Justified by Works?

The impetus for this article came from communications between myself and an ardent Roman Catholic living in Dubai. He simply could not understand the concept of salvation by grace alone and, somewhat triumphantly, as though he had caught me in error, he told me that his belief was that salvation was both ‘of faith’ and ‘of works’.  Let me quote from part of a letter from this man, itself taken as a quote from an official Roman Catholic publication:

“A basic claim is that Luther’s discovery was the concept of salvation by Faith alone, which he found stated in the Epistles to Corinthians and Romans. It often happens that, when a person makes a major error, he has also seen something much more clearly than most people have. The bright light of the insight can blind them, so that they miss the total picture and hence fall into error. It is true that salvation is by Faith alone.  Apostle Paul teaches it over and over. But Apostle James wrote In his epistle 2:24, ‘see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.’

 Do you see what is going on? Roman Catholic dogma accepts that salvation is by faith alone, yet it adds to it by saying we must also have works to save us. This passage says Luther was blinded by the truth and so stumbled along, finally creating error out of truth! It is rather obvious that if salvation is by ‘faith alone’ then the quote from James must be interpreted by Romanists in such a way as to support this fact.

We cannot have two opposing views of salvation, held to be equal. What is the real position? Do we obtain salvation by faith alone, or by a combination of faith and works? After all, the texts quoted appear to support both views. But do they? Let the scriptural facts speak for themselves, and we shall see very clearly that the letter of James does not, in any way, contradict the Christian claim that salvation is by faith alone.

As you read this evidence, please remember that most Roman Catholics have been taught Catholic dogma from birth and they are totally immersed in error. As you might see from the quote above, truth is mingled freely with error in such a way as to make true Christians appear to be deceived. That is why there are so few conversions of Roman Catholics.

 Saved by Faith Alone

This phrase is classic Calvinism, but it is merely quoting scripture. I suspect that even many Calvinists do not really understand the meaning of this phrase. What is meant by ‘faith alone’? Does it mean that our faith saves us? No, it does not. At least, not in the way Christians think of it.

Faith does not, in itself, save us. When scripture tells us that our faith saves us, modern Christians believe that they have been saved because they decided to trust in God. Faith is certainly part of the equation, but not in the way we traditionally think. Faith, or, trust in God, is just the mode used by God to enable us to be saved. Faith does not arise from within ourselves – it is a gift of God.

To be saved, we must firstly be given the very faith that saves! We cannot produce faith from within a dead spirit. We cannot trust in God because we think it is a good idea. We cannot have godly faith simply because we have heard the Gospel. We are told that many are called but few are chosen. If this was not the case, then absolutely every one who has ever heard the Gospel would be called a ‘Christian’!

Faith is a gift from God, freely given. Those who claim to be Calvinists must not resort to Arminian error. They cannot mix truth with error. To say that our own faith saves us is untrue. The faith that saves is of God alone, given by Him as a free gift and as the key that unlocks salvation. It is not a key we naturally have within. It is a heavenly gift. Sadly, Roman Catholics see ‘faith’ as an intellectual assent to what God says. Many Christians think the same way. Roman Catholics believe that we must intellectually accept God’s word, and then show our acceptance by doing good works. And it is all as prescribed by the ‘Church’.

In 1 Corinthians 12:4 we read that there are many ‘gifts’ given by the Holy Spirit. In verse 9, we read that one of these gifts is ‘faith’.  As Believers we must start with God, not with ourselves. That is why I make much of the Arminian Pentecostal/charismatic teachings that show through as human activity. When we start with God, we see that He owes us nothing at all. He does not have to save us, or even bother with us. Though He created us, He need not treat us kindly or talk with us, But He does, on His own terms.

Pentecostal Gospel messages are founded on what God can do for us – but this is not the Gospel! (One example of this thinking is a recent poster outside an Elim church. It told readers that ‘Jesus is what the world needs’. In context, it refers to the many ‘benefits’ of becoming a Christian. This is totally Arminian – the Gospel is not about what we can get out of Jesus, or about Him saving us from our ills and woes. It is about repenting and obeying the Lord God, Who says we will enter hell if we are not His!).

The Gospel is, that before time began, God chose those who would be saved and then, at some time in their life, each individual is brought alive by the Holy Spirit and given a new heart. It has absolutely nothing at all to do with our emotions, feelings, decisions, intellect, or any other part of our make-up. We are saved by grace alone!

Thus, the ‘faith that saves’ is not of our own making. It is external to us, because it is implanted by the Holy Spirit as a gift from God the Father. It is the gift that causes us to look at God and His message of hope and to trust Him completely for our salvation. Faith, then, is part of God’s elective mercy. He predestinated us individually to be His and the faith that He sends to us brings his elective promise to life. If you wish, He ‘grafts-on’ faith to give us trust in Him.

Hopefully, you can see from the above that ‘saving faith’ is not from within and that faith, in itself, does not constitute what actually saves us. What saves us is the will of God, His own decision made in eternity, before He created anything, to choose a people for Himself, for His own purposes.

Saved by Works?

NO! That is the basic answer! Now let us explain why we say we are not saved by works. In providing the answer, you will note that we do not dismiss the letter of James, nor do we ignore the statement that works are necessary. You will see that ‘works’ do not save, but that they are an adjunct to salvation and a consequence of it. This might at first sound perplexing, so let me describe, from scripture, what I mean....or, rather, what scripture means.

Roman Catholics* point to James 2:24 for their belief that we are saved by a combination of faith and works: “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone.”  Surely this means that both faith and works saves us? No, it does not. (*And charismatics et al).

To be ‘justified’ means to be righteous; to declare oneself to be as one ought to be...e.g. right with God. It means to be faultless and without guilt before God. Thus, the text is telling us that to prove our new state before God we must act out our salvation. We can see that works is an adjunct to faith in verse 26: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” It means that the proof of our salvation is found not in our statements of belief, but in how we conduct our lives. The conduct itself does not prove we are saved – it must be linked with, and arise out of, our faith. Perhaps, though, some readers are still not convinced by the argument, so let us read through the New Testament to show concrete evidence.

If we bring it down to scriptural logic, we can say that a man who is saved but does not do works will enter heaven, though, in effect, he has sinned and given a very poor witness. However, a man who does works and is not saved will never enter heaven. Thus, works is not equal to faith, but is an adjunct to it and a proof of it. Works are very important and are vital to our spiritual growth and to our witness to men, but they are not what saves us.

 Hebrews 9:14

“purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

 We can see from this text that works, even some of those we call ‘good’, are not always acceptable to our living God. We can only serve Him with true good works. This brings us right back, as always, to God’s elective grace, for we are unable to do true good works unless the Holy Spirit firstly prompts us to do them. ‘Good works’ can be defined as works identified and promoted by God.

That is why, in some articles, I say that many ‘good works’ by Christians are actually ‘dead works’ of no value and of no consequence to God. They are works created and prompted by our human desire to do good. They have not been pressed on to an individual’s heart by the Holy Spirit in such a way as to be an overwhelming burden, one that must be carried and brought into being as an act of obedience. No, they are just ‘good ideas’ developed by committees usually, and presented to a whole church as a ‘witness’ for them all to perform! There are many examples, such as helping the poor and homeless, giving health care to homosexuals, sending food to this or that country. These acts of ‘goodness’ are done even though most of those being helped deny, reject, or scorn, God! They are not, then ‘good works’ as defined by God.

 Titus 3:5

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”

 So, even genuine good works do not save us! This soundly obliterates the belief of Roman Catholics that both works and faith save us. We have already shown that faith itself does not save us. Here we see that works cannot save us either. Very  clearly, we see that what saves us is God’s unwarranted and undeserved mercy. Even good works, those works done because He has commanded us to do them, do not save us. Only His will saves us. God knows in advance what works we will do. So, our works are merely part of the proof of our salvation, as we imply from 2 Timothy.

 2 Timothy 1:9

“Who hath saved us, and called (us) with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”

 This text is a very clear declaration of election and predestination! It also tells us, categorically, that nothing we can do can ever save us. Bear in mind that even our intellectual assent comes under the title of ‘works’. He has saved us – from destruction and hell – and called us, by name. We are called to an ‘hold calling’. That is, to a most holy invite to salvation. Do not make the mistake of thinking that an invite means we can reject the calling. This is a legal invite that brooks no rejection! It is the invite of a judge Who has predetermined our fate.

This same Judge has said that He saved us ‘not according to our works’.  In ordinary English this can be written as ‘not because of  any thing we do ourselves’.  In the Greek word ergon, this ‘work’ includes the product of our mind. Thus, humanly manufactured ‘trust’ in God is counted to be ‘work’.

 We are not called to salvation by our works, then, but ‘according to his own purpose and grace’.  God’s ‘purpose’ is that act of His will or inclination of mind that has been made known to men. His ‘grace’ is His favour or free gift that brings us joy and peace through Jesus Christ. We are then told that this free gift of salvation was given ‘in Christ Jesus before the world began.’

The word for ‘world’ in this text is aionios, meaning eternal or everlasting, without beginning or end – always has been. So, our salvation was given not just before the world was made, as we read in some texts: it was given in eternity. This means our salvation has always been in existence! Scriptural logic tells us that if something exists in eternity, then it has always been in the mind of the Creator, for He knows everything and determines everything in that eternity.

Logically, there can be no beginning or end for His decisions...even the word ‘decisions’ holding no real meaning in terms of God, for to ‘decide’ means to choose between alternative solutions, and God does not have alternatives – everything He does is always perfect and without an element of choice, because of His perfection!

This text, then, shows us that salvation has nothing to do with works, and is not reliant on them. Not even our thoughts can contribute to our salvation, whether or not they are thoughts of ‘choosing’ God.

In Titus 1:16 we see that some who profess to be saved do not reflect their claimed salvation in good works. Indeed, they reject God in their actions and, possibly (because the word for ‘works’ includes the meaning) in their thoughts and words, which make them ‘abominable’, ‘disobedient’ and ‘reprobate’. Thus though works do not earn or gain salvation, they are evidences of it (or not).

I am often told that I cannot question the salvation of another. This is not quite true for I have every right to judge whether or not a man or woman shows their salvation in their lives. If they do not, then I have the right to question their salvation. However, good works, even given to us by God, do not save us...

Titus 3: 5 - 8

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; ....justified by grace...they which believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.”

 Note that these works are not those of corrupt men doing their own ‘good deeds’. Nor are they works done by saved men who do works by their own decision. These are the works done by saved men, and which are ‘works of righteousness’. Such works are approved of God (because He gives them to saved men to do) and are godly. Even so, God’s word tells us that even these good works, initiated and accepted by God, do not save us! We are, rather, saved by His mercy! That is, by His utter and unmerited kindness.

It is effected by the ‘washing of regeneration’ and the ‘renewing of the Holy Ghost’. Neither of these means can be attained by human effort or thought. The ‘washing’ (loutron) in this text could be taken to mean baptism. However, the word is used in conjunction with ‘regeneration’ and so this latter word qualifies the meaning for us.

In this case, ’washing’ must mean the washing of a dead person (louo, the root word for loutron). This makes eminent sense, for ‘regeneration’, or paliggenesia, is new birth, to be reborn (e.g. ‘born again’. It refers to a new life as well as a radical change of mind. It means to bring new life out of death). That is why the meaning of  ‘washing’ must be that of cleansing a dead body, and not that of baptism. This is an important interpretation, for so many today believe we may be saved by baptism (which would make salvation an human act, Arminian).

So, nothing we can do, not even good works commanded to be done by God, can save us. We were saved by His ‘mercy’, which involved Him in bringing us, as ‘dead men, walking’, back to life. Only God can perform this miracle. This divine miracle is effected by the renewing or complete change for the better, brought about by the Holy Spirit. He makes us free and just (justified), and brings us in to a state where we ought to be (acceptable to God). This action by the Spirit is of God’s ‘grace’, as His enjoyment as a free gift from him to the saved person. You will note that once saved we should then prove our new state by doing good works. The good works do not come first!

This is underlined in Hebrews 6:1 where works we did before salvation are called ‘dead works’, from which we had to repent. These dead works evidently can follow a man who is saved, to trip him up, as we see in Hebrews 9:14, where we are told to ‘purge’ our ‘conscience from dead works;’.

In James 2:14 we are told that a man who claims faith but does not do good works is not saved. In 2:17, we read that faith without works is dead. Thus, works are a sign of a saved person, for they are the proof of salvation (2:18). Works cannot save – they ‘make perfect’ faith (2:22). Works ‘justify’ a man who has been saved (2:24) because faith without them is dead. The better way to put it, is that works are external actions that prove an internal state. Without works, faith is ‘dead’ (2:26). Whichever way we look at it, works are an adjunct to salvation and not its cause.

Good works are also to be shown so as to cause unbelievers to praise God (1 Peter 2:12), or at least to think carefully of Christian virtues and God’s ways.

 Summation

We can see that works cannot lead to salvation, for works done before salvation are called ‘dead’. Salvation is given as a free gift by God, simply because he wishes to do so. We cannot claim salvation or obtain it, by any human means, including our thoughts, desires or actions. Salvation for every individual is decreed in eternity (note that we cannot say ‘was decreed’ for there is no past tense in eternity!). Therefore, it cannot be altered or claimed in human time by our own decision or choice.

When we are saved, God expects us to do good works, but not of our own desire. Many Christians wish to please God, so they do what they think are ‘good works’. But, God says, works that are done without His prior prompting are not good works at all, but are of sin. Only when we do works because we are instructed to do them, can they be called ‘good’. These good works do not give us or earn us salvation, they only confirm our salvation. They also serve the purpose of showing unsaved people a proper and true way to live in Christ, for the Christian will always be generous and loving, doing good whenever prompted to do so by the Lord.

The reader must surely see from all this, that works cannot save. They are necessary to prove we are saved, but they do not, of themselves, save us. That is because they are ‘dead’. The dead cannot live! Only when we are regenerated can our works have any meaning in God’s eyes.

Obviously, then, Arminians are wrong to claim that we are saved by works (i.e. by our own human reasoning, choice and actions). According to scripture works are secondary to salvation, but equal in terms of importance when it comes to faith, or trust, in God. Thus, works acceptable to God come after we are saved and not before. Salvation cannot, in any way, be obtained by works!

 “And if by grace, then (it is) no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if (it be) of works, then it is no more grace...”      

Romans 11:6

 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ...justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law...(by which) no flesh (can be) be justified. “ 

Galatians 2:16

 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; (it is) the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” 

  Ephesians 2:8,9

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