Models of Grace: Part Two
Models of Grace:
Part Two.
Theodore Zachariades.
So far I have tried to give an account of the model of grace as represented in the Free Grace movement, and specifically in the Grace Evangelical Society of which I was a member for about ten years or so. To summarize the view it is best to take a look at how grace and faith are related within this model.
Grace is spoken of as something that governs soteriology, so that in its language and rhetoric it is firmly evangelical. The way of expressing its sola fide convictions would be echoed by other evangelicals that no doubt, like myself at present, would not agree with this model at its operational level. So let us take a look.
The first and foremost rationale for this grace model is the specific understanding of the atonement. It is here that the prevenient notion of grace is underscored. Grace has thus been shown by God to every single individual as Christ has paid the penalty for all sins of all people. This is customary unlimited atonement theology with a definite Arminian twist. So there is a way in which the evangelist utilizing this grace model may say to any individual or group that God is already gracious to them. However, the point is raised that the true saving grace of God must now be received by faith alone so as to make the atonement effectual in the party that believes. To illustrate this let us see it in a hierarchy:
1. God foreknows who will believe and become recipients of grace. Ironically, it is still argued that anyone can truly be saved by exercising saving faith.
2. Grace (for all) in provision of salvation. This very much like prevenient grace.
3. Grace offered (for all in the mood of desire, God wants to save everybody).
3. Faith (the actual acceptance of Grace as proffered in gospel preaching). This makes the atonement actual for the believer.
4. Grace to the end (for it keeps the believer saved as eternal security is part of what became effectual at initial point of faith). Ironically, common in Free Grace circles is the idea that even if the believer stopped believing, they would remain secure in said salvation.
What is clear and so very common among the Free Grace movement is the notion that it is one’s faith s that activates salvation. Zane Hodges, in particular, expressed it often that we believe in order to be saved, and thus faith precedes regeneration in the outworking of God’s saving an individual. Hodges has said, “nowhere does the Bible say be saved then you will believe [paraphrase].” Faith is thus seen as a condition for salvation. It is a non-meritorious one, but the only condition, nonetheless. We bring faith to meet God’s grace, and then together (synergistically) salvation becomes a reality. The appeal to the many references in John’s gospel, for example, is said to promote this model. In John 6:47, Jesus says, “He that believes on Me has everlasting life.” Faith is thus explained as the condition for receiving eternal life.
Of course, theological studies and seminary do not happen in a vacuum, and the opportunity to interact with alternative theories is always at hand in books if not personally. One such personal interaction came during a presentation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary by Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner. At the time in 1997, he was appointed by President, Dr. Mohler, to a position as NT professor. Schreiner gave a presentation on perseverance and apostasy, in which he surveyed various common approaches and then suggested his own model. This has since become public via an article shortly thereafter published in the Seminary’s journal (See Thomas R. Schreiner, “Perseverance and Assurance: A Survey and Proposal” in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, vol.2 no. 1, pp. 32-62 and in the co-authored volume with Ardel B. Caneday, The Race Set before Us: A Biblical Theology of Perseverance and Assurance, [Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2001.]) This was a challenging presentation to which I took immediate exception. I spoke with Dr. Schreiner after the presentation during the Q & A session, and subsequently I even invited him to lunch in my home, to which he graciously came and cordially debated the merits of his proposal during our meal together. There was one point where I had conceded to Dr. Schreiner that works proved to be evidentiary of genuine faith (Matthew 25), even though I was strongly resistant to the idea that works had anything to do with salvation. So despite this concession on my part, otherwise we were still miles apart. My purpose here is not to suggest that Dr. Schreiner’s view is heretical, though I thought that at the time. I believe it is within the realm of evangelical options as an alternate model of grace but one that operates very differently from what I understood grace to be at the time as a member of GES. Though my present sympathies lie closer to Schreiner’s view than that which I espoused back then in 1997, my soteriological position is somewhat differently nuanced, but our models of grace, I believe, are now the same as I have conformed to an authentic reformed view.
I see the grace model of reformed theology to be, as C. H. Spurgeon put it, “All of Grace.” What this means is that grace operates monergistically, and as such, even the faith with which we believe is not our own, it is a gift of God. The grace in this model originates in the mind of God before the foundation of the world, and it is designed to terminate on the elect alone. Because in actual experience we are all born into the world with the guilt of Adam anchoring our souls and actual corruption that chains us in disobedient rebellion against God, we cannot escape our predicament with any self-effort, not even with non-meritorious faith. Dead people cannot do anything. Spiritually dead people cannot do anything spiritual. So, even eager appeals for us sinners to “believe and be saved,” will always fail apart from God’s specific enabling. Let us provide a hierarchy for this model:
1. Grace designed in eternity past.
2. Grace actualized in election.
3. Grace purchased by the economic work of Christ for His elect.
4. Grace announced in the indiscriminate preaching of the gospel.
5. Grace effectual in regeneration.
6. Grace manifest in the believing sinner.
7. Grace continues to preserve, and the elect persevere.
What we notice in this model of grace is that it is always restricted. Grace, or saving grace, we may prefer to call it, is a blessing that terminates on the elect alone! The only place where there is a universal component is from # 4 above. But even this must not be confused with universal saving grace. The biblical command that we preach the gospel to every creature is interpreted in the reformed model as an announcement of grace to all and any believers, not as an offer of grace that will become effectual once the person believes. So, it must be distinct from the way evangelism is perceived and practiced by the GES model. Saving grace only comes to an individual once they have believed according to that Free Grace movement model. It is presented as an offer or as a barter of sorts, God will give you salvation for your faith, so to speak. However, in a reformed model, though it is true that faith is the occasion of salvation it is not a condition as such. Election that precedes the exercise of faith is typically understood as unconditional. So faith is not a condition for salvation but an instrument that alone justifies. But biblical salvation is more than justification. It is true that “faith alone saves” in the sense of being the alone instrument and is always a gift of God. But sola fide is not to be a bald statement that the only act of the sinner is trust that is never accompanied by anything else. This is the impression that GES model often leads to, even as it was trying to “save” the gospel from the intrusion of works!
The way of putting this correctly is that “Faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone.” Of course, with faith there is regeneration which precedes and actually births faith. Then there is repentance a turning from sin, just as the Prodigal son rebelled then repented turning from his wayward life and came home fully cognizant of his sin and rebellion as convicted by the Holy Spirit. There is also confession of Jesus as Lord, and in the New Testament writings, often there was an actual baptism in water at the time of this confession. None of these save in the strictest sense, not even faith. But they are all acts of the penitent sinner at the time of conversion. And this new life results in sanctification.
So in the broader salvific scope of the New Testament witness, however, we also find repentance, turning, following, confessing, calling, and some other elements that are part of salvation. This is where we must carefully articulate the gracious nature of the model. In the GES model, there is no room for any other aspect than faith in proclaiming the good news, as this would compromise the grace of the gospel. In a reformed model, any response, and all responses that an individual makes and experiences, is because of effectual grace that works prior to faith, including repentance confession, calling etc. In the GES model it is faith and faith alone that receives grace. In an authentic reformed model, it is grace that births these evangelical “graces.”
This is exactly where I began to see that grace is operating on a very different plane in reformed theology. Of course, the question cannot be settled by mere allusion to historical precedent but must be examined by careful exegesis of Scripture and a systematic theology of the biblical witness to salvation. For example, in Acts 18:27, in a non-polemical section, Luke says that Apollo “helped those who had believed through grace.” It is in this order: grace first, belief second. This is contrary to the idea that one believes in order to receive grace. In this biblical account grace operates in order for faith to be realized.
In a letter that Paul wrote to the Philippians he expressed the truth that it had been granted to believers not only to believe but also to suffer for Christ (see 1:29). Here faith is seen as a gift granted by God. We also see faith as a gift in 1 Corinthians 12.
The locus classicus is Ephesians 2:8-9, where the relationship between grace and faith has forever been settled by Paul’s maxim: “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.” Much has been made of the grammar that supposedly diffuses the argument that faith is a gift because of its feminine cast. However, the same formula is found elsewhere with a neuter pronoun referring to an antecedent that is feminine (see Matt 19:20, cf. v.17). Furthermore, this is to overlook the point of the Ephesians 2 passage, which is to express the totality of the salvific package as one that is granted as a gift, and this certainly includes their faith. Also, this view, with its grammatical appeal to faith as feminine suggesting that the gift of God cannot be faith, also fails to notice the prior similarity of declaration in verse 5, “By grace are ye saved” without any mention of faith. So clearly, it is grace that is operative to save, and which leads one to believe. It is not belief that is prior and thus receives grace. The rallying cry of the reformers, sola fide was grounded in an earlier sola gratia. When one examines the views closely, one can see that these are indeed, two different models of grace, and only one of them is truly faithful to the New Testament as a whole.
