Theses on a Door, or the Bible?

On October 31, 1517, an, at that time, relatively obscure Catholic priest nailed a document containing 95 theses onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. These theses were really propositions for debate. Having no idea at the time what he had unintentionally done, Martin Luther is credited for thus starting what would become the Protestant Reformation.

The spark of contention between Luther and the Roman Catholic Church was the sale of Indulgences by which the buyer’s sins would be remitted (and also by which church debts could be paid.) However, Luther’s real struggle was centered in how mankind was saved. Was it by the number of good works that a man did? Or was it by faith and the grace of God? The Catholic Church approved of numerous “works” that an individual could do that would play a part in salvation: making pilgrimages to certain places, climbing certain steps on your knees, “saying the Rosary,” buying indulgences, and others.

The work Luther did in calling out the church for errant teaching was important, in fact, necessary because much of church doctrine and practice by the 1500’s was unrecognizable as Biblical teaching. He is to be commended for his brave and forceful efforts in this regard. However, Luther established as his theological foundation a dichotomy that does not really exist. In other words, instead of either “faith,” or “works,” what the Bible teaches is “some of both.” Yet, nearly all of protestant Christendom, following the lead of Luther, has accepted for doctrine that “faith only” saves. This doctrine is so entrenched that I feel I must beg, and hope against hope, that my Protestant friends will continue to read and give consideration to the thoughts presented in this article.

The concept that a person earns salvation by doing good works, that God “owes” such a person salvation, is totally foreign to Biblical teaching. Luther was right to react strongly against it, as he saw Catholicism of the 1500’s teaching and profiting from this error. It is as wrong for someone today to accuse me of believing that salvation can be earned by good works as it was right for Martin Luther in the 1500’s to speak out against teaching that one could earn salvation by their good works.

Paul makes it clear in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ” We were created to share in the glory of God, but now, “[our] iniquities have separated between [us] and [our] God and [our] sins have hid his face from [us],” Isaiah 59:2. The real struggle of mankind, since Adam and Eve were “separated” from God by being denied entry to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23-24), has been to reconnect with God as we were connected to God at creation. There is absolutely nothing we can do to accomplish this. In every way imaginable, and some that are not imaginable (I imagine,) we are totally powerless to “move the needle” in God’s direction even one iota. On our own, we are helpless beyond comprehension.

I can’t help an old lady across the street and then claim that God owes me salvation. I can’t feed a hungry person and demand from God that because of what I have done He must save me. I can’t be baptized and then assume a smug satisfaction that I have put God in my debt and He must now save me. It is also true that I can’t make a public confession of faith in God and then profess that my faith saves me. “Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and tremble,” James 2:19. Demonic individuals have faith that causes them to tremble, and yet they are offered by James through inspiration as an example of faith alone being insufficient.

Here is James making his (actually, the Holy Spirit’s, through inspiration) point. “What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them, ‘Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled;’ and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Yea, a man will say, ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith,” James 2:14-18. Either this harmonizes with Romans 3:3, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness,” or the Bible is not a book from God and we are discussing unimportant concepts from a false religion.

There are those who wish to ignore James because it disagrees with the concept of “faith only.” Martin Luther even regarded James as a “second tier” book (but he did not remove it from his Bible.) Abraham demonstrates a strong faith in Genesis 12, in which he leaves his homeland to follow God’s call to an unknown (to him) destination, and Genesis 22, in which he follows God’s directions to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice, not knowing that God will stop this process from coming to completion

But what if Abraham had said, “I believe in You, God, and have faith in You,” in response to God’s directions to offer Isaac, but didn’t do anything else? This is the Holy Spirit’s question through James. It did not originate with me. As James says, this would be a dead faith, a barren faith. This kind of faith would not be sufficient for Abraham, and it is not sufficient for us. As James makes clear in verses 22 and 23, it was the actions, or works, that Abraham did that completed his faith so that it was reckoned to him for righteousness. A faith, whether in Abraham or in us, that produces no works, or fruit, no evidence that it even exists, may as well not exist. That faith will not save anyone.

Paul and James both speak about the faith of Abraham. Paul is using Abraham to make the point that the works of the law do not lead to salvation, but rather the faith of the individual as shown in Abraham’s case by leaving his homeland and following God’s directions to offer Isaac. James is making the point that if Abraham professed faith without doing anything (works) to back up that claim, his faith would count for nothing. It would be incomplete. Works would make it complete and give it significance. Works would never bind God to an obligation. Works could not put God in debt to save anyone. But works can complete faith and turn it from dead and barren faith into a living and saving faith.

We are only permitted back into God’s fellowship because of God’s grace. It is through His grace that He has chosen to provide a path on which we can return to a relationship with Him that will grant us eternal salvation in His presence. We had nothing to do with this grace that God willingly gives to us, it is a gift, “For by grace have you been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory,” Ephesians 2:8-9. Clearly it is through the gift of God’s grace, which he owed to no man, which we cannot earn by works that we do, that we are saved, It is also clear that our faith is a necessary part of this gift of grace that God has given us. It comes “through faith.” And lastly, it is clear that our faith is barren, and dead without works to accompany it. Works which in no way can save us, but works which complete faith and turn a barren, dead, incomplete faith into a living, saving faith.

There is no “work” which the Bible connects more with salvation than baptism (I am not sure of the efficacy of referring to baptism as a work, but anyway): Matthew 28:19. Mark 16:16, John 3:5, Acts 2, esp 38, Acts 8:12, Acts 8:36-38, Acts 10:48, Acts 16:14-15, Acts 16:33, Acts 19:5, Acts 22:16, Rom 6:3-4, Gal. 3:27, Eph 5:26, Col 2:12, 1 Pet 3:21. There is also no “work” which Protestant Christendom reacts more adamantly against than baptism.

Protestant Christendom is wholeheartedly in the “either faith or works” camp, by which is meant either faith or baptism, by which is meant, faith, not baptism. The Bible is in the “some of both” camp, by which is meant faith without works is dead faith, which means faith is not complete without works, which means that faith is not complete without baptism. Both are required to achieve the righteousness of God. Why would people prefer to follow Martin Luther, rather than God?