The Bible teaches that we are saved—not based upon our performance under the Law—but instead by turning to Christ and placing our hope and trust in Him.
Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
One of the most significant aspects to the nature of works and faith is this: “Works” speak to your own merits, while “faith” in someone else speaks of the merits of the other person in whom you are placing your trust. So, while “works” speak of your value, faith speaks of someone else’s value. That’s a key distinction, and perhaps is why the apostle Paul spoke of the works of the Law and faith as being mutually exclusive:
Romans 4:4-5: “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”
Faith does not exclude grace, but is directly linked to grace:
Romans 4:16: “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace.”
Faith is also our introduction to grace:
Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
Galatians 3:2: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”
Obviously, we receive the Spirit by hearing with faith, and hence faith is our introduction to grace. However, from the Calvinistic perspective, any religion that teaches that salvation comes about by anything other than an “Irresistible Grace,” necessarily makes salvation into a works-based process, because (as it is reasoned) once you incorporate any act of the human will—even as little as a person’s submission in passive non-resistance—what is left is some element of human contribution in the process. [Editor’s note: It should be noted that not all Calvinists believe this though it is a very common Calvinist belief.] So, when Calvinists say that “salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9), what they really mean is that God does everything in salvation, including the act of faith, on behalf of the elect-person, by overcoming their resistance through an irresistible gift of pre-faith regeneration. In other words, Calvinists believe that faith becomes a “work” whenever we come to think of faith as something that we do ourselves, absent of an Irresistible Grace. This means that in Calvinism, faith without Irresistible Grace = works. As such, Calvinists insist that if God had not chosen some—namely Calvinism’s elect—then no one would have freely chosen to love God. Calvinists also deny that God coerces any person to believe or that God believes on behalf of the elect, even though Calvinists admit that they believe that God unilaterally regenerates the unregenerate-elect against their totally depraved will, unsolicited, simply because they happen to be “elect.”
What do Calvinists believe?
The essence of Arminianism is that we are contributing to our salvation. As such, faith becomes a work when we ascribe faith to our own wisdom in having made the right choice, in being smarter and wiser than others, apart from acknowledging faith as solely the effectual gift of God. Who boasts? It is non-Calvinists who say that they made the choice to believe in God.
Our reply:
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of works and faith. Again, “works” speak of our own merit, while faith in someone else to save us, speaks of the merit of the one in whom we are placing our trust. So, when we place our faith in Christ, we are not adding to our own merits. We are not building up our own value. Faith in Christ, instead, points to someone else’s merits, who saves us solely by His choice to show grace toward anyone who puts their trust in Him.
As an illustration, consider the example of the thief on the Cross next to Jesus, who asked that Jesus remember him when He entered into His kingdom:
Luke 23:40-43: “But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’ And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’”
His salvation was due to trusting in someone else. His faith in Jesus did not contribute or add to his self-worth, value or merit, but rather simply met God’s condition for freely choosing to be gracious toward anyone who trusts in Him. This is why God gets all of the credit. Faith in someone else’s goodness neither contributes to our own merit nor boasts of our own achievement, but instead boasts of the goodness of the One in whom we are placing our trust. That is the fundamental distinction that Calvinists are unwilling to recognize.
Although it is both smart and wise to place one’s trust in God, it is God, rather than ourselves, who is made the focus and object of our faith. Essentially, then, faith in God shifts focus away from our insufficiency over to God’s sufficiency. Finally, the Calvinist’s passionate contention that only Irresistible Grace alone can successfully mitigate against faith becoming a work is entirely absent from Scripture.
God saves us apart from the works of the Law, and on the basis of His own purpose and grace. If one does not conflate man’s free choice to repent with God’s free choice to save the repentant, then this is not an issue that needs to be reconciled. Humbly admitting you need salvation is not equal to saving yourself. Confessing your sin, even if done freely, does not earn or merit forgiveness for that sin, otherwise, there would have been no need for the cross. God could have just forgiven Abraham of his sin debt because his faith merited it. Even though Abraham believed in God, he still had a debt that he could not pay. God graciously chose to pay that debt through the sacrifice of His Son, without which no one would be saved.
What do Calvinists believe?
Erwin Lutzer: “Because salvation rests wholly with God, no one can say he chose Christ because he is wiser than others; he did so because God had chosen him and quickened him that he might believe. Calvinists have often accused the Arminians of taking at least a bit of credit for their salvation.”648
Our reply:
The part about “rests wholly with God” and “quickened” are tributes to Irresistible Grace. Nonetheless, concerning the argument that free-will necessarily steals credit from God, consider the analogy of an anniversary gift. Upon receiving a wedding anniversary gift from your spouse, tell your spouse that your Calvinistic principles dictate that you can take credit for their anniversary gift to you since you are freely, voluntarily and consciously choosing to accept it, and also clarify with your spouse that their gift was not truly gracious since theoretically it could have been refused. Obviously, no one would do such a ridiculous thing as that, but that is what Calvinists are essentially claiming when they say that an open offer of the free gift of eternal life would leave room to boast and is not truly gracious.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
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648 The Doctrines That Divide (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1998), 181.
