Trust Christ alone versus Trust Christ by trusting His People

I have two friends, a Catholic and a Protestant. The Protestant quoted Kevin DeYoung, "You cannot trust Christ truly unless you trust Christ alone."

Then the Catholic argued, "Trusting God means trusting those He sends. He sent Christ so we trust Christ. Christ sent people (disciples) so we trust also the disciples (John 17:18 & John 20:21). Belief in Christ does not negate belief to the rest of the household of God. The Head is part of the Body. Therefore, belief & love for Christ is never "alone", it must extend or mirror to those whom Christ loves (primarily those who with Him in his heavenly family)."

The Protestant quoted the context of the quote, "There is nowhere else we ought to look for our salvation than in Christ. You cannot trust Christ truly unless you trust Christ alone. No matter how much you boast of Christ or talk of your love for Christ or passion for Christ, if you add anything to Christ, your boasting and love and passion are all in vain. There is no "both-and" with Jesus, only "either-or." Either Jesus is the only Savior [John 14:6], the perfect Savior, and your only comfort in life and in death, or Jesus is for you no Savior at all."

The Catholic responded, "It is not adding in the salvation or sufficiency of Christ but more on the aspect of trusting Christ so much that you must also trust those whom he sends. God is love but He does not point or exclude others to be loved that's why Christ has 2 commandments namely Love God & love others. The problem with that view is it is reductionist. It reduces the Christian idea of salvation based on love. It makes it individualistic (disregarding others). The complete picture of salvation is "communion", community, fellowship, church, FAMILY. This is an example of what I am saying.... (Matthew 10:40) "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me." Faith in Christ is not a private privilege or exclusive of others. Faith in Christ is inclusive & it logically includes to those whom he favors or sends."

The Protestant, "Your taking it out of context... I cant post the whole book here...the text is about Jesus being the Savior and salvation is found in Him alone (Acts 4:12)..."

The Catholic, "However, the Protestant approach in salvation is individualistic & most of the time simplistic to the point that it contradicts the entirety of the Scriptures... Everything is centered in Christ but those who are drawn to Christ are necessarily drawn to each other. Salvation is communion with Christ at the center."

Flawed as I am, I want to make a comment but this, "Answer not a fool, lest I become one." Therefore, I just want to make a statement here.

To take both points:

1) Trusting God means trusting those whom He sends.

First of all, people are sinners and fail. If we trust people, we are open for disappointments because people do fail. Whom God sends: family, friends, mentors, even enemies. As a reflection in the Book of Judges that God no longer removed Canaan from Israel to test them, punish them, and teach them. God sent people to test us for faithfulness, do we trust Him or people? God sent people (good or bad) to teach us a lesson, to bring about obedience to God. God sent people to mold us, to strengthen us for His purpose.

Jesus, though the Father gave him people who would believe Him, did not trust in man for He knew man's nature is sinful. (John 17; John 2:23-25)

To whom did Adam trust? He trusted himself and his wife, they fell and disobeyed God.

To whom did Abraham trust? He trusted himself and his wife, they disobeyed and manipulated God's plan.

To whom did Samson trust? He trusted himself and Delilah who took his strength and gave him to the Philistines.

To whom did Solomon trust? He trusted himself and all "good things", he was puffed up and forsook God.

By this definition that "trusting God means trusting those whom He sends", things look filthy and messy, all disappointments.

2) Trusting God alone and only Him.

We can still trust people but not so much that our trust is reliant on them than God. Trusting God is knowing who God is, His Character. When we trust a person, we usually first know the person before we begin to trust Him. But trusting man apart from trusting God alone, that's similar to point #2. But trusting man is not the same as trusting God, because man is, again, sinful and fails. God is the Creator, King, Father, Lord, and Ruler of us. He is all sufficient, complete, perfect, faithful, and everlasting.

Our Catholic friend here says that this is individualistic, simplistic, and reductionistic. I wonder why people want complicated things and make it the ultimate truth, because simple things are hard to understand in limited minds. Loving God and loving others is not like two commandments made into one. God said to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. When we learn, with the Holy Spirit's enabling, to love God, loving others come naturally to us, which loving others comes from God too. The foundation of love, trust/faith is God who has given this enabling to us through the Holy Spirit. It is not even individualistic, because we are trusting God to do what He oughts us to do or will to do according to His 2nd commandment about others, which is stretched into the 4th to 10th commandment in the Ten Commandments.

Trusting God alone is not reductionistic, we're not reducing what the Bible says. My friend is connecting a puzzle, though it fits, does not make the picture. He is actually adding the principle of the Scriptures because the Bible doesn't say anything what my friend is saying.

To whom did Moses trust? If he trusted the people God entrusted him, he's bound for failure. If he trusted his siblings, he's also bound for failure. Therefore, a servant of the Lord, Moses trusted God alone.

To whom did David trust? If he trusted Saul, he might have not become King because Saul betrayed him and killed him. David trusted Jonathan, true, but David trusted God more. When a sleeping Saul was brought into David's hands because he's the next King, David didn't kill him because God appointed Saul, therefore David had no power to kill Saul except God. David trusted God alone, yet He became King as God promised.

To whom did Jesus trust? If Jesus trusted his disciples, could we have Jesus today? Jesus' disciples left him.

To whom did Paul trust? His friends even left him.

3) Conclusion

Therefore, to whom do we trust? But in God alone. Salvation comes in God alone. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved (salvation) through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." (emphasis mine) Salvation comes from God. Grace comes from God. Faith/Trust comes from God. No man gives another man salvation, grace, and faith.

Though man is sent by God to bring another man to Christ, that doesn't mean the man has the power to give salvation, grace, and faith. God entrusted him, but the Holy Spirit does the work through the man.

I have spiritual parents who bore me to faith, that doesn't mean they gave me faith. Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." God gave me that faith through my spiritual parents who taught His Word to me, who led me to know God. Trusting God by trusting whom He sends is not it. Trusting God because He is God who provides, who loves, who cares, who is Father, who is King, who is Savior, who is Lord, who is what we are not, is different from "Trusting God means trusting whom He sends." It may mean that my Catholic friend here doesn't know God.

Matthew 11:29-30, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Simple, God didn't say, "Take my yoke because it's complicated."

Is Jesus waiting?

Driving home, I ran across a billboard sign that says "Jesus is waiting. Come fast. Don't let him wait long enough." Hence, I asked in my thoughts, "Is Jesus really waiting?"

In Genesis, Abraham grew up in pagan roots, but God called him: Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father's household to the land that I will show you." - Genesis 12:1

Then came Jacob the Deceiver, who left his family running away from Esau, his brother's revenge, but God met him: Then he fell asleep in that place and had a dream. He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it and the LORD stood at its top. He said, "I am the LORD, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on. I am with you! I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!" - Genesis 28:11b-12, 15

Jesus' disciples were doing their business before Jesus called them to become His disciples: As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). He said to them, "Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people." They left their nets immediately and followed him. Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. Then he called them. They immediately left the boat and their father and followed him. - Matthew 4:18-22

So, is Jesus waiting? Is He waiting for sinners to follow Him, accept Him as Lord and Savior, believe in Him, confess their sins?

Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Faith, grace, and salvation only comes from God, and not from ourselves. Can we be able to choose to be saved? Can we, creatures of God, choose whether to believe in Him or not? Will Jesus really wait for us until we make a decision to believe in Him? By no means, "consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)

And where does the "word of Christ" comes from? From God Himself. From God's calling. From God's spoken Word. From the gospel being preached by those who heard the call of God through His Holy Spirit.

Thank God for He has called you after you heard His gospel preached. Thank Him for the faith that is in you. Thank Him that He enabled you and chosen you to come to know Him. Thank Him He called you.

Now, with Jesus' command: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20

Do we have to make Jesus wait before we do what He told us to do, to spread the Word so they can hear and be called by God? No, we have to obey else we disobey His command. Take heed though, not all who hear the Word, hears. They're not making Jesus wait before they believe in Him, they are rebelling against their Creator.

But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. But again I ask, didn't Israel understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger." And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me." But about Israel he says, "All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!" - Romans 10:18-21

"I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me."

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes --- his eternal power and divine nature --- have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. - Romans 1:18-24