The Grace / Faith / Works Conundrum

Let’s begin at the beginning. Every Christian knows that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, lest any man should boast.

Somehow, from this simple beginning, things go awry, and this verse is often quoted to excuse a lifestyle of wilful sin.

I am not interested in my own opinion, or in anyone else’s. I am only interested in letting scripture interpret scripture. And scripture says that belief is a pre-requisite for being saved:

(Galatians 2 v 16) – we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith….

(Hebrews 11 v 6) – Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Therefore, let’s examine belief, and consider this – even the demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and yet they are condemned and are not reconciled to God. It follows then that it’s what we do with our belief that makes the difference:

(Romans 10v9-10) – if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved….

Notice the condition – “if”. Once you believe, the next step is to submit to the will of God – if we ‘confess Jesus is Lord’, we are accepting his authority over us. John explains it like this, in 3v36: “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John makes it simple – if we believe in Jesus, it follows that we obey him.

Jesus himself affirms that belief will result in works of faith:

(Mark 16 v 16-18) - And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.

It follows, then, that belief without action is – well, it’s what the demons have.

So, if belief leads us into works of faith – let’s examine faith more closely.

We often hear that we are ‘saved by grace through faith’ – and a lot of emphasis is placed on ‘grace’; but seldom does anyone further explain what ‘faith’ is. Faith is not an abstract state of mind. Faith is what happens when we act on our belief and are obedient to Holy Spirit.

Paul says: (Galatians 2 v 16) – we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

James says: (James 2 v 17-26) – Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead…I will show you my faith by my works…Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’…You see that a person is justified by his works and not by faith alone…so also faith apart from works is dead.

So – one of them says works cannot justify us, the other one says we are justified by our works. They are not contradicting each other. Rather, James is expanding on what Paul said. James is not talking about works of performance of the law, but works of faith.

Paul also talks about these works of faith and describes them further: (Romans 7 v 1 – 6) – Do you not know…that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?...Likewise…you also have died to the law through the body of Christ…so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions…were at work…But now we are released from the law…so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Bearing fruit for God, and serving in the new way of the spirit – that is our relationship with Jesus evidenced by works of faith, in obedience to his Spirit. When we are saved, we have a purpose, which is to live in obedience to Christ, not ignore everything he commanded:

(Romans 2v4-8) – …do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed…for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

(Hebrews 10v26-31) – For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?...It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

(Titus 1 v 16) – They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

(James 1 v 22-25) – Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says….the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.

(Acts 26 v 20) – I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.

What then, is grace? Of course, our human emotions as well as spiritual warfare struggle against the will of God and so we do fail – but Christ, being our sacrifice and our high priest and our intercessor, has dealt with our sin. All we have to do is repent from the heart, as many times as it takes, until we overcome – that is his grace. What his grace is not is a license to continue living in wilful sin without worrying about it – anyone who does so cannot truly believe in Jesus as God’s son, because to represent him in such a way is insulting, disrespectful and irreverent. He is a Holy God. Jesus set us free from the curse of the law (death) – he did not set us free from obedience to the law, which is now supposed to be written on our hearts:

(Romans 6 v 16-17) - …you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness…you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed…

I have not been able to find, anywhere in scripture, where being saved by grace through faith is a license to continue in wilful sin.

Repentance was preached by Jesus himself. He also said, “deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me”. He also said if your hand is causing you to sin, it’s better to cut it off and enter Heaven with one hand than to end up in hell because of your sin (he didn’t say, “don’t worry about it, my grace got you covered”). If we claim to be saved, but are living a lifestyle which God specifically calls sinful and we are not repenting of it or trying to submit to the Spirit to change us; then we are telling others it’s okay to compromise, to be luke warm. We are being like ‘the blind leading the blind, and both will end up in a ditch’. We are not called to blend in with the world – we are supposed to be set apart. If ‘blended Christianity’ was acceptable to God, it would not be the narrow road, would it? The disciples we bring to Christ should not be measured by numbers, but by sincerity:

Matthew 28 v 19-20 – The Great Commission – Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Biblical law is not legalism. It exists so we can differentiate between wrong and right. A world without it is a world perverted. I think of Biblical law as the guide rail on a set of stairs – I think of Jesus as the actual stair case to heaven. He is what gets us there, not the guide rail; but if you jump over the guide rail, you fall off the stairs. In other words, the law should point us to Jesus, who changes us. We are not supposed to change ourselves through service to the law. Works of faith extend beyond the law. I think of Jesus as the ‘system update’ – he never set aside the law, but he writes it on our hearts and takes us beyond.

Simple Truth - Anyone who truly believes that Jesus is the Son of God will fall on their knees, put their faith in him, accept his authority over them and do whatever he says.

I also bear in mind that the Bible says even some of those who say to him "we performed miracles in your name" will be told "I never knew you, depart from me". We must seek first his kingdom, not seek first the signs. We must love the truth. All scripture must stand together, we must not divide it, or it will lead us to confusion and false interpretations.