Is Belief in Jesus Enough?

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Is Belief in Jesus Enough?"

Podcast: Grace in Focus
Host: Grace Evangelical Society
Episode Date: May 26, 2026
Duration: ~13 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode features Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr tackling a pivotal question in Free Grace Theology: Is belief in Jesus alone, as stated in John 3:16, enough for salvation? Triggered by a listener's query about whether one verse can fully communicate the Gospel, especially against interpretations that introduce requirements beyond simple faith, the hosts explore approaches to evangelism, the distinction between justification and sanctification, and the pitfalls of adding subjective elements like “heart faith.” The episode also discusses assurance of salvation and addresses confusion created by common reinterpretations of biblical belief.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Question & the Adequacy of John 3:16

• Context: Ruth, the listener, shares a concern about a former pastor’s teaching that “head faith isn’t enough” and that belief must include repentance and good works (00:55).
• Central Inquiry: Is John 3:16 alone sufficient for evangelism, or are supporting verses required?

Bob Wilkin’s Response (02:11)

• Affirmation of Single Verse Evangelism: “Yes, you can use John 3:16 alone. In fact, there was an article...called One Verse Evangelism.”
• Gospel of John Emphasis: Prefers using verses from John, citing the Gospel’s evangelistic intent (John 20:31): “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
• Other Helpful Verses: John 5:24 and John 6:35 are also suggested for clarity.

2. Clarifying the Evangelism Process (03:09)

• Sam Marr’s Insight: Evangelism is a process—some sow, some water, God brings growth.
• Strategy: It’s wise to stick to John 3:16 for beginners but adjust depth as people are ready for more (03:09).
• Warning on Bible Hopping: Moving between too many books can confuse seekers; the Gospel of John alone is sufficient for leading people to understanding (03:45).

3. Justification vs. Sanctification

• Crucial Order: “You got to have the salvation before you have the sanctification, no?” (04:38, Sam Marr).
• Bob Wilkin’s Agreement: Salvation (justification) comes first, then sanctification follows (04:42).

4. Head Faith vs. Heart Faith – Debunking the Distinction

• Wilkin’s Critique:

  • The Bible does not differentiate between belief in the head and heart (04:42).
  • Notable Quote: “In the Scriptures, the mind and the heart and the head, they’re all internal. And so that’s all where faith takes place. It’s internal.” (05:01)
  • Paul in Romans 12:2 urges transformation by the mind—not the heart.

• Danger of Subjectivity:

  • Marr (05:58): “‘It introduces so much subjectivity because you can say, well, I know I’m saved, but I just don’t feel like it.’”
  • The “heart faith” teaching leads to perpetual insecurity about salvation.

5. Assurance and the True Focus of Faith

• Wilkin (06:50): Teachings demanding more than simple faith can “strip a believer...of their assurance.”

• Faith’s Content:

  • To believe in Jesus, biblically, is to trust His promise of everlasting life (07:03).
  • Reference to the Woman at the Well (John 4): Jesus links believing His identity (Messiah) and His gift (everlasting life).

• Notable Quote (07:03):

  • “Believing in Jesus is different than believing that God raised Jesus from the dead or believing that George Washington was the first president of the United States. All belief is belief. But believing that Jesus is talking about in John 3:16 is very specific. We’re believing in him for what he promises.”

6. Misplaced Focus on General Belief in God

• Wilkin (09:07): “Jesus wasn’t saying anything about believing that there is a God. Every single Jew in Israel in the first century...believed there is God...the great Shema of Israel is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.’”

7. How to Engage Those with Misunderstandings

• Wilkin’s Evangelism Approach (09:55):
  • If a pastor adds requirements to John 3:16, “I would evangelize him. I would say, pastor, do you realize based on what you’re saying, that you yourself do not believe John 3:16?”
• Sam Marr: While John 3:16 can stand alone, referencing the whole Gospel of John is helpful as it's all “there to support itself” (10:55).

8. Gaining Assurance Through John’s Gospel

• Wilkin’s Prescription (11:00):

  • “Read a chapter a day prayerfully say, ‘Lord, show me, is it really as simple as just believing in Jesus?’ ...If [a pastor] didn’t believe in the past, well, then he needs to believe in Jesus.”
  • Many Christians, even leaders, lack assurance—not because they fail to do enough, but because they never truly focused on the free promise of eternal life.

• Notable Quote (11:50): “[Most] Protestant pastors, most missionaries...do not currently have assurance of everlasting life. They may be born again because they may have believed when they were younger and then...lost their way. But this pastor...he’s clearly lost his way.”

9. Distinguishing Faith from Feeling

• Sam Marr (12:22): “If all you have is an emotion, and I feel very strongly that I’m going to go to heaven, that’s not the same as believing in Christ. First promise.”

• Wilkin’s Evangelism Tip (12:32):

  • “Share with them that whoever believes in Jesus has everlasting life. And if they say, ‘well, how could it be that simple?’ you got them thinking. If they say, ‘what about if we don’t live the quality of life we should,’ you get them to take their focus off of their works and put their focus on what they believe or don’t believe.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Wilkin (05:01): “In the Scriptures, the mind and the heart and the head, they’re all internal. And so that’s all where faith takes place. It’s internal.”
• Marr (05:58): “It introduces so much subjectivity...you’re stuck in a loop of, how can I ever know that I know.”
• Wilkin (07:03): “Believing in Jesus is...very specific. We’re believing in him for what he promises.”
• Wilkin (09:55): “I would evangelize him. I would say, pastor, do you realize based on what you’re saying, that you yourself do not believe John 3:16?”
• Wilkin (11:50): “Most Evangelicals need evangelizing...Most Protestant pastors...do not currently have assurance of everlasting life.”
• Marr (12:22): “If all you have is an emotion...that’s not the same as believing in Christ.”

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Important Timestamps

• 00:55 – Listener’s question about John 3:16 and “heart faith” vs. “head faith”
• 02:11 – Can John 3:16 stand alone for evangelism?
• 03:09 – The process of evangelism and dangers of Bible verse-hopping
• 04:42 – No biblical distinction between head and heart faith
• 05:58 – The subjectivity trap and how “heart faith” undermines assurance
• 06:50 – False teaching robs assurance of salvation
• 07:03 – The specific content of saving faith: Jesus’ promise
• 09:07 – Faith in God vs. faith in Jesus’ promise
• 09:55 – How to address pastors or believers adding requirements to faith
• 11:00 – Gaining assurance by reading the Gospel of John
• 12:22 – Emotions are not saving faith
• 12:32 – Evangelism focus: belief, not works or feelings

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Conclusion

This episode provides a robust defense of the sufficiency of believing in Jesus for the promise of everlasting life, especially as presented in John 3:16. The hosts emphatically reject the distinction between head and heart faith, label such teachings as a source of confusion and lost assurance, and encourage listeners to focus on the clarity and purpose of the Gospel of John in evangelism and assurance. Their tone remains pastoral yet firm, championing clarity, simplicity, and grace in both evangelism and Christian assurance.

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. Can we evangelize others with just one verse and have a complete presentation? An interesting discussion about this is just ahead here on Grace in Focus. Thank you for being here today for this ministry of the Grace Evangelical society. Our website faithalone.org is a place where you can go to learn a lot about us and you will find there our store where we sell our books and the latest is the old Testament Commentary Volume 1, available now. Also Bob Wilkins latest book the Gospel is Still Under Siege is there among many others. Find our [e-mail] store now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilken and Sam Marr.

[B]

Alright Bob, we've got a question from Ruth. She sent me a clip of a pastor from a church she used to go to because he's explaining John 3:16 in this clip and she knows that he's not explaining it in a good way and so she kind of wanted our feedback on it. So in the video he talks about John 3:16 where it says whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He explains that and says it's about more than believing him with our head. Well, he says the words and it's more than believing with our head that there is a God. And so what she's saying is in the video he says just head faith isn't enough. You have to have heart faith, which has to be accompanied by repentance and good works and things like that. But the premise he establishes is believing in him with our heads that there's a God is not enough. Technically that's correct because you can't just believe that there is a God. That's not how you receive everlasting life. So she acknowledges that this is not a good explanation, but her question is how do you best argue that John 3:16 means to believe in Jesus for his promise of everlasting life? Do I need other supporting verses or can I use John 3:16 alone? So that's the real question.

[C]

Okay, let me say yes, you can use John 3:16 alone. In fact, there was an article written many years ago by someone who was with Navigators, an article called One Verse Evangelism. And he suggested it would be a good idea to find one verse, stick with that one verse and just make that one verse clear. So yes, John 3:16 is enough and that's an excellent one. I would suggest Ruth that whatever verse you pick, ideally pick something from the Gospel of John, because the Gospel of John has a purpose. Evangelism, John 20:31. These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. I would say pick something in John. Ideally, John 3:16 is fine. John 5:24, John 6:35.

[B]

I think that's really important because evangelism, there's different steps in evangelism. Some people sow the seeds, some people water, some people help. God has to bring the growth. But so depending on what point a person is at in their life and their openness to God, they might be ready for different levels of things. So some one person, it's great to stick with John 3:16 and just explain it until they get it. But some people might be like, okay, I'm familiar with that. But like, what was he talking about? And so then you can go to, okay, well, let's read everything Jesus said to Nicodemus in that passage. Let's get the full context of what he was talking about. And some people are ready to read the Gospel of John. And so I think all those can be forms of evangelism until they get the message and they believe. And so that's why the Living Water booklets are really useful. You give them just the Gospel of John. But when you skip around to different verses in different parts of the Bible, then if a person actually wants to listen to what you're saying, it's going to be very hard for them to follow. And because now I have to go read Peter and I have to go read Hebrews and Corinthians and Isaiah, I'm going to read books of the Old Testament that have nothing to do with evangelism to understand how to have everlasting life. So sticking with just the Gospel of John, even if you're doing one verse evangelism, that can grow into one book evangelism. And then once someone has been born again, they have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, that's a great time to read the rest of the Bible and become a devout follower of Christ.

[C]

And.

[B]

But you got to have the salvation before you have the sanctification, no?

[C]

Exactly. And let me suggest a few things that Ruth's former pastor was saying, and let me respond to a few of those. First of all, he talked about believing in the head versus believing in the heart. And in my book, the 10 Most Misunderstood Words in the Bible, I talk about head faith and heart faith. I also talk about that in my first book, Confident in Christ. And I point out that in the Scriptures, there's no distinction between believing in your head and believing in your heart. Believing is something which is done internally, and there's nothing wrong with the mind. For example, Paul says in Romans 12, 2, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by doing of your mind. Not heart, your mind. In the Scriptures, the mind and the heart and the head, they're all internal. And so that's all where faith takes place. It's internal. And once someone says, well, it's not enough to believe with your head, you got to believe with your heart. They've now introduced something the Lord Jesus didn't introduce. Jesus didn't say in John 3:16, he who believes in his heart will never perish, but has everlasting life. He just says, doubt.

[B]

It introduces so much subjectivity because you can say, well, I know I'm saved, but I just don't feel like it. And then people like this will encourage you. Well, yeah, if you don't have a strong feeling, then maybe you haven't really believed yet. And then you're stuck in a loop of, how can I ever know that I know.

[A]

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[C]

kind of teaching keeps people from being born again, or as you just said, can strip a believer who does know he has everlasting life can strip them of their assurance.

[B]

Right?

[C]

Because now that start going, whoa, wait a minute. Do I really believe? Do I have this special kind of belief? And so once people start talking this way. Now, believing in Jesus is different than believing that God raised Jesus from the dead or believing that George Washington was the first president of the United States. All belief is belief. But believing that Jesus is talking about in John 3:16 is very specific. We're believing in him for what he promises. Well, how do you know that believing in him here refers to believing in his promise that you'll never perish, that you have everlasting life. You can take him to the woman at the well. In John chapter 4, Jesus gave two things that a person has to believe. He said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a Drink, and you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. So the two things he said is if you knew the gift of God, which he goes on to explain in verse 14 as everlasting life. And who it is that says to you, give me a drink. Well, he goes on in verses 25 and 26 to explain that he's that person, he's the Messiah. And you've got to believe in the Messiah for the gift of God, which is everlasting life. In John's Gospel, to believe in Jesus is the same as believing that he is the Christ, the Son of God. That's what you see in the purpose statement in John 20:31. In other words, in Greek, pastuo eis, to believe in him, auton is the same as believing that pistuo hati, he is the Christ, the Son of God. So in the first place is head faith, heart faith. That's designed to confuse people. And secondly, didn't he say believing in your head that there is a God?

[B]

That's kind of how he. It seems like he kind of demeaned that argument of just believe.

[C]

And Jesus wasn't saying anything about believing that there is God. Every single Jew in Israel in the first century, unless they were an apostate, they all believe there is God. In fact, the great Shema of Israel is, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. They believed in monotheism. That was the great cry of Israel. Now, Jews in the first century didn't understand the Trinity. Even the apostles didn't get it until after Jesus rose from the dead. They didn't understand the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three separate persons, but one being called God. So, yeah, John 3:16 is a great verse, but there's a lot more I would recommend through John's Gospel. All of them are powerful. I would say pick one. But I think it would be important if you're talking with someone like this pastor, I would evangelize him. I would say, pastor, do you realize based on what you're saying, that you yourself do not believe John 3:16?

[B]

Yeah, that might be part of her question. I don't know if that's what she's planning on doing. But I think when she said, how do you best argue John 3:16 means this? It's not just explaining it to an unbeliever, but if someone who is a Christian or someone who studies the Bible comes to you and has a problem or misunderstanding with John 3:16, can we keep that verse in isolation and make sense of it, I think to a certain degree, yes. But I don't think you need to. Because John didn't just write John 3:16 and say this verse I've written to you, he wrote the whole book of John. And it's all there for the same purpose. It's all there to support itself.

[C]

That's a great point. Cumulative effect. So what I encourage people to do who lack assurance, read the Gospel of John. Read a chapter a day prayerfully say, lord, show me, is it really as simple as just believing in Jesus? And if I do, I have everlasting life. Obviously, this pastor believes something about Jesus. He believes something about God the Father. He probably is orthodox on a lot of points, but unless he believed in the promise of eternal life in the past, he's not yet born again. I've written an article called Most Evangelicals Need Evangelizing and what I suggest, it's not just Catholic priests and nuns that we ought to evangelize. We ought to be evangelizing. Most Protestant pastors, most missionaries, most of these people do not currently have assurance of everlasting life. They may be born again because they may have believed when they were younger and then they went off to Bible college or seminary and lost their way. But this pastor you're talking about here, he's clearly lost his way. And if he didn't believe in the past, well, then he needs to believe in Jesus. He needs to believe the promise of John 3:16, because right now he doesn't believe it because believing is simply being persuaded and he thinks believing is something else.

[B]

If all you have is an emotion, and I feel very strongly that I'm going to go to heaven, that's not the same as believing in Christ. First promise.

[C]

Yeah. Share with them that whoever believes in Jesus has everlasting life. And if they say, well, how could it be that simple? You got them thinking. If they say, well, what about if we don't live the quality of life we should. You get them to take their focus off of their works and put their focus on what they believe or don't believe.

[B]

Amen.

[C]

All right, well, thanks so much and let's keep grace in focus. Amen.

[A]

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