What Must I Do To Be Saved?
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”1 That’s a good question to ask. In fact, that’s the exact question a wealthy man asked Jesus in a story told to us in Mark 10:17-31. It’s basically the same question that the jailer asked Paul and Silas, who were in prison, after a terrible earthquake (Acts 16:30).
With nearly twenty-five years of ministry experience, I’ve encountered numerous Bible studies attempting to answer this question about salvation. Every study, whether in print form or online, has sought to answer the question similarly to Paul and Silas’s response. These responses include instructions about confessing faith in Jesus Christ as well as repentance and baptism. Such responses are not wrong per se but I have never found one Bible study that answered the question the way Jesus does.
I’m not negating the importance of faith, repentance, and baptism but perhaps we should consider how Jesus responded to the question “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” After all, it’s a good assumption that Jesus’ answer is as correct as the answer Paul and Silas gave to the jailer.
So how did Jesus answer this question about salvation? Well, Jesus said “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
As Christians, I’m sure we can put a check next to each one of these commands. We should be able to add even a few more checks next to a whole lot of biblical ideas such as faith, baptism, worship, giving, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, and so forth. But Jesus says, “One thing you lack… Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”2
The challenge of following Jesus means there are aspects of our life that we will need to let go of because they stand in the way of following Jesus.
The response of Jesus should grab our attention but if we just take the so-called “plain reading,” then we’re missing the point. Jesus isn’t condemning wealth or saying that we can’t follow him and still have money in our savings accounts. There’s nothing wrong with having money, owning property, etc… unless such wealth comes before God—taking priority over serving God as followers of Jesus. The way we know if our wealth has priority over God seems as simple as it is challenging. Is our life formed by Jesus Christ or by our wealth or desire for wealth? To ask the question another way, are the decisions we make and how we spend our time shaped by our relation to Jesus Christ or are they shaped by wealth? We can ask the same question about other matters in life because wealth isn’t the only thing that we can place before God. There are other possessions and pursuits that may be more formative to our lives—how we think and live—than our relation to Jesus.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “God, country, and family.” But how many times does the order become country, family, and then God? We understand that planning and saving money for retirement is wise but financial stability can also become an idol if we're not careful. Sometimes matters such as family and friends or our health and safety can easily become the one thing that Jesus is talking about.
After pointing out the one thing the wealthy man lacked, Jesus then called the man to come follow him. Yet the rich man walked away sad. So Jesus said, “How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Likewise, it’s hard for those who insist on country and family before God to enter the kingdom of God, just as it is hard for those who choose security and safety over the mission of God.
What we need not worry about is our salvation, which is more than possible since Jesus says “all things are possible with God.” The way of salvation is simple but challenging: follow Jesus. Of course, the Gospel of Mark is clear that following Jesus means following Jesus even to the cross. The challenge of following Jesus means there are aspects of our life that we will need to let go of because they stand in the way of following Jesus. That was the case for the wealthy man and that can be the case for us too.
I’m not here to tell you or anyone else what is the one thing you may need to let go of. Doing so would mean trying to get the speck of dust out of your eyes while ignoring the log in my eye. What we all should do is consider what might be the one thing we still lack that keeps us from fully committing ourselves to following Jesus.
1All scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
2N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, Christian Origins and the Question of God, vol. 2 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 302, for this man to participate in this kingdom of God to come, he must give “total allegiance to the way of life which... [is] now to be under Jesus.”
