The Spurgeon Blog

In this post we will continue our look at the teaching of sola gratia. As we think of the teaching of grace alone in terms of the Gospel, it might be that we think of it only in terms of justification. It might be true that there are people in the world who believe in a justification by grace alone and yet deny that the application of redemption is by grace alone. It might be that there are those who believe in justification by grace alone and yet deny a sanctification that is by grace alone. We must think of salvation in terms of grace and yet in terms of grace applying the whole of justification and sanctification. If at any point our theology or practice begins to step aside from the true grace of Christ, it is to that degree or distance apart from Christ who only operates by grace.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ by grace alone comes to sinners that are dead in sins and trespasses. There is utterly nothing they can do to earn or merit grace. If the application of redemption and all of redemption is not of grace alone, then redemption is not of grace alone. The application of redemption includes everything regarding the salvation of the sinner. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in our day as if Christ lived, died, was buried, and was then raised from the dead and nothing else is left to do but for the sinner to believe. But the work of Christ must be applied by the Holy Spirit if the work of Christ is to be consistent with the grace that He purchased. In fact, the Holy Spirit was purchased by Christ or the work of the Spirit is not of grace and Christ alone either.

This may sound like another diatribe against Arminianism, and in reality it could be. However, this is also a diatribe against a lot of modern theology that goes under the title of Reformed. It seems as if the application of redemption is virtually a forgotten topic in theology today. We are told to preach the facts of the Gospel and urge sinners to believe. If a sinner believes, we are told that God has enabled the person to believe. However, what is the distinction between a sinner that believes the facts in his own power and one that truly believes by grace alone? It is the work of the Holy Spirit in applying the work of Christ to the sinner by grace alone.

In our day if a sinner is told that his heart must be humbled or that the sinner must be broken from his pride in order to believe, resounding words will be spoken against that person. Never mind that Jesus Himself told us in Matthew 18:1-4 that a person must be turned and become like a little child to enter the kingdom. Never mind that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We are told that if we do anything but tell a person to believe we are opposing the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Quite to the contrary, however, is the man who wrote the classic work on justification, James Buchanan. His is still the book that needs to be read on the subject. However, he also wrote a book on The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit in which he sets out the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. Virtually all of the Puritan writers and the Reformed writers who followed the Puritans believed in justification by grace alone through faith alone but they also believed in the application of redemption by grace alone.

Let me make a bold and what may be called an arrogant statement. Without the teaching that Christ purchased the Holy Spirit Himself and the work of the Spirit in applying redemption to sinners, we do not have a consistent doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone. We must always remember that the reason in history that people have stood for justification by faith alone is to protect justification by grace alone and by Christ alone. Unless it is the Holy Spirit that applies salvation by grace alone (and that includes His work in conviction of sin and regeneration by grace alone) we are left without a consistent Gospel of grace alone. If we teach that the sinner contributes anything to his salvation, many Reformed people would cry out that this is a teaching of works. But if the sinner is not broken from his pride and self-centeredness before he believes, then his act of faith is coming from his pride and is really an act of faith in himself. It is only when the sinner is broken from his pride that he can then trust in Christ alone by grace alone rather than himself. This is part of the work of the Holy Spirit in applying redemption. The Holy Spirit must break the sinner from his own strength, self, and pride in order for the sinner to look to Christ alone. If the sinner’s faith is not the work of grace alone, then the sinner is not saved by grace alone.

Regardless of a person’s doctrinal creed in our day, the teaching of grace alone is certainly not heard of very much. The facts of Christ are given and then it is left in the hands of sinners to believe. They are not told that the Holy Spirit must convict them of sin. That is left up to them to do if they are told about that at all. They are not told that the Holy Spirit must break them of their pride, but are left in their pride to believe. Whatever else that is, it is not a Gospel of grace alone. The Gospel of grace alone teaches a redemption applied by grace alone.

The issue of sola gratia is an enormous one. We have looked at God’s motives in grace and we have seen that God must be moved by Himself or grace is no longer grace. As we have noted before in the past few months, Luther wrote his masterpiece on The Bondage of the Will in order to defend the teaching of Scripture on grace alone. Today we have people who adhere to a creed of grace alone and yet throw the teaching of Luther on the will under the bus for their own purposes. As we have noted in previous posts, though perhaps not so clearly, one cannot have Christ alone for salvation without grace alone for salvation. One can preach Christ alone in some way, and yet without the teaching of grace alone there is no Christ alone in truth. One can preach Christ alone as a creed and yet not be saved by grace alone in truth. A stated belief in a doctrine is not the same thing as the reality in the heart.

At some point the recognition of what grace alone really means must come crashing into the reality of people today. It is not just a matter of whether a person says s/he believes that salvation is by Christ alone, nor is it a matter of whether a person says that s/he believes in grace alone. What matters is if the person has grace and Christ in the heart. We can fight over the issues of free-will and so on if we wish, but that can be nothing but intellectual subterfuge and an attempt to hide our own hearts from God. The doctrine of grace alone is unassailable and when anyone attacks it in name or in reality, that person is in eternal peril. A person who claims to be Reformed can have an intellectual belief in a creed and yet deny grace alone by what s/he states about grace. We are not dealing with tinker toys here; we are dealing with the glory of God in the salvation of eternal souls. It is to be unfaithful to God to simply state that if a person has a stated belief in Christ alone or in grace alone that the person is then a brother or sister in Christ. The person must truly disbelieve in self and believe in Christ to truly be a brother or sister.

One of the things stated in the modern day during discussions about Arminianism and Calvinism is that Arminians profess to believe in salvation by grace alone and by Christ alone. That may be true, but do they mean the same thing as God does in Scripture and according to His character when He says salvation is by grace apart from works (grace alone)? When Reformed people stand up and defend Arminians as a whole or in a particular denomination rather than particular Arminians, the best we can say is that it is very naïve of them. We could also say that we have to wonder what the Reformed person believes about Christ and grace alone when s/he is so willing to receive as brothers and sisters so many who just give lip service to a teaching. In a recent discussion with two Mormon “elders” they professed to believe in salvation by Christ alone. Roman Catholics profess salvation by Christ and grace too. In other words, there are so many people out there who profess Christ and grace by word that the terms are virtually meaningless without some pointed and specific discussion. Going under a theological title has never been enough to guarantee that a person believes in justification by grace alone and it is especially not today.

In the political realm the positions of major parties are not all that clear. A person can be more in line with the platform of the Democratic Party and still be a Republican. The same is true in the reverse. If a person wants to vote according to truth and conscience rather than just according to party lines, a person must look at the individual and look past the rhetoric and try to discern what the person really stands for. The same is true in theology. We must begin to look past the theological party that a person belongs to and begin to get at what they really stand for theologically. If a person does not truly stand for grace alone in terms of what it really is and not just in words, that person is not an orthodox person. What our churches and what our nation desperately need are men and women who are willing to be called names in order to stand for the truth of the living God. It is far easier to give in and call anyone a believer who mouths the words than it is to stand for grace alone. But if we are the children of God, then we are called to love God more than the whole world.

The doctrine of grace alone as it fits with soli deo gloria and solo christo is that important. It is not enough to be a good moral person and it is not enough to adhere to an external creed that is orthodox. There is no other real Gospel but that of a real Christ who really and only saves by Christ alone. There is no other real Gospel of Christ alone but the real Christ who really and only saves by grace alone. We can say words that do not express the real convictions of our souls and we can express the convictions of our souls by orthodox words that are not in accordance with the one and true Gospel. The issue of grace alone is worth splitting churches and denominations over. If a church is not one that truly holds to grace alone, it is not a true church because one must have the true Gospel to be a church. If a denomination is one that does not stand for grace alone but simply wants to get along for the sake of the denomination, it is no longer a Christian denomination. Grace alone is that important.

Last time we looked at the motives of God in saving sinners, which is at the heart of real and biblical grace and thus sola gratia. While it may be popular to look at grace from a man-centered perspective, the heart of man as fallen will never arrive at a true view of grace. As long as theologians look at theology from a man-centered view of God’s perspective, they will never see the real beauty of grace. Even more, as long as theologians, Bible teachers, and pastors think they are God-centered because they speak much of God but really as it has to do with man first, the professing Church will not repent of its self-centeredness and see the glory of God in Christ. We must return to think, love and serve the God who is centered upon Himself first of all and calls and commands all men to share in His God-centeredness.

In the past few posts I have taken pains in an effort to show that true grace is always God-centered in the sense that it is God’s love for Himself that moves Him to show grace. If there is any motive in God that is from something that man is or has done, then God has a motive that is not from Himself and God makes grace to be no longer grace. If man trusts in his own worth or as having done works that he thinks will motivate God to save him or to receive something from God, then man has made grace out to be something other than grace. But it is also true that if God has a motive in Himself that is not love for Himself then God makes grace to be something other than grace. This is an absurdity as God is perfectly holy and is perfect in His love for Himself (how He is love in perfection and holiness) and can never be motivated by anything greater than love for Himself. The teaching of grace as God-centered is simply glorious as it shows the true beauty of God in His determination and decree to do all to His own glory in all things. Grace must always be to the glory of God or it is not true and pure grace.

In order for biblical theology to protect the teaching of God and of grace, it must teach a grace that flows from the one and true God that loves Himself as triune and can only share that love from a motive that is out of His love for Himself. The God-centeredness of God is not just an optional teaching; it is a necessary teaching in order for biblical teaching to be pure in its theory and in its practical application. In one sense, there can be no teaching of grace apart from a God-centered God and yet there can be no truly God-centered God apart from a God that operates and saves on the basis of grace alone. I will give five verses below that weigh mightily on this thought.

Isaiah 42:8 - “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.”

Isaiah 48:11 - “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.”

These two verses show the biblical God who will not give His glory to another. God acts for His own sake and will not let His name be profaned. Over and over in Scripture we see that God does all for His own glory, for His name’s sake, and for His own sake. If God did something for another that was not for His name’s sake that would be giving His glory to another. God operates according to His name’s sake and so grace must always be motivated by God’s doing all for His own glory.

Acts 12:23 - “And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”

Revelation 16:9 - “Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”

These two verses show us the severity of God when men do not give Him the glory and also what true repentance is. If a person has an outward repentance from external sin and is now given over to good works, that does not mean that they have repented in truth so as to give glory to God. True repentance is when a person turns from seeking his or her own glory to living to the glory of God, which is God in the human soul working His own glory in and through that person. True grace, therefore, will never work in a person a motivation or desire to do anything apart from true repentance and doing all to the glory of God. The grace that works repentance will always turn the soul to love the glory of God and do all by that grace to the glory of God.

Ephesians 1:6 - “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

When we see this verse tied in with God doing all for His name’s sake and not giving His glory to another, we can see that grace will not share the glory, praise, and honor for salvation with any human being. Salvation is always by grace alone because it is always to the glory of God alone. He will not give His glory to another. We see that repentance is to turn to give Him glory. Repentance is by grace and so grace always shines the love of God for Himself. It is grace alone because God always loves Himself as His true motive and so always does all to manifest His glory.

We started looking at Sola Gratia (grace alone) last time. Today the subject matter will be on the motive or motivations of God in showing grace or perhaps the cause of grace. Abraham Booth’s (died in 1806) wonderful book, The Reign of Grace, points out an essential part of grace. He went to the first cause of grace from God’s perspective rather than man. He demonstrated from Romans 3:24 (being justified as a gift by His grace) that the Bible teaches that there is no cause within man for grace. The text says that sinners are “justified as a gift by His grace” and other translations use the word “freely” rather than gift. The real idea is seen in John 15:25 (”THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE”) which translates the same Greek word as “without cause.” The Jews hated Jesus freely or without cause. They hated Jesus, but the cause was not found in Jesus but in their own hearts. A literal translation of Romans 3:24 with an explanatory word added would read like this: “Being justified without cause within themselves by His grace.” This text points to an essential truth about grace in that without it, grace is no longer grace. That truth is that for God to save by grace He can find no cause within man to save man. Sola gratia teaches us that all the causes for salvation are found in God and that man is saved for no cause or reason found in him. When people are trusting in their own works or worth they are trying to provide God with a cause to save them and are not looking to grace alone. Grace cannot have a cause within a human being or it is no longer grace. God’s only cause in His grace is Himself or grace alone is simply an empty term without any real meaning.

This is a truth that should be driven home in each heart because it is necessary to see the beauty and freeness of grace. This truth should deliver souls from the notion that they can contribute anything at all to salvation. This should show us the brokenness of heart and the brokenness from pride and self-love that is needed. When the Bible speaks of a salvation that is by grace alone through faith alone, it is speaking of a salvation that comes to sinners apart from any worth or merit on their own. Yet unbelief is a state of unbelief in Christ from the depths of the soul and therefore a belief and trust in self and pride. A soul must be broken from its pride and trust in self in order to be saved from sin by Christ who does it by grace alone. A soul must be broken from any idea of merit in self or by self in order to truly trust in grace alone. To the sinner that the Spirit has enlightened to see how utterly vile and helpless s/he is, this is music to the spiritual ear. God saves sinners because of Himself (grace) alone.

The older orthodox teaching was that sinners had to be broken from all trust in self and pride before they would or could trust in Christ alone for grace alone to save. This showed the sinner that s/he must trust in grace alone or not trust in grace at all. It demonstrated to the sinner that the whole soul must be broken from trust in self in order to truly rest in grace alone which is the only way to trust in Christ at all. What we must get at is the connection of the motives of God in saving sinners with the sinner’s motives. God’s motive in saving sinners by grace alone is to shine forth the glory of His grace. There is not one place in Scripture that tells us that God’s motives are to make the sinner feel good about himself or that He needs just a little of the work of man to save man. The soul of man must in some way be broken from any hope in himself in order to trust in what God is really doing. If God saves sinners to the glory of His grace, then if a man trusts in himself as giving God a motive (whether man realizes that or not) that man is at odds with the whole purpose of God in salvation. Man must trust in God to save him in the way that God is really saving. That way is grace alone. Man must trust in grace alone to be saved. If man tries to do or be something before God in order to be saved, he is trying to give God a motive other than Himself to save a sinner. It is an effort to get God to love a sinner more than Himself and is opposite of how God really saves. God’s only motive is His own glory and for Him to obtain that glory He changes the heart of man so that man desires to be saved by grace alone as God views and shows it rather than any other motive at all. It is by God’s grace alone.

The Gospel of grace alone demands that the Gospel of Jesus Christ be motivated by God’s love for His own glory or it is not by grace alone. The Gospel that is meant to display the glory of God’s grace in His love for Himself cannot have any rivals in terms of the cause of salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ rings with the beauty and glory of grace because it rings with the beauty and glory of God in His love for Himself. The very beauty of God as love is His love for Himself. The delectability of God to the human soul is that God is so glorious in His love for Himself that He manifests His glory in saving souls totally out of His love for Himself. God’s love for Himself is manifested in Christ and then in all those that Christ lives in. God’s love for Himself is so great that the only cause that He needs to save sinners is His love for Himself. His love for Himself given to sinners who then repent of their self-love and then have His love in them is the very heart of grace. God’s motive to save sinners is His love for Himself and His determination to display His glory in Christ. That is why sinners are only saved by grace alone.