When the subject of salvation is brought up, some people say that they are “saved by the grace of GOD”. But the term salvation in a doctrinal sense is very comprehensive. It begins with justification in Christ, where our sins are forgiven, and we’re accounted as “not guilty” in GOD’s Court of Law. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. We are saved from sin and death, from judgment and eternal damnation. This is when eternal life begins. We are saved for perpetual relationship and fellowship with the LORD, all Three Members of the Trinity. We are saved for good works that stem from that relationship with GOD. We are saved for everlasting citizenship in heaven and on earth where we the church will rule alongside our King!
While our overall salvation is provided freely by GOD through His only begotten Son, we must always be attentive that our faith is focused in the right direction.
For now, let’s talk about this:
Faith and Hope are two aspects of the Christian life that are inextricably intertwined. It’s by our faith that we hold onto the promises of GOD today. The hope we have is not wishful but certain. An expectation of tomorrow and our future destiny.
A PROMISED PERSPECTIVE
As someone once put it: “love looks back on the Cross of Christ (1 JOHN 4:10), faith dwells on today with our walk with Christ (2 COR 5:7), hope looks ahead when we are reunited with our LORD and Savior, Christ Jesus (TITUS 2:13).
Biblical faith employs a trust in, dependence on, reliance in and fidelity towards the LORD and His Word. This is particularly essential in regard to the doctrine of soteriology, which by definition refers to all things involving salvation. Scripture explains this clearly:
2 TIMOTHY 3:14-15
14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Scripture is the sole source of knowledge by which we acquire this wisdom “for salvation through faith…”.
1 PETER 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
We see here that both faith and hope are based upon all our sins fully paid for on the Cross where Christ assumed the penalty for our sins and His supreme victory in the resurrection, contractually abolishing sin and death.
1 PETER 1:9-10
9 receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls. 10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
The ‘end product’ as it were of our faith starts with the finished work of Christ on Calvary – “the salvation of [our] souls” provided by the grace of GOD but it includes our eternal destiny as well: our glorification in Christ at His Coming (see 1 PET 1:3-5).
EPHESIANS 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
A THREE-WAY PERSPECTIVE
This particular aspect of soteriology covered in the verses cited above have to do with our justification in Christ (check out this comprehensive study on justification). This is where we are born again by the power of GOD. We can’t contribute anything to our justification because it’s completed by Christ Himself on The Altar of the Almighty.
Then there is sanctification that fits between justification and glorification. We are initially sanctified (“set apart” from the world, baptized into the body of Christ) at justification and we continue from there as we grow practically in Christlikeness (a life that is progressing in holiness, diminishing in carnality and sin). Then there is glorification, which is the total, complete work of sanctification and an entire transformation in soul and body of the saint of GOD.
For the remainder of this article I want to focus on a living, vital faith, and how that genuine faith works outwardly in the sanctification of our spiritual development as disciples of Christ.
TRUE and FALSE
Scripture talks about “believing in vain” (1 COR 15:2), those who are accounted as “false brethren” (2 COR 11:26; GAL 2:4), “tares among wheat” (MATT 13:25-40). On the Day of Judgment there will be those who call Jesus “LORD”, but He confesses that He doesn’t know them (one’s with which He has nothing to do with, those that He spurns, the “workers of iniquity [that is, lawlessness]”; MATT 7:22-23).
Those who have believed in vain and are identified as false brethren; tares and workers of iniquity have no genuine faith which is required to apprehend and exercise the Gospel (HEB 4:2b). What defines “living faith” from faith that is dead?
JAMES 2:14, 15-16, 17-20
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
Then by way of example the elder James makes the following illustration:
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
If these demons are any criteria, the act of believing in the biblical sense of faith is terribly lacking. NONE of their works reveals a living faith but are wholly evil and corrupt. Yet they believe to the point of trembling!
Likewise the same is true for humans who “believe” (supposedly) but not to the saving of the soul (HEB 10:39).
It’s important to analyze these verses carefully and understand what they actually say and not what we think they say.
Let’s be crystal clear on this matter: nowhere in Scripture does it say that we are saved by works. EPHESIANS 2:9 explicitly states the opposite (so does ROMANS 4:5). So we can discount any legalistic, works-based salvation as inauthentic, even blasphemous. After all, who could add to the justification Christ has already perfectly provided for us??).
IT’S ALLLIVVVVVE!!!!
What Scripture does state clearly is that “faith [NOT salvation] without works is dead”. And it’s by this faith directed to GOD – not a pastor, not a church, not any people group, but GOD and GOD alone that we receive salvation through the grace of GOD afforded to us in the Gospel.
So a genuine, living faith that produces evidence is the kind of faith that will genuinely believe and receive the Gospel. In the passage from JAMES, the elder of Jerusalem uses Abraham as an example. What we read in GENESIS 15:6 tells us that because Abraham believed (yet hadn’t proven his faith by any works to demonstrate his faith) GOD accounted him as righteous.
Then in GENESIS 22 we read how GOD required (not requested!) Abraham to offer up his son as a burnt offering – but it was through Isaac that the LORD’s promises were to be fulfilled. How could those promises happen if Isaac ended up as a pile of ashes?
Abraham believed that GOD would raise him from the dead by faith, and thus, he obeyed the command of the LORD (HEB 11:17-19). His faith was validated by his action (his work of obedience; JAMES 2:21-25). Abraham was legitimately saved a while back in GENESIS 15 (ROM 4:18-22), and then his faith was tested and proved true when he obeyed GOD in GENESIS 22.
What if Abraham had failed to obey GOD? He would have no demonstrable work to show that his faith was alive and active. Would that mean he had a dead faith? No, not necessarily. it would just mean at that time, there wasn’t any outward evidence of such. And his spiritual growth and heart knowledge of the LORD would have been inhibited as a result of his lack of obedience.
Remember: obedience to the truth will be rewarded with more and deeper truth. Examine the lives of the saints in the Bible and see what happens with them once they are tested by GOD.
But the question is rather academic really, since GOD knew all along that His friend would in fact be obedient to His command.
JAMES 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
ROMANS 10:9-10
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
There are two aspects to the passage above: believing in one’s heart is one, confessing with the mouth the other. Anyone can observe a person confessing Jesus with their mouth, but who can observe that same person believing in their heart? Answer: Only GOD – none of us humans can. He knows who truly belongs to Him and who does not.
As mentioned already, there are many who have believed in vain, those who are false brethren, tares that bear no good fruit. The only way beyond accepting a person’s word for their own conversion is that we witness the work of salvation in their lives. Note what I said – “salvation” (the overall work of GOD in the redeemed) not “justification” (placing the positional righteousness of Christ upon the repentant sinner). No one can observe justification as it’s an inward action upon the heart by GOD (EZEL 36:26). But sanctification is something that happens from the heart, to the mind, to the righteous actions done in the body.
SANCTIFICATION WORKS IN GOOD WORKS
PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
GOD in justifying us, endows us with His Spirit and then works in us His will, graciously giving us the ability to live out our “salvation” – this aspect being sanctification. Holiness unto the LORD! We call this our “walk with the LORD”.
Do you remember the lame man in ACTS that Peter and John ministered to at the Gate Beautiful? And how once he was healed he began to walk and leap and praise GOD (ACTS 3:6-8)? That word “walk” means having the ability to walk and to demonstrate it.
So it is with our walk by faith with the LORD – we demonstrate by our lives the ability to walk in the Spirit, i.e., to live our lives in accordance with the heart of JESUS our LORD!
Sinners are in need of justification, not saints – because by definition a saint is already justified in Christ. The saint then progresses in sanctification where one grows in Christlikeness. This is where fruit is born, where good works are manifested.
There are those who want to isolate justification from the other aspects of salvation, which is not only unreasonable, but unbiblical. Would such who advocate this also state that one can be justified without being glorified (at the coming of Christ)? No – why? Because salvation encompasses all three aspects, including sanctification.
For the saint – they have been saved (justification), they are now being saved (sanctification) and they will one Day be saved (glorification).
Getting back to EPHESIANS 2:8-10, vss. 8-9 deal with justification apart from works. Verse 10 deals with sanctification and the production of good works which are ordained by GOD. Note what this verse doesn’t say: “saved in Christ Jesus” but “created in…” – which is to say, regenerated, made anew, born again. As a result of obtaining eternal life by the Spirit, we are for the first time able to generate good works (also bearing “good fruit”; JOHN 15) but only through the same Spirit.
On the Day of Judgment for the saints, the question won’t be asked, “Did you receive salvation by faith in Christ?" because that will be a foregone conclusion – no unrepentant, unredeemed sinner will appear in heaven at the bema seat.
What will be examined? Our works done in the Name of Christ, to determine whether or not they will receive rewards that in turn we can glorify GOD with! These works will validate a living faith in those who are truly the family of GOD:
MATTHEW 12:50
"For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."
Rewards for good works/fruit is based on GOD’s enabling grace that works through the life of a saint that obeys the LORD. The disobedient saint can’t expect this interaction but can expect chastening (HEB 12:4-11). And the degree of obedience combined with right motive (1 COR 13:1-8) these will determine the degree of reward, for we will not be rewarded equally. Again, all such actions are related to that aspect of salvation known as sanctification, not justification.
PART TWO –
MATTHEW 16:27
"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
This is emphasis of rewards related to living faith is evident in the Old Testament as well as in the New:
JOB 34:11; PSA 62:12; PROV 24:12; JER 17:10; 32:19; ROM 2:6; 1 COR 3:8-15; 2 COR 5:10-11; 1 PET 1:17;
WOULDA? COULDA? SHOULDA!
EPHESIANS 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Today we often use the word “should” as an admonitory expression. “You should save your money”. Another example: you’re riding along with someone who’s driving 70 mph in a 50 mph zone, and you tell him, “You should slow down”. That carries only so much weight because it’s just an admonition. But if a police car pulls up behind you and uses his PA to tell you that – you slow down. By law, you’re obligated to obey.
That word “should” in the Old English (which the KJV is written in) has a different meaning: the core sense of the word means, “something owed… obliged to… ought to… must. It carries a strong sense of obligation and duty.”
But this isn’t a duty carried out in a dispassionate, cold obedience, but rather in being compelled by the LOVE OF JESUS (2 COR 5:14)! He loved us FIRST and in response we love him IN RETURN! We finally begin to understand a love that is so all-encompassing and permeating that we obey with complete trust and without reservation.
Then we see a love of total abandon to the will of GOD! Do we fail at times in this? Certainly, but the nature of the new man (one who is born again; JOHN 3:3) desires heartfelt obedience to the One we love – the old man (proud and rebellious) at times gets in the way of this (ROMANS 7). That is why we are commanded to “put off the former life” and “put on the new man” (EPH 4:22-23).
Work is manufactured and fruit is grown. Patient laboring in these activities is required. Spiritually speaking we saints are employed in both, but not in the flesh, but as willing vessels of the Holy Spirit.
CAN’T HACK GOOD FRUIT!
John the Baptist had this to say about “good fruit” and the lack thereof.
MATTHEW 3:10-12
10 "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
What the LORD Jesus stated about false prophets would apply to any who are not genuine saints of GOD, and New Testament saints born of the Spirit of GOD:
MATTHEW 7:17-20
17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Fruit is always connected to the nature of the tree. Apple trees don’t bear pears. Orange trees don’t bear plums. Those with only a sin nature can’t bear good fruit. Those while employing their new nature can’t bear bad fruit. This is verified further in MATTHEW 12:33-35.
1 JOHN 3:9-10
9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
Let’s remind ourselves that as born again believers we now have two natures: the old sin nature after the First Adam as well as the new godly nature after the Last Adam, Jesus Christ. That which is born of GOD (born again), that is to say, those endowed with a new nature conceived by the Holy Spirit cannot commit sin with that nature. If they sin, it’s because they do so out of their old sin nature. (see 1 JOHN 2:29; 5:18).
Likewise a good tree (representing the new man: “…trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD” ISA 61:3) can’t bear bad fruit any more than an old tree can bear good.
Those who didn’t bear good fruit were “cast into the fire” – and that isn’t a campfire!
Now I don’t want to alarm any of you who are new believers who might panic, thinking “I only just got saved yesterday! What time do I have to produce fruit or good works!??”
If you’re genuinely saved, then you’ve already produced the fruit of repentance (MATT 3:8) as well as the work of salvation through believing (JOHN 6:28-29). And all that is a result of saving faith, of justification and one could even say “the first fruits” of that which is to come as a disciple of Christ.
DOUBLE-DEAD DAWG!
Jude talks of those who pervert the grace of GOD and cannot produce anything but deadness; without good fruit:
JUDE 1:4,11-12
4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
Some might perceive that the assertions I’ve made here are taking away from the free gift of salvation (“justification” in particular), putting conditions on the grace of GOD; that somehow I’m insinuating that while admitting we are saved by grace, that this grace comes at a cost of our obedience to holiness.
SEQUENTIAL SANCTIFICATION
I will never adhere to such thinking only because eternal life IS a gift undeserved by the grace of GOD! What I am asserting is that if truly repentant, truly converted, truly born of GOD’s Spirit then one’s spiritual birth is genuine, and his spiritual life will (super)naturally develop as a result.
Seeds grow, plants and trees produce fruit. Zygotes become mature human beings. It’s GOD’s creative order and how He’s designed them. Sanctification proceeds from justification in the same way small children proceed from toddlers. Look at these verses and note how sanctification as a process is described in the life of a disciple:
HEBREWS 6:1
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection [maturity], not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
ROMANS 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
ROMANS 6:13,16,19-22
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness [sanctification] and the end, everlasting life [glorification].
1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
MATTHEW 16:24-27
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
What happens if a Christian doesn’t experience a lot of sanctification and results in little or no good works? Are they still saved? Yes – if their faith is genuine and the fruits of repentance and justification are present. They may not end up with a lot of reward at the Bema Seat Judgment – all their works being burned up, BUT they are still saved (1 COR 3:15).
SAVIOR, YES! LORD? …MAYBE?
As one who was discipled from the early 80’s and into 90’s the concept of “accepting Jesus as Savior (but not as LORD) was never something I had considered and seldom ever heard it taught, nor did I ever question whether or not Jesus was my LORD as well as my Savior.
Yet today there are teachers who divide Christ in this sort of way. The thinking is that somehow we can receive salvation from the Savior yet decline Him as our LORD even though we are born again into His Kingdom (JOHN 3:3,5; 1 PET 1:23).
In my opinion anyone who stands in the Kingdom of GOD but refuses Jesus as the King – or LORD for that matter (the One Who is in Authority, the One that we all answer to) – is either a very misinformed citizen, missing out on everything the King offers, or at worst he is not a citizen of the Kingdom, but “a squatter”. That one who has no rightful claim to the land, but dwells there claiming the right regardless.
Visiting ROMANS 10 once more…
ROMANS 10:9
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
That’s how it reads in the English. In the original Greek, there is a subtle but significant difference: an interesting grammatical nuance in the Greek that is often obscured in English translations.
The Greek text reads (for the record, I don’t read Greek, but the source I quoted this from is from a notable Greek Scholar and a Christian):
ὅτι ἐὰν ὁμολογήσῃς ἐν τῷ στόματί σου κύριον Ἰησοῦν hoti ean homologēsēs en tō stomati sou kyrion Iēsoun
"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord..."
The key phrase is: κύριον Ἰησοῦν (kyrion Iēsoun)
Both words are in the accusative case because they function as the object of the verb "confess." The word order is:
κύριον = Lord Ἰησοῦν = Jesus. Literally, it is: "confess ... Lord Jesus"
However, Greek word order is much more flexible than English. The grammatical emphasis is not necessarily on the sequence of the words but on the relationship between them.
Most Greek scholars understand κύριον here as a predicate accusative, meaning: "confess Jesus to be Lord” or "confess that Jesus is Lord."
This is why many modern translations render it: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord..." (ESV, NIV, NASB) rather than: "If you confess the Lord Jesus..."
WHY THIS MATTERS
Paul's point is not primarily identifying which Jesus he means ("the Lord Jesus") but affirming Jesus' Lordship. The structure emphasizes: Jesus as Lord
This is especially significant because Paul immediately follows with: "...and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead..." and then quotes JOEL 2:32: "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
In the context of ROMANS 10, Paul is applying this Old Testament passage about YHWH (the LORD) to Jesus. The confession is therefore not merely that Jesus is one's master, but that Jesus shares in the divine identity of the LORD of Israel.
A very literal rendering might be: "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.” or even: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord..."
These capture Paul's theological emphasis better than reading the phrase merely as a title, "the Lord Jesus."
Yes, the Greek places the emphasis on confessing Jesus as Lord ("Jesus is Lord"), rather than simply referring to Him as "the Lord Jesus." The focus is on His identity and lordship, not merely on a respectful title attached to His name. Consider also at the Last Supper, all of the LORD’s true disciples call Him “LORD” whereas the son of perdition, Judas Iscariot does not – he refers to Jesus as Master (as in teacher) but not his LORD.
This is not to overemphasize the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ over His role as SAVIOR, but to demonstrate that one cannot separate the one from the other, any more than one could separate one side of the coin from the other – both sides comprise the coin!
Bringing it all down to a formulaic conclusion, we could put it this way:
Faith + works = salvation is the wrong equation. People in all sorts of religions combine their faith along with religious acts and works they hope will justify them.
What is the correct equation?
Faith + salvation = “good works”. Genuine faith (alone) reveals genuine salvation because faith will eventually produce genuine (good) works.
Let us therefore be sure that ours is a living faith (2 COR 13:5), not “dead on arrival” to the kingdom of GOD. A vital faith that knows and trusts Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior, in process of sanctification, and to Whom we give our lives with absolute love and surrender (a work in progress, to be sure!)!
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