What Are Bill Bright's Four Spiritual Laws?
- Emma Danzey Contributing Writer
- Published Apr 10, 2022
Bill Bright was the founder of CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ). He started this missions organization out of a great desire to reach college students. A large part of CRU’s ministry is evangelism and outreach. Many people have been in churches, but have never accepted the gospel for themselves. Many people have never heard of Jesus before. Bill decided to create a booklet called, Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws? Today, we are going to break down what are Bill Bright’s four spiritual laws.
1. God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
The first spiritual law starts off by explaining that God loves you. Many people have never heard this before. They may have heard that God is always mad at them or does not care about their small lives. However, John 3:16 shares that because God loves the world He sent Jesus so that we could have eternal life with Him. This is why the gospel is called the good news. When we think about how excited we become over a new tv show, a skincare product, or our new favorite ice cream flavor, we are bold and confident in sharing this with others. It is convicting to think about how often we steer clear of gospel conversations with those around us. We have the greatest news ever to share, that God loves them and died for their sins so they can have hope in life and into eternity have a relationship with Him.
Not only this, but John 10:10 tells us that Jesus came so that we would have life abundantly. This relationship starts now and the Lord desires for us to have fullness in Christ. This does not mean life is always easy and we always get what we want, but it means that we have eternal security and faithful love of Jesus.
2. We are sinful and separated from God. Therefore, we cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.
In order for anyone to see their need for a Savior, they have to come to the reality that they are sinful. Romans 3:23 tells us that we all sin and fall short of God’s glory. This spiritual law explains that we had right relationship with our Creator God, but we chose to sin. We rebelled against Him and broke that unity. Sin is defined as active rebellion against God or passive indifference. We see this modeled in the life of Eve’s active rebellion and Adam’s passive indifference in Genesis 3.
Because of our sins, we are separated from God. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. God is holy and sin separates us from our holy God. There is nothing that we can do to erase sin. We can strive to reach Him through good deeds, religion or philosophy, but it does not address the sin that separates us.
3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through Him alone we can know God personally and experience God’s love and plan.
Romans 5:8 shares that Christ demonstrated His love by dying on the cross for us. Jesus became the payment for the price of all of our sins. Then, 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 says that He rose from the dead. If Jesus just died, He would not have defeated sin and death, His resurrection was the evidence of His victory that we now share in with Him.
Scripture makes it clear in John 14:6 that Jesus is the only way to God. In a world that wants to describe many ways to heaven, the Bible tells the truth that Jesus is the only way to have our sins covered and reunite with God the Father. We could not get to Him, so He came down to us. He brings us back to God.
4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.
The fourth spiritual law comes to a place of decision. It is one thing to hear this, but it is another to personally accept this gift of salvation. John 1:12 says that in receiving Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf, we become children of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we receive Christ through faith by His grace. When we receive Christ, we experience rebirth. We are spiritually reborn. John 3:1-8 tells of Jesus teaching this concept to Nicodemus. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, our hearts are made new and the Holy Spirit enters, sealing us as God’s own.
Revelation 3:20 says that we receive Jesus by personal invitation. Jesus stands at the door of our hearts knocking, but we have to let Him in. God is a Gentleman, He never forces himself onto anyone. The way to receive Jesus as Savior is by turning to God and trusting Jesus to forgive our sins. Agreeing intellectually is not enough, neither is an emotional experience. We receive Christ intentionally and by faith. Romans 10:9 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
There is a free app called GodTools that you can download on your phone. This contains The Four Spiritual Laws, as well as the gospel presentation, Knowing God Personally, and many more evangelistic tools. This is very useful to have handy for any moment when someone would like to know more about faith in Christ. I personally have had the joy of walking through some of this material with a young woman in college who gave her life to Jesus.
After the four spiritual laws, there are two different people represented by circles. In the first circle is a person on the throne of their life with Jesus outside. This is called a self-directed life. The second circle has a cross on the throne and the person in the circle next to the throne. This is the Christ-directed life. This gives a visual for a person to come to a place of acknowledging which circle they relate to between the two. Then, there is a point of decision.
The four spiritual laws help us to see how God loves us and has a wonderful plan for us, that sin separates us from God, that Jesus is the only way to know God’s love and plan, and that we each must individually receive Jesus as our Savior. If you have never recognized that you are a sinner in need of a Savior to be reunited with our perfect and holy God, take a moment to pray and ask God to forgive you your sins and thank Him for sending Jesus to die on your behalf. In accepting Jesus as your Savior, you will receive eternal life through Him. You are reborn into the family of God and your life will never be the same.
If you already made this decision, then celebrate this truth which gives confidence and peace in our faith. Remember to use GodTools and the Four Spiritual Laws as a resource to share the gospel with others.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Greenleaf123
