.

[B]

So question one here in Matthew is, let's assume just for a second based upon what she heard you say, that the will of the Father Here in Matthew 7 is believing in him.

[C]

And by the way, in Matthew 7, 21, 23, we're looking at the Great White Throne Judgment, and you've got people who are saying, lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, do many wonders in your name? And then he says, I never knew you depart from me, you who do or practice or work lawlessness. It's actually probably work Lawlessness would be a good way to put it. The issue there is people are pointing to their works to say, shouldn't we get into the kingdom? Shouldn't we avoid the lake of fire because we've done good works? And his answer is no, no, it's the one who does the will of the Father. So clearly, the will of the Father is not these works they're talking about. The will of the Father is believing in the Son. But then the second issue is whether the participle, whether that refers to one who continuously does.

[B]

The one who does. Yeah.

[C]

And if that's the case, that would be like people who say, you've got to continuously believe.

[B]

Like you mentioned Wallace and Bach.

[C]

Right, right. And then of course, go to John 11:26.

[B]

John 11:26.

[C]

And what does that verse say?

[B]

It says, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe? This is, of course, when Jesus is

[C]

talking to Martha right now, whoever lives is an articular participle. Ha zone.

[B]

The one who lives.

[C]

The one who lives. And then there's a chi and. And then we get pistuon and believes. So two participles, two articular participles with one. So here's the question I have. If you have to continuously believe in order to get everlasting life, then you've also got to continuously live. In other words, if you ever died, you just proved you're never going to get it right because you've got to continuously live. And by the way, ha, there's also pinon, the word for drinking.

[B]

Isn't that he who drinks?

[C]

The one who drinks?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

And that also doesn't refer to continuously drinking.

[B]

Yeah. In the context when he's talking to the woman at the well, for example, it's the one who drinks.

[C]

So, yeah, I just looked it up in the Greek. And In John chapter 4, when Jesus is talking to the woman at the well, he uses ha pinon for the one, everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again. And he doesn't mean continuously drink. He means if you have a drink of this water, then you're going to later thirst again.

[B]

Right. If you drink this water, you're going to thirst again. He doesn't say, if you continually drink this water, you're going to thirst again. He goes, if you drink this. So the question here is Hapinon. There is the drinking one, if you will. And all throughout the New Testament, many people have written about this. For example, John the Baptist. John the Baptist, H.A. baptizon, the one who baptizes.

[C]

And he hasn't baptized anybody in 2,000 years.

[B]

And they call him that after he's dead, right? So he's not continually baptizing. He's the baptizing one. And so ha pistuon, the believing one. It's not, he continues, but this is somebody who believes.

[C]

And the same thing with Hapoyon, the one who does. The will of the Father doesn't refer to continuous doing. It refers to someone who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[B]

We would just say the believer.

[C]

The believer.

[B]

The believer.

[C]

It's a verbal noun, right? Like we say the Baptist. We don't say John, the baptizing one, do we?

[B]

That's right.

[C]

We certainly don't say John, the one who has never stopped baptizing.

[B]

The one who is continually baptizing.

[C]

He's baptizing people in heaven right now. No, we don't say that. And that doesn't make any sense. And that brings my third point, which we'll close with this. If you hold that view, Marie, anybody else, New Testament scholars then realize you're not born again yet, right? Because you haven't.

[B]

Because you got to continue.

[C]

You haven't continued yet, right? You're on the way. And if you persevere to the end, then you make it right. You better not stop.

[B]

And that's not what the New Testament teaches. We know we have eternal life when we believe in Jesus. That is the will of the Father.

[C]

Even if we stop believing, right?

[B]

Even if we stop. Yeah. I'm a believer. I am the believing one. And if I stop believing, that doesn't change the fact of what I am.

[C]

Because I believed in him and once saved, always saved. All right, well, thanks, everybody. I'd encourage you to keep sending in the questions. Thank you, Marie. I love the fact that you asked a concise, simple question. Keep on studying the Word because we want the Lord Jesus to say, well done, good and faithful servant.

[B]

And remember, keep grace in focus.

[A]

Be our guest and subscribe to our 48 page magazine, six issues per year, also called GraceInFocus, by emailing your name and snail mail address to gesaithalone.org that's faithalone.org on this program. We keep our requests for financial partners to a minimum. But if you are interested in becoming a financial partner with Grace and Focus, you can find out how to do [e-mail] on our next episode. Did the Old Testament teach Bodily Resurrection? Come back and join us. And in the meantime, let's keep grace in focus. The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.