Saved by Works

I recently came to the realization that I am saved by works. This realization did not result from a change in my theology, nor did it result in a theological change. It actually reinforced the Biblically-grounded "Sola Fide" and "Sola Gratia" convictions I have long held. Believe me, this is a core Reformed conviction.
 
I'll say it again another way: all who have been saved have been saved by works. No one can be saved apart from works. I know, it sounds like heresy, but take a moment to read the rest of this article before passing judgment on the idea.
 
Can we be saved by works and still hold to Sola Fide and Sola Gratia? Yes, absolutely!
 
The question is not whether we are saved by works, but whose work saves. We can only be saved by the work of Christ. We cannot be saved by our own works. This is just another way of saying we must be saved by faith alone. All we bring to the equation is faith. God brings the rest, and He does the work. Saving faith, of course, can never be produced from within ourselves. It is granted us from God, and Christ is the Author of it. Saving sinners is His work. Granting repentance and faith is His work. Bearing sin is His work. Dying for unworthy wretches is His work. Raising the dead is His work. Forgiving the guilty is His work. Justifying the ungodly is His work. Sanctifying and keeping and glorifying believers is His work.
 
So if you are saved, it is by works! God's works. 
 
And when we recognize that we are the sinners, the ungodly, the weak fools who have proudly turned from God's mercy, we cannot imagine that there would ever be any work we could do that could possibly save us. Not in a million years. Not in an eternity.

John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work."

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

 
To be saved by grace through faith is to be saved by good works - but not by our own works. We are saved by the works of Christ Jesus our Lord alone.
 
Thus we say . . .

Sola Fide!
Sola Gratia!
Solus Christus!
Soli Deo Gloria!
 
And all of that is a consequence of this:
 
Sola Scriptura!

Editor's Note: I wrote this article a while back, and had decided not to post it. However, when I saw this post from Eddie Eddings, I changed my mind. I guess we were on the same page.

Salvation by grace . . . through faith . . . through grace?

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand . . .

Faith comes first, then grace. Faith introduces us to grace. Faith is the doorway into grace.

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 as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Salvation is by grace, through faith.

Acts 18:27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace . . .

which believed through grace-one of those incidental expressions which show that faith's being a production of God's grace in the heart was so current and recognized a truth that it was taken for granted, as a necessary consequence of the general system of grace, rather than expressly insisted on. (It is against the natural order of the words to read them, as Bengel, Meyer, and others, do, "helped through grace those who believed").

(Jamieson-Faussett-Brown)

Faith comes . . . through grace?

These verses form the perfect Reformed paradox. We're saved by the grace that is received through faith. But the faith itself is a gift of grace. So God saves us, all by Himself, all by grace, and not we ourselves by any supposed self-originating faith.

From the human perspective, all we see is that we believed the message and received salvation. But then God casually mentions that He elected us in Christ from before the foundation of the world, predestined us to be saved, and gave us the grace to believe. The faith is ours, but it is ours by gift and not by origination. Everything good is a gift, not original to us, but rooted in the ONE SOURCE: God Himself. There is a huge difference between faith we HAVE (i.e. really and truly possess as our own) and faith we CREATE (i.e. develop or manufacture from our own resources).

Faith is required, essential, and indispensible. But let us never forget that our faith is placed squarely between electing grace and saving grace, forming the connection between them, so that there can be no Sola Fide without Sola Gratia.