The guardians of ‘free-will’ have exemplified the saying: ‘out of the frying-pan, into the fire.’ In their zeal to disagree with the Pelagians they start denying condign merit, and by the very form of their denial they set it up more firmly! By word and pen they deny it, but really, in their hearts, they establish it, and are worse than the Pelagians upon two counts. In the first place, the Pelagians confess and assert condign merit straightforwardly, candidly and honestly, calling a spade a spade and teaching what they really hold. But our friends here, who hold and teach the same view, try to fool us with lying words and false appearances, giving out that they disagree with the Pelagians, when there is nothing that they are further from doing! ‘If you regard our pretences, we appear as the Pelagians’ bitterest foes; but if you regard the facts and our hearts, we are Pelagians double-dyed.’ (Luther, Bondage of the Will)
‘Justification by faith only’ is a truth that needs interpretation. The principle of sola fide is not rightly understood till it is seen as anchored in the broader principle of sola gratia. (“Historical and Theological Introduction” to Bondage of the Will)
If it is the case that justification by faith alone is not rightly understood until it is seen as anchored in the broader principle of grace alone, then the more important teaching on justification by faith alone is grace alone. But the statement is made that it “is not rightly understood till it is seen as anchored in the broader principle” of grace alone. In other words, justification by faith alone is anchored to the teaching of grace alone and to remove it from that or to misunderstand grace alone is to misunderstand what justification by faith alone really means.
For those who believe the Bible as the Word of God, there are only two positions regarding justification, though there are some variances in the positions. The one position says that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and so it sees that faith itself is part of the grace that God saves with and is His gift to sinners He saves. The second position thinks of faith as the effect of the ‘free-will’ of man and so it does not think of faith as being by grace and itself the gift of God. The first position is really a form of Pelagianism and the second is the Reformed position. There is no consistent middle ground between Pelagianism and what is consistently Reformed. The problem, however, is that the world is full of inconsistent people on both sides. However, those who are inconsistent on the Pelagian side still have Pelagian principles and are usually thought of as Arminian. Those who claim to be Reformed are still thought of as Reformed, though at their inconsistent points they are actually more Pelagian.
2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
The two verses above set out the reality and truth of what saves the sinner and in doing so shows us what justification by faith is anchored in. It is anchored in the purposes, mercy, and grace of God. Sinners have no hope in themselves and any work of their own, but instead there is only one hope and that is that God would have mercy on them and grant them grace. The Timothy passage (from just above) shows that God saves and calls sinners in accordance with His own purpose and grace. When was this granted to the sinner? It was granted in Christ Jesus and that from all eternity. The text says nothing about God saving a person according to his faith or according to a faith that was seen in eternity. A justification by faith alone is based on grace alone and is one where God saves the sinner in accordance with His grace and nothing else but His grace.
The second verse from above also shows that God saves sinners according to His mercy, and He does so by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. So the salvation of sinner is attributed totally to His mercy and His mercy in this text is seen by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. In this passage, though it is not explicitly mentioned, we see that faith must come from the regenerating and renewing work of the Holy Spirit. The text clearly says that salvation is not according to our works, and if faith is the work of a ‘free-will’ then salvation is according to at least one work. If faith is not the work of a human ‘free-will,’ then it is the work of the mercy and grace of God who creates faith in the soul that He regenerates and renews.
What we see, then, is that both texts set out that salvation is in accordance with God and not according to a work of faith. Both texts are very clear in their denials in saying that salvation is not according to our works or according to our deeds. For a ‘free-will’ to be free it must be free of both sin and of grace. It is impossible for it to be free from sin and it is impossible for a salvation to be by grace alone and for a sinner to be free of grace at the same time. Any teaching on justification, therefore, that allows for ‘free-will’ is a move toward Pelagianism and away from a Gospel of grace alone and in reality destroys the biblical teaching of justification. Any preaching and teaching of a so-called justification that depends on the ‘free-will’ of man is a different gospel. Any one that claims to be Reformed and yet does not teach a real salvation by sovereign grace alone and will not stand and preach a grace alone that is opposed to ‘free-will,’ has departed from the Gospel of the Reformation. The teaching of justification, even by a professing Reformed person, that does not set out with clarity that man is totally helpless in sin and that salvation is by sovereign grace is a teaching that has moved from being Reformed and is Pelagian to some degree. That is to disagree with Pelagianism by creed and assert it by what is preached and taught.
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