Acts 11:14 English Standard Version (ESV) he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’
Acts 16:31 English Standard Version (ESV) And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Here is an example of the word of truth being a little more complicated than any one simple verse. There are those that go around saying “my daddy was a preacher” or “my mom was saved” that gives them a false sense of security because they believe that they are saved because of thier parent’s faith.
Matthew 7:13-14 English Standard Version
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
The gate is narrow so that only one may enter in at a time. Salvation is a personal matter, we are each responsible to enter in alone. The broad interpretation leads to destruction.
Acts 11:14 is making the point that the message is the way to salvation while Acts 16:31 is a prophetic word of encouragement.
Neither does being a member of a certain denomination cause us to be saved. “I am a ……..” Fill in the blank with any denomination. As the saying goes, standing in the garage doesn’t make anyone a car.
Another example is a misconception about faith. When someone asks us what faith are we, they want to hear our denomination. Our denomination is not faith. In order to get a better grip on what faith means we only have to look to the father of faith for three major religions, Abram.
Genesis 12:1 begins with “Now the Lord said to Abram,”.
Think about the definition of the gospel being “God speaks” and meditate on that.