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to salvation. Grace and works com–
plement each other.
The apostle James said this about
the subject: "... faith without works
is dead" (James 2:20, 26). James
mentions Abraham as an example
of one who had both faith and
works (verses 21-24). The "works"
Abraham had, of course, were the
"works" of obeying God aod keep–
ing his commandments (Genesis
26:5).
Paul taught the same truth when
he wrote: "For by
grace
are ye
saved through faith ... not of works,
lest any man should boast" (Eph–
esians 2:8-9).
Notice. We are saved through
God's grace or unmerited pardon
through faith - the indwelling faith
of Jesus Christ. We are
not
saved by
works. Paul and James make that
perfectly clear.
Human works do not save us. All
the works in the world - all the
daily good deeds -
will
not save us.
Such works cannot atone for our
sins. Only Christ's death on the
stake can atone for our sins.
Salvation cannot be earned
through your own endeavor. It is
not something that God will "pay"
you after a lifetime of good works.
Rather, it is a
GIFT
from God. But -
and let this sink deeply into your
mind - it is a
conditional
gift.
You are required to do certain
things. First, you must repent of sin
(1 John 3:4). Repentance involves
living a new way of life, through
keeping God's commandments. You
must also be baptized as a symbol of
that repentance. This is another
"work" that is required. Also, you
must believe on Christ - that is,
(1)
you must believe he died and paid
the penalty of sin for you, and (2)
you must also believe the message–
the gospel - he brougbt (Mark
1:14-15). Evento believe involves a
certain amount of effort or "works"
- because to believe, you must first
study and learn about Christ and his
message. When you do these things,
24
you're on the road to salvation (Ro–
mans 8: l l).
Now then, salvation or eternallife
is a conditional gift (Romans 6:23).
Let's say you are the parent of a
little boy, and you want to give him
a tricycle.
You tell your son witb love, "I
want to give you a present next
week.
In
the meantime, continue to
be a good boy and be obedient to
Mom and Dad. But if you begin to
act naughty, then I may have to
cancel the gift and give you a spank–
ing instead."
Do you get the point? The boy
does not "earn" the gift. His contin–
uing to be obedient for the week
doesn't "earn" him enougb money
to purchase the gift. It will be given
to him only on the condition that he
obeys bis parents!
In the same fashion, God will
give eterna! life to those who meet
the conditions which he has set.
These include repentance, faith in
Christ, and obedience to God, our
heavenly parent. It's really that
simple.
Sorne religious teachers, however,
lift Romans 11 :6 out of context to
claim that grace and works are in–
compatible. Notice that verse: "And
if by grace, then is it no more of
works: otherwise grace is no more
grace. But if it be of works, then is it
no more grace: otherwise work is no
more work."
Let's not wrest the Scriptures to
make this verse say something it
does not say. Paul is talking about
Israel (verse 1). He asks, "Has God
cast away his people?"
In
other
words, has God condemned all
Israel? "No," Pau1 answers. Even–
tually, he says, "all Israel shall be
saved" (verse 26). But for the
present, he continues, most of Israel
is blinded to the truth of God (ver–
ses 8-II). Only a few - a "remnant"
- have their eyes opened to under–
stand the truth of God at the
present time (verses 2-5).
In this context, then, Paul says:
"Even so then at this present time
also there is a remnant according to
the election of grace" (verse 5). That
is, God himself has opened the eyes
of a few to his truth, hence bestow–
ing grace upon them. "And if by
grace," Paul adds, "then is it no
more of works." That is, these few
received God's truth because
he
opened their eyes. Their eyes were
not opened by means of their own
efforts to grasp the trutb. lf they had
achieved tbis understanding through
their own works, ''then is it no more
grace," Paul said.
But God granted them repen–
tance and called them to con–
version; they did not gain this
knowledge through their own
works!
Thus we see that, prior to con–
version, all the good works in the
world will not earn us salvation or
even bring us to the full knowledge
of God's truth. After conversion,
however, even though we still can–
not earn salvation through works,
God nevertheless requires that we
maintain good works!
A scripture that many "no works"
teachers immediately point to is
Ephesians 2:8-9, but this time also
read verse 10: "For we are his work–
manship, created in Christ Jesus
unto [for]
good works,
wbich God
hath before ordained that we should
walk in them" (Ephesians 2: 10).
How plain that works are as es–
sential to salvation as eating and
drinking is to life!
But why, then, do a few verses,
especially in Gal&tians, seem to call
works a curse? What kind of
"works" was Paul referring to in
Galatians? To answer tbis question,
we must understand what the Bible
teaches about "law."
The Purpose of Law
Christian and non-Christian alike
are familiar with law. Society itself
is governed by laws made to
safeguard human liberty. Laws are
to protect the rights of people and to
insure the orderly functioning and
administration of government. The
law of God is similar.
The law of God, the apostle Paul
PLAIN TRUTH September 1973