In this post we will continue our look at the teaching of sola gratia. As we think of the teaching of grace alone in terms of the Gospel, it might be that we think of it only in terms of justification. It might be true that there are people in the world who believe in a justification by grace alone and yet deny that the application of redemption is by grace alone. It might be that there are those who believe in justification by grace alone and yet deny a sanctification that is by grace alone. We must think of salvation in terms of grace and yet in terms of grace applying the whole of justification and sanctification. If at any point our theology or practice begins to step aside from the true grace of Christ, it is to that degree or distance apart from Christ who only operates by grace.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ by grace alone comes to sinners that are dead in sins and trespasses. There is utterly nothing they can do to earn or merit grace. If the application of redemption and all of redemption is not of grace alone, then redemption is not of grace alone. The application of redemption includes everything regarding the salvation of the sinner. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in our day as if Christ lived, died, was buried, and was then raised from the dead and nothing else is left to do but for the sinner to believe. But the work of Christ must be applied by the Holy Spirit if the work of Christ is to be consistent with the grace that He purchased. In fact, the Holy Spirit was purchased by Christ or the work of the Spirit is not of grace and Christ alone either.
This may sound like another diatribe against Arminianism, and in reality it could be. However, this is also a diatribe against a lot of modern theology that goes under the title of Reformed. It seems as if the application of redemption is virtually a forgotten topic in theology today. We are told to preach the facts of the Gospel and urge sinners to believe. If a sinner believes, we are told that God has enabled the person to believe. However, what is the distinction between a sinner that believes the facts in his own power and one that truly believes by grace alone? It is the work of the Holy Spirit in applying the work of Christ to the sinner by grace alone.
In our day if a sinner is told that his heart must be humbled or that the sinner must be broken from his pride in order to believe, resounding words will be spoken against that person. Never mind that Jesus Himself told us in Matthew 18:1-4 that a person must be turned and become like a little child to enter the kingdom. Never mind that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We are told that if we do anything but tell a person to believe we are opposing the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Quite to the contrary, however, is the man who wrote the classic work on justification, James Buchanan. His is still the book that needs to be read on the subject. However, he also wrote a book on The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit in which he sets out the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. Virtually all of the Puritan writers and the Reformed writers who followed the Puritans believed in justification by grace alone through faith alone but they also believed in the application of redemption by grace alone.
Let me make a bold and what may be called an arrogant statement. Without the teaching that Christ purchased the Holy Spirit Himself and the work of the Spirit in applying redemption to sinners, we do not have a consistent doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone. We must always remember that the reason in history that people have stood for justification by faith alone is to protect justification by grace alone and by Christ alone. Unless it is the Holy Spirit that applies salvation by grace alone (and that includes His work in conviction of sin and regeneration by grace alone) we are left without a consistent Gospel of grace alone. If we teach that the sinner contributes anything to his salvation, many Reformed people would cry out that this is a teaching of works. But if the sinner is not broken from his pride and self-centeredness before he believes, then his act of faith is coming from his pride and is really an act of faith in himself. It is only when the sinner is broken from his pride that he can then trust in Christ alone by grace alone rather than himself. This is part of the work of the Holy Spirit in applying redemption. The Holy Spirit must break the sinner from his own strength, self, and pride in order for the sinner to look to Christ alone. If the sinner’s faith is not the work of grace alone, then the sinner is not saved by grace alone.
Regardless of a person’s doctrinal creed in our day, the teaching of grace alone is certainly not heard of very much. The facts of Christ are given and then it is left in the hands of sinners to believe. They are not told that the Holy Spirit must convict them of sin. That is left up to them to do if they are told about that at all. They are not told that the Holy Spirit must break them of their pride, but are left in their pride to believe. Whatever else that is, it is not a Gospel of grace alone. The Gospel of grace alone teaches a redemption applied by grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
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