§ I. Introduction: We Have One Teacher – the Lord Jesus Christ
It has been said by some putatively Reformed teachers that in order to weigh in on the question of whether or not we are “finally” saved by/through our works one must have the appropriate scholarly credentials. This idea not only contradicts the general spirit of the Reformation, it also flatly contradicts the idea the teaching of Scripture. The Word of God teaches us clearly that the elect of God will be taught by him positively (i.e. taught the system of doctrine revealed in his Word) and negatively (i.e. taught what is not in accordance with the system of doctrine revealed in his Word).
For example, regarding God teaching of his elect people sound doctrine, the Scripture says –
Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.1[…]
Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.2[...]
The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.3
And –
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.4[...]
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.5[…]
Understand, O dullest of the people!
Fools, when will you be wise?
He who planted the ear, does he not hear?He who formed the eye, does he not see?
He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?He who teaches man knowledge—
the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,
that they are but a breath.Blessed is the man whom you discipline,
O LORD,and whom you teach out of your law,
to give him rest from days of trouble,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.6
And –
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.7
And –
Yet among the mature we [viz. the writers of Scripture/the Scriptures] do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.8
The Lord teaches his people the truth. The ordinary way in which he does is by his ordained shepherds. However, that does not change the fact that he is still the one teaching his people. For God reveals that Christians are capable of, and responsible for, judging the doctrinal claims of individuals who claim to be under-shepherds ordained by the Great Shepherd himself. As C.F.W. Walther put the matter: “Sheep Judge Their Shepherds”.
As it is written –
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.9
[...]
So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.10
[…]
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”11
And –
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.12
And –
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.13
And –
Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.14
And –
I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.15
The truth that God has ordained teachers for the edification of the church, so that she will not be swayed by every wind and wave of false doctrine, does not contradict the truth that God has called every individual Christian to test all things by the Word of God to see whether or not what they are being taught is indeed from him. But those who claim we must eat, sleep, wake, and scribble post it notes in Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Medieval Latin before we speak about what the Scripture does or does not teach imply that God’s Shepherding of his flock happens solely through the instrumentation of his ordained under-shepherds. And that is not the case.
God is our Shepherd, and as his sheep we can and must differentiate his Voice, as passing through the teaching of sound and faithful expositors of his Word, from the hissing of serpentine men desperately trying to imitate our King.
§ II. The Simplicity of the Gospel
It is not outside of the ability of God’s people to determine whether or not what they are hearing is the Voice of Christ (i.e. sound teaching passing through his servants/ministers) or the voice of devils parading around as angels of light. Now if this is of true of more complex and nuanced doctrines that require in depth systematic studies of the Scriptures and much prayer (e.g. the hypostatic union, the communicatio idiomatum, the ad intra relations of the persons of the Godhead in comparison to the ad extra relations of the persons of the Godhead, and so on), how much more true is it of the simpler doctrines that even a child can understand (e.g. the Gospel)?
The answer should be plain. However, if there are some who are wondering whether or not the Gospel is simple enough for all of God’s people to understand, the following passage from Scripture, given a moment’s reflection, should put their wondering to rest. Listen to the Holy Spirit’s clear statement in Romans 1:16. Through Paul, God declares that –
...the gospel…is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Take note of the exclusivity of the means whereby humans are saved – the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. Now take note of the universal class of persons for which the Gospel is the power of God for salvation – everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The Holy Spirit here tells us that –
1. There is only one means whereby sinners are saved, namely the Gospel.
2. Every single person who believes is saved through belief in the Gospel.
If the Gospel were the ineffable and amorphous message some men make it out to be, how could it be the same means of salvation for every person who believes? Would the four year old American boy or girl be able to understand and believe the Gospel, seeing as he or she would not possess a PhD and the ability to read the Reformers in Medieval Latin?
If that were the case, then who could be saved?
The fact of the matter is that the Lord has made the saving message of the Gospel simple. It is so simple that even a child can understand it and believe it, if that child is, of course, effectually called, regenerated, and granted the gift of faith to believe. If a child has the capacity to understand the Gospel message, then he knows what the Gospel message is. And if he knows what the Gospel message is, then he knows that any other message that is not identical in substance to the Gospel is not the Gospel.
The four year old does not need a PhD to weigh in on how men are saved, and this is clearly implied by the teaching of Scripture. Why, then, do some men say that only those with the proper academic credentials are allowed to weigh in on the question of how men are saved, finally or otherwise?
§ III. Categorical Clarity
The foregoing discussion may seem a bit over the top and, for some, unnecessary. So let’s simplify the matter further by discussing the nature of salvation as a gift. According to Ephesians 2:8, salvation is the gift of God. And according to Paul, a gift is that for which we have not done any work. He explains this in Rom 4:4-6 –
Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works…16
A gift is what is received apart from works. Contrariwise, what one receives for having done works is counted as wages, i.e. not a gift. Consequently, if salvation is a gift then it, by logical necessity, cannot be what is received after one has completed a work or set of works. Either salvation is what is given to men apart from any works at all, or it is wages due to the one who works. More concisely, we can put the matter as follows.
1. No gift is received for one’s having completed a work or set of works.
2. Salvation is a gift.
3. Therefore, salvation is not received for one’s having completed any work or set of works.
The second premise here is of utmost importance, for it clearly demonstrates that being granted salvation is not contingent in any way upon our having completed any given work or set of works, for salvation is a gift, not wages due to us for our completion of any work or set of works.
Someone might attempt to object to this by arguing that salvation and final salvation are not the same thing. This is a foolish rejoinder, however, seeing as whether salvation is initial or final is irrelevant, for unless we are equivocating on what we mean by salvation in general, it nevertheless remains the case that salvation is a gift. Initial and final modify not the essence of salvation as a gift but the gift in its different eschatological positions, as it were. Calling salvation “initial” at one point and “final” at another point, in other words, does not change the fact that what is initial and final is still, by definition, a gift and, therefore, not what is granted to men upon their completion of any work or set of works.
This, too, seems simple enough for a child to comprehend.
§ IV. Concluding Remarks
It is distressing to hear professedly Christian academics belittle laymen they think are “uneducated” and “do not know the law.”17 Beyond the fact that such men are apparently incapable of drawing simple deductive inferences from the clear teaching of Scripture, it is distressing because they are, in essence, telling men that only those with academic credentials can understand the means whereby a man comes to possess salvation. And if it is only by the narrow road of studying and becoming an expert in Reformed scholasticism, then who can be saved?
Thanks be to God that the reality is much simpler.
1. Salvation is a gift.
2. As a gift its reception cannot, by definition, be contingent upon the completion of any work or set of works (otherwise it would be wages, as God himself explains in Romans 4:4-6).
3. Salvation is universally granted by God to all who believe/through the instrument of saving faith.
4. Saving faith is assent to the understood propositions comprising the Gospel message.
5. All who believe the Gospel understand how man is saved, viz. by grace alone through faith alone, and not by any of his own works in any way, shape, or form.
To teach that salvation is possessed firstly by faith alone and secondly by works is to simultaneously identify salvation as A and -A, i.e. as a gift received apart from works and as wages due upon the completion of some work or set of works.
Either salvation is a gift, and its reception is not contingent upon our works at all.
Or salvation’s reception is contingent upon our works and, therefore, it is not a gift.
You cannot have it both ways.
Soli Deo Gloria
-h.
1 Ps 25:8-9. (emphasis added)
2 Ps 25:12. (emphasis added)
3 Ps 25:14. (emphasis added)
4 Ps 32:8.
5 Ps 51:6.
6 Ps 94:8-13. (emphasis added)
7 Isa 48:17.
8 1st Cor 2:6-16. (emphasis added)
9 John 10:1-5. (emphasis added)
10 John 10:7-8. (emphasis added)
11 John 18:37. (emphasis added)
12 Rom 12:2. (emphasis added)
13 Rom 16:17-18. (emphasis added)
14 1st Thess 5:20-21.
15 1st John 2:26-27. (emphasis added)
16 Emphasis added.
17 cf. John 7:48-49.