Last time we looked at the nature of repentance in discussing the biblical evidence against free grace theology and noted that biblically the word “repentance” should be understood as “a turning away from sin.” In this post I want to look at another subject often misconstrued by the no-lordship camp: the nature of faith. On the surface, most Christians understand what the word “faith” (or the term “believe”) means. Free grace teachers take advantage of this general consensus and argue that faith simply means “trust” and nothing more or nothing less. Bob Wilkin, a staunch free grace adherent, shockingly says:
“Faith doesn’t need dressing up in any way. Tell people that all who simply believe in Jesus have everlasting life and will never die spiritually. If they think you are saying that our works after the new birth are in no way part of saving faith, and that a person might gain eternal life and then live in a manner that is not pleasing to God, then you should rejoice, for they understand the saving message” (From his article “Does Faith Need Dressing Up?”).
This seems to be the exact opposite of Paul’s conclusion to the one who argued that because God’s grace increased where sin abounded we should use grace as a license to sin. Paul emphatically stated, “May it never be!” (Rom. 6:1-2).
While many in the free grace camp would deny it, their understanding of faith often comes across as nothing more than mental assent. I have spoken to free grace advocates about this before and every time they adamantly tell me that their understanding of faith is not mental assent. I find this hard to believe, though, especially when the implications of the no-lordship position are considered. While they may say that “faith” is a “confidence, trust, and reliance” upon Christ, they undermine this definition by supposing that a person “trusting” in Christ can consistently disobey Christ, deny His Lordship, live a carnal life of sin, and even stop believing in Christ and still be saved! How is that legitimately trusting in Christ? Call me naïve, but it seems to me that a person who is unwilling to acknowledge Christ’s Lordship and yield their life to Him is also someone who is unwilling to honestly trust Him with their life.
John MacArthur, in his classic book Faith Works: the Gospel According to the Apostles, observes Charles Ryrie making the same kind of claim about faith—that it is simple trust but is not mental assent—and he comments, “Some advocates of the no-lordship view resent the accusation that they see faith as mere mental activity. But they consistently fail to define believing as anything more than a cognitive function. Many use the word trust, but when they define it, they actually describe assent” (33).
With all that said, what can be understood about faith? A couple of things are relevant to our discussion.
First of all, faith is an act of commitment and obedience to Christ.
Bruce Demarest, in his excellent book The Cross and Salvation, writes, “Saving faith is an act of commitment to Christ and in some sense an act of grateful obedience…observe how often Scripture juxtaposes faith and obedience. John wrote, ‘Whoever believes [pisteuon] in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys [apeithon] the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath” (John 3:36, NRSV). In Scripture disobedience clearly is failure to believe (Rom. 11:30; Eph. 2:2; Tit. 3:3; Heb. 4:6). Conversely, believing is an act of obedience. Luke observed that in Jerusalem ‘the word of God spread…and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith’ (Acts 6:7)” (268).
Demarest continues,
“In the Romans doxology the apostle longed that the Gospel, now proclaimed to Gentiles, might, ‘bring about the obedience of faith’ [Rom. 16:26]…Obedience to God, therefore, is virtually a synonym for faith, as many texts indicate (Matt. 19:17; Acts 5:32; Rom. 15:18; 2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:2; 4:17).” (268).
I encourage my readers to examine every verse cited by Demarest in the parenthesis. You will discover the overwhelming number of times that obedience in linked with faith. I will let Charles Spurgeon have the last word on this point:
“The only trust that saves is that practical trust which obeys Jesus Christ. Faith that does not obey is dead faith—nominal faith. It is the outside of faith, the bark of faith, but it is not the vital core of faith” (quoted by Demarest, 268).
Secondly, the faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies.
John Piper, in his book Future Grace, discusses at length the nature of faith. His meditation on this topic is marvelous and refreshingly biblical. Listen to Piper’s wonderful definition of faith:
“…the essence of saving faith is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus. Another text in John that leads me to this conviction is John 6:35, ‘I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’ This text points to the fact that believing in Jesus is a feeding and drinking from all that Jesus is. It goes so far as to say that our soul-thirst in satisfied with Jesus, so that we don’t thirst anymore. He is the end of our quest for satisfaction. When we trust in Jesus the way John intends for us to, the presence and promise of Jesus is so satisfying that we are not dominated by the alluring pleasures of sin (cf. Romans 6:14). This accounts for why such faith in Jesus nullifies the power of sin and enables obedience” (213-14).
Elsewhere Piper says, “One of the important implications of this conclusion is that the faith that justifies and the faith that sanctifies are not two different kinds of faith. ‘Sanctify’ simply means to make holy, or to transform into Christlikeness…Paul makes [the] connection between faith and sanctification explicit, not only in Galatians 2:20 [where he says] (‘I live by faith’), but also in 2 Thessalonians 2:13: ‘God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.’ Sanctification is by the Spirit and by faith” (193, Piper’s emphasis).
The obvious conclusion is that because true faith makes one a believer, then one who believes in Jesus will also be sanctified (progressively becoming more holy).
Conclusion:
Contrary to free grace theology’s claims, faith is not a casual mental acquiescence of facts that does not affect a person’s moral constitution. In the Bible, faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). It is a faith that works (all throughout Hebrews 11 we see that faith is manifested in what a person does. “By faith Abraham…obeyed…” v. 8). Biblical faith is one that “does not waver in unbelief” (Rom. 4:20); it is a faith that “expresses itself through love” (Gal. 5:6). Faith is an active trust in Christ that leads a believer to obey and honor Him by growing in sanctification.
Jonathan Edwards concludes:
“Faith is a sensibleness of what is real in the work of redemption; and the soul that believes doth entirely depend on God for all salvation, in its own sense and act. Faith abases men, and exalts God; it gives all the glory of redemption to him alone. It is necessary in order to saving faith, that man should be emptied of himself, be sensible that he is ‘wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’ Humility is a great ingredient of true faith: he that truly receives redemption, receives it as a little child… ‘Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child, he shall not enter therein.’ It is the delight of a believing soul to abase itself and exalt God alone…” (From his sermon God Glorified in Man’s Dependence).
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