A strong deception in the English-speaking world is the
misunderstanding of the English word, believe.  This is due
to translations of Greek bible texts to English.  Most of 
the time, including all salvation verses, believe is from 
the Greek word, pisteou.  The Strong's definition (#4100) of 
pisteou is

1. to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place 
   confidence in
   1. of the thing believed
      1. to credit, have confidence 
   2. in a moral or religious reference
      1. used in the NT of the conviction and trust to which 
         a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher 
         prerogative and law of soul
      2. to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in 
         obtaining or in doing something: saving faith 1bc) 
         mere acknowledgment of some fact or event: 
         intellectual faith 
2. to entrust a thing to one, i.e. his fidelity
   1. to be intrusted with a thing 

In the KJV bible, this word has been used as

- believe
- commit unto
- commit to (one's) trust
- be committed unto
- be put in trust with
- be commit to one's trust
- believer

Pisteou is an active form of believe.  A Christian is to
commit and trust Jesus as well as acknowledge Him.  Jn 
3:16 can be rewritten as

Jn 3:16 modified UKJV
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever acknowledge, commit, and trust in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Consider a person who acknowledges Jesus, but does not
commit to Him (sounds like a carnal Christian?).  Then the
definition of pisteou is NOT satisfied.  Even worse, Jn 
3:16 says that that person will perish.

To pisteou, means to really, really, really believe - 
believe so much that one's life depends on that belief.
A person needs to do more than acknowledge Jesus.  This 
person is to commit and trust Jesus.  This person is 
also to have a genuine Christian life (i.e., read the 
bible daily, pray to the Lord daily, fellowship with other 
believers, repent, etc).  

Consider a case study:

A person acknowledge, commit, and trust Jesus radically
for a few years.  Then during the last twenty years, a
very long time, that person becomes a pew warmer and 
uncommitted.  During the first few years, that person 
satisfies the requirements of pisteou and has eternal 
life.  At the end, that person does NOT satisfy the 
requirements of pisteou and does NOT have eternal life.  
Being born-again is not enough to ensure eternal life.  
One needs to have a "Commitment for Jesus" continuously.  
It is where you are RIGHT NOW, not what you did during the 
past.  The definition of pisteou disproves the FALSE "Once 
Saved, Always Saved" doctrine.

It is 

"Once Saved" + "Commitment to Jesus" = "Always Saved" 

where "Commitment to Jesus" means 

- having an active faith,
- living a life of repentance, and
- obeying the Lord.

If one is makes an ongoing "Commitment to Jesus", all
the Calvinist verses are valid and all the "fall away"
verses are invalid.  This is why an ongoing "Commitment 
to Jesus" is vital.

Think about "Once Saved, Always Saved".  It is LOGICAL 
for someone to do nothing after being saved?  It makes
sense that that person needs to response by living a true
Christian life after being saved.  Being saved and doing 
nothing afterward, is ABUSING the grace of God. Would God
honors this?  I think not.

**********

All scriptures are from the Updated King James Version
bible which can found at

http://www.geocities.com/updatedkjv/ .

This translation is public domain, but the author requests
that credit goes to this translation in the form of
"I love Jesus (UKJV)".

© Copyright 2018