Do We Play Any Role In Our Salvation?

     The above question was asked of a man not long ago. In his response he cited Ephesians 2:8 and said “we are saved by grace alone through faith alone.” From there he stated that grace cannot be earned or merited and thus there is absolutely no role for us to play in our salvation. There are two thoughts expressed in his response that I want to consider in this article.

     First, the Bible nowhere says that we are saved by “grace alone through faith alone.”  Paul’s actual words are, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”  Many like to add the word “alone” after grace and faith, which Paul did not do.  They make Paul’s words nonsensical for if one is saved by grace “alone” than he cannot be saved by faith “alone” and vice versa.  Adding to God’s Word in an effort to promote a particular position is exceedingly dangerous (2 John 9-10).

     Second, to claim that there is absolutely no role for one to play in his or her salvation is simply untrue. When God calls upon us to obey Him He is not instructing us to earn grace (which is impossible) but to prove that we have saving faith (which is a necessity).  This can be demonstrated any number of ways but for the purposes of this article we will consider Galatians 5:19-25.  “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.  I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

     

     Consider the following thoughts:

     -Galatians was written to Christians (Galatians 1:2-3).

   -The Galatian brethren were being warned about the works of the flesh for at least a second time (5:21b).

    -To make a practice of the works of the flesh ensures that one will not inherit the kingdom of God (5:21b).

    -Saints are not to live according to the flesh (controlled by passion and sinful desires) but are to walk by the Spirit (5:25).

   -Paul’s word “walk” is stoicheo and means “to be in line with.”  Thus, saints are to actively and purposefully seek “to be in line with” the Spirit.

    -We know the Spirit’s will through the revelation passed on to inspired men (2 Peter 1:20-21).

  -The Spirit says that those belonging to Jesus Christ “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”  In this passage Paul speaks not of something done to us but something done by us (5:24).

     

     Taking all of the above together we arrive at this conclusion: Christians are to walk in line with the Spirit.  We accomplish this by doing what He says.  As those who have crucified their sinful passions and desires we must not revive them to again walk according to the flesh for those who do will never inherit the kingdom of God.

     So, do we play any role in our salvation? Yes. Does this mean that we are earning our salvation? No. Perhaps the most pertinent consideration in a discussion of this kind is the nature of saving faith. While we have not the room to explore it in detail Paul has shown us that saving faith is walking by the Spirit. The only way to know if we’re doing that is by paying attention to what He has said, not in some ill-defined whisper into our hearts, but through the revelation of Scripture. Obeying what is revealed therein is not earning one’s salvation, but proving one has saving faith (James 2:17-18).