XLVIII: Grace and Works, Knowledge and Salvation

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in that world by lust. Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1-11).

As Peter begins his second letter to Christians, he again considers the nature of salvation and the expectation of certain forms of conduct from God's people. Passages like this demonstrate the absurdity of the bifurcation of Protestant thought. Protestants have obsessed over the distinction between "faith" and "works", and often do all they can to avoid any form of "works based salvation", whatever that would mean. Sure, they recognize the need for obedience to God, but such is always considered an afterthought in any discussion. What must be primarily emphasized is that salvation is not by works.

Peter (and Paul, for that matter) here is not bothered by the Protestant obsession. The "discrepancy" between "salvation by grace" and obedience is simply not there. He asserts without qualification that we have obtained a "like precious faith" with the Apostles themselves in the righteousness of Jesus (2 Peter 1:1). He then continues in 2 Peter 1:3-4 by establishing that all things pertaining to life and godliness have been given to us by His divine power, and that He has granted us many great promises based upon our redemption from the corruption of the world.

So far this sounds like "good" "salvation by grace" theology. And yet Peter's conclusion to this is for the believer him or herself to add diligence, faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, kindness, brotherly love, and love (2 Peter 1:5-7). Such things allow one to abound, growing mightily in the faith in the knowledge of the Lord-- but the lack of these qualities indicates that a person is blind, having forgotten that they have been cleansed of their former sins (2 Peter 1:8-9). So much for standard Protestant theology! Peter clearly has no difficulty with the idea of works having a role in one's final salvation.

2 Peter 1:10-11 provides further demonstration of this: we must give diligence to make our calling and election sure, and in so doing we will be supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom.

It is a puzzling thing how one could read such verses and come away with the standard Protestant "faith/works" distinctions. Such things are clearly imposed on the text. Yes, the Bible makes it clear that we are not saved by our works-- nothing we can do can make up for our sin (Romans 1-4). We must have the grace of God, manifest to us in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sin (Romans 3-5). Nevertheless, there is a full expectation that the forgiveness of sin and the acceptance of this mighty salvation will lead one to be an obedient servant of Christ (Romans 6-8)!

This is what Peter makes clear: yes, we have the opportunity to have faith, even equal faith with the Apostles, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have all of these wonderful promises given to us in His divine power. Yet the result is that we should be out doing things. The result is that we develop our own faith and its attendant qualities.

It is also interesting to note the connection between the knowledge of Christ and practicing of the truth. Grace and peace is to be multiplied in the knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 1:2). All of the aspects of 2 Peter 1:5-7 lead one, in verse 8, to being not idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Knowledge and action are to be mixed in the life of the Christian: one cannot learn how to discern good from evil without the knowledge of what is good and what is evil, yet one will not train one's powers of discernment to that end without constant practice (cf. Hebrews 5:14). Practicing righteousness leads to being fruitful in the knowledge of Christ; the knowledge of Christ ought to lead one to practice righteousness.

2 Peter 1:9 itself is quite telling, for Peter's words presuppose the recognition that receiving the forgiveness of sin must be followed by obedience to God. Peter establishes in 2 Peter 1:9 that if one lacks the qualities of faith described in verses 5-7, one has forgotten how he or she has been forgiven of sin. How can Peter be so secure in his conclusion? Peter, of all people, recognizes how great a salvation is effected through Jesus Christ. If a person recognizes what sin is, the nature of sin, the consequences of sin, the fact that they have sinned, and that they have been able to escape from all such things through Christ's blood, such a one will be humbled, thankful, gracious, and so happy at his fortune that he will do whatever is necessary to please his Lord. It is only when a person forgets where he or she came from and forgets about the greatness of the salvation which he or she received that he or she becomes slack in their faith and its attendant virtues, being blinded by present circumstance.

This idea is not new to Peter; Paul establishes the same in Titus 3:3-8. Yet it is a very critical thing to those who would profess Christ. Let us not fall for the Protestant trap, forcing a sixteenth century controversy upon the first century. There is no contradiction between salvation by grace through faith and obedience to God. It is not enough to simply profess Jesus; the expectation is that you recognize how great a salvation has been accomplished on your behalf without you doing a thing about it, and be therefore willing to devote your life to the One who devoted His life to you. And this is the promise: with diligence, faith, virtue, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly love, and love, we will not be idle but will be fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, making our calling and election sure. If we ever forget where we came from, or forget about the salvation that God provided for us, we become blind, and stumble into the pit.

Let us all indeed grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)!

ELDV

XLVII: Horrific Conduct of "Ambassadors" of Christ

01 November 2007 Common Era

The news lines present a horrible story about those who would "profess" Christ and yet have gone terribly, horribly wrong in doing so.

Jury Awards Father Nearly $11 Million in Funeral Protesters Case

I have no desire to comment on the father using the opportunity for litigation and profiting on the funeral of his son.

I do, however, desire to comment on the deplorable conduct of the "Westboro Baptist Church". Quotes:

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."

Church founder Fred Phelps held a sign reading "God is your enemy," while his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper stood on an American flag while carrying a sign that read "God hates fag enablers." Members of the group sang "God Hates America,"' to the tune of "God Bless America" (ibid. article).

Why do they do all this?

Church members believe that U.S. deaths in the war in Iraq are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality (ibid.).

It's hard to know where even to begin with all of this. First of all, just for argument's sake, let's say that they're right: is this the way to go about it?

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one (Colossians 4:5-6).

How, in any way, shape, or form, would these picket signs (at funerals no less), represent "speech seasoned with salt?" On what basis could we ever "thank God" for the fact that people are dying in war?

"Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

Jesus' message has clearly been lost on such people. If God has a plan with the war in Iraq that we do not know about, that's His prerogative. Even if we could somehow discern it, such would never give us the right to make such ungodly and vitriolic statements against our fellow man.

Do these people ever stop to think how their actions reflect upon the religion that they would profess? Do they really think that this is the type of thing that Jesus would do?

If they do, that is horrifically scary.

Regardless, I can say with some certainty that their proposition is flat-out wrong. As it is written:

"But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil" (Luke 6:35).

Guess what? God loves homosexuals. God loves American soldiers. Yes, indeed, God even loves homosexual American soldiers (they do exist, I'm sure, but we won't ask, and they won't tell)! God does not love what they do, but God earnestly desires that they would repent and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Picketing funerals with such belligerent statements is not helping anyone to be led to the truth.

I find it extremely interesting that the whole concept of God's judgments on nations, in the New Testament, is entirely reserved for Revelation or scenes of the Judgment. The New Testament, as we have seen in other posts, is entirely otherwise indifferent to political government: obey rulers, pay taxes, but the spiritual Kingdom always takes preeminence (Matthew 6:33, Philippians 3:20)!

If God's judgment on nations is based on whether they accept homosexuals or not, the Netherlands and over half of Europe should be scorched earth by now, no? I suppose this reality has been lost upon these Baptists...good ol' American myopia.

God's judgment will come, indeed, upon all those who work iniquity. God's judgment will also come upon professed Christians who, in reality, are disobedient to the Gospel of Christ (Matthew 7:21-23, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)!

This should show us why it is so important to approach our fellow man with love and compassion, pointing to the Scriptures and letting God's sword pierce to the joint of bone and marrow, soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12). It's a sword to use pointedly, not as a blunt object; it's based in the Gospel and the spiritual Kingdom, not about what America is doing or not doing.

Let us so live and speak so as not to be an embarrassment to God, but a good steward of His grace (Colossians 4:8-9, 1 Peter 3:15-16, 5:10).

ELDV