Salvation: Faith & Works

     What a person believes and thinks, no matter what the topic is, is usually related to several variables: (1) the ideas/ definitions/ conceptions that they have learned from people they respect as they were growing up, (2) the ideas/ definitions/ conceptions that are popular in their current social environment, (3) their own interaction with the primary and authoritative information (i.e. their own study).  Unfortunately, most people are much more influenced by the first two than the last.

       In the area of theology, this is equally true and, sadly, it appears to me as though the first two are the primary influences on people in this area also.  Most people in modern America really adopt their beliefs from popular notions and extra-Biblical writings circulating in the Evangelical community and, often, have little idea what the Bible itself really teaches.  This is why large segments of the “Christian”(?) community confidently believe and preach to others that “salvation is by faith alone,” blissfully ignorant of the fact that the only place in the Bible where the phrase “faith alone” appears teaches that Christians are “not justified by faith alone” (James 2:24).  This is also why many people are lot more familiar with (and get their actual beliefs) from the church they attend and the writings of Billy Graham, Rick Warren, or Tim LaHaye than from the writings of the Apostles and their first century associates (i.e. the New Testament).  Oh, they go to Scripture to Biblically support what they have been taught elsewhere, but “Bereans” (Acts 17:11) who search the Scriptures for themselves to check out the validity of what they hear elsewhere is still somewhat rare.

Definitions & Concepts ARE Important

       In one sense, I have no argument with the basic proposition that salvation is by "grace/faith" rather than through "works," for the Apostle Paul clearly ruled out the possibility of being saved or justified by means of "works"

 . . . nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.  (Galatians 2:16)

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5)

Where I do take issue with the Evangelical viewpoint is in their definition of "works."  Confusion has arisen about how to define "grace" and "works" and it has created a problem for understanding certain other elements that the New Testament writers described as conditional elements tied to salvation.  If one's definition of "grace" is rooted in a deterministic philosophy of divine sovereignty (such as Calvinism), then "salvation" (both in provision and individual appropriation) is viewed as a totally divine affair, where God selects who is to be saved/condemned; inwardly activates those He elects, and will cause all of them to persevere to the end.  In this scheme, humans do nothing to promote or even embrace their own salvation because “God has done it all!”  Upon this assumption, all human activities (obedience, repentance, confession, baptism, and even faith) are labeled "works" which means they can have nothing to do with salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9) and anyone who thinks they do is accused of trying to take away from God's sovereignty and/or “adding to the finished work of Christ on the cross"!  Modern evangelicals have generally bought the definition that "anything man does” is works and, therefore, cannot have anything to do with salvation."  Hal Lindsey said it this way,

If we make something which the Bible calls a result of salvation part of the means by which it’s obtained, then we insert human merit into the picture of God’s redemptive plan.^[1]

If we add baptism as a condition of being saved, then it becomes a work and an act of human merit which nullifies pure grace that says that nothing is needed from man, but faith.^[2]

Some Needed Correction

     In response to the quotations above, is there anywhere in Scripture that we can find baptism labeled as a “work/act of human merit”?  Is there anywhere in Scripture that we can find reference to the phrase “pure grace“ and is the notion that “nothing is needed from man, but faith” what the Bible writers taught?  Frankly, there are a number of popular phrases and concepts central to modern evangelicalism that cannot be found anywhere in Scripture.  Thus, it is no wonder that Bible bookstores do a brisk business in paperback theology books, for the Bible writers (apparently) did such a poor job of wording things that few would be able to understand Evangelical doctrine without all of this authoritative “Rabbinical commentary” to explain it!  Only in the modern paperback theology books will you read of “salvation by faith alone,” or “pure grace,” and hear that “God doesn’t require anything from man but faith.”  You won’t get any of these notions from reading the Bible alone!

Solid Foundations

       Let me lay out the truth as simply and clearly as I can.  In response to the first sin, God gave His initial promise of a coming Savior in Eden,

And the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel. "  (Genesis 3:14-15)

From this, we know that a Savior will someday come from a woman and the Serpent will receive a fatal blow, while the Savior will also be wounded in the encounter with the Serpent.  Centuries later, God elaborated on the promise and laid out a two-stage program to Abraham,

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. "  (Genesis 12:1-3)

Along with a promise of personal blessing and protection, Abraham was told that his descendants would become a nation in the promised Land of Canaan (this would be national Israel under the Mosaic covenant) and then a great blessing through Abraham’s descendant would be sent out to all of the families of the earth through his Messianic descendant (forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus and the New Covenant).  From the earliest promises in Genesis, salvation and life were promised through this coming Messianic descendant of Abraham and David - that is why we have crucial genealogies in Genesis 5 & 11, Ruth 4:18-22; Matthew 1 & Luke 3 to point us to Him.  Along with serious disobedience over the centuries, national Israel had become somewhat mistaken in their theology.  Thus, by the time Jesus the Promised Messiah appeared, Israelites had come to believe that they were saved by their lineage to the Patriarchs (Matthew 3:9) and the “works” of compliance with the Mosaic Law-system they did, rather than obedient faith focused on God (such as Abraham, David, and Habakkuk had) in the Messiah promised from the beginning.  Rather than personal forgiveness and eternal life, Israelites were looking for a political Savior who would eject Herod’s family and Rome from Palestine.  When this did not unfold, the majority of national Judaism rejected Jesus as the Promised Messiah and stumbled on another 40 years until the final destruction of Jerusalem, predicted by Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27) occurred in 70 A.D.  Those who did believe that Jesus was the Promised Messiah became followers of the Christ (Christians) and placed their hope in Him and in what He did as their path to forgiveness and eternal life,.  Most Jews have given up on the Messianic hope altogether and just enjoy being influential in matters of worldly politics, finance, and entertainment.  That’s the way it is.

Evangelical Distortion of Paul’s teachings

     From what I have read over the years, it appears that the Reformation leaders (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli) based most of their questionable ideas on things they cited from the Apostle Paul’s writings and this continues to be the “Scripture source of choice” for most faith-only advocates today.  Perhaps, it is ironic that the apostle Peter noted a problem already going on in his time with how some people handled Paul’s writings,

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness,  (2Peter 3:14-17)

When modern “faith-only” advocates define any and all human actions (even obedience to the Gospel) as "works" disassociated from salvation, I believe they completely misunderstand Paul's context and definition, plus render some passages totally baffling.  First of all, the "works" which Paul put in opposition to grace/faith/Gospel were clearly identified as "works of the Law"^[3] - trying to find salvation in the Covenant and commandments that were given through Moses to Israel.  In reference to my “solid foundations” summary above, Jesus commented on the misguided Jewish understanding of the Mosaic system as a salvation vehicle and a means of attaining eternal life rather than what it was supposed to be - the preparation system which pointed to Himself (John 5:39-47).  Paul also elaborated on the intended purpose of the Mosaic Law in his letters to Rome and Galatia^[4] and he was denying the ability of the Mosaic system to confer eternal righteousness or life, because these things were not promised even if one did keep the Mosaic Law perfectly.  Paul argues for salvation/justification by grace/faith/Christ/Gospel and against trying to achieve these by "works of the Law" on the basis that (1) failure to keep any part of the Law turned it into a curse (Galatians 3:10-11) and (2) such an approach was doomed to failure because neither eternal righteousness or eternal life were offered or available through the Mosaic Law (Galatians 2:21; 3:21).  Essentially, I believe Paul’s main argument in the “faith not works” passages that evangelicals often cite was to discredit “works of the Law” (hope based on one’s own personal performance of the Mosaic Law) as the means of salvation in contrast to the faith/Gospel/Jesus/ New Covenant route, which Paul resolutely endorsed!  I think “faith vs. works” for Paul represented two different covenant systems, rather than “mental conviction” vs. outward obedience and submission.  When this switch in definitions is made, then many of the troublesome passages in the New Testament become quite harmonious with the “faith not works” passages.  In this light, Paul and James will be found to be very much on the same page - salvation is through faith in Jesus as the Christ and faith is expressed, demonstrated, and made alive by obeying the Christ.  Let’s now move on to address the issue of “obeying the Gospel.”

       A second problem that arises from the Evangelical definition of “works” is that it sets "obedience" in opposition to “faith” and ruins the impact of the Biblical examples of "faith" in Hebrews 11 that acted on their faith.  For Paul, the "works" he opposed cannot refer to human obedience or physical activity in general, for he declared that the very the goal of his ministry was to bring Gentiles to "the obedience of faith."^[5]  The writer of Hebrews said that Jesus would save those who obey Him (Hebrews 5:8-9) and James used Abraham as an example of obedient faith and argued against the notion of salvation/justification by “faith alone” (James 2:14-26).

       Paul never applied the term "works" to elements associated with the New Covenant/ Grace/ Gospel system.  It was Martin Luther's definition of "justification by faith" which caused him to want to exclude the book of James from the New Testament because he thought that James (James 2:21-24) was contradicting Paul (Romans 3:20; 5:1).  Like many after him, Luther failed to understand the definitions which Paul and James were using, for Paul was advocating the “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 6:16,17; 15:18; 16:26; 2Thessalonians 1:8) and James was saying that saving faith “works/obeys” (James 2:14-26) - Paul and James were saying exactly the same thing in different terminology!  Paul never used the phrase “faith alone,” but he did advocate faith-motivated obedience to the Gospel, while James was not talking about “works of the Law” or salvation by “works alone”!  Peter asserted that our being “sprinkled with Christ’s blood” was connected to our obeying Christ in some way (1Peter 1:2).  The connection between Christ’s blood shed “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28) and something repentant human believers were commanded to do in obedience to the Gospel “for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38) should not be that hard to see, unless you are really blinded by popular religious clichés.

       We should define "faith/works" in the same way we determine a definition for any other term - see how the word was used in context and consider what else the NT writers said that would help us to make our definitions sufficiently flexible to agree with the Apostles' doctrine.  It is interesting to note that Jesus is the only one in the New Testament writings that ever identified and labeled any element associated with salvation as a “work” - and what a shock for faith-only folks when they discover that the element so labeled is belief (John 6:28,29)!

       A third problem created by the Evangelical definition is that it makes it very confusing for believers who go beyond what the "faith-only" preachers advocate and actually read their Bibles for themselves.  When they do, they encounter a number of "conditional" elements that all of the New Testament writers associated with salvation and they don't know how to handle them because they have been taught erroneous definitions of "faith/works." 

       Jerry Falwell, a Baptist who denies that baptism has anything to do with the forgiveness of sins, says of Acts 2:38,

This is one of the most controversial verses in the New Testament.^[6]

Controversial, really?  I had no idea this verse was so controversial until I read Falwell’s comments, for I didn’t have a problem with it when I first read it nor does it appear from history that Christians ever had a big problem with this passage (for over 1500 years) until Reformation “faith-only” theology came on the scene!  I guess this might tell us something about Falwell and his followers - when Scripture disagrees with their theology, they raise questions about Scripture rather than question their theology!  Are we supposed to change Scripture or is it supposed to change us?

       I came across another writer from the "justification by grace alone through faith alone" position who admitted that Acts 2:38 and 22:16 mean exactly what they appear to be saying, but these passages no longer apply.  His view was that they were only applicable to first century Palestinian evangelism and have no bearing on Gentile evangelism.  He claimed that baptism "for the remission of sins" was necessary in Palestinian evangelism because they shared in a special guilt for crucifying the Messiah.^[7]  However, such an explanation is asserting that there are two Gospel messages or systems of salvation - one for first century Jews in Palestine and another for Gentiles outside of Palestine.  This is false teaching, for such a position ignores the universal nature of the Great commission’s orders (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15,16; Luke 24:46,47)?  It contradicts the Apostle Paul’s clear teaching that there is only one Gospel message for both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 1:15,16) and that it was not to be altered by anyone (Galatians 1:6-9)!  Paul said that the only “other” Gospel besides the original one is a “distorted” one.  Such argumentation seems too anxious to "explain away" verses that disagree with their post-Reformation "grace only, faith only" shibboleth and their definition of "works."

       Paul said that salvation was by "grace/faith" (Ephesians 2:8,9), and not by "works."  But the whole of the NT (including Paul's epistles) tells us that believing this grace-initiated salvation requires some response from us!  Jesus noted the obvious contradiction of calling Him “Lord” with one’s mouth, but not doing what He commanded/God’s will,

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.  "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'  "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'  (Matthew 7:21-23)

"And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?  "Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.  "But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."  (Luke 6:46-49)

When Jesus spoke, He talked about “believing and appropriate action” as though the two went together and could not be separated, unlike the modern “faith only” approach which declares that “God doesn’t require anything of people” for salvation.  In keeping with Jesus’ approach to things, there is nothing inappropriate about divinely commanded conditional elements associated with embracing the hope graciously offered and appropriated by an obedient/submissive faith.  Thus, the Apostle Paul taught the “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 15:18; 16:25-26), James advocated a faith that motivated appropriate “works” (James 2:14-26), the writer of Hebrews said that Jesus would save those who “obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9), and Peter said that we contact Jesus’ saving blood by “obeying Jesus Christ” (1Peter 1:2) and that “baptism now saves you” (1Peter 3:21) as our “good conscience” covenant pledge and oath-swearing (eperotema).  The Apostle John recorded Jesus’ words about the necessity of being “born again/born of water and Spirit” in order to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3,5), then His comment about “abiding in Jesus’ love” being tied to keeping His commandments (John 15:10,14) and later John taught that the real proof of whether or not we “know Him” is how we react to His commandments (1John 2:3-6).  Water baptism is certainly NOT the only command Jesus gave, but it is one of them and seems to be tied to some pretty crucial stuff and it is the one that Evangelicals have tried the hardest to downplay, if not downright reject.  Accordingly, we have had to say more about it than we would prefer.

       All of this being said, it seems highly unlikely that Paul's definition of "works" (that are not associated with salvation) meant human action in general.  The simplest and best conclusion is that the things that were tied to salvation by the NT writers were not within the circle of what they were defining as "works" nor in any way opposed to "grace"!  As I said earlier, my conclusion is that Paul was contrasting two covenant systems.  One path focused on God's mercy offered in Christ and was variously referred to as the new covenant/grace/faith/gospel/Christ path, which we embrace by submissive faith focused not on our own goodness, but upon what Jesus did for us.  The other approach focused on one's own relative merit in keeping the Sinaitic covenant and was characterized/associated with works/law/Moses/etc.  For Paul, the issue was not whether or not "faith" needed to be obedient, but whether one's obedient faith was focused on the God who had offered unearned salvation through Jesus or on one's own ability to keep the requirements of the Mosaic Law and gain eternal life/righteousness as a reward/wage for doing so.  I believe the chief error that Paul was addressing in his "faith versus works" statements was the mistaken view that the Law of Moses offered eternal life to those who were "good enough" in performing its requirements.  We still encounter people who hope for heaven on the basis that they are "trying to keep the 10 commandments," rather than confidently trusting God's mercy through Christ's death for us and embracing the Gospel.

       There is absolutely NOTHING meritorious about submitting to baptism and the New Testament writers never described it as a “work” that had no connection to salvation.  On the other hand, they did describe it as a conditional element in salvation, where repentant believers receive the Christ-provided “forgiveness of sin” (Acts 2:38-41; 22:16) and the Christ-sent Holy Spirit (John 16:7).  On the other hand, I believe that it is a misguided and axe-grinding theology that tries to label this commanded re-enactment of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection as a "meritorious work" that has nothing to do with salvation.

Judged by our Deeds?

       The issue of “works/deeds” comes up also when discussing the issue of judgment.  Here again the “salvation by faith alone” approach has trouble knowing what to do with the passages that link salvation and condemnation to what people have done in life.  For those well acquainted with the Bible, it will not come as a major surprise that "judgment based on deeds" is a prevalent concept in the Biblical accounts of judgment.^[8]  On the other hand, none of the major accounts of judgment mention "faith in Christ" as the basis of judgment.  How do we explain this?

       Jesus said that the degree to which our sins are forgiven would be somewhat based on our forgiveness of others (Matthew 6:14-15) and that our judgment would depend on our own words (Matthew 12:36).  In His Olivet discourse, Jesus gave a couple of lengthy descriptions of the coming judgment and final separation of righteous and unrighteous.  In the first, He compared judgment to a man returning and settling accounts with His slaves on the basis of what they had done with what He entrusted to them (Matthew 25:14-30).  Then, he described judgment in terms of dividing mankind as sheep and goats, those who showed benevolence to others and those who did not  (Matthew 25:31-46).  In John 5:28-29, Jesus portrayed final judgment as all of humanity coming out of the tombs and being divided on the basis of whether they had done good or evil deeds.

"Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.  (John 5:28-29)

In Romans 2:1-16, Paul described judgment as being “according to deeds,”

But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.  There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  (Romans 2:5-10)

In 2Corinthians 5:10, we again find judgment portrayed, even for Christians, as being an accounting of our deeds,

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  (2Corinthians 5:10)

In the book of James we are told that judgment will be influenced by how merciful we were to others (2:13), our teaching (3:1), and oath-taking (5:12).  Jude described the wicked as being judged for their “ungodly deeds” (v. 15).  In the last part of the book of Revelation (20:11-15), we find another picture of judgment and it also places “deeds” in a central role,

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.  (Revelation 20:11-13)

So, how do we reconcile such things with the evangelical doctrine that our salvation has nothing to do with anything that we do?  The only logical conclusion is that this is one more area in which this doctrine proves itself false.  How can we do justice to all of these passages, while maintaining that salvation is by grace, faith, and the other things that the Apostles seem to have associated with salvation?

       Truly, we are saved by “grace through faith,” but the “faith” taught in the New Testament is not mental activity separate from submission and obedience, but a God-centered worldview that we embrace with assurance and conviction (Hebrews 11:1,6,) that motivates repentance (changed lifestyles) and obedience.  Because “repentant faith” must bring forth appropriate deeds (Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:20), those saved by “grace/faith” will do good deeds and this is what we were made for (Ephesians 2:10; Titus 2:11-14).  Thus, the “good deeds” that figure in judgment are NOT deeds/works that "earn" or "merit" one's salvation.  God's salvation is not something human perfection or religious activities "earns" or deserves and thus requires God to reward mankind.^[9]  However, those who accept the offer of salvation and its privileges, are called to repent and to be a "good-deed-doing" people, so once saved, a person's deeds do demonstrate the reality of our faith (John 3:19-21; James 2:14-26), the reality of "repentance,"^[10] reveal our struggle against sin and temptation (Romans 8:4-14; 13:12; Galatians 5:16-18; Hebrews 12:4), and are how Christ ministers to the world through "His body," the church (Titus 2:7; 3:14; 1Peter 2:12).

       The popular concept of "judgment by deeds " is that you should live a "good life" and on judgment day God will "tally the books" and if good deeds outweigh bad deeds, then you get your "reward" (essentially, you earn your own way by your deeds).  Only those who are "really bad" will go to hell.  However, the Scriptures teach that it is by our ongoing deeds and lifestyle that we demonstrate where our hearts and faith are.  Thus, there is no inherent contradiction between being saved by grace/faith/Christ and judgment based on our deeds, unless you have first embraced the faulty “faith-only/humans don’t have to do anything” notion of modern evangelicalism.

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Charles E. McCoy

December 5, 2005

A Ministry of Severn Christian Church (Severn, Maryland)

Unless otherwise noted, all material produced by Charles E. McCoy

All Scripture citations/quotations from New American Standard Bible

To send a question to Chuck: chuck@severnchristian.org