Patrick
Nickerson
Attaining
Salvation: Faith Apart From Works of the Law
Regent
University
Salvation is a concept
common to every major religion. The means by which salvation is achieved in the
Christian religion is different from every other religion. Every other religion
gives its followers instructions on how to achieve salvation for themselves.
Christianity announces that salvation has already been achieved by the work of
Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago, and that it is freely offered to anyone who
will accept it by faith. It is impossible to be saved by works. Although the
gospel seems simple, many people, including Christians who have truly believed
the gospel, fall back into a works based system of salvation periodically throughout
life. This self-righteousness can take many forms, and be very subtle.
Commonly, people begin to look to such things as their own love for God, their
motives, their repentance, their feelings, the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work,
their own faith, or any number of things as the ground of their salvation, and
not Jesus only. These errors are contrary to the true Christian doctrine of
justification by faith in the substitutionary work of Christ as plainly taught in Scripture. Jesus completed salvation at the
cross.
Salvation is a concept
present in almost every religion. Even some who do not practice any organized
religion are striving for some form of salvation, although they may not define
it in precisely the same way. In our day, we even proponents of the idea of
“salvation by therapy”. In every major religion, salvation is attained by doing
something. Whether performing rituals, being moral, trying to have certain
feelings and experiences, or any other number of things, salvation depends upon
human exertion. Christianity is the only exception. Christians attain salvation
solely upon the basis of a finished work, done for them by God at the cross in
the person of God’s son, Jesus.
Before we discuss
salvation in further detail, we ought to consider the reason for the necessity
of salvation from a Christian perspective. “For all have sinned, and fall short
of the glory of God (Romans 3:23 ESV). God is love (1 John 4:8 ESV). However,
God is also just (2 Thessalonians 1:6, Colossians 3:25 ESV). God will always
punish sin in perfect proportion to what it deserves. Because we have all
sinned, not simply against one another, but against the eternal, all powerful
God of love, we deserve an eternal, unfathomably horrible sentence to hell,
which God being just, has the necessity to deliver. “For the wages of sin is
death” (Romans 6:23 ESV). Here we find
our need for salvation. God is just. God must punish sinners. Everyone is a
sinner. Salvation is being delivered from the condemnation that rests on everyone
because of sin, and eventually, sins power and presence.
Before we return to solve our dilemma, it should be made
clear that because we are discussing “attaining salvation”, our primary focus
will be on deliverance from the condemnation that sin brings. This concept is referred
to as justification, and most Christians would agree that once a sinner is
justified, the other aspects of salvation necessarily follow. Now, to return to
our former topic, if God is just and must punish sin, and we have all sinned,
how is it possible that anyone can attain salvation? As stated before, God is a
God love, mercy, and even forgiveness. “The LORD passed before him and
proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…””(Exodus 34:6-7 ESV).
If God is to save anyone, He must do so through mercy, but without compromising
His justice. The solution to our problem is found in the gospel. “Now I would
remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in
which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word
I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of
first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the
third day in accordance with the Scriptures”(1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV). “For
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his
grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put
forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to
show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over
former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he
might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”(Romans
3:23-26 ESV). Here we see God’s mercy and his justice both fully upheld. God is
portrayed as both “Just”, and, “the Justifier of the ungodly” (Romans 3:26).
God punished our sins in full when his Son was crucified, so that now, God will
not punish any who trust in Christ’s finished work of redemption as they
payment for their sins. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1 ESV). For we hold
that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law (Romans 3:28ESV).
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted as righteousness (Romans 4:5 ESV). ““Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved—you and your household”’ (Acts 16:30-31 ESV).
All
of this seems simple enough. However, many seriously struggle in trying to
understand the gospel. John Calvin comments, “The point on which the world goes
astray (for this error has prevailed in almost every age), is in imagining that
man, however partially defective he may be, still in some degree merits the
favor of God by works” (Calvin). People usually, after hearing the gospel, and
some even after believing it, go back to attempting to earn, or pay for
salvation in some way. They may become uneasy because they think that they
don’t have the correct quantity or quality of feelings, repentance, faith, good
deeds, sorrow for sin, or any number of other things. Most sad of all, however,
is the prevalence of those who deem themselves Christians who do not realize
that there is a difference between faith and obedience. They are continually
looking to themselves for satisfaction as to their salvation, instead of
Christ’s finished work on the cross. The great man of God, and popular hymn
writer Horatius Bonar puts the gospel very well when he writes, “Have I then no
work to work in this great matter of my pardon? None. What work canst thou
work? What work of thine can buy forgiveness or make thee fit for the Divine
favour? What work has God bidden thee work in order to obtain salvation? None.
His Word is very plain and easy to be understood, "To him that worketh
not, but believeth in Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness" (Rom. 4:5). There is but one work by which a man can be
saved. That work is not thine, but the work of the Son of God. That work is
finished” (Bonar).The great difference between Christianity and every other
religion is that Christians work because they are saved, and never in order to
be saved. Christ has already been crucified, and sin dealt with. The Christian
believes this, and serves God joyfully because
of what He has done. There is no labor for salvation, but only in gratitude
because of salvation. So long as someone is laboring in order to be saved, they will be fearful, and serving joylessly, performing
“dead works’ that God counts simply as “filthy rags” (Hebrews 9:14, Isaiah 64:6
ESV).
It is impossible
to obtain salvation by works. Many people seem to hold in their heads the silly
idea that when you die, if you’ve done more good than you have bad, then you
will go to heaven. God does not agree! “"Cursed is everyone who does not
continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law (Galatians 3:10 ESV).
If you sin once, you are under the curse. The only thing that can cleanse from
sin is blood, not good works (Hebrews 9:22). This cannot be just any blood
(Hebrews 10:4), but only the blood of a Divine victim has the power to cleanse
from sin and expiate guilt. Jesus’ blood is the only blood that God will except
on behalf of the sinner. “There is one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). D.L. Moody points out, “The strength of a chain
is in its weakest link. Mark that; in its weakest link. Let a man be at work on
the ceiling, and the platform be held up there with a chain of ten links, and
one of the ten very weak. The testing time comes. The man steps on the
platform. That one link gives way, and down comes the man just as surely as if
every link breaks” (Moody). It is the same with the commands of God. One
transgression means instant condemnation. “For whoever keeps the whole law but
fails in one point has become accountable for all of it (James 2:10). Not only
is it impossible to earn salvation by works, but it is equally impossible to be
saved by grace and works. The two are completely opposed to one another, in so
far as justification is concerned. “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on
the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6
ESV).
Now that we have
established that salvation is “by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans
8:28 ESV), let’s consider some of the subtle ways that people attempt to pay
for the salvation that Christ has already bought in full with His blood. Many
people fear that they will not be saved because the motives that have led them
to seek salvation from Christ are selfish. They act as though Christ requires
them to have good qualities before they come to Him. They act as though they
are to come to Jesus as saints, and not sinners. Horatius Bonar has a word for
such individuals. “You have gone in quest of salvation from a sense of
danger…or a desire to obtain the inheritance of glory...How could it be
otherwise? God made you with these fears and hopes; and he appeals to them in
his word. Among all the millions who have found life in Christ, who began in
any other way, or from any higher motive? … When my body is pained, it is not
wrong to wish for relief. …You think that, were you seeking salvation from a
regard to the glory of God, you would be satisfied. But what does that mean,
but that, at the very first, even before you have come to Christ, you are to be
actuated by the highest of all motives? He who has learned to seek God's glory
is one who has already come to Christ… To seek God's glory is a high attainment
of faith; yet you want to be conscious of possessing it before you have got
faith, - nay, in order to your getting it!...This would be substituting your
own zeal for his glory, in the room of the cross of Christ” (Bonar).
Others believe that because they
don’t love God enough, they won’t be saved. There is an interesting
conversation between a lawyer and Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. It reads,
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind” (Matthew 22:36-37 ESV). Notice that this is said to be a
“commandment in the Law”, or synonymously, “work of the Law”. Then read in
Romans, “By works of the law no human being will be justified’ (Romans 3:20).
Loving God is a work of the law. Actually, it is the “greatest” work of the
law. Do not seek to perform it to be justified. God has told you that no flesh
will be justified by the Law. “It is a grave mistake to be looking in your own
heart for love. Rather rejoice in the amazing
love of GOD for
you as expressed in the cross of CHRIST and in all His care for you through the
years” (Ironside).
Some are afraid that there repentance is not thorough
enough. This is especially so with those who define repentance as “ceasing from
sin”. If sin is breaking the law, what is ceasing from sin? Keeping the law!
You are not told to keep the law in order to be saved! In fact, you are told
that you are under a curse if you attempt to gain salvation in this way!
(Galatians 3:10). Once you are saved, you will begin to truly be able to keep
the law. "I am not satisfied with my repentance," you say. It is
well. What should you have thought of yourself had you been so? What pride and
self-righteousness would it indicate, were you saying, "I am satisfied
with my repentance, - it is of the proper quality and amount." If
satisfied with it, what would you do with it? Would you ground your peace upon
it? Would you pacify your conscience with it? Would you go with it instead of
the blood to a holy God? If not, what do you mean by the desire to be satisfied
with your repentance before having peace with God? (Bonar). As Ironside ays in
his book, Except Ye Repent, "Repentance is the sinner’s recognition of and
acknowledgment of his lost estate" (Ironside). Repentance simply agrees
with God’s assertion about man, that there is none righteous (Romans 3:10).
Some people look to their feelings rather than to Jesus
for salvation. The Prince of Preachers comments, “Now let me further remark
that there are some of you, no doubt, saying—"Oh, I should believe and I
would be saved if"—If what? If Christ had died? "Oh no, sir, my doubt
is nothing about Christ." I thought so. Then what is the doubt? "Why,
I should believe if I felt this, or if I had done that." Just so; but I
tell you, you could not believe in Jesus if you felt that, or if you had done
that, for then you would believe in yourself, and not in Christ. That is the
English of it. If you were so-and-so, or so-and-so, then you could have
confidence. Confidence in what? Why, confidence in your feelings, and
confidence in your doings, and that is just the clear contrary of confidence in
Christ” (Spurgeon). Christ felt all that needed to be felt for salvation when
He was crucified on Calvary 2000 years ago.
Others look to the Spirits work within them, rather than
Jesus’ work for them for their ground of hope. Richard Lovelace notes, “Only a
fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating
the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many…have a theoretical
commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on
their sanctification for justification…drawing assurance of acceptance with God
from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent
religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willfull
disobedience” (Lovelace). Although always linked together, the Spirit’s work
within us, and Christ’s work for us ought to be seen in different lights.
Christ dying for us justifies us. Christ living in us sanctifies us. Combining
or confounding these two doctrines is a great error.
A common
rebuttal from critics, and a mistake that troubles many earnest seekers, is the
idea that faith is a work of some sort. I began by saying that a person is made
right with God not on the basis of anything done by them, but by what God has
done in Jesus. Now I am saying that faith is a necessary requirement. Horatius
Bonar has dealt with this subject in many of his writings, which have proved
exceedingly helpful to me in my own struggles in this area. He writes, “Faith
does not justify as a work, or as a moral act, or a piece of goodness, nor as a
gift of the Spirit, but simply because it is the bond between us and the
Substitute; a very slender bond in one sense, but strong as iron in another.
The work of Christ for us is the object of faith; the Spirit’s work in us is
that which produces this faith: it is out of the former, not of the latter,
that our peace and justification come…Faith is not our savior. It was not faith
that was born at Bethlehem and died on Golgotha for us. It was not faith that
loved us, and gave itself for us; that bore our sins in its own body on the
tree; that died and rose again for our sins. Faith is one thing, the Saviour is
another. Faith is one thing, and the cross is another. Let us not confound
them, nor ascribe to a poor, imperfect act of man, that which belongs
exclusively to the Son of the Living God” (Bonar). A great number of people are
very concerned that their faith may not be real, or strong enough to save them.
Harry Allen Ironside gives some great insight in this area. He writes, “Faith
is not the Saviour: CHRIST is. He is the unchanging One - "Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, and
today, and forever." Faith is just the hand that lays hold of Him. You are
not asked to trust yourself. The less confidence you have in yourself the
better. Put all your confidence in the Lord JESUS. He is not unreal, and if
your faith is centered in Him all will be well for time and eternity” (Ironside).
“Faith adds nothing to the cross, nor to its healing virtue. It owns the fullness,
and sufficiency, and suitableness of the work done there, and bids the toiling
spirit cease from its labours and enter into rest. Faith does not come to
Calvary to do anything. It comes to see the glorious spectacle of all things
done, and to accept this completion without a misgiving as to its efficacy. It
listens to the "It is finished!" of the Sin-bearer, and says,
"Amen." Where faith begins, there labour ends, — labour, I mean,
"for" life and pardon” (Bonar).
Christianity is the only religion in
which God has already accomplished everything needed for salvation. Christ’s
blood has paid the full debt of sin. Christians labor because of what God has
already done to save them, not in order to try to save themselves, or complete
the salvation that was finished at the cross. Jesus summarized the Christians
view of salvation nicely with His last words on the cross. It could not be more
plainly said. “It is Finished” (John 19:30 ESV).
Moody, Dwight L.
(1900). Sermon Three: Temptation. Chicago: The Moody Press.
Spurgeon,
Charles H. (2011). None But Jesus.
Retrieved from: http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0361.htm
Bonar,
Horatius (1861). Gods Way of Peace: A
Book for the Anxious. Richmond: Presbyterian Committee of Publication.
Bonar,
Horatius (2011). The Everlasting
Righteousness. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Ironside,
Harry A. (1937). Full Assurance.
Chicago: Moody Bible Institute.
Ironside,
Harry A. (1937). Except Ye Repent.
Dynamics of Spiritual Life. InterVarsity Press.
Calvin, John (1954).
The necessity of Reforming the Church in
Theological Treatises. Louisville: The Library of Christian Classics.
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