Bob Cassell, Messenger
Please answer a very important question. Does the faith you exercise emanate from the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit or from the energy of the flesh? Does it look away from self and embrace THE LORD JESUS CHRIST as its object? Are you concerned about the strength, endurance, and efficiency of your faith, hoping it will be good enough to take you all the way to Heaven?
Faith was viewed by the early Reformers as a gift from God. True Faith looks away from self and looks to God. Your faith is not, nor can it be a virtue which makes you acceptable to God. Only the perfect righteousness of Christ can make you acceptable in God’s sight.
Faith alone was one of the major issues in the Reformation and the scriptures alone were embraced as the one and only source of truth and authority. Martin Luther (an early reformer) was persuaded that what unites the church, empowers believers, and gives individuals the wisdom they need to glorify God is found in Scripture alone.
This was a major shift away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and a return of authority to its rightful place: the word of God! Martin Luther had completely embraced the truth of Proverbs 30:5, which reads, “Every Word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” The reformers boldly claimed that there were not two teachers-the Bible and the traditions of men- but one: “Every word of God.”
A clear Gospel began to ring out to a vacuous and untaught public and they embraced it. The truth that was heralded over and over again was Solo Christo which simply meant salvation comes only through the finish work of Christ on the cross alone. When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” the reply was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
It is through the redeeming work of Christ alone-not by works-that salvation is received. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12). Salvation is appropriated because of the personal work of Christ and not because of what we do on our best day or even to the end of life. It is not because of a Godly family, the prayers of all saints or our Baptism; it is only because God sovereignly ordained it for you in eternity past through the finished work of Christ on the Cross. “But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).
It is the finished work of Christ on the cross and not the continuing work from our hands. It is not the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, prayers for the dead, lighting candles or any other ritual or religious relic (Statues, emblems, pictures, etc.). Jesus stated the issue of salvation perfectly, when he declared, “it is finished” because he had accomplished all that was necessary to appropriate salvation. Man has nothing within himself that can add to the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Salvation is the result of the Monergistic work of God. Monergism means “the work of one” and in the case of salvation the work of one is performed exclusively by God. Salvation is not the result of Synergism, as taught by the Roman Church and many others for two millennia. The word “synergism” may be defined as syn (“together”) and ergon (“work”) the definition is to “work together.”
Salvation is not obtained by engaging in a cooperative effort with God to earn eternal life. The Roman Church and many other churches throughout the world teach that salvation is similar to buying an item on credit. According to this erroneous theology, Jesus made the down payment, but the believer must make the installment payments or the item will be repossessed.
This is a false and erroneous gospel; it is another gospel and carries with it the anathema of God. The Apostle Paul sent this message to the early believers in Rome… “you are justified freely, by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). (In Christ and clearly not in you) the Greek word dorean is translated freely and means, “without cost to you, without cause in you, for no reason, for no advantage, for nothing.” (beautiful)
God is under no obligation to become gratuitous and promiscuously hand out salvation for anything that comes from frail and weak human beings. If anything inside anyone could cause or merit salvation, as a result, God would be responding to something from within an unmeritorious human being. Let’s remember, God is absolutely sovereign. No outside agent or force can cause him to react or respond to any stimuli. God neither needs nor desires a cause for any of His actions. Regarding God’s great sovereignty Paul declared to the Romans, “And if by grace, then it is no more of works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6).
Most Christians are familiar with the amazing grace and faith passage in Ephesians 2:8,9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
As is consistent with the original Greek in the New Testament you are saved “by means of” faith and not “because of” faith. You are saved by faith alone which rests in a meritorious object, not by faith plus obedience. Faith does not look within; it looks without or outside self to a worthy object that contains perfect merit. Saving faith looks away from self and only to the unique savior Jesus Christ. Faith does not look within, and if such were to occur it would find a most unworthy object.
The issue in salvation is the object that is to be embraced and the only object worthy of saving faith is the impeccable son who is the exclusive and only Savior.
If salvation could occur because of the quality of your faith, the sincerity of your faith, the intensity of your faith, the depth of your faith, the faithfulness of your faith; then your faith would be an issue. Your faith, in this instance, would actually equate to works. Weak and frail humankind could be tempted to talk about the strength or merit of their great faith. Your faith is not the virtue which makes you acceptable to God… it is only the perfect righteousness of Christ that can satisfy God’s holy demands for the payment of all sins.
Jesus Christ provides the perfect righteousness which God’s righteousness requires him to require.
Faith was viewed by the early church reformers as a gift from God that must be centered in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ… to believe in Him (Philippians 1:29).
To those who though the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours (2 peter 1:1).
These scriptures were used by the reformers to assert that unregenerate humans do not contribute their faith to God’s work of salvation. Salvation is not a reward for having great faith. It is similar to other important aspects of eternal life which are non-meritorious (un-earned) gifts from God. None are saved because of their great wisdom; it is Christ revealed to needy humans through the word of God alone. “Who became for us wisdom from God” No one is saved or redeemed because they are good: it is Christ alone who is made unto us our “righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor.1:30).
We are not saved because of any contribution of righteousness from self. It is by Grace alone, for “The righteousness of God is revealed through Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross.” We are not saved because of our good works; it is by faith alone, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being Justified freely by His grace through the redemption, that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).
There is simply no aspect of salvation for which humans can take any credit whatsoever. Eternal life is not a co-op program where humans contribute in some measure to merit God’s so great salvation. To do so is to illicitly share in God’s glory for eternal life. Salvation is of God and if imperfect man could enter into or contribute to any degree his imperfect efforts would immediately contaminate its eternal reality and perfection. Human kind can take none of the credit for procuring salvation, nor can any acquire or deserve the glory.
“God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever (Romans 11:33,36).
If Salvation is from him and through him then all glory can only go to Him. To God alone be all the glory! However, let him who boasts boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31).
One of the primary reasons the Gospel means “good news” is God did not permit His salvation to depend upon humanity. If so, it would immediately become defiled and corrupt. We are incapable of pleasing or satisfying our perfect God with our imperfect righteousness. Man, “who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water (Job 15:16), does not possess the capacity nor a sufficient righteousness to please God. Therefore, we are desperately in need of a savior… we have one… the God man, Jesus Christ the one and only savior who can and will save your needy eternal soul.
Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).
To God be all the Glory!
