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Relatively recently, I have read “Salvation By Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and The Gospel Of Jesus The King” by Matthew Bates. Some time later, I read “Gospel Allegiance: What Faith In Jesus Misses For Salvation In Christ” also by Matthew Bates. The latter version is a more popular defense of the thesis in the former book, which is more scholarly in nature. But “Gospel Allegiance” has a deeper focus on practical application and pastoral issues. And in my opinion, it is definitely worth reading both books. It’s not the case that “Gospel Allegiance” is just a dumbed down rehash of “Salvation By Allegiance Alone”, although there is definitely overlap. Matthew Bates has two more books on this topic that I have not read yet; “Why The Gospel?” And “Beyond The Salvation Wars“.

While I’m not sure that I agree with everything that Matthew Bates says with concerns to how our works relate to final salvation, I definitely agree with his core thesis that the gospel cannot be reduced to just Jesus’s cross and resurrection. It cannot be reduced to a mere Romans Road on a tract. And I also agree that saving pisis (faith) is Allegience to Jesus The King. After having read two of his four books, I think that I definitely agree with this overall thesis, and I think that this will solve two of the greatest problems in the modern American evangelical church today; Nominal Christianity and The Assurance Of Salvation.

First, A Brief Defense Of Saving Faith As Allegiance

Matthew Bates writes “Paul writes to the Thessalonians, ‘We boast about your steadfastness and pistis in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring’ (2 Thess. 1:4 AT). The immediate context associates pistis with remaining steadfast and indicates that it pertains to persevering through trials. This suggests that the correct translation of pistis here is ‘loyalty,’ ‘faithfulness,’ or ‘allegiance’ rather than ‘faith.’ Thus, Paul says, ‘We boast about your steadfastness and loyalty.’

This informs our understanding of the relationship between pistis and the gospel. The presence or absence of loyalty (pistis) during these trials (2 Thess. 1:4) is specifically the criterion for whether one is helped or harmed by the Lord Jesus’s judgment when these difficulties continue (v. 7). The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven and will take ‘vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus’ (v. 8). Contextually, loyalty (pistis) to the Lord Jesus when experiencing difficulties has been equated with obedience to the gospel.

In other words, in 2 Thessalonians 1:4–8, maintaining pistis while enduring trials is equivalent to saving obedience to the gospel. Context demands that this pistis with respect to the gospel is not merely trust in Jesus as Savior but obedient allegiance to Jesus as the heavenly Lord. The royal gospel demands loyalty in response. In 2 Thessalonians 1:4, pistis can fairly be translated as ‘allegiance’ and is the saving response to the gospel.” ^[1]Bates, Matthew W. 2019. Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press: A Division of Baker Publishing Group.

Another example that that Matthew Bates pointed to was 1 Maccabees. Although not considered scripture by Protestants like myself, that doesn’t really matter when it comes to word studies and how people writing in Greek, especially approximating close in time to the New Testament authors, used a word. After all, scripture wasn’t written in a special Christian code language, but the language of the day. First Maccabees, says Bates, written about 150 years before Jesus’s death. It contains a letter from King Demetrius. He is concerned that his rival, Alexander, may have beat him to the punch in forging an alliance with the Jewish people. King Demetrius, in seeking to persuade the Jews to his cause, writes:

“King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings. Since you have kept your agreement with us and have continued your friendship with us, and have not sided with our enemies, we have heard of it and rejoiced. Now continue still to keep faith [pistis] with us, and we will repay you with good for what you do for us.” (1 Maccabees 10:25–27 NRSV)

On this passage, Bates writes “Here Demetrius is asking the Jews to continue showing pistis—that is, loyalty or allegiance—to him rather than to his rival, promising a reward for the allegiance. Just a few lines later King Demetrius further promises that some Jews will be put in positions demanding loyalty (pistis) as administrative leaders in the royal government. Could it be that when Paul and others talk about salvation by “faith,” not by works, they intend something close to what Demetrius means by pistis—so that we should translate, ‘It is by grace you have been saved through allegiance” (Eph. 2:8)?” ^[2]Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 4.

To prompt a reassessment of the first-century meaning of ‘believe’ in the gospel message, N. T. Wright introduces an example from the Jewish-Roman war. Specifically, Wright cites the historian Josephus’s autobiography, where the general’s plea to a rebel leader to “repent and believe in me” closely mirrors Jesus’s proclamation in Mark 1:15, ‘The kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the good news.” This linguistic parallel suggests that ‘believe’ conveyed a strong sense of trust and allegiance. ^[3]This text is from Josephus, The Life 110, cited in Wright, Challenge of Jesus, 44. The exact phrase in Josephus is metanoēsein kai pistos emoi genēsesthai, which Wright renders as “repent … Continue reading

In addition to this brief word study, that faith when it comes to eternal salvation should be understood as allegience is made more probable in the light of the doctrine of Jesus’ kingship and what the word “gospel” really meant in Greek. The word “Evangelion” meant a proclamation of good tidings, particularly when a new Roman Emperor rose to power. Roman Emperors understood themselves as lords, saviors, and redeemers of the world, where it signified a saving message that was meant to change the world for the better. ^[4]Chris Seay, The Gospel According to Jesus: A Faith That Restores All Things (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2023). See also Joel B. Green and Lee Martin … Continue reading. When the gospel writers adopted this word, what they meant to convey was that Jesus is the true Lord and Savior of the world, not ease Roman emperors. That The Bible teaches that Jesus is The King Of Kings is documented all over scripture. Knowing that Jesus is the King of Kings and what proclaiming the gospel (good news/evangelion) meant in the apostolic era heightens the antecedent probability that in places like John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9, we should translate words like “believe in” and “faith” as “Give allegiance” and “allegiance” respectively, for this is what a King demands of his subjects.

Of course, it is true that you need to trust in Jesus as your savior, and you also have to believe that Christianity is true before you can properly give allegiance. Trust in Jesus is logically prior to giving allegiance, and believe in “The Ten Christ Events” are logically prior to giving allegiance. ^[5]By “The Ten Christ Events”, Bates refers to the following biblical facts which he rightly says constitutes the full gospel. “The gospel is that Jesus the king 1. preexisted as … Continue reading

Nevertheless pistis cannot be reduced to mere belief that Christianity is true nor trust in Jesus in the contexts in which scripture speaks of Pistis as what saves us.

Moreover, it is not the case that every single example of Pistis should be rendered Allegience in scripture. Sometimes it does carry the meaning of trust instead of doubt. My favorite example is Matthew 14:31, which is in the context of Jesus calling Peter out to walk on the water (Matthew 14:22-33). In verse 31, after Peter sank like a rock ^[6]Pun intended. and Jesus helped him get up, Jesus gently rebukes Peter saying “O you of little faith (pistis), why did you doubt?” (ESV). It would make no sense here for Jesus to be saying “Oh you of little allegiance, why weren’t you loyal enough?” Clearly the meaning of “faith” in this specific instance is what we usually mean by the word faith.

Another example is when Jesus says to the Canaanite woman, “Great is your pistis,” and we hear that her daughter was healed instantly (Matt. 15:28), what is stressed is her trust in Jesus’s ability, not her loyalty to him as a ruler. Nevertheless even here there is a hint of being loyal to the royal, as Bates points out; “Yet prior to her daughter’s healing, the woman cried out for assistance: ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me’ (v. 22 AT), which points to her recognition of his royal authority. We need to be cautious because often in such episodes shades of allegiance are present alongside faith and trust. Nevertheless, in light of the context, ‘Great is your pistis’ should be translated here as ‘Great is your faith’ or ‘Great is your trust.‘” ^[7]Bates, Matthew W. 2019. Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press: A Division of Baker Publishing Group.

So as we can see, allegiance is definitely in view in certain context, specifically those context that talk about what we would call saving faith. But faith does not always mean allegiance. Sometimes it does just mean trusting or belief.

But with regard to faith, meaning allegiance, I want you to think about the etymology of even words in English and Latin that pertain to faith. Words like Faithfulness, fidelity, infidelity, and so on. The word “faith” is literally in the word “faithfulness”. The word “Fidelity” derives from the Latin word “Fide” which means “faith”. When a man is in an exclusive relationship with his wife and doesn’t have any “side chicks”, we say he is a man of fidelity. On the other hand, if the opposite is true, we say he is committing infidelity. Even though the word faith by itself has kind of lost a sense of loyalty or allegiance in our English language today, other words in the same family still carry those connotations and we still use those words today. This seems to demonstrate that once upon a time, faith and loyalty were very tightly related concepts. And the language reflects that. Even in English and Latin. But, of course, since the Bible was not written in English or Latin, it is the Hebrew and Greek that we really need to focus on. And I think I’ve shown that Pistis does mean allegiance or loyalty in certain contexts. If you would like more, read Matthew Bates’ books, and also check out my in depth essay “Evangelism: Non-Violent Conquest Warfare“.

How Gospel Allegiance Defeats Nominal Christianity

Nominal Christians are what I have called people who believe that Christianity is true, but they’ve never really committed their life to Christ. They would agree that God exists, that Jesus is God in the flesh, that he died on the cross and rose from the dead, and that he ascended into Heaven, and so on. But they have only mentally assented to the gospel. They have not made Jesus their Lord. That used to be me.

I got saved at age 17 after God finally shook me awake from the deception of The Mental Assent Gospel. ^[8]Terms like “Nominal Christianity” and “The Mental Assent Gospel” are being used interchangeably by me to refer to the same thing. It was horrifying, but I knew that I stood guilty before God. I prayed for God to save me. But nothing happened. I was still holding on to grudges and my heart was still full of hate. And with Matthew 18:21-35 still in my head (the passage of scripture that gripped me to begin with), I continued on praying for months and months for God to help me forgive SO THAT He could forgive me. This was between sometime in April to September 12th 2009. Finally, one night, I had a radical experience of God’s presence that I will never forget. All of that anger, hurt, and hatred vanished as what felt like The Holy Spirit physically entering my body and forcibly pushing the malevolence out of me. For years, I considered THAT moment the moment I “got saved”. But after years of theological education, I revised that conclusion and decided to start saying that I got saved back in April. Or in other words, I called upon the name of a the Lord and was saved (Rom 10:9) right then and there. Sadly, I did not keep track of the former date. What happened in September was really just the first major fruits of sanctification.

Ever since then, I’ve been growing in my walk with Christ, even having a major milestone in my sanctification a year and a half ago as of this writing. During the last 4 years, I’ve suffered much, but I have also become stronger and immeasurably more mature in my faith since the dawn of this decade.

And yet I was raised in a Christian home. My mom took me to church at a very young age. My grandmother took me to VBS around age 3 or 4. While I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think Christianity was true, ^[9]Although if you’ve followed this ministry long enough, or read the introductions to my books“The Case For The One True God: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Historical Case For The God Of … Continue reading, I nevertheless had not really been saved until the spring of 2009, shortly before my 17th birthday. Later, I would read James 2:19 which says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (ESV) And yet we know from Revelation 20 that the devil and all his legion will be cast into The Lake Of Fire. Yet the demons are theists! They believe God exists! In fact, they likely also believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead (cf. Matthew 4, Matthew 8:28-29). Despite believing “the things” about Jesus, Satan is not saved. So what’s the difference? What’s the difference between a Christian and a demon? What separates me from Satan? It’s hard to tell if we both “believe in” Jesus. But it’s very easy to tell if you just make an alternate translation choice.

Imagine how I might have been if I had heard the gospel not as being a mere “Believe in Jesus so you won’t go to Hell when you die” simple easy believism growing up, but rather as me surrendering to The King Of Kings. I probably would have “gotten saved” at a much younger age than I did.

How Gospel Allegiance Solves The Problem Of The Lack Of Assurance

I also think it will definitely solve the problem of nominal Christianity, but also the problem of assurance. Although some of the things Matthew Bates himself says in the first book might make one think that it might not solve the problem of assurance, I either disagree with him or I wasn’t understanding him. Saving faith, allegiance, or believing loyalty, if that’s what saves you, then to answer the question of whether or not you are saved, you simply just have to ask yourself where your loyalty lies. You know who you are loyal to. When a man marries a woman, and he is committing his life to her, and throughout the course of the marriage he does everything he can to grow closer to her and to become a better husband, and to make the marriage work, etc. he is showing loyalty. Throughout my reflection on Matthew Bates’s proposal, I’ve returned to the marriage analogy several times and it fits. And that’s why I think the biblical authors in both testaments use it to describe Israel’s/The Church’s corporate relationship to Yahweh (Israel as God’s wife: Isaiah 54:5-6; Jeremiah 3:14; Hosea 2:19-20. The Church as the Bride of Christ: Ephesians 5:25-32; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7-9). The book of Psalms, especially talks about the faithfulness of God. There is a sort of mutual faithfulness in our relationship with the triune God. We pledge and enact loyalty to Yahweh, but in return Yahweh shows loyalty to us. “Hesed” (e.g Psalm 57:3, Psalm 36:5, Psalm 89:1-2, Psalm 91:4, Psalm 136:1-26; Psalm 100:5), often translated as “faithfulness” or “steadfast love”. As a husband returns faithfulness to his wife’s faithfulness. You know whether or not you’ve pledged to be faithful to your spouse. That does not mean that you’re going to love her perfectly. You won’t. Why? Because you are an imperfect human being. In the divine marriage, the husband is perfect and always shows his faithfulness perfectly. But in the process of sanctification, we are becoming a better and better wife. That may seem like a weird way to say that, but as individuals, we are not the bride of Christ. We are the bride of Christ corporately (Ephesians 5:25-27, 30-32). And here’s the thing; you don’t constantly fret “Well, am I really married? What if I’m not really married? I think I’m married. I really love my wife. I think about her all the time and I desire no other woman but her. But how can I really be sure?” Likewise, a person can know whether they really love God, want to know him more, want to know him better. And whether we value him above other gods. I am not going to serve other gods in addition to or instead of Yahweh. He is my ultimate desire and goal. He is the reason why I am looking forward to eternity. When I think about Heaven and the New Eden, being reunited with my deceased family members has become totally peripheral to the experience. Don’t misunderstand me here, I do look forward to seeing my mom and grandparents again. But more importantly, I long to have the full glory of God unveiled to me. Yahweh Himself is the prize that awaits me at the end of this race. It is like a man who will enjoy the meal and the warmth of his home after a long day of work, but above all he longs to be enraptured by the love of his life who he pledged loyalty many years ago in front of many witnesses. I know I am saved because I know who the King and Lord of my heart is. It is King Jesus!

What I think Bates might have been saying in the latter half of his first book was that we don’t know who will be loyal to the very end. And he acknowledged the debate over eternal security and whether apostasy was possible. But everyone agrees that continued faith to the end is what is needed to be saved. Whether it is modally possible to fall away or not. I think that’s what Bates was saying. And if that’s what he was saying, then I agree. And as someone who doesn’t affirm OSAS, I agree all the more and is why I guard my heart and cling as tightly to Jesus as possible. I believe in each one of us is the possible seed of being a Judas Iscariot. I mean, the book of Hebrews is written for the purpose of trying to keep a group of Messianic Jews from going back to a Unitarian, non-messianic form of Judaism because they are enduring harsh persecution. I can’t imagine the author of Hebrews would issue so many warnings about falling away were falling away not really possible. ^[10]Dr. Michael S. Heiser, “The Naked Bible Podcast Episode 173: Introducing the Book of Hebrews”, Date: August 26, 2017.

Not to mention that I don’t doubt that those ancient Christian Jews had come up with all sorts of “reasons” to disbelieve that Jesus was the Christ, but the real reason was that they didn’t like persecution. We need to abide in Christ to gain the protective promises of Psalm 91 in our spiritual battles against the enemy of our souls. ^[11]See my essay “Psalm 91: Your Battle Anthem Against The Devil” and “An In Depth Look At The Temptations Of Christ” for thorough, in depth written treatments on spiritual … Continue reading But I digress. 

While it remains true that producing the fruit of The Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23 cf. John 15:1-5) can have evidential value in confirming your salvation, it only becomes supplemental evidence rather than the main case. Many Christians make our performance the main test of whether we are truly saved, and this is precarious for the obvious reason that our journey in sanctification is non-linear, and there are some days where we will be acting saintly and other days where we are acting quite sinfully. But despite our imperfect obedience to King Jesus, we can know whether or not he is our highest desire, the one who truly has our heart. Think about King David. King David committed a horrible sin by committing adultery with Bathsheba, and then having her husband Uriah murdered in order to cover it up. Nevertheless, when Nathan confronts David with his sin, we see how it cuts to the core of his being. Psalm 51 is his prayer for reconciliation with God. Moreover, when we think about the life of King David, overall, he displays someone who is loyal to Yahweh and Truly does love him. Not only do the events and the historical narratives display this, but the beautiful words of worship and prayer in the psalms that are attributed to him in the book of psalms betray a man who is truly madly in love with Yahweh. And yet the same man Did not perform perfectly. He had more of laws. Still, when you compare David to someone like Saul or even worse, Ahab, The contrast is dark. I don’t think anyone would say that King Saul or king Ahab were loyal to Yahweh. But when we think of David, we are prone to say “He was one of Israel’s good kings”. “He really loved God.” ^[12]I use David as an example rather than Jesus because David is an example of imperfect allegiance. I obviously can’t use Jesus as an example of imperfect allegiance because he was sinless! … Continue reading)

Conclusion

As usual, much more could be said on this topic. And I have said more on the topic of what the gospel is and our response to it in my essay “Evangelism: Non-Violent Conquest Warfare“. I highly recommend checking out Matthew Bates’ books “Salvation By Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and The Gospel Of Jesus The King” as well as his book “Gospel Allegience: What Faith In Jesus Misses For Salvation In Christ“. I cannot comment on the other two books that he has put out on the subject because I have not read them, but I certainly intend to at some point in the future.

The American evangelical churches in some serious need of reformation in various different areas. Getting the true gospel in 4K is one of them.