“Shawn, it is absolutely false for you to say that I believe in salvation by works. That is a lie. I do not believe that,” the priest insisted. “All I say is you have to try to be good. If you’re not at least trying, you can’t be saved.”
What’s the difference between teaching (a) that you must be good to be saved and (b) that you must try to be good to be saved?
The standard.
It’s lower.
Much lower.
But it’s still salvation by works.
Adding the word “try” only modifies the necessity of works, but does not eliminate them from the condition of salvation.
When I tell my kids they have to at least try grandma’s chicken salad sandwich—with the bizarre mixture of grapes and nuts and raisins and celery and who knows what else—they actually have to take a bite, chew, and swallow. They don’t have to eat the whole sandwich, but they do have to eat a little to satisfy me.
Likewise, telling people they must at least try to do good works to be saved still involves making some behavior changes, some little acts of kindness, some attempts at piety. In other words, it involves actually doing some good works. Hence, it’s works salvation.
The gospel of “try to be good to be saved” is doubly false.
First, it’s false because works are not a condition of eternal salvation at all. It doesn’t matter if you try, or don’t try. Works are not a part of it in any way shape or form. As Paul insisted,
But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness (Rom 4:5).
Who does God justify? Those who don’t work, i.e., who don’t try, but who simply believe instead.
Second, it’s false because the Law does not preach “try to be good,” but “be perfect” (Matt 5:48). It does not say that God is satisfied with your best efforts, but it does say: “You shall be blameless before the LORD your God” (Deut 18:13). That priest might preach God is happy with your best efforts, but James said, “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (Jas 2:10). Blameless. Perfect. No stumbling. That’s what the Law truly requires. “Try your best” is just a made-up religious standard meant to pacify people who are trying to be saved by their works, but whose sin-consciousness keeps getting in the way. They realize they aren’t doing very well, so the standard gets lowered to “Well, you gotta at least try.”
That’s what I call cheap law. Genuine law is expensive. It demands perfection. Cheap law only requires a little effort.
To paraphrase Yoda, when it comes to the saving message, “Believe. Or believe not. There is no try.”
Timothy Grady
The attempts to smuggle in works are as varied as snowflakes .
In the end , they all melt before the bar of grace (Romans 4:5) .
Stephanie Coker
This reminds me of the message, “How Your Preaching Might Increase Sin in Your Church” by Jared C. Wilson. He seems compatible with GES.
EternallySaved
This is an excellent post. Did you know that the Watchtower “Jehova’s witness” cult in an official statement on salvation uses a clear contradiction. Here is their statement:
“Salvation is a free gift from God. It cannot be earned. Yet it does require effort on our part.”
SOURCE: What Must We Do to Be Saved? – Jehovah’s Witnesses Official Web Site
That is a clear CONTRADICTION! Either salvation/justification is FREE or it is not. Either it is by grace or works, it cannot be by both: Romans 11:6
Thank you, GES, for defending the Gospel of the grace of God.
jon tretsven
Well reasoned; well written. Thank you.
By saying you were talking to a priest I take it this person wasn’t an evangelical pastor. But, at least to some degree and to their detriment, most even evangelicals include some mention of works and/or law keeping to prove a person really believed and is therefore saved.,
Alvin
I agree for eternal salvation.
But we as believers can also lower the standard of the law by thinking we can keep it after we’ve been born again.
The believer even after receiving a new innerman (purified through Jesus death) still trapped in a body of death which has the law of sin and death warring against our innerman so that we can’t do as we want to (see Romans 7:21; Gal 5:17-18).
The born again believer has been given the ability to produce righteous action, that is their faith God has imputed as righteousness. So when we walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit were able to fulfill the “principal” of the law, but not the letter of the law (see page 212-213 Romans Commentary, Zane).
We will only be made perfect when we see Him face to face, then we will not any longer be in a body of flesh. Until then we are subject to law toward Christ, which is the law of liberty (Majority Text 1 Cor 9:19-21 subject to law toward Christ). Other words were not lawless.
If your UNDER the law you must keep it all (James 2:11). God did not give the believer a law-righteousness but a faith-righteousness (see Rom 4:3). Each believer as Paul needs to be delivered from a body of death (see Rom 7:24; 8:2 made me free).
Barry Blundi
The Law WAS NOT MADE for the RIGHTOUSNESS, but for the LAWLESS…. The Law ONLY APPLIES TO THE FLESH. It is the SERVANT of DEATH. The law makes NOTHING GOOD. BEFORE OR AFTER SALVATION, IT ONLY AND ALWAYS APPLIES TO THE FLESH! That is why our Master Jesus was hated, because He had no flesh and therefore it could not serve Him death! Thank God for the law. It was a grace to us sinners to point us to Christ.
Barry Blundi
The rightousness requirements of the law are …don’t walk after the… Each waking moment we love Lord Jesus back by abiding in Him, and if we do, we will never bear THE FRUIT OF THE LAW, but THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, against which there is no law. The law will always serve its purpose, which is to bring out what the flesh is, sinful, and impossible to please God, BEFORE AND AFTER SALVATION. Abide in Lord Yeshua brethren, and we will in His Agape, for that is what He is.
Barry Blundi
As you can see, my previous comments are not antinomianism, but the fulfillment of the law daily by bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
Barry Blundi
Brethren, do not set out daily to keep the law.For if you do, it will SMASH YOU TO PIECES. But set out to bless Lord Jesus throughout the day for saving you, abiding in Him, as He say’s “Follow Me”, And you will allow Him to bear the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IN AND THROUGH YOU.
Alvin
Amen Barry!
jon tretsven
I agree with what Barry and Alvin say about the law. But, “walking by the Spirit” and saying “The born again believer has been given the ability to produce righteous action” are nebulous concepts, :
To balance that with specific advice, the Bible tells us that we are now expected to be mature sons (Galatians 4). Hebrews tells us how, practically, we mature, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” To put it another way, a growing Christian must develop his conscience (Hebrews 9:14; 13:18; 1 Timothy 3:9)
For example, a young child under a guardian should be told to never go into the busy street; but as a mature son that restriction no longer is necessary. In fact he may have many good reasons to go into the street.
A good Biblical example of this is in Mark 2:23-25 when Jesus tells the story of David and the high priest. How what David did was technically sin according to the law, but wasn’t because what David did was necessary because of the situation and because he was on a mission for God.
Alvin
Growth is not something that happens overnight it’s a process.
What I believe concerning Paul, and every believer is a struggle we each must go through. A search for deliverance from our flesh which wars against our new innerman. Paul had to cry out to God for this deliverance. I see it more as an event in Paul’s Christian life. Once he refocused off of the sphere where the law and the flesh reigned through sin and death. And put his focus on the sphere where he was in Christ, that is where life and peace reign he was delivered by the Holy Spirit. Life for our dead body is a miracle and only happens when our focus is on the real I who is in Christ, then we can live unto God.
We also understand another issue, and that is God’s wrath is being poured out on all unrighteousness. But, the believers faith has been given righteousness so that I can live. It’s when we walk by faith our faith is producing righteousness, and are being delivered by Jesus life. This has to do with our UNION with Christ under Lordship to Him.
Concerning our conscience, Jesus blood alone should give us boldness because it is the only remedy for sin which has been completely removed by His one time sacrifice.
This is my understanding, and I’m still learning. The light that God had given Zane Hodges has helped me to understand the way of God’s salvation (deliverance) from God’s wrath that is revealed against all unrighteousness whether a believer or an unbeliever.
jon tretsven
Alvin–it seems like you contradict yourself; maybe I’m not understanding. First you say growth is a process; then you seem to say it is an event.
I also don’t fully understand your comment about conscience. Yes, Jesus’ blood does give us a clear conscience, but Hebrews 5 makes it clear we have responsibilities too: we must learn to discern good and evil from practicing doing what is right. When we practice we get better. We mature as adult sons.
So, I take it there are both events and processes needed to mature in the Christian life.
Thanks for the good interaction.
Alvin
Jon, that’s why I separated growth from being delivered. I see progressive sanctification as something that is going on all our lives. And depending on how we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and the teaching we get has to do with how much we progress. That is different I believe than what Paul is talking about in Romans 7-8. His focus was wrong even though it was on a good thing…the law. The law had a negative effect on his flesh by awaking sin. By crying out to God for deliverance, because he saw with his new innerman he loved the law of God, but in his flesh he saw another law working there which was a slave to sin. There was a contradiction going on in him. But God delivered him from that by changing his focus and putting it on his union with Christ. Anyway that’s how a I see it. I know there was a time in my own life where I couldn’t seem to live the Christian life no matter how much I tried, but later I became desperate because of sin and cried out to God and was delivered. It was a turning point in my life. At first I thought I got saved, and I did but not from eternal condemnation that happened when I was 12yrs old. God showed me something through His word…the Book Of Hosea. God had been faithful to me all those years, but I had been unfaithful to Him.
Alvin
Zane Commentary:
Hebrews 5:13-14. It is unsatisfactory to remain a baby in spiritual matters. This is true because a spiritual INFANT, living ON MILK…IS NOT ACQUAINTED WITH THE TEACHING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The words “not acquainted” (apeiros) might be better rendered “inexperienced.” It is not so much that a spiritual “infant” lacks information—though at first he obviously does—but rather he has not yet learned to put “the teaching about “righteousness” to effective use. He lacks the skill which goes with maturity and which results in the ability to make appropriate moral choices. Such ability is exactly what is possessed by those WHO…HAVE TRAINED THEMSELVES TO DISTINGUISH GOOD FROM EVIL. That kind of person can handle SOLID FOOD.
Once more the writer betrayed his concern about his readers’ ability to reject the false ideas which confronted them. Had they been sufficiently mature they would be able to “distinguish” those ideas as “evil” over against the truths they should have known were “good.” But he feared that this capability was not yet really theirs, though he would make every effort to instill it in them.
Alvin
I see this as two things concerning righteousness. They had not yet known the WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, even though they were on that path to perfection. They were thinking on going back to Judaism. That shows they did not understand the way of righteousness. Going back would not result in perfection but sin and death.
And, that their original faith had been given righteousness for faith to faith.
That is when ever they walked by faith they were producing righteousness.
For us it would be like going back to live by the flesh. But, if we have learnt the way of righteousness we will go on to perfection (see Heb 5:9; 6:1). None of us have reached perfection yet, as long as we are in these bodies of flesh we will struggle, but to stay on the path of righteousness will lead us to perfection. That is perfection from walking in the way of obedience as a son, therefore the perfection of the first-Born.
William Moonan
Cheap Law..I love it! I am sickened by calvinistic preacher’s calling the grace of Almighty God “Cheap Grace”. One preacher said,”They ought to have their face slapped…in Christian love of course.”