Query from a Reader
We recently received the following e-mail from a reader of the Apologetics Press Web site who lives in California:
I came upon your website due to the referral of a Christian brother
who provided me a link to your article on John Quincy Adams’ views on
Islam. Loved the article and will share it with others.... When checking
into your beliefs I noted the following at this link under “What We
Believe:” “Salvation is by means of obedience to the Gospel system,
involving faith in God and Christ, repentance from sin, confession of
faith, and immersion in water for remission of past sins, coupled with a
life of growing consecration and dedication.”
In all honesty, when I read Scripture I do not get that “salvation”
has anything whatsoever to do with a “Gospel system” or “obedience”
thereof. Surely you cannot mean that our deeds and works can make us
righteous or clean in the eyes of a perfect and entirely Holy God?
Moreover, we cannot follow any kind of a “system” or formula, regardless
of how good it may be. Only Christ and His completed sacrifice, once
for all, can save those who believe in Him, His Word and His
Resurrection. I think the most simple and direct quotes on how Salvation
is “achieved” (really awarded is the better and most accurate word) is from Romans 10:17 and Acts 10:34-46….
In light of these verses, why would you take the stance you do in the
above noted quote from your website? Put another way, why do you believe
salvation is had by any other way than as noted in the above quoted
sections of Romans, Acts and any number of other examples, throughout
Scripture, of persons being saved?
P.L., Palm Desert, CA
Dear P.L.:
Thank you for your interest in our work, and your willingness to study
God’s Word, and write us. You are to be commended for your desire to
think through what the Bible teaches on the extremely important matter
of salvation. Here are some thoughts for you to consider:
It is true that the New Testament does not use the phrase “Gospel
system,” but the concept is certainly biblical, even as we speak of the
“Christian system” or the “Christian religion.” In Romans, the
Gospel/Grace system is contrasted with a strictly legal/law system. The
point of Romans is that the Jews could not depend on their ethnic
heritage (their genetic connection to Abraham with the covenant symbol
of circumcision) or the Law of Moses to save them—because (1) genetic
connection is fleshly and avails nothing, and (2) they did not keep the
Law of Moses given to them. No one can be saved by law alone, since
everyone has violated God’s law and therefore stands condemned. We
needed a different approach to the sin problem, specifically, the Gospel
(the good news that God inhabited human flesh in the person of His Son
to atone for sin). The Gospel has law that we must obey, just like the
Law of Moses, but it also has the means of ultimate atonement which the
Law of Moses did not technically have (cf. Hebrews 10:4). Yes, the
orchestration of that means of forgiveness is wholly God’s doing which we do not deserve. There is absolutely nothing we can do to atone for our own sin.
However, it by no means follows that there is nothing that God requires of us before He will freely cleanse us. You, yourself, agree that a person must believe. So there is
something that humans must do to be saved—without assuming they earn or
deserve their salvation. They must believe—an act of human effort,
called a “work” in John 6:29, i.e., a work that God requires humans to
perform (see Methodist lexicographer Joseph Thayer who defines “works”
in John 6 as “the works required and approved by God” [1901, p. 248]).
But what does it mean to believe? It is not merely a mental act of
accepting Jesus (as much of Christendom incessantly maintains), since
Paul defined the “faith” of Romans as an “obedient faith” (hupakoain pisteos)
in 1:5 and 16:26. Romans uses forms of the word “obey” and “obedience”
10 times, and forthrightly declares that a person will be judged
“according to his deeds” (2:6), and that “eternal life” will be given to
“those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor,
and immortality,” while those who “do not obey the truth” will receive
“indignation and wrath” (2:7-8). Romans 6:16 indicates that obedience precedes righteousness.
So, yes, humans must perform deeds to be pleasing to God. The point
that the Bible makes regarding those deeds is that they do not earn
salvation for the individual—they do not wash away sin—since only the
blood of Christ can do that. Christ’s blood is the cleansing agent. But
when does God apply Christ’s blood to our sin-stained spirits? Answer:
when a person “obey[s] the Gospel” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). How does one
obey the Gospel? Acts is the “book of conversions” that gives example
after example of instances wherein people obeyed the Gospel to become
Christians. Please access the free pdf book at http://www.apologeticspress.org/pdfs/e-books_pdf/wtbsatcoc.pdf
and scroll to page 21 where you will see a chart that records only the
explicitly stated actions that occurred in 10 cases of conversion to
Christianity in the book of Acts—actions that preceded salvation.
Romans was not actually intended to detail the conditions of salvation; rather, Romans explains the grounds or basis
of salvation—the blood of Christ. Nevertheless, in passing, Romans
happens to mention every single one of the prerequisite conditions of
salvation with which humans must comply before God will grant
forgiveness as a free, undeserved gift. Romans 10:17, as you note,
indicates that a person must first hear the Gospel/Word of God, which is
designed to create faith within. But Romans 10:9-10 makes clear that
faith is not the only prerequisite to forgiveness. Oral confession with
the mouth is also enjoined. Romans 2:4 indicates that repentance is
necessary before God will forgive. And Romans 6:1-4 indicates that water
immersion precedes salvation, since it is the contact point for the
blood of Christ which was shed in His death. We must be baptized “into
His death” to contact that blood. That is the point at which sin is
washed away by the blood of Christ. No wonder, then, that Ananias told
Saul/Paul to “arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on
the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). When does a person achieve “calling
on the Lord”? When the believing, repenting, confessing person submits
to water immersion (Acts 22:16). That explains why Peter declared that
baptism “now saves us” (1 Peter 3:21)—in the sense that Christ’s blood
saves us at the point of our baptism; and that is why that same Peter
impressed upon those present in Acts 10 that the reception of Holy
Spirit baptism directly from God upon the Gentiles was proof positive
that Gentiles had the right to become Christians just as much as the
Jews. Once their eligibility for conversion was demonstrated by that
miraculous act direct from God, Peter then pressed for their obedience
in the words, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be
baptized...?” (Acts 10:47). Why even bring up water at that moment if water immersion was not prerequisite to their forgiveness?
So faith, repentance, confession, and baptism are all indicated to precede
remission of sin. We must obey these acts—not to atone for our sin, for
only Jesus can do that—but to comply with God’s stated conditions.
Those pre-conditions to salvation were authored by Him
(not us), and He enjoined them upon all who wish to be saved. That is
why the Hebrews writer stated forthrightly that Jesus is “the author of
eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9,
emp. added). It is interesting that you quote Acts 10:34-35 which
indicates that before a person is acceptable to Christ, that person must
“fear Him and work righteousness” (vs. 35). In other words, believe and
obey—actions that humans must perform in order to receive the free gift
of salvation available only in Christ.
Denominationalism manifests a persistent inability and/or unwillingness to distinguish between the grounds of salvation and the conditions
of salvation—the difference between Christ’s atonement and man’s
obedience. Yet, the Bible from beginning to end demonstrates this
distinction. Indeed, Jesus Himself said: “Not everyone who says to Me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “But why do you call Me
‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Or as
Paul expressed to the Galatians: “For you are all sons of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). The Galatians had become sons
of God through faith when they were baptized in water.
REFERENCE
Thayer, J.H. (1901), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1977 reprint).
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