Saved by Grace through Faith

 

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

 

Ligonier Ministries has partnered with LifeWay Research to survey the beliefs of Americans on a number of theological and ethical issues. Like past surveys, the 2020 State of Theology survey reveals some encouraging results, but it also reveals confusion and a lack of theological knowledge among evangelicals. 

 

The thirteenth survey question inquires of people’s belief that God counts a person as righteous not because of one’s works but because of one’s faith in Jesus Christ. This statement concerns the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. Westminster Shorter Catechism 33 provides us with a good concise summary of this doctrine: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.” Justification is an act of grace. Grace (the unmerited favor of God), by definition, is a gift, not a wage earned for works we have done. By this act of God’s grace, He pardons all our sins, and in Him we “become the righteousness of God”. This is because Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us. We receive this by faith alone. 

 

Galatians 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

 

The doctrine of justification by faith alone was at the heart of the sixteenth-century Reformation debate. Over time, Roman Catholic theologians had conflated justification with regeneration and sanctification and had developed a complex doctrine of grace and salvation rooted in their sacramental system. According to Rome, redemption was accomplished objectively by Christ. Its application to people is called justification. This subjective aspect of redemption requires the cooperation of man. In Roman Catholic theology, there are a number of different categories of grace, but key to the doctrine of justification is the idea that grace is God’s supernatural gift to man in the work of redemption. The most important distinction for the doctrine of justification is the distinction between actual grace and habitual grace. Actual grace is a gift from God that enables us to act as we ought. Habitual grace is sanctifying/justifying grace that is infused into the soul, thereby changing the soul and restoring it. 

 

Romans 3:20-24 “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

 

The Protestant Reformers rejected the idea of human cooperation in the work of justification and distinguished justification from regeneration and sanctification. Instead of saying that we are justified because we have been made inherently righteous, they argued, on the basis of the biblical texts cited above and many others, that our sins are imputed to Christ and His perfect righteousness is imputed to us. We receive this righteousness by faith and by faith alone. Therefore, we are declared righteous (justified) on the grounds of Christ’s perfect righteousness that has been imputed to us. This justification cannot be separated from regeneration and sanctification, but it must be distinguished from them.