“Salvation by Grace” vs. “Salvation by Good Works”

It has been four years since I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. The day I accepted Jesus Christ into my life with my faith and belief in my heart as I confess through the salvation prayer, I felt that I was made whole again. Since then, I have tried to make time with Jesus by a regular devotion, though struggling to make it a daily habit at first. Little by little I have widened my knowledge of the awesome Love that only God could give, thereby strengthening my faith in the Lord even more.

In that span of four years, I always encounter two schools of thought which states that salvation can be attained by grace, while the second one say and believe that it is by works. Listening intently to the arguments of both sides, one may say that both sides have a valid argument, hence confusing him or her about this doctrine.

Since my local church, Word International Ministries – Al Ain (WIN-Al Ain) is embracing this doctrine of salvation for the whole month of February, I am also trying to align my study of the ‘Word’—which our church had as a theme the prior month—on what it says about salvation. First thing that came up to my mind is how to reconcile the two schools of thought mentioned early on.

As a profession, I have done a lot of reconciliations. I am a Certified Public Accountant. But, this time, it is not that ordinary reconciliations I have been doing in my line of work. By this extraordinary feat, I need an extraordinary helper. I thank the Holy Spirit for the help and guidance. He is always reliable in terms of finding out the truth in the Word of God.

Let us start here at the right footing. Do you believe that the Holy Bible is the Word of God and its contents to be infallible? If your answer is no then forget reading further. If yes, well and good since my basis of this article is the Holy Bible.

Thank God if you are still reading…so read on brethren.

Who could ever miss this story in Genesis about the fall of man? This is the point in man’s existence after the creation, where a gap between him and God has been created due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve. They sinned against God. As a result, spirit has died as expressed in Rom 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death…” Man had been separated from God. This separation is as great as the distance between the heaven and the earth.

Is God obliged to save you and me from our inherent sin? I do not think so. Nevertheless, He did make a way to save us. How? John 3:16 explicitly declares: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The driving force of it all is LOVE. Because of God’s love for us, he made a way to save us, though it is not his obligation to do so.

It is so plainly clear that out of God’s love for us, the sacrificial lamb, who is Jesus, was given for free. He asks nothing of value in exchange for the blood of Jesus, hence an act of grace.

Do not stop from there. This is just one side of the transaction. In civil or common law, when the donor gave something to the benefactor, the transaction is never complete without acceptance by the latter. In the same manner, you and me has the right as the benefactor of God’s grace to accept or reject.

Rejection is a simple unbelief of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, acceptance is the exact opposite, belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Is it that simple? No. It is more than just a plain belief that lies on your head. There is what we call faith, another form of gift whose source is God Himself. The Bible clearly says that faith is believing in something you don’t see and that’s exactly what faith in Jesus is about. (Heb 11:1)

Rom 10:9 provides: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

There you are. It needs you to act as “believing” is a verb or an action word. The action as stated in the Bible is your confession. Not just an ordinary confession, but a heartfelt one; a very personal one. It is just between you and God as no other person who has an x-ray vision to scan what really is in your heart when you utter with your mouth that salvation prayer.

If indeed, your act of accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior is genuine, you will as a result become whole again. Your dead spirit will be revived. This is what Jesus said that to enter Heaven one must be “born again.”

Jesus, the Word who became flesh (John 1:1) is the one being offered by the Father and accepted by a believer, is He not? He is now in the believer’s heart. As stated in Rev 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

What then can this Word, who is Jesus can make to a believer’s life? It can change you and make you live by every truth as laid down by the scriptures. And there comes the “good work.” It is a direct result of a believer’s genuine faith.

Let me now state it this way. Good work is obedience to God. We obey Him because we love Him as He loved us first.

The law of cause and effect is the best comparison between these two schools of thought. Good works is just the cause and effect of a genuine acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.