“How Vast the Resources of His Power …” No. 8

SAVED BY GRACE - - AND ONLY BY GRACE

Jude, the author of a very short book in the New Testament scriptures, speaks of Christians as called, beloved in God, and kept for Jesus Christ. Do not most of us think in terms of keeping ourselves in the faith rather than of being kept by the grace of God? Jude must have had strong convictions about the grace of God. Not only does he honor God by writing, “Now to him who is able to keep you from falling”, but he also speaks of those who pervert the grace of God.

We speak often of people perverting the gospel and preverting the truth, in reference to such passages as Gal. 1:7, but we seem less conscious of the tragedy of perverting the grace of God. Jude is referring to the Gnostics who believed that the body is by nature evil, that only spirit is good, and that therefore the lusts of the flesh may be freely expressed, since the body is of no significance anyhow. Too, the grace of God covers all sins, so why not sin all one pleases, they reasoned. And thus they twisted the grace of God into a justification of blatant immorality, the term used here by Jude suggesting that they performed their impious acts publicly, not so much as caring if they were seen by others.

While this kind of behavior may be more prevalent than we realize, most of us are not so void of conscience as to pervert God’s grace in this manner. But there is another way to pervert grace, and that is to assume that grace is dependent upon our work, or that it is only through our cooperation that the grace of God is effectual. Since Adam man’s besetting sin has been the pride that presumes his own righteousness will save him. In his arrogance man assumes that he becomes worthy of salvation by some acts that he performs or commandments that he obeys. In this essay we are stating our conviction that deliverance from sin is solely by grace, and that any cooperative view of salvation is a rejection of grace. Any doctrine of justification with such arithmetic as “God’s Part + Man’s Part = Salvation” perverts the grace of God. Our thesis is that we are saved by grace-and only by grace! In the entire history of redemption no man ever did anything to save himself. We affirm further that the purpose of God in history is to reveal His grace through Christ with such splendor that man, smitten by his sinfulness, will yield himself to God, fully aware of his inability to save himself and fully conscious that there is nothing he can do to gain God’s favor, and by such defeat of human pride man becomes a new creation in Christ, thus conformed to the image of God.

Any idea of “the plan of salvation” that suggests that man’s own initiative figures into his justification is therefore wrong. The only “plan” involved in man’s salvation is the grace of God. This is to say that we are not saved by being baptized, or by taking of the Lord’s Supper, or by going to church each Wednesday night, or by almsgiving. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God-not because of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8).

Notice that provocative phrase lest any man should boast. Blessed is the man who is sufficiently aware of his unworthiness before God that he dare not boast in His presence. There is no greater resource of power than for one to realize that he has no power of his own, but that he must rely wholly upon God’s strength. When we can say with Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am,” and to understand that without that grace we are nothing, we will then have the strength to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

One is boasting before God when he says, “I am saved because I have met all the requirements laid down for salvation,” or “My sins are forgiven because I’ve been baptized.” He is also boasting when he speaks of finally going to heaven by virtue of fulfilling the requirements of Christian service, whether it be performing faithfully “the five acts of worship” or reading the Bible every day. If one goes to heaven, it will be fully and completely because of God’s grace, and not because of any deed he has done. We can approach God with neither gun nor purse, for we can neither wrest it from him by our insistence nor buy it from him by our deeds.

This was the point of Paul writing Romans, that the saint’s relationship to God is solely by grace. He is emphatic in writing, “They are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (3:24) And in verse 28 he adds: “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.” In 4:16 he points out that righteousness must “rest on grace”, lest it be reckoned as one’s due instead of God’s gift.

Emphasis upon the grace of God in our lives must not overlook what the Bible says about our being justified by works. It states plainly, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (J as. 2:24) , and the same passage speaks of Abraham’s faith as being “completed by works.” Verse 26 insists that “As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.”

Paul urged the Philippians to “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” (2:12) and he assured the Corinthians that “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body” (2 Cor. 5:10). And the judgment scene in Rev. 20 speaks of the dead being judged “by what they had done.”

Along with these passages that reveal that we are to be judged by our works, there are numerous others that stress obedience. We are assured in 2 Thess. 1:8 that the Christ will “inflict vengeance upon those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” Even in Romans, where Paul lays such stress upon salvation by grace, reference is made to those who were “obedient from the heart to that standard of teaching to which you were committed” (6:17). In Rom. 16.7 Paul speaks of the necessity of “obedience to the faith.” And so our Lord commands: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 16:16). Beginning with John the Baptist it was declared that men should prove the reality of their repentance by the excellence of their deeds.

There appears to be here a very damaging contradiction. One set of passages affirms that salvation is by grace, apart from the works of law; another set of passages places great stress upon works, insisting that salvation comes by deeds as well as by faith. It does not resolve the problem to say that salvation is by both grace and deeds, for this is the very thing that Paul disavows in his teaching that we are saved by grace through faith, apart from any human works. If it is by grace, then it is not of works; if it is by works, then it is not of grace. This is the way Paul talks in Rom. 4. But James talks quite differently, avowing that faith apart from works is dead.

Any solution of this problem is fatal that concludes that man even in the least gains salvation by what he does, for in such a conclusion there is the implication that in some sense he deserves to be saved. We must insist, in view of Paul’s thesis in Romans, that the most loyal and obedient Christian no more deserves to be saved than the wildest Hottentot of the jungles of Africa. There is that passage that so few of us believe: “So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Lk. 17:10).

We often hear it said of some dear saint who has passed on: “If he doesn’t go to heaven, then no one will.” But the truth is that such a one, however dedicated his life, no more deserves to go to heaven than the world’s most hardened criminal. Though we are reluctant to admit it, we really believe that if one has been baptized and gives himself diligently to the affairs of the church that he has more right to go to heaven than has his disobedient neighbor. Surely if the teaching on grace means anything at all it means that a lifetime of good works will not bring us any nearer heaven. The blessings of heaven are bestowed upon the saints only by God’s grace. The man never lived, except the Christ himself, who deserved to go to heaven. All the good works the world over, and throughout all ages, could not make one worthy of one moment of heavenly glory.

Most of you who read these words have a “works” background, which means that you have been conditioned to associate good works with being saved. We believe that if we are regular at such things as breaking bread on Lord’s day, giving of our means, observing holy Wednesday, and fulfilling a number of other points that make us loyal, we will be saved. It is the same old story of being justified by a punctilious observance of laws and commandments. One simply cannot believe this and believe what the Bible teaches about grace.

It is true that others may have a “cheap grace” background, which perverts grace into a means of saving man apart from any discipline in his life at all. We must avoid both of these fallacies, each of which is rooted in pride. We avoid the first by the humble realization that all man’s works are as filthy rags and wholly inadequate to merit salvation. He deserves hell and not heaven, in spite of all his good deeds; and if God gives him heaven, it is wholly by grace. We avoids the second fallacy by realizing that we are saved by grace through faith, and that it is a live, vital, and responsive faith that gives grace meaning.

Herein lies the harmony, we believe, between Paul and James and between salvation by grace and good deeds. Paul and James are starting at different points as they speak of works. Paul speaks of the alien sinner, while James is talking about those who are already saved. No man can win or earn forgiveness, however long he may repent or how many times he may be baptized. It is by God’s grace only, apart from anything man can do. James starts with the man who claims to be a Christian, and tells that he must show his faith by his works. He is saying that faith is dead if it is not perfected in works, or that profession without practice is meaningless. He is showing that there is much more to Christianity than an intellectual acceptance, that being a Christian is a response of the whole self to the Lord.

We are saved for deeds, James is saying. We are not saved by deeds, Paul is saying. As saints of God we work because we are saved, not in order to be saved. This means that it is a certain kind of faith that saves. It is a qualitative faith, or a responsive faith. Surely when Paul speaks of our being justified by faith, he has in mind a responsive, obedient faith. We have mentioned passages where he stresses obedience, which indicate that he realized that the free gift of grace must be responded to by the sinner. He must accept the grace through obedience.

Is this not true of all the expressions of common grace (as distinguished from the special grace we’ve been discussing) that are so evident in nature. Water is a free gift of God, bestowed upon us only by His grace, but still we must dig a well or build a cistern. Is it not true that a man could die of thirst with water even at his lips? All God’s gifts, whether electricity or atomic energy, must be appropriated. But they are none the less gifts.

A friend may express his love to me by presenting me with a set of very precious books. He instructs me to write the publisher of the books and present proper identification so that the set will be forwarded to me immediately. If I never wrote the publisher, I would never receive the books. I must show a faithful response to my friend’s love by following his instructions, and then the gift will be mine. Once I do this and receive the prized set, would it not be foolish for me to speak of receiving the books by means of my own works? Would it not also be a mistake to think that I had cooperated with my friend in getting the books? Is it not solely by the grace of my friend that the books are mine? May I dare say that in some way I deserve the books because I wrote to the publisher and identified myself?

This illustrates the place of obedience in Paul’s thinking —“the obedience of faith” as he speaks of it. Baptism is therefore no work that we perform in order to gain salvation. It is an act chosen of God whereby we can make a faithful response to his free gift of grace. Once we are baptized we no more deserve to be saved than before, and it is certainly not baptism that saves us. It is like the thirsty man who puts the cup of water to his lips, or like my writing to the publisher for the books. I deserve nothing. I am not worthy of anything. Being baptized does not change that. I am saved by grace and only by grace. We are to thank God that He selected an act, one that is richly symbolic and meaningful, whereby we can respond to His great and wonderful grace. I am delighted to follow my Lord’s instructions in being immersed, and if it pleased Him, I would gladly be immersed every day of my life. But no act performed by man, however submissive it may be or however often it may be done, can save.

All the blessings associated with baptism, whether the remission of sins or being “in Christ”, are the result of God’s work, not ours. It is when speaking of our being buried with Christ in baptism that Paul uses the term “the working of God” (Col. 2:12), and in John 6:29 our Lord identifies faith itself as the work of God. Baptism should be viewed as “the cultivation of grace”, to use Alexander Campbell’s description, which makes it God’s work rather than our own. It is like a beautiful garden, made possible only by the gifts of nature, but appropriated by a faithful gardener.

Does this mean that baptism (and other responses of faith) is necessary? It all depends on what we make necessary mean. Necessary to eternal salvation in heaven with God? We cannot say this, for God is God, and He is not subject to any limitation (1 Cor. 15:27), and it may be His will to extend His saving grace to a Hitler or an Eichmann. We cannot make even faith itself a condition for going to heaven, for God in His great mercy, because of circumstances that we know not of, may save an infidel from eternal destruction. The vital truth is that the most obedient and faithful of all saints is as much in need of God’s mercy and grace as is Hitler, Eichmann, or an infidel. Grace means that God accounts us as righteous when in reality we are not. We all deserve to go where we suppose Hitler and infidels have gone, for we are rebels against God. It is only through Christ, and not by any goodness on our part, that God is pleased to save us by grace through faith. None of us is more worthy of heaven than Hitler, and in view of Paul’s language, we can all think of ourselves as “chief of sinners”. If any of us is saved, it will be but by the grace of God. Thank God, I’m not just writing words. I really believe that!

But if you ask if baptism is essential in terms of responding to the gospel and becoming a Christian, the answer has to be yes. When the gospel was first proclaimed by Peter, which is the precious news that Christ is risen, that He is Lord and Christ, and that through Him we have victory over sin, there was a thunderous response, “What shall we do?” The apostle charged them to “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins” (Acts 2:38). Or as we have already quoted from the Christ: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 16:16).

It is like my gift of books. It is necessary that I respond by writing the publisher and identifying myself. If nothing else, it demonstrates that I believe my friend when he promises the set of books. My responding makes it no less an act of his grace than if he walked in and dumped the books into my lap. The Bible is replete with instances of responding, obeying faith, all the way from the building of an ark to the offering of a son upon an altar. Baptism is in this categorya cultivation of grace. The question for us to ask ourselves is whether we have not left the impression in our teaching that immersion is something we do to achieve salvation. Whatever the reason, our people are known as “a works church”, much the same way the Roman Catholic Church is, and we have failed to leave the impression that we really believe in salvation by grace.

In the light of the foregoing I am prepared to agree with Martin Luther when he concluded from his study of Romans that man is saved by faith and by faith only. I am further persuaded that if the modern church does not recapture the sense of sin that Luther’s reformation realized, and if it does not reaffirm its need of the grace of God, it will not have the vitality to be a resource of spiritual power to a lost world.

Those of us who long for the deeper resources of power must look to the grace of God. It was amidst harassment from Satan that Paul cried to God for deliverance, imploring that a dreadful thorn in the flesh might be taken away. Again and again and again Paul prayed that God would relieve him of his misery. Finally the answer came, and had Paul not suffered we might not now have one of the most strengthening passages of all the Bible: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9) .

If one will but grasp its significance and appropriate it to his own life, that inspiring statement uttered by our Lord to a suffering man can transform his life. As Phillips renders it: “My grace is enough for you: for where there is weakness, my power is shown the more completely.” What a tremendous resource of power for those who will but believe it!

God does not always deliver us from our problems, and it may be our lot to experience much tragedy. But God’s grace will sustain us. Life can be a weary and dreary ordeal, but God’s grace will strengthen us. Some of us have to bear slander, misinterpretation, and cruel misjudgments, which may be the most painful burdens to bear, but the grace of God will make us sufficient even here. Indeed the apostle could declare, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” If we are what we are by God’s grace, we should not desire to be anything else.

It is the essence of tragedy for man to frustrate such great and wonderful grace. We see it sometimes in an ungrateful child who spurns all the sacrifices and plans that dedicated parents have made for him. Many a parental heart has been broken when a foolish child goes his own irresponsible way in spite of all the loving pleas that anguished minds can muster.

How much greater is the tragedy when man spurns the grace of God. This was what disturbed Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians: “We entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1). Notice that he is urging church members to rely on God’s grace. He even says to those already baptized: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” And many a church member there is in our day who needs to experience “the day of salvation” by making God’s grace real in his life.

Paul goes on to implore them: “Widen your hearts.” And he says further: “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.” He is urging them to open their eyes to see what the power of God can do to their lives. They have cut off the resources of power by being concerned about many things that are far less important than the grace of God in their hearts.

Grace! ‘tis a charming sound,

Harmonious to the ear;

Heav’n with the echo shall resound

And all the earth shall hear.

Grace first contriv’d the way

To save rebellious man;

And all the steps that grace display”

Which drew the wondrous plan.

Grace led our wand’ring feet

To tread the heav’nly road;

And now supplies each hour we meet”

While pressing on to God.

Grace all the work shall crown

Through everlasting days;

It lays in heav’n the topmost stone,

And well deserves our praise.

(Taken from Christian Hymnbook, originally published about 1835 by Alexander Campbell.) —The Editor