Most denominational churches teach that we are saved by faith alone. To be fair, that does not mean they believe that man does not have to do anything to make it to heaven. Most of them teach that there is something to do after one becomes a Christian. However, they all believe that one does not have to do anything other than believe to become a child of God. They like to say, “We are saved by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone.”
Their inconsistency, however, is easily revealed. Most “faith only” advocates will admit that repentance is necessary. The contradiction here is clearly seen. Since faith and repentance are two different things, if repentance is required, salvation cannot come by faith alone. On the other hand, if salvation comes by faith only, then repentance is not required.
Many, who promote the “faith only” doctrine, ridicule those in churches of Christ for teaching that there are five steps that one must take to be saved. They like to call us five steppers. Interestingly enough, many churches known for believing that we are saved by faith only have their own steps. For example, I once received a flyer from Grace Baptist Church advertising their Vacation Bible Study. On the backside of the flyer, they give an invitation for those who want to know Jesus as their Lord by saying “Just follow the ABCs below. These ABCs are three steps that one has to follow to be saved. The steps are 1) Acknowledge your need for a Savior. 2) Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 3) Confess Jesus in your heart and commit your life to Him.
This is very interesting. It comes from those who claim that we are saved by faith alone. It seems to me that they have two too many steps. Should they mock themselves as being three steppers?
This reminds me of an email exchange I had with a Baptist preacher in Louisville. He, too, liked to call us five steppers, but also would throw in that we are a bunch of legalists for believing in those five steps. Now, after writing several pages of correspondence about how we are saved by faith alone, he finally got around to writing this about how to be saved.
“We are saved by faith alone but not faith that is alone. Saving faith involves three things: (1) Knowledge. One must believe certain facts about the gospel. (2) Belief. Assurance the gospel is true. (3) Trust. Trusting in the gospel is equivalent to trusting in the Christ of the gospel (Romans 10:9-10).”
Who would have known that many self-proclaimed “faith alone” advocates, perhaps even the majority of them, are in reality three step legalists? They believe that we are saved by the finished work of Christ on the cross + KNOWLEDGE + ASSENT + TRUST (or CONFESSION, depending on what group the 3 stepper is a part of). All their rhetoric is lost in this admission. By the way, what they refer to as knowledge is what I teach every Lord’s Day when I tell people they must hear. Furthermore, their assent step is something we emphasize in our invitations as well. We call it personal belief in Christ. If we could just get these folks to take a couple more steps, they could become children of God.
The truth is “faith only” advocates are forced to be inconsistent because their doctrine is not in harmony with the Word of God. It sounds good on the surface, and it appears to be giving God all the glory, but, the fact of the matter is, God does not need their help. His wonderful scheme of redemption, which includes man’s obedient response to the gospel of Christ, is already perfect. He does not forfeit His sovereignty by demanding that we believe, repent, confess, and are baptized, nor does our response to His commands earn us a spot in heaven.
We are all saved by grace, as opposed to the meritorious works of the Law of Moses (Ephesians 2:8-9). We owe God honor and glory and thanksgiving for the mercy that He has demonstrated toward us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Still, nowhere in the Bible does any part of the sacred text teach us that we are saved by faith alone, or by anything else alone for that matter.
There are many factors involved in salvation. Salvation, of course, begins with God. When we were dead in sins, He made us alive by the gospel of His Son (Ephesians 2:1-4). How did God make us alive? Peter tells us. “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:22-23).
When it comes to God’s plan of salvation, consistency can only be maintained when we follow the Word of God. That means we must take all of what God says on the subject of salvation, and only then we will have the complete truth.