For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10, NKJV

Martin Luther stood against the Catholic teaching that a person is saved through the church. He stood firmly on his belief that we are saved by Jesus Christ, and it is solely a work of grace (Sola Gratia) through faith (Sola Fide). A person may or may not be saved while in attendance at a worship experience in a local church. He may be saved while sitting in his house, while walking by the way, while driving in his car, while sitting at his desk at work, or any other place you might imagine. However, no matter where a person is saved, it is always by the method described by Paul in the verses quoted above. We are saved by grace, through faith.

Sola Gratia (Grace alone) will be discussed in my next post. This post will focus on the subject of faith. The proper understanding of the subject of faith is absolutely crucial to our understanding of Jesus’s work of securing salvation. A few verses of Scripture from the epistle to the Hebrews will help with our understanding:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:1, 3, 6, NKJV

Faith is believing what we cannot see; embracing what we cannot touch; trusting in promises that we accept even though we have no experiential knowledge of those promises. We are saved by grace, through faith.

There is something of extreme importance in Paul’s statement quoted at the beginning of this post. “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Note carefully the word, “that”. What, exactly, does “that” refer to? Paul says “that” is the “gift of God.” Some would suggest that the precedent for “that” is grace: grace is the gift of God. Others might suggest that the precedent is faith: faith is the gift of God. Actually, the entire phrase, “For by grace you have been saved, through faith,,,” is the precedent for the words “that” and “it”. Grace and faith are gifts from God that enable an individual to be saved.

A little bit more about my personal salvation experience might prove to be helpful in understanding this concept. As I stated in my previous blog, I had been reared by parents who placed high value on raising their children in a Christian home, and in an environment that would be conducive to our spiritual well-being. But as much effort as they put forth, and as hard as they tried, all of their efforts fell on my deaf ears and my dead spirit. Yes, you read that correctly: I was dead spiritually. I was completely beyond grasping spiritual truth, because I was spiritually dead.

I had no faith to believe what I heard taught in church. So, I began to rebel against spiritual truth because I was living in spiritual darkness. As a matter of fact, Paul describes it as being dead in trespasses and sins. A very logical and reasonable question, then, is, what can a dead person do for himself? Nothing! As a spiritually dead man I was not able to comprehend spiritual truth. I needed to have life breathed into my spiritually dead body, which would then enable me to understand the truth of God’s Word, and to believe by faith – the gift I had received from God – and be saved by His amazing grace. The quickening of the Holy Spirit brought me to life, and then I embraced by faith the salvation He offered. So, we are saved, totally, by God’s work of salvation.

In my last blog I spoke of hearing God’s voice on my way to work on September 6, 1977. That was the moment in time that I was brought out of spiritual darkness and death and brought into the light and life of spiritual birth. Why did it happen then? Why not years before? Could I not have had more time to spend in ministry if God had intervened in my life much sooner? I have no answer for that, other than that God works on His schedule, not ours. I am just eternally grateful for His saving work in my life.

So God gives us the faith to believe, and then He further gives us the faith to live for Him. Faith gets us through those hard times in life. Faith enables us to see beyond whatever this life throws our way by allowing us to see the unseen. We see, by faith, that God is sitting on His throne, sovereignly watching over the affairs of men and nations. Everything is moving toward His preordered climax.

Based on the testimony of Scripture alone, and by embracing the gift of faith alone, we are able to receive Sola Gratia – grace alone – which secures for us our status of child of God. We will look at grace in the next post.

I would like to close this post with a word of testimony from one of my readers, Sylvia Bradley. I have known Sylvia many years, and have been privileged to witness her radiant lifestyle as she lives for God’s glory. It was her faith in God that saw her through one of the most difficult times anyone goes through in this life: the death of a spouse. These are Sylvia’s words:

Scripture spoke to me and gave great comfort when my beloved husband went to his Heavenly Home 18 years ago! At first I would read my Bible and couldn’t remember what I read. I was told this was the grief and shock causing this. Thank God He got me through this and months later a dear friend, Bobbie Payne, asked me to teach a Bible study at my home. She knew I would really dig into the scriptures. This was such a great comfort to me as I prepared to teach each week! I thank God for His love and comfort and for the many prayers that were lifted up for me!

Sylvia Bradley

Sylvia experienced, by faith, the saving grace of God, and the sustaining grace of God. May it be so in the lives of everyone reading these words of testimony.

Until next time:

Blessings!