Grace and
Faith
Those of you who listen regularly to the International Gospel Hour have heard me sincerely express my gratitude to my listeners who take the time to write about our program. I get a good amount of mail from all over the United States and from several foreign countries. Even if the letters take issue with what I have preached, I still appreciate hearing from my listeners. Recently I had a letter from a young man who is serving in a civilian role in Tikrit, Iraq, Sadam Hussein's hometown. Unless you sit hour after hour in front of a computer and then in front of a microphone, you probably are not in a position to appreciate fully how much letters and other communications mean to me.
I have on my desk a letter from a man who severely criticizes what I have preached on grace and faith. He introduces his letter with these words: "After hearing you on radio last night I have decided from your message that you, too, like the rest of the world, are going to be lost. I have heard you preach some good things but you are 'deceived' when you deny the fact that to be saved all you need is 'GRACE' & 'FAITH.'" Please understand that I have no ill will or animosity toward the man who wrote the letter. If he disagrees with what I have taught—and he most certainly does—he has an obligation to let me hear from him. I thank him for giving me the opportunity to discuss "Grace and Faith."
Before I examine several statements in the letter, I need to make some initial observations. I shall not mention the man's name since his letter was personal and not for public consumption. However, I am always troubled when a preacher signs his name "reverend." In my judgment, a person is arrogant when he assumes the name that belongs to God alone. Nobody, regardless of his ability or devotion, merits such honor. Faithful preachers among churches of Christ never refer to themselves as "reverend." They know the title does not belong to sinful man—preacher or otherwise.
My correspondent tells me I am deceived when I deny that all we need to be saved is grace and faith. No one likes to be deceived or have others accuse him of being deceived. I know—and so do you, if you are a Bible student—that men can be deceived. I shall not take time to read a long list of scriptures that warn against being deceived, but I do want you to listen to a few. "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience" (Eph. 5:6). "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (that is, the day of the Lord's return) shall not come except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (2 Thess. 2:3). One of the most serious problems for all of us is self-deception. "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise"(l Cor. 3:18). "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). Am I deceived when I preach that salvation is not by grace alone through faith alone? I will let you decide as we proceed through out study today.
The author of the letter says emphatically: "The Bible 'EXPLICITLY' states that— "In him (Jesus), we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” He then points out that the word "sins" is plural. I fully accept the truth that redemption and forgiveness of sins are in Christ. But what does that have to do with salvation by grace alone through faith alone? The word "redemption" literally means to release by payment of a ransom. The word "forgiveness" means to send away. Paul teaches that redemption and forgiveness are available only because of Christ's death on the cross. The author of Hebrews teaches the same truth. "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). The Greek word translated "forgiveness" in Ephesians 1:8 is the same word rendered "remission" in Hebrews 9:22. Both verses teach that our sins are sent away from us when we become Christians.
All of this, according to my correspondent, is "according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence." We know that God's wonderful provisions for our salvation were wholly of God's grace. Nothing man has ever done or will do or can do would make God his debtor. Is that not what Paul meant when he wrote: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Tit. 2:11-12)? When one contemplates what God has given us through Christ, he can understand why Paul would use the expression, "riches of his grace."
My correspondent writes: "Then in the second chapter of Ephesians, the Bible declares: 'By grace through faith are you saved.'" What the man who wrote the letter has to prove—which neither he nor anyone else can do—is that by grace alone through faith alone are you saved." Have you found "grace alone" or "faith alone" in Ephesians 2 or anywhere else in the word of God? Maybe I need to define what grace alone means. I heard one preacher define it this way: "It means grace plus nothing, minus nothing." Is that Bible doctrine? If it is, in my more than sixty-two years of preaching I have completely overlooked the passage that teaches that idea.
I have to ask you a question. Would grace alone exclude the necessity of having to do anything? I am not asking if those who embrace the doctrine of grace alone engage in various good works, such as, feeding the hungry, visiting sick people and prisoners, taking care of orphans and providing for widows. The truth is: Many devout Calvinists are very compassionate people. But I am asking if they must do any of those good works to be saved. If they are saved by grace alone, they do not have to do anything.
While we are thinking about Ephesians 2, we need to examine four concepts: the word "do," the word "must," the term "command" and the word "obey." Do you have any idea how many times the word "do" (poieo in the Greek) appears in the New Testament? Would it surprise you that the New Testament employs the word 576 times—576 times? Most of the time the word is used it does not tell Christians what they must do. But over and over, inspired writers tell Christians what they must do to have God's approval. I shall give you several examples. "Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). But Paul, are you not aware that we do not have to do anything, that we are saved by grace alone? All Bible students are familiar with these words. "Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin" (Jas. 4:17). But how can failing to do good be sin if we are saved by grace alone through faith alone? There are three verses in 1 John that completely refute the Calvinistic doctrine of grace alone and faith alone. Please listen to see if you can harmonize these verses with the doctrine my correspondent accepts. "If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of him" (1 John 2:29). "Little children, let no man deceive you: he who does righteousness is righteous, even if he is righteous...In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not do righteousness is not of God, neither he who does not love his brother" (1 John 3:7, 10). If we have do righteousness and love our brothers and sisters, we are not saved by grace alone through faith alone.
The word "must" (dei in the Greek) means it is essential, it is necessary. Do you remember what the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas? "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" If Paul and Silas had been Calvinists, they would have told the jailer: "There is nothing you can do. God has already done it all." Please listen to the following verses that use the word "must." Paul told the Ephesian elders: "I have shown you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). The word "ought" in this verse is the same Greek word translated "must." The word is also translated "ought" in this verse from Peter's second epistle. "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness" (2 Pet. 3:l1)?
I need to ask my correspondent a very serious question. Is obeying the commandments of the Lord optional? In other words, may we ignore the commandments and still please the Lord? Either the word "command" or "commandment" appears 120 times in the book of Deuteronomy alone. Please listen to Moses as he instructs the Israelites. "And now, Israel, what does the Lord require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, and to walk in his ways, and to love him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good" (Dt. 10:12-13). But that was under the Mosaic covenant. We live under the dispensation of grace. All right, let us examine what Jesus and his apostles taught about obeying the commands of the Lord. Jesus himself told his disciples: "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). May we logically conclude that we do not love him if we do not keep his commandments? That does not sound like the doctrine of grace alone through faith alone, does it?
The beautiful little book of 1 John could hardly be plainer in its emphasis on obeying the Lord's commands. "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him....And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (1 John 2:3-4, 3:22). "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:2-3). Does any of that sound to you as if obeying the Lord's commands is optional?
The word "obey" gives every Calvinist preacher and writer some real problems. All you have to do to confirm that fact is to buy books by Calvinist preachers and count the number of times they refer to biblical passages that teach obedience. I have a number of books by Calvinist scholars and preachers. They almost invariably shun the passages that teach obedience as if those passages were serpents. In fact, a few weeks ago I did a radio
sermon entitled, "Conspicuous by Their Absence." I was not speaking of people who are conspicuous by their absence but of scriptures that demand obedience of God's children. Some of the leading Calvinist scholars in the world, such as, Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. R. C. Sproul, Dr. Charles Stanley, the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice and Dr. Philip G. Ryken, either do not know the passages that demand obedience or they choose to ignore them.
What does the Bible teach about obedience? I shall refer primarily to the book of Romans. Paul uses the expression, "the obedience of faith," two times in Romans (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). It is an obedience that springs from faith. If there is no obedience, is there really any faith? Romans 2 provides one of the strongest arguments in the Bible for the necessity of obeying the Lord. Please listen carefully to these powerful words. God "will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life: but unto them who are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul that does evil, of the Jew first and also of the " Gentile; but glory, honor, and peace, to every man who works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with God" (Rom. 2:6-11).
Just in case you failed to pay special attention to some of the words Paul used in this passage, let me emphasize them briefly. In verse six Paul spoke of being judged "according to our deeds" (literally, works). He used the term, "well doing," in verse 7 and "works good" in verse 10. If we want to receive glory, honor and peace at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, we must "work good," or else Paul was misleading us.
The apostle Paul asked the Romans: "Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked that you were the servants of sins, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness" (Rom.6:16-19). If obedience to the commands of the Lord is not absolutely necessary, why did Paul go to the all the trouble to leave the impression it is? And why would Paul be concerned enough to write: "They have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report" (Rom. 10:16)? If we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, no one has to obey the gospel.
The author of Hebrews sets forth our Lord as an example of obeying the will of God. Hebrews quotes Jesus as saying to the Father: "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God...Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away the first (that is, the Mosaic covenant) that he may establish the second (that is, the gospel of Christ)" (Heb. 10:7, 9). Please tell me how anyone can overlook the following passage: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered: and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them who obey him" (Heb. 5:8-9). Is he the author of eternal salvation all them who do not obey him? If he is, the words of this passage are meaningless and even misleading.
I must examine briefly the Lord's Parable of the Vine and the Branches before our time expires. Jesus explained to his disciples: "I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:1-2). There is no doubt Jesus was speaking of his faithful children. He demanded that they bring forth fruit or be removed. Bearing fruit is absolutely essential. But it is not essential if one is saved by grace alone through faith alone. It might be pleasant and good, but it would not be absolutely necessary.
Our Lord continued with his parable. "Now you are clean through the word I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches: he who abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love" (John 15:3-10).
The language of this great parable would be pretty difficult to misunderstand. Let me briefly summarize what Jesus taught. If a branch, that is, an individual disciple, does not bear fruit, the Father takes it away (v. 2). Christians have to abide in Christ or they cannot bear fruit (v. 4). If a man does not bear much fruit, he is cast into the fire and burned (v. 6). If we bear much fruit, we are Christ's disciples (v. 8). What if we do not bear much fruit, are we still Christ's disciples? And did you notice verse 10? "If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."
I am convinced that my correspondent is sincere or he would have taken the time to write to me about my radio preaching. But have he and other Calvinists examined all the passages I have read and discussed today? If I have misinterpreted or misapplied any of these verses from the Bible, I want to be corrected. If I know my own heart, I do not want to mislead anyone; nor do I want to be wrong about the use of God's sacred volume. I know God will hold me accountable for what I teach on this international ministry and for my attitude in preaching. I ask you to pray that I may always preach the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).
I urge everyone in my audience to search
the scriptures regularly to ascertain if what they believe and what I preach is the truth. Jesus
taught that the truth will make us free (John 8:32). I beg you to believe the
truth, to love it and to obey it from the heart (Rom. 6:17).
Winford Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
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