Recently, a Baha’i acquaintance came to the evening service at the church I attend. I asked him if he was still Baha’i and he said he was. Since then I have prayed a couple times about the matter because I am troubled for his soul.
I was also frustrated, because I had spent 6-9 months praying and writing in an effort to expose inconsistencies in the Baha’i theory of progressive revelation, in 2018. It was my goal that Baha’is might understand what the Bible indicates about progressive revelation; that Abraham, Moses and Christ are all of the Christian faith and not distinct prophets of separate world religions.
That biblical truth, in my opinion, blew a hole in their theory; it should also move them to seek greater understanding about all relevant matters.
[See Categories, Baha’i Faith for the only post I wrote and the 22 page pdf that is linked therein.]
Today, as I studied the epistle of Galatians, it occurred to me that I saw another glaring error of the Baha’i Faith, that they combine two mutually exclusive ways of salvation, the biblical law and the biblical gospel.
How so? They strive to keep the law to earn their righteousness; but they seem to believe they can be forgiven (gospel grace); or they do not understand what the Bible says about the law.
In either instance, this post explains the difference between the law and the gospel and it also states that the only way of salvation from God’s wrath against sin is the gospel way of faith in Jesus Christ.
To show the aforementioned, I will use a minimal amount of scripture from Galatians:
The apostle Paul strived to explain these two ways and their mutually exclusive natures in the epistles of Romans (1-4) and Galatians (1-6:10). I am going to cite some scriptures from Galatians, because it is more understandable to me.
Any Baha’i who would better understand Paul’s arguments, should get a study Bible (ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT) and, for sake of your soul and peace of mind, study those two epistles.
Galatians 1:11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. [NLT] [See Acts 9: 1-20 for the account of Paul’s conversion by the risen Christ.]
Galatians 3:1 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the Law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
[That is, the Galatians had received salvation by faith and thereafter, false teachers made them believe they also had to be circumcised which is an element from the system of the law. So they were mixing the way of the law and the way of the gospel of grace, and Paul called them foolish for doing so. That is stated clearly in Galatians 5:3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. 4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.]
Paul explains that these two ways are mutually exclusive by several arguments over the next couple of chapters. I will just extract a few verses that support his point: that there is only salvation by faith in Christ; and that the law was given to show Israel their sins – it is not a way of salvation; and those who follow it as such are doomed to damnation:
Paul’s argument based on God’s covenant with Abraham:
Galatians 3:6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
3:9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
3:10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”
3:14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
Paul’s argument through the law [readers should use their Bibles and prayerfully read all the verses of these chapters for better understanding]:
3:19 Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses….
3:21 Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises?12 Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. 22 But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.
3:23 Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.
3:27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
[By the way, verse 28 is an argument against born again Christians subscribing to social justice.]
Paul cited several other arguments in Galatians, but I think the above are the easiest to understand; if you need more scripture, then please read the epistles of Romans and Galatians; while you’re at it, read the New Testament for more information about this matter and other saving doctrines.
The Baha’i Faith is not the only faith that is guilty of combining these two biblical systems to make a new way of salvation, numerous Christian denominations do it: the Roman Catholics; the Jehovah’s Witnesses; the Mormons; the Seventh Day Adventists and likely many more sects or denominations.
I listened to Dr. Fred Tarsitano’s conversion testimony yesterday and his second video about how many Christian sects have unbiblical ways of salvation. His message must have caused me to think that about the Baha’is as I read Galatians today.
To hear his testimony and what he says about the above Christian denominations, click the following link; and listen to the second video in that post:
https://sheeplywolves.com/conversion-testimony-of-a-former-roman-catholic/