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Salvation by Faith and/or Works?

by Angel Jr. Ancheta  
11/02/2012 / Salvation

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

- John 3:16 (ESV)

As a beginning Christian, I struggled with the question of whether my salvation comes through faith alone, or whether good works are actually required. I tried to search for an answer to this question, only to find out that there seems to be quite a bit of disagreement, even among experienced Christians.

The disagreement seems to arise from the apparent controversy between the teachings of Paul (salvation through faith alone) and James (salvation through faith plus works). The bottom line question seems to be: "How is salvation actually gained and maintained?" If all of it is by belief in Jesus alone, then there is no need to be so strict with morality. But if belief is not enough to maintain salvation, then why believe in the first place? Why not just stick to doing good works and avoiding evil?

Many have already tried to answer these things, and to reconcile the teachings of Paul and James. But the arguments they used are quite a mix some are convincing to me, while others are not. So if the reader happens to be confused over the issue as well, I will try to present an answer which to me is not so commonly used - the meaning of belief itself.

So then, when we say we "believe in Jesus", what does that really mean?

Maybe we can start by comparing the word 'believe' as the Bible uses it, with the word 'know'. Just as 'know' in the Bible means more than simply head knowledge (like in Genesis 4:1), but rather experiential or actual knowledge, perhaps 'believe' should also be understood as an experiential thing, as in believing by following, or believing by obeying, and not just simply head belief.

I think it can be illustrated in a hypothetical scenario involving a blind man, who got trapped by the window of a burning building, and a fireman who has come to rescue him by means of a giant air cushion. The blind man is understandably very scared, but the fireman says, "Don't worry. I am here to save you. Just follow me and everything will be fine." In this situation, if the blind man really believes the fireman, he will not simply say, "I believe you" and not take action - he will also obey the fireman when commands are given, even if it is something like: "So, open the window now, get out on the ledge, and jump down." Therefore, out of the blind man's belief comes obedience to his rescuer.

In the same manner, I think the analogy can be applied into any rescue situation, where the victim, if he really believes in his rescuer, will have no qualms about following the instructions or commands that the rescuer might give. That is precisely what believing by following, or believing by obeying, means. Or as James 2:22 puts it: "You see that faith was working along with his works, and faith was completed by his works." Now, is it too much of a stretch if we apply the same thinking to our spiritual salvation, since it is also a life and death rescue situation?

This idea of believing by obeying is supported by the Bible in many places. One of them is in Luke 6:46, where Jesus himself says, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord', and not do what I tell you?" and in Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus himself prevents the so-called believers (again, the same people who calls him 'Lord, Lord') from entering the Kingdom of Heaven, because they did not do the will of the Father. I think the point is that if we want to call Jesus our Lord and Savior, we will need to believe in him so much that we believe not just the words and actions pertaining to his sacrifice, but all his other teachings as well.

In addition, I do not think it is stated anywhere in the Bible that our belief in Jesus is supposed to be confined ONLY to belief in his sacrifice. In fact, it can be seen that it is generally worded as belief "in him" - as inclusive as that. So, I am proposing that the phrase "whoever believes in him" in John 3:16 really implies "whoever believes in everything that Jesus says and does." It makes sense to me because Jesus is the Son of God, after all. Clearly, that means all his teachings should be believed as well (unless we think that God's teachings shouldn't be believed, which is quite heretical). And since we have tried to define belief (the way the Bible uses it) as "believing by obeying", to believe in Jesus means to believe him by obeying him.

One last, but crucial point. It is not commonly used as an argument for salvation, but we should not disregard the role of the Holy Spirit in all of this. When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are given the Holy Spirit to help us and it is the role of the Holy Spirit to help transform us into godly followers. There should not even be a need to think about it - with the Holy Spirit inside us, we will WANT to do good works (Philippians 2:13). Not because we want to be saved, but because his presence is proof that we already ARE saved. In fact, the Holy Spirit is to be our source of confidence that we are saved (as it says in Romans 8:9,16).

To me, how it all works out is as follows: salvation only comes through genuine belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That kind of belief ushers in the Holy Spirit to work inside us, and it is this power that naturally gives us the desire to obey Jesus' teachings. That desire will eventually manifest itself outwardly as obedience and good works. Our role is not to initiate the process (John 15:16), but to pray earnestly and cooperate with the Holy Spirit once it gives us the desire and the strength to do these things. Of course, stubborn uncooperativeness with the Holy Spirit is risky, as it can turn us into the believers mentioned in Matthew 7:21-23.

But to clarify things, perfection is not required in this process. So if we cooperate with the Holy Spirit as much as we can, and confess it during the times that we fail, then we do not need to feel guilty about our deficiencies (Romans 8:1-2 and 1John 1:9). That does not mean tolerance of sin in our lives, but humility as we wait on the Lord to complete our transformation (Philippians 1:6). To support these ideas, the Bible notes that even Peter sometimes went wrong (denying the Lord and showing partiality to the circumcision group). Likewise, Paul claimed he also sinned and that he is not yet perfect, but he just keeps on following Jesus (Philippians 3:12-16). James also says that we still stumble in many ways as a believer (James 3:2).

On the other hand, without true belief in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will not come, and the transformation process will not begin. We will have no witness on our behalf, and no basis for justification on judgment day. That is because in God's eyes, absolute perfection in doing good works is required if we want to be saved using that method. And since we are never going to be perfect doers of good works (Romans 3:10-12), we are never going to be saved by trying to do good works only, no matter how sincere we are, or how hard we try.

So I think that should settle the issue for me. It is my prayer that it can settle the issue for other believers who are thinking of the same issues as well. May the Holy Spirit guide us all in this central issue of our salvation.

Angel Ancheta Jr.
34 year old male, married, no children
Lives in the Philippines

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