Are The “Four Spiritual Laws” Biblical?

Published September 3, 2011

Are The “Four Spiritual Laws” Biblical?

Many Christians are taught the “four spiritual laws”, never realizing that these laws, are unbiblical. Yes. UNBIBLICAL! As preposterous as that may sound to many, it is never-the-less very true as we will point out in this study. Similar “salvation plans” have been created by man with similar steps such as “The Roman’s Road” and “Step To Peace With God”. Those other formulas are equally unbiblical.

Just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws which govern your relationship with God.

LAW 1:
God LOVES you and offers a wonderful PLAN for your life.

God’s Love

“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).

God’s Plan

[Christ speaking] “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly” [that it might be full and meaningful] (John 10:10).

The statements in the above box (Law #1) cannot be dogmatically applied to everyone. First of all, we cannot decide for God, whom He loves. In truth, God hates the workers of iniquity AND their wicked works…

Psalm 5:5 – “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.”

Psalm 11:5 – “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.”

Proverbs 15:9 – “The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.”

Does God love you or are you still spiritually lost and living according to your own standards or your church’s standards instead of according to the Bible?

Secondly, God might a plan for your life that you may not like in the least – if you are not among the “elect”, those whom Christ came to save. Even true believers are told throughout the Bible that all who live godly lives in Christ can expect to be persecuted, while the unsaved may live lives full of material blessings and other blessings. Ultimately, those who die lost can expect their lives in eternity to be most miserable…

Romans 9:22 – “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:”

Romans 2:5-6 – “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:”

Proverbs 29:1 – “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

What is God’s plan for your life? Do you know? Are you seeking the Lord while He may be found?

LAW 2:
Man is SINFUL and SEPARATED from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life.

Man Is Sinful

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Man was created to have fellowship with God; but, because of his stubborn self-will, he chose to go his own independent way, and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is an evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

Man Is Separated

“The wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23).

God is holy and man is sinful. A great gulf separates the two. Man is continually trying to reach God and the abundant life through his own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion – but he inevitably fails.

The statements in the above box (Law #2) are true. However, something has been omitted… that man is completely and utterly lost, and incapable of reaching out to God to become reconciled. The lost sinner is totally and entirely at the mercy of God and spiritually dead to the point of not being able to do anything to save himself.

LAW 3:
Jesus Christ is God’s ONLY provision for man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.

He Died in Our Place

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)

He Rose From the Dead

“Christ died for our sins…He was buried…He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures…He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

He Is the Only Way to God

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me'” (John 14:6).

In Law #3, stated above, there is a serious problem with the first point “He died in our place“. The verse that is quoted (Romans 5:8) is being addressed to believers. It is not correct to infer that it applies to everyone, but only to those for whom Christ died.

LAW 4:
We must individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

We Must Receive Christ

“As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12)

We Receive Christ Through Faith

“By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth

(Read John 3:1-8.)

We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation

[Christ speaking] “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20).

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

In Law #4 above, the statement is made that We Receive Christ Through Faith as if it is the spiritually dead sinner exercising his faith (some action on his part) that causes God to save him. It is the faith and faithfulness of Christ that saves a person, the faithfulness of Christ to live a perfect life and to go the Cross in the place of the sinner. So the cause of a particular person’s salvation is by the suffering and death of Christ for that sinner and the awakening of that lost sinner by the preaching of the Gospel and the renewing/indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Also, in Law #4 the order of salvation has reversed. The sinner does not initiate salvation or DO something or think something in order to obtain salvation. In truth, salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9), not of man. God alone determines who He will save and when He will save them. God is the giver of all life, both physical life and spiritual life. No One is born into His kingdom unless He orchestrates everything necessary for that birth to occur…

1Corinthians 15:8 – “And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”

John 1:13 – “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Ephesians 1:4-5 – “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”

We don’t accept Christ and His rule in our lives until He first accepts us and converts our rebellious hearts:

Ephesians 1:5 – “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

Has Christ accepted you yet? How do you know?

— RM Kane