Chris Reeves preaches for the Warfield Blvd. church of Christ in Clarksville, TN. His Bible study website is http://thegoodteacher.com/. He can be reached at chrisreevesmail@gmail.com.
In Ephesians 2:8, Paul affirmes that God’s grace and man’s faith both work together to bring about salvation.
In the first century, some brethren taught that God’s grace allowed for one continuing in sin. Paul addressed their error with the following question: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Rom. 6:1-2). Jude also warned against the error of the ungodly who were “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” (Jude 4).
Paul wrote succinctly in Ephesians 2:8 concerning man’s salvation: “for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Both the grace of God and the faith of man operate hand-in-hand to bring about man’s salvation from sin. Unfortunately, the balance that Paul teaches in Ephesians 2:8 has been the subject of much controversy through the centuries. In this article, I want to look at a few examples of controversies in recent years concerning grace and faith among our brethren. A few examples from evangelicals will also be given.
Grace and Faith Controversies Among Brethren
Some brethren in the 1970s and 1980s taught views of grace and faith that were in conflict with scripture, borrowing the language of “grace only” and “faith only” from reformers like Calvin and Luther. One view said that baptism was necessary for salvation, but man is still saved by “faith alone” apart from works. According to this approach, faith, not obedience or works, saves. Faith was given pre-eminence over obedience in the realm of salvation. This view also attempted to separate the act of baptism and other acts like repentance and confession from obedience (works), and connect them with “a principle of faith alone” (Williams). Lindy McDaniel wrote the following in 1973:
Some preachers among us are beginning to accept “denominational” concepts of “grace” and “love.” They are teaching that justification is conditioned upon faith apart from obedience to the laws of Jesus Christ. They admit that baptism is included in the “principle of faith” as a condition of salvation, but deny that “observing all things whatsoever the Lord has commanded” is embraced by the principle. It is said that obedience to Christ inevitably flows from faith, but it is faith itself that saves. With the exception of baptism being included in the principle of faith, this is what many “denominations” have been teaching for hundreds of years. Are we ready for this?
Some brethren who taught their brand of “faith only” at this time divided local churches. Borrowing language from Calvinistic teaching, they spoke ambiguously of the need for obedience, and (when confronted) would cry, “We are being misrepresented!” Sound brethren who contended earnestly for the faith answered this error in numerous articles and lessons. One entire lectureship was devoted to answering this error and the lessons were published in Neo-Calvinism in Churches of Christ. This particular “faith only” view among some brethren continued into the 1980’s. Today, you may continue to see similar types of “faith only” views being posted by some brethren on Facebook.
Grace and Faith Controversies Among Evangelicals
How does this issue impact today’s mainline evangelicals? Generally speaking, there is a wide divergence of understanding between evangelicals, Lutherans, and Catholics on the doctrines of grace and faith. Regarding the justification of mankind, many evangelicals (following John Calvin) and Lutherans (following their founder, Martin Luther) differ in these two ways: (1) Lutherans believe in justification by faith alone, and conceive of faith as purely passive—a work and gift of God to man. Evangelicals, on the other hand, believe that faith is active—a human act of the will. (2) Lutherans believe in the absolute bondage of the will of man—who can in no way act to bring about his salvation. Evangelicals, in contrast, believe in a level of free-will in which man’s will is not totally bound—man can do something to bring about his salvation through a direct operation of the Holy Spirit (Murray).
Evangelicals are divided among themselves and with Lutherans and Catholics regarding the teaching of grace and faith. More recently, some evangelicals have attempted a kind of ecumenical unity with some Catholics in their belief of justification by faith alone. However, one point of agreement does not constitute ecumenism and cannot overturn the many points of disagreement between evangelicals and Catholics (Gulley).
In the past 30 years, the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) has taken the evangelical world by storm. This perspective, set forth by evangelicals like N.T. Wright and James D. G. Dunn, offers a new teaching on justification by faith. According to the NPP, justification by faith is not about what a guilty sinner must do to be saved and be right with God, but about the identifying marks that God uses to declare that one is in God’s covenant. Proponents say that the primary focus of justification is not about salvation, but about who is in the church (Reeves).
What do we make of these controversies found among brethren and others? We must come back to what Paul taught in Ephesians 2:8 concerning God’s grace and man’s faith working together in balance to bring about salvation (see also Rom. 4:16; 5:2; 1 Tim. 1:14). When these inspired words are properly interpreted and understood, the aforementioned teachings can be clearly seen as error.
Grace and Faith in the Bible
What do the scriptures teach about God’s grace and man’s faith?
“By grace”
Divine grace (χάρις) is the favor, blessing, or kindness that God freely bestows upon man in saving him from his sin (Rom. 3:24; 5:15, 17). Grace is the opposite of works of merit or debt. Man can do nothing whereby God owes him something or is indebted to man to save him. God’s grace is unmerited (Rom. 4:4; 11:6) and is not granted through the works of man (Eph. 2:9; 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5-7). Divine grace is available to all mankind (Titus 2:11) through the death of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:4; Gal. 2:21; 5:4; Eph. 1:6-7; 2:5-7; Heb. 2:9; 10:29) and the preaching of His word (John 1:14, 16-17; Acts 14:3; 20:24, 32; Gal. 1:6; Eph. 3:2, 8; Col. 1:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:10).
“Through faith”
While God’s grace is unmerited, it is not unconditional. Access into God’s grace is conditioned upon man’s faith (Rom. 3:21 – 4:25; 9:30; Gal. 2:16; 3:1-14, 26; Phil. 3:9). The room of God’s grace is accessed by the door of man’s faith (Acts 14:27; Rom. 5:1-2).
Man’s faith (πίστις) is the belief, conviction, or trust that one has in God to obey what God said to do to be saved. Believers must be “obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). That is why we sing “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way…” In order for sinful men to be saved by God’s grace, faith must be active and obedient (Rom. 1:5, 17; 16:26; James 2:14-26). True faith obeys (Heb. 11:8); true faith works righteousness (Acts 10:34-35; James 2:22-26).
Man’s faith will work the works of God in believing (John 6:28-29), and it will work righteousness in being baptized (Acts 10:35, 43, 48; Col. 2:12). Man’s faith will also result in repentance (Acts 20:21; 26:18) and confession (Rom. 10:6-10). God’s grace can be “seen” when man’s faith is active and obedient to the gospel (Acts 11:23).
Peter agreed with Paul when he preached in Jerusalem that hearing the gospel (faith comes by hearing the gospel, Rom. 10:17; 1 Cor. 2:1-5; Gal. 3:2, 5), faith and grace all work together to save mankind (Acts 15:7-11).
Do not over-accentuate the amazing grace of God while downplaying the obedient faith of man, or vice versa. Rather, let us always side with the balance of truth found in scripture, and avoid the controversies of man which lead to error.
Sources
Gulley, Norman R. “The Debate Over Justification by Faith.” Perspective Digest. Accessed February 15, 2017. http://www.perspectivedigest.org/article/55/archives/16-4/the-debate-over-justification-by-faith.
McDaniel, Lindy. “Law and Grace.” Truth Magazine 17.24 (April 19, 1973): 5-8.
Murray, Scott R. “Evangelicals and Lutherans on Justification: Similarities and Differences.” Concordia Theological Quarterly. 76 (2012): 231-250. See also Armand J. Boehme’s article “Justification by Grace through Faith: Do Wittenberg and Geneva See Eye to Eye?” Logia 11.4 (2002): 17-26.
Reeves, Chris. “The New Perspective on Paul: A Historical, Critical, Appraisal of a New Approach to Judaism and Paul.” The Good Teacher. Accessed February 20, 2017. http://thegoodteacher.com/?page_id=1135.
Williams, Billy. “Answer To Warnock.” Truth Magazine 23.18 (May 3, 1979): 297-298.