The Bible teaches us that we are saved by grace. Nearly all professing Christians would agree that we are saved by grace through faith. However, although many agree with the words, their teachings deny grace. Grace is the gift of God; it is the unearned and undeserved love and favor of God toward sinners. To add any condition to salvation, other than faith, is to teach a false gospel. The Judaizers were the first to add a condition. They stated, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). They added the Law of Moses as a requirement for salvation. The Judaizers did not die out with the early church, for all through the history of Christianity men have been adding conditions to salvation.
Is salvation conditional or unconditional? Are we saved and kept by grace, or are we saved by grace and kept by works as so many teach? The leaders of the early church held the first Church Convention to clear up this matter. After hearing from professing believers from the sect of the Pharisees who said that “it was needful to circumcise” the Gentiles “and to command them to keep the Law of Moses” (Acts 15:5), the Church heard from Peter, Paul and Barnabas. They stated emphatically that the Gentiles were saved by grace alone. Peter concluded his speech with these life giving words, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Acts 15:10 11). James, the head of the Jerusalem Church, concluded that letters be sent to all the churches stating that salvation is indeed by grace and not by works (Acts 15:13 21). The letters however did not stop the problem, for these men continued to spread their false doctrine. Paul in his letter to the churches of Galatia attacked the problem again. He asked the Galatians: “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:2 3)
We are not saved by works nor are we kept by works. Today the Judaizers have substituted the keeping of Church or Christian laws. The result is the same. People are caught in the bondage of trying to be saved by their self effort. They struggle and fail only to repent again and try harder. There is no assurance, no real joy, and no peace. They do not understand that salvation is by grace from beginning to end; that they are saved by grace and kept by grace.
No one can endure or remain in salvation by human effort. We can no more maintain a right standing before God by our human effort than we can attain such a standing. God gives us ample evidence in His word that we are truly kept by His grace. Those who teach conditional salvation teach that the believer can lose his salvation. This is the logical result of the doctrine of salvation by faith plus works. If salvation is maintained by good works rather than by grace, anyone can fail and lose their salvation. But thank God the Bible teaches the very opposite.
Salvation is like a many sided diamond. We cannot understand it by looking at just one or two aspects. The writers of the New Testament used many terms to describe salvation, many of them foreign to our ears. It is only as we understand these terms that the enduring nature of our salvation becomes clear.
These lessons are the result of many years of research, writing and teaching. For years I tried to be pleasing to God by my works, not knowing that I could never satisfy His righteous demands by my puny efforts. It was while I was doing graduate work at Florida State University that I heard the glorious news that I was kept by the grace of God and not by human effort. It has been my desire from that time that I might share the marvelous gift of salvation with everyone. It is my prayer that this material will help every reader reach that full assurance of knowing that they are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:5).
Ron G. Thompson
