Grace… faith… works… such common words, but what do they
mean? What is grace, and how does it work? What is faith,
and where does it come from? Where does it lead? What are
the works that cannot save us, and the works we are saved
to do? And for that matter, what is salvation, anyway? In
his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul was not preaching
the gospel, but rather giving the disciples understanding
about what had happened to them and what lay ahead of them
— the process and the purpose of salvation. The gospel
is found in the Gospels. The letters of Paul and the other
apostles consist of instruction and correction for those
who are already in salvation. That is why we must look
to the Gospels to find the foundation of these familiar
terms Paul uses in his letters.
There is a process or a progression involved in salvation,
and in the Gospels and the book of Acts there are many examples
of people going through that process, or in some cases stopping
short of salvation.
Grace
First comes grace, the unmerited favor of God. As it relates
to salvation, grace is the working of God in a person’s
life to protect him, prepare him, and bring him to the time
and place where he can hear the gospel from someone who
has been sent with the authority to proclaim it.
It was grace to Peter that he had fished all night without
catching anything, and that he happened to be cleaning his
nets in that particular place where the Master wanted to
teach that day, and that the Master chose his boat to speak
from. It was grace that caused the Master to pass by the
sycamore tree where Zacchaeus was waiting, and to notice
and call to him. It was grace that caused the Ethiopian
eunuch to happen to be passing near Philip and to be reading
the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and it was grace that
caused Philip to hear from the Spirit the urging to approach
the chariot and ask the eunuch whether he understood what
he was reading. And it was even grace to the “rich
young ruler” that the Master came to teach in his
town.
So grace brings a person near in order to hear the good
news. But what happens next depends on the one who speaks
and the one who hears.
Faith
Faith is persuasion. That is true both in the natural and
the spiritual realm. A natural man can be persuaded in his
mind to do many things, and it is a sort of faith, but the
faith that saves is the persuasion of the Holy Spirit which
comes to a person as he hears the gospel. As Paul said,
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God.” But as Paul also labored to explain, the word
of God must be spoken by a flesh-and-blood person who is
“sent” — that is, someone who has the spiritual
authority to proclaim the gospel. The only thing that gives
a person that spiritual authority is that he has obeyed
the gospel himself and is living the life that it demands.
So grace draws a person near to hear, and then through hearing
the gospel from a true disciple, faith comes — but not
automatically. It requires something very important, and
very rare, on the part of the hearer: he must be willing
to do the Father’s will. He must have ears to hear,
which means a heart to obey. Otherwise he will not submit
to the spiritual authority of the one speaking; he will
not receive him as coming from God. He will not be persuaded,
for he is in the grip of a stronger persuasion — the fear
of losing his own life.
That is what happened in the case of the “rich young
ruler” who came asking what he must do to inherit
eternal life:
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him,
“One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for
he had great possessions. (Mark 10:21-22)
Although there was abundant grace at work, bringing him
into the very presence of the Master, he did not receive
faith from hearing the gospel, but rather dread and gloom,
for he was not willing to give up his own life, in order
to receive the eternal life that Yahshua offered him. He
loved his life in this world.
But in the case of the 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, we
see a very different story. The many other words they
heard that day from Peter evidently imparted faith to them,
for it says they “gladly received his word.”
Gloom did not descend on them at the thought of giving up
their lives, for they were fully persuaded that this Messiah
was worth dying for. Thus they were baptized into His death
and received the same Spirit that had filled the ones who
spoke the good news to them.
Belief that Impels Obedience
The faith that came to those 3,000 caused them to believe
in their hearts in this Messiah whom they had crucified,
that He had paid for their sins through His death, and that
He had risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand
of the Father. And what happened next? Did they all go their
separate ways, having added a new dimension to their lives?
No. The message they heard called them to be saved from
the perverse generation they were living in. The Bible
doesn’t record the “many other words”
Peter spoke to them that day, but we do know what the Master
had commanded the apostles to do in the preaching of the
gospel, which surely they were careful to obey:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20)
And what was the first thing the Master had commanded them
when He called them to follow Him? It was to forsake everything.
And lest we think that requirement applied only to the apostles,
remember that after the woman broke her alabaster jar, her
most precious possession, and poured out every drop of the
fragrant oil upon Him, He instructed His disciples:
I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached
throughout the world, what she has done will also be told,
in memory of her. (Matthew 26:13)
It is doubtful that Peter would have forgotten to include
this story in his many other words, considering how deeply
it had affected the disciples the day it happened. But
regardless of the exact words Peter may have spoken, the
outcome speaks for itself:
All the believers were together and had all things in
common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to
anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet
together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their
homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising
God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord
added to their number daily those who were being saved.
(Acts 2:44-47)
It was neither a coincidence nor a misunderstanding that
those 3,000 new disciples all gave up everything, including
their independent lives, and shared a common life together.
Their belief impelled obedience to what they heard. It
was not merely a mental assent to the fact of Yahshua’s
death and resurrection. It was a total identification with
Him and His people that cut them off from all past loyalties
and occupations.
There is a belief that doesn’t impel obedience. The
Master encountered this kind of belief on several occasions,
such as:
Now
while
he
was
in
Jerusalem
at
the
Passover
Feast,
many
people
saw
the
miraculous
signs
he
was
doing
and
believed
in
his
name.
But
Jesus
would
not
entrust
himself
to
them,
for
he
knew
all
men.
He
did
not
need
man’s
testimony
about
man,
for
he
knew
what
was
in
a
man.
(John
2:23-25)
The words “believed” and “entrust”
in this passage are actually the same word in the Greek
manuscript. You could well say that they believed in Him
but He didn’t believe in them, for He knew it was
only a belief in their minds and not in their hearts. They
admired Him, but He knew they would not obey Him at all
costs, therefore He could not entrust His Holy Spirit to
them.
So the faith that saves produces a belief that obeys; otherwise
it is not saving faith. That is exactly what the writer
of James was laboring to express:
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by
itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith
and I have works; show me your faith without the works,
and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe
that God is one? You do well; the demons also believe, and
shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow,
that faith without works is useless? (James 2:17-20)
Sadly, many are so foolish as to be unwilling to recognize
the futility of a faith that does not result in the works
that followed the first preaching of the gospel in Acts
2:42-47 and 4:32-37. But the Master said that those who
have ears to hear will bear abundant fruit — thirty,
sixty, or a hundredfold — and so prove to be His disciples.
Works
Certainly, there are no works that a person can do to earn
his salvation in Messiah. All of his good deeds have no
more value than filthy rags in the currency of redemption.
It is only Messiah’s worth that counts — the infinite
value of His blood which He shed on our behalf.
In fact, anyone who really understands the futility of his
own unredeemed life, with all the material manifestations
of his own selfish works, will be eager to abandon it
all as soon as he discovers the pearl of great price.
It would not even enter the mind of someone who truly hates
his own life in this world that giving up his possessions
in order to gain eternal life could be considered “works
salvation.” He would be like Paul, who wrote,
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the surpassing
value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in
order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)
Paul understood in the very core of his being what he was
saved from and what he was saved for. The “loss of
all things” was part of the reality of his old life
being buried with Messiah in baptism, not a “good
work” that he did to earn his salvation. Paul was
glad to be free of his old life, career, and possessions
so that he could lay hold of that for which Messiah had
laid hold of him. That is the revelation he had that caused
him to write to the Ephesians,
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should
walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
The word translated as works here (and in verse 9, for that
matter) actually means employment or occupation. It is not
speaking of isolated good deeds that one does from time
to time, but rather the direction of one’s will
— what he does with his time, energy, skills, and strength.
Everyone who is saved is saved for the purpose of spending
the rest of his life employing his gifts to build up the
Body of Messiah:
From whom the whole body, joined and knit together
by that which every joint supplies, according to the effective
working by which every part does its share, causes growth
of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This I say,
therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer
walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds.
(Ephesians 4:16-17)
Paul and the other apostles did not conceive of the Body
of Messiah as a mystical union of isolated believers who
live their own independent lives all week (“walk as
the Gentiles walk”), and get together for an hour
or two on Sunday. It was to be a full-time, visible demonstration
of disciples living together in unity, loving one another
just as their Master had loved His first disciples —
24 hours a day, 7 days a week — serving one another according
to their gifts and abilities. Such people do not need to
be concerned about what they will eat or what they will
wear, but can actually seek first His kingdom and His
righteousness, knowing that all their needs will be met
through the “effective working of every part”
for the benefit of the whole. Such is the miracle of self-sacrificing
love.
If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15)
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who
loves Me. (John 14:21)
He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep
His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected
in him. By this we know that we are in Him. (1 John 2:4-5)
It is impossible to obey His commandments on your own. It
takes a community. That is where the love of God is perfected
in us — where we can truly love one another. That is where
God has commanded the blessing of eternal life.
Amazing Grace
The amazing thing about grace is that it brings about the
purpose of God on the earth through willing human beings
who receive faith when they hear the word of God, which
causes them to believe to the point that they actually obey
His commandments. Together they bear the fruit of the
kingdom — the life that bears witness to the fact that
the Father actually sent His Son, because as He is, so
also are they in this world.
It is ironic that most of the popular “plans of
salvation” make little use of the Gospels and much
improper use of Paul’s letters. As a result, very
few people have actually heard and obeyed the gospel.
John 7:17-18
Luke 5:1-10
Luke 19:2-10
Acts 8:27-39
Mark 10:17-30
Romans 10:17
Romans 10:14-15; Matthew
10:40; John 13:20. There is not a single example in the
New Testament of a person receiving the Holy Spirit without
receiving a flesh-and-blood person filled with the Holy
Spirit. So it is peculiar, to say the least, that most
Christians believe that a person can become a disciple
by simply reading a tract and saying a prayer, all by himself.
John 7:18b; Otherwise he is living a lie and can only
pass on the same deceptive spirit he is in communion with,
according to John 7:18a; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 1 John 2:4;
2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
John 7:17
Matthew 13:9,15;
Luke 14:26-35
Matthew 10:40; John 13:20
Hebrews
2:15; Luke 9:24; John 12:25; Revelation 21:7-8
Acts 2:40
Acts 2:41
Acts 2:38 (NKJV); Rom
6:2-5
Acts 2:36
Acts 2:40
Mark 10:28;
Luke 5:1-11; Luke 14:33
Matthew 26:8,14-16
Acts 4:32-35; 5:20
Impel means to urge,
constrain, or motivate a person to an action; to cause
to move forward with force.
John 8:30-44 is another
vivid example of vain belief.
Acts 5:32; Hebrews 5:9
Matthew 13:3-9; John 15:8; John 13:34-35; 1 John
3:14-18
Isaiah 64:6
Even if those past works
looked good to the natural man, as in Titus 3:5.
Matthew 13:44-46
John 12:25
Mark 10:28-30; Luke 14:33
The Greek
word Paul used here means something worthless and
detestable, such as the excrement of animals.
Romans 6:4-7
Titus
3:5
Philippians 3:12
See the article Friends & Enemies for
more on this theme.
His “calling” or
employment in the Body of Messiah, Ephesians 4:1.
John
17:20-23
John 13:34-35; 15:12-14
Matthew 6:31-33
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Psalm 133:1-3
John 14:15,21;
Revelation 22:14 (KJV, NKJV)
Matthew 21:43
John
17:23
1 John 4:17
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