 The
Proclaimer
Response To A Letter
The following is an email I received from a man
on Friday:
“I just read your article
Saving Faith (Bible Basics) in the Tyler Morning Telegraph. I must admit,
based on my prejudice, my first impulse was to discount you as the typical
orthodox, mean, Campbellite. However, your smile in your picture caught my
eye. You see, I don't know many happy Church of Christ folks. So, I read
your article.
You must be the first Church of Christ
believer that I have ever heard make the truthful comparison between James
and Paul. For that I am thankful. Surely, you do realize why those of us
who profess salvation by Faith Alone do so. You know that Works, as taught
and practiced by the Church of Christ, have been coerced and dictated to the
point that they mirror THE LAW. They have been seen and experienced as
inseparable.
Similar to you, I do not see
Faith and Works as inseparable. However, it is like the chicken and the
egg. Motivated by Love, my Faith produces Works. It is all about a
sovereign God and not about ME. Were it not, I would be capable of saving
myself and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross unnecessary.
While discussing the cross
with a member of the Irving Blvd. Church of Christ, I asked her, "So, was
the sacrifice of Christ on the cross insufficient?" She replied, "I suppose
it was." Dear Brother, is that not heresy?”
The following is my response:
“I appreciate so much you reading my article
and responding to it. There are several things I would like to say in
response.
First of all, the woman you spoke
with obviously DOES NOT understand the efficacy of the blood of Christ.
Paul says we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be propitiation, through
faith, in His blood" (Rom. 3:24, 25). And John says, "And He Himself is the
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole
world" (1 John 2:2). Many other passages teach that the sacrifice of Christ
on Calvary was sufficient propitiation to relieve the whole world of sin.
As Paul expressed it, "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more"
(Rom. 5:20).
I do believe that some members of the church of
Christ do not understand the relationship between faith and works. That is
one of the reasons for writing this series of articles. Please understand
that I do not believe that salvation is earned through obedience. The works
that James speaks of completing our faith and ARE NOT meritorious in
nature. The only way that anyone will see the face of God in peace is by
means of God's grace.
Like you, I believe my love for the Lord
motivates my faith to obey (John 14:15). Also, like you I believe in a
Sovereign God; a God who created the world and is "upholding all things by
the word of His power" (Heb. 1:3). He is the Judge, and He, and He alone is
the Savior of the world. Furthermore, like you, I believe I am saved by what
God has done for me, not what I do for Him. However, I do not believe God
forces His love on anyone. It must be reciprocated. While God loves the
whole world and sent His Son to die for the sins of all men that they might
be saved (John 3:16; Heb. 2:9; etc.), not everyone is saved because most do
not return His love by believing in Him and His gift of love - Jesus Christ.
But this begs the question of whether one is
saved by faith alone. James makes it clear we ARE NOT saved by faith only
(2:24), for "faith without works is dead" (2:17, 26). His argument is that
we must have enough faith (trust) in God to obey His commandments in order
for that faith to save us. This means then that not only is belief or faith
necessary to salvation, it must be a complete faith; i.e. a faith made
complete by obedience. These works are not meritorious in nature, but
rather ACTS OF FAITH. The fact is, the only way that anyone could earn his
salvation is through perfect law keeping, and no man does that (Rom. 3:23; 1
John 1:8).
God's grace, however, does not nullify God's
law. We are still amenable to obey God's commands. The nature of God's
amazing grace is "that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"
(Rom. 5:8). The purpose of God's grace is NOT to relieve us of amenability
to God's law, but to relieve us of accountability of transgressing that
law. We need pardon and forgiveness that can only be found in Christ. If
man is saved by faith alone, he is saved by a dead faith that will not obey,
and James says that cannot be. The same Lord that said we must believe in
Him (John 8:24) said we must repent and be baptized to be saved (Luke 13:3;
Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; etc.).
But repentance and baptism are no more
meritorious works than is belief itself (see John 6:29). They are ACTS OF
FAITH. We DO NOT earn our salvation by being baptized, but rather we
complete our faith as we are united with Christ and His saving blood through
baptism (see Rom. 6:3, 4). Our faith IS NOT in the water, nor is it in
anything that we do. It is in what Christ has done for us as He died for
our sins, was buried and raised from the dead. Hence, we are "buried
with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with
Him through FAITH IN THE WORKING OF GOD, who raised
Him from the dead (Co. 2:12). Our faith is in what God has done, not in what
we do.
I appreciate you admitting your prejudice and I
am pleased that you do not perceive me to be the "typical, mean, Campbellite."
I suppose there are some "mean Campbellites," just as there are probably
some mean Baptists, Methodists or Presbyterians. But frankly I don't even
know any Campbellites, much less any mean ones. As far as you not knowing
any "happy Church of Christ folks," I suspect that is because you don't know
any "Church of Christ folks" that understand the relationship between faith
and works.
I am simply a man trying to do the best he can
to teach and practice all that God dictates. I want to go to heaven, as I'm
sure that you do. I believe that only a complete faith that obeys will
save, and that while faith alone will not save, neither will works
performed that try to earn our way to heaven. As Jesus expressed it, "When
you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are
unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10).
In other words, we do the best we can to obey and serve the Lord to the best
of our ability because we love Him. And when we fail and sin, we
find pardon from that sin through faith in Christ's sacrificial blood.
Sincerely,
Clark Dugger
The Proclaimer
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