Of the many
traditions of men so deeply entrenched in the Church today, perhaps none is so prevalent today as the Protestant innovation of “salvation by
faith alone”, unknown to the Church for 1500 years of its 2000 year
existence.
The phrase “faith
alone” is found once in Bible, James 2:44: “you see that a
person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith
alone”.
So we see the one
explicit verse in the Bible using the phrase “faith alone” is
denying justification by faith alone.
Not exactly the
strongest of starts.
Of course, none of
this is new to those who believe in faith onlyism and they often use
passages like John 3:16 (“who believes in him has eternal
life”), Ephesians 2:8-9 (“for it is by grace you have been
saved through faith...not of works”), and others that
speak of the necessity of faith for salvation to prove salvation by
faith alone.
This use of
Scripture fails for several reasons:
Salvation by
faith does not equal salvation by
faith alone.
I
believe wholeheartedly that we are saved by faith, as the Bible makes
this point clear again and again.
However,
nowhere does the Bible say that we are saved by faith alone.
To
assume this is to make the critical error of thinking that because
faith is the sole means by which we receive salvation, it is
also the sole condition for being saved (an error
more fully explained and critiqued by people like Dr. Jack Cottrell,
Cincinnati Bible Seminary).
To
use an imperfect example, faith is like a car you use to get to work
(i.e., the means of your transportation to work), but it's not
enough to simply have a car, there are other conditions for
getting to work, such as getting in the car and driving to the
destination.
In
the same way, while God communicates saving grace to us by and
through our faith in Him, that is not the only condition for
receiving such grace.
For
example, we must hear the gospel (John 5:24), repent of sin
(Acts 17:30), confess Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9), and
be baptized (Acts 2:38).
The
Bible points to all of the above as conditions for salvation alongside
faith.
At
this point, some of you may be asking how we can by saved by more
than faith alone if we receive salvation at the moment we believe,
which leads to my next point...
Salvation
by faith does not equal salvation at
the moment of faith.
Two common verses used to support the idea that we are saved at the
moment we believe are Romans 10:10 and Acts 16:31:
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in
your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved
They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,
you and your household.'
Ironically, if you believe in salvation by faith alone, you
have a conflict between these two verses.
One verse just says believe, while the other says believe and
confess, confession being logically subsequent faith.
So at which point is the person saved, at faith or at confession of
Jesus as Lord?
The answer is neither.
For one, these passages are not intending to give a full picture of
God's salvation plan (there's no mention of repentance, for example).
However, it's also of great importance that neither of these verses
says when a person is saved (i.e., the occasion of salvation).
Saved by faith does mean I am saved at the time of my faith, contrary
to popular Evangelical thinking.
Rather the proverbial period on God's plan of salvation is baptism,
and it is at that point which we are saved by our faith:
and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made
without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in
baptism, in which you were
also raised up with Him through faith in the
working of God, who raised Him from the dead. – Colossians
2:11-12.
Salvation by faith and not by works does not
equal salvation by faith alone
This is the biggie.
By putting faith in a special category all of its own and everything else a Christian can do in the “works” category,
salvation by faith alone is found by its supporters in every verse
that affirms we are saved not by works, but by faith.
The problem here is that faith is not in category all on its
own and the definition of “works” most Protestants use is
woefully inadequate to do the biblical data justice.
It is true that we are not saved by works, rightly defined.
However, Jesus himself says that faith is a kind of work (John
6:29) and we are saved by faith.
This is because while works of law cannot
save (Gal 2:26; Rom 3:20), there is no contradiction
between acts that people can do, which are a kind of work (hearing
the gospel, having faith, repenting, confessing Jesus as Lord, and be
baptized) and salvation by grace through faith.
The other conditions for salvation listed above are, like faith,
things we do, and in that general sense works, but they are not
works of the law (but aspects of gospel obedience; Romans
10:16, 2 Thessalonians 1:8) and thus do not conflict with
salvation by grace.
---------------
There are so many more things that could be said, thoughts that could
developed, and arguments that could be addressed, but this should
suffice for our purposes.
For us this side of the cross, the Bible nowhere teaches we are saved
by faith alone or saved at the moment we have faith, but that we are
saved by faith (which functions as the means which we receive salvation, among other things).
I hope you'll dig deeper into this issue and to see what the
Bible is saying about this issue apart from what others might say certain passages "must" mean.
Listed below are some resources that may help (with a focus in
baptism as the occasion of salvation).
Online Articles:
Dr. Cottrell's articles on baptism and faith alone:
Dr. Cottrell's website (search “baptism” for many helpful
articles):
http://bebaptized.org/ (Looks at
the meaning and purpose of baptism whilst rebutting faith alone
obejctions).
http://lavistachurchofchrist.org/articles.htm#Baptism
(The Lavista Church of Christ baptism articles)
http://www.bible.ca/H-baptism.htm
(Early Church quotes on baptism)
Books:
Baptism: A Biblical Study by Dr. Jack Cottrell
Recovering the Evangelical Sacrament: Baptisma Semper Reformandum
by Anthony R. Cross
Baptism in the New Testament by G. R. Beasley-Murray
Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the
First Five Centuries by Everett Ferguson.
“What Baptism Meant to the Early Christians” in Will the Real
Heretics Please Stand Up by David Bercot
“Baptism and the Lord's Supper” in Pagan Christianity? By
Frank Viola and George Barna
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