Salvation: By Grace through Faith

By Bob Myhan

Some state that, if it were neces­sary to do anything to be saved, one would be saved by works rather than “by grace ... through faith,” as the Scriptures teach. However, the fact that one is saved “by grace ... through faith” does not mean that one does not have to do anything to be saved. Consider the case of Noah.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20).

Because of man’s great wickedness, God decided to destroy mankind (Gen. 6:1-7). In Gen. 8-22 we read:

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.... And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come be­fore Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher­wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hun­dred cubits, its width fifty cu­bits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall fin­ish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.... But I will establish My cove­nant with you; and you shall go into the ark--you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and fe­male. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creep­ing thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them." Thus Noah did; ac­cording to all that God com­manded him, so he did.

Was Noah saved by works? Yes and no. He was saved by “appropriative works not by “meritorious works.” What is the difference? “Appropriative works” are works whereby one appropriates (takes to or for oneself) salvation and “meritorious works” are works whereby one might merit or earn salvation. Meri­tori­ous works would in­validate grace (Rom. 4:4), while appro­priative works would  not. In Heb. 11:7 we read,

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the right­eousness which is accord­ing to faith.

Thus, Noah was saved by grace, in that God gave him conditions whereby he could be saved and he was saved by or through faith, in that he met the conditions God gave him. His faith pro­duced “ap­propriative works” and saved him and his family.

In Eph. 2:1-10 Paul wrote,

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobe­dience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfill­ing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by na­ture children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in tres­passes, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up to­gether, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the ex­ceeding riches of His grace in His kind­ness to­ward us in Christ Jesus. 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.

The Ephesians had been “dead in tres­passes and sins.” But God made them “alive to­gether with Christ,” raised them “up to­gether, and made” them “sit to­gether in heav­enly places in Christ Jesus.” To “make alive” is to forgive tres­passes [compare Col. 2:13]. Mak­ing to “sit to­gether in heav­enly places in Christ Jesus” refers to the rest from sin that is found only in a right rela­tionship with God through Jesus Christ (see Matt. 8:11; 11:28-30)

Death is a separation (Luke 15:11). Physical death is the sepa­ration of the spirit from the body (James 2:26) while spiritual death is the separa­tion of the soul from God (Isa. 59:1-2; Rom. 6:23). Sin is the transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4, KJV). One may transgress by doing what God forbids [sinning by commis­sion] or by fail­ing to do what God de­mands [sinning by omis­sion].

Sin is uni­versal. All mor­ally account­able individuals “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, all either are “dead in tres­passes and sins” (see Rom. 6:23) until they are made alive in Christ Jesus.

The Ephesians had been saved “by grace” in that conditions of salvation were graciously extended by God on ac­count of His love. This grace has been extended to all (Titus 2:11-12; Heb. 2:9; Matt. 26:28) but must be ap­propriated by faith (Rom. 5:1-2; Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17). They had been saved “through faith” in that, because of their faith, they had met the condi­tions God had graciously ex­tended on account of His love. Thus, they were not saved “by grace alone” or “by faith only” but “by grace ... through faith.”

Faith will not save anyone apart from obedience (Matt. 7:21; Luke 6:46; Heb. 5:9; James 2:24-26). Conditions that must be met by the alien sinner (one who is yet out­side the king­dom of God) include be­lieving on Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), re­penting of sin (Acts 17:30), con­fess­ing faith in Jesus (Rom. 10:9-10) and being “baptized ... in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis­sion of sins” (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16).

The epistle of Paul to the saints in Rome is frequently used in the attempt to defend the doctrine of salvation “by faith only” or “at the point of faith,” es­pecially before and without water bap­tism. However, the faith of which Paul writes in that epistle is not mere men­tal assent, but an active, obedient faith—a complete trust in God that leads one to obey what­ever conditions God may extend. Notice:

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, sepa­rated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His proph­ets in the Holy Scrip­tures, concern­ing His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and de­clared to be the Son of God with power ac­cording to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have re­ceived grace and apostleship for obe­dience to the faith among all na­tions for His name (Rom. 1:1-5).

Now to Him who is able to estab­lish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, ac­cording to the revelation of the mys­tery kept se­cret since the world be­gan but now has been made mani­fest, and by the pro­phetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the com­mandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith (Rom.16:25-26).

Thus, throughout the epistle to the Ro­mans Paul is discussing an active, obedi­ent faith rather than a mere men­tal as­sent to the facts of the gos­pel.

There­fore, when an alien sinner comes to be­lieve in Jesus Christ as the Son of the liv­ing God and, on the basis of that faith, repents, con­fesses his faith in Jesus Christ and is bap­tized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis­sion of sins, he is saved “by grace ... through faith.” If this is not so, why is it not? &