Saved By Grace Through the Teachings of the Christian Faith I was raised in the Episcopal Church and married into the Methodist Church. I was saved through Apostolic Pentecostal Holiness preaching…. And I have learned much from the Seventh Day Adventist. But I have remained a member of the Methodist Church for 25 years. However, it was not until my relatively new pastor, Mike Smith, came to TRUMC and began to contend for the faith once believed by the church fathers that I truly embraced old Methodism as my own. Come and hear him exhort for the faith... or visit our website. trenholmroad.org/ A major tenant of my faith is discussed in this post. I am not presenting the Methodist view because I am not qualified to do so. My method of studying is to keep reading on the matters until I find an explanation that I understand… and believe to be true. I am not being carried about by every wind of doctrine, but I am rather testing things against what I have already learned. My faith is my own—and not another’s, though I have learn from many. It is the result of one Jacob wrestling with God, and hopefully in the end prevailing, and being renamed Israel. I begin with a statement of contrast between two major views. I stand with my church. “The Calvinistic creed makes the salvation or non-salvation of every soul to depend on the unchangeable decree of God... The Methodist creed makes the salvation or non-salvation of every soul depend on his willingness to receive and appropriate the free grace of the Gospel offered to all men... It preaches a free and full salvation, justification by faith alone, carefulness to maintain good works, the witness of the Spirit to the believers present acceptance, holiness of life, a burning love for the salvation of souls, an entire reliance upon the Holy Spirit as the source of spiritual power. It has an open communion table, contends for a pure and spiritual worship, a deep and heartfelt experience of vital religion, encourages and promotes revivals as vital to the health and growth of a church.” (The Shield of the Young Methodist, page 80) Eph 2:8-9 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. “Here is the basis for the watchword of Reformation theology: solo gratia, sola fide, soli Deo Gloria. (`by grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be glory).( F F Bruce) YET James 2:24 does states “we are not justified by faith alone.” According to the great reformer, Martin Luther, these two text did not jive. As a result, he called the Epistle of James an “Epistle of Straw.” This was an early statement of Luther and very precarious one. It leaves room for one crowd to write off Pauline doctrine, or another’s, as too harsh. Let us agreed that what is bound on earth—Canonized Scriptures- is bound in heaven! [For by grace you have been saved] “The connotations of this word [‘grace’] as used in the New Testament include the principles: (1) of human beings (all of them) being unworthy of the salvation God provides; (2) of the impossibility of any mans meriting or earning salvation, even if he had a million lives to live; and (3) that salvation bestowed upon people originated in the heart of God and that it flows out from God to people, being from God and of God alone. It is clear then that Gods grace is to all people, for all people alike, and that it is available for every person who was ever born on earth (Titus 2:11).” (Coffman Commentary) [through faith, that not of yourselves,] “The most likely meaning of this phrase, as attested by the Emphatic Diaglott rendition of it, is ‘through the faith,’ that is, ‘through the Christian faith,’ or the Christian religion. One thing is absolutely certain: this cannot mean the subjective trust/faith of sinners. Three reasons deny such an interpretation: (1) the Diaglott rendition is supported by the Vatican manuscript which has the article (the); and furthermore the inclusion of it is often understood anyway so that the absence of the article in some manuscripts does not deny it; and, in all probability, the translators would have supplied it (as permitted) if they had properly understood the meaning of it. (2) The qualifying clause next given, ‘and that not of yourselves,’ absolutely denies that the faith of sinners is in view here... (3) Recent extensive studies by George Howard of the University of Georgia disclose that the usual meaning of ‘faith’ in the New Testament is not sinners trust/faith at all, but fidelity…. ‘Faith’ as used in the vocabulary of current theological jargon to mean sinners trust/faith experienced inwardly and subjectively is not a New Testament concept at all. Also, it is impossible to reconcile such a perverted understanding of the word ‘faith’ in this clause, because of the qualifier thundered in the next clause...’and that not of yourselves’” (Coffman Commentary) [it is the gift of God, not of works,] “Not of works… refers to works of the Law of Moses, to nothing else; and the expression itself had become a kind of proverb in Pauls writings during those long years of his struggles against Judaizing teachers. It is simply outrageous that a scholar will ignore this and apply this verse… to mean that ‘God rejects every work of man.’ (William Hendriksen) Concerning works of righteousness not playing a part in the salvation of a soul: “Paul never taught anything like that. He said ‘work out your own salvation’ (Philippians 2:12), and he also praised the Thessalonians for their ‘work of faith’ (1 Thes 1:3). If God rejects ‘every work of man,’ Paul never heard of it!... There is nothing in any of the steps of primary obedience which by even the wildest stretch of human imagination can be construed as ‘glorying,’ or providing any basis for human glorying… 1) Faith ...not in ones self, but in the crucified Savior - any ground of glorying here? 2) Repentance ... entails godly sorrow for sins committed, issuing in a reversal of the human will - any ground of glorying? 3) Confession ... is not a confession of how saved one is, or what wonders the Lord has done for one, but of … confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God - any ground of glorying here? 4) Baptism- In this act, which is the sinners only in the sense that he is commanded to ‘have himself baptized,’ he is passive, silent, meek, helpless; with hands folded over a penitent heart, he permits his entire person to be buried in baptism, this action showing that he does not trust himself for salvation any more than he would trust a dead body, fit only to be buried. Any ground of glorying?... No” (Coffman Commentary) It is all grace freely offered to all mankind. Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Good Works. “For this purpose (among others which this epistle mentions) God fashioned us as his new creation ‘in Christ Jesus.’ We are his ‘workmanship’…, his work of art, his masterpiece. And we shall show that we are his workmanship by the works which we perform. Those who continue to ‘walk’ in the trespasses and sins which characterize the unregenerate state show that they are not God’s workmanship, whatever professions they may make. But those who ‘walk’ in those good works which God has preordained for his people give ample evidence of the power of a new life which operates within them. No one more wholeheartedly than Paul repudiated good works as a ground of salvation; no one more wholeheartedly insisted on good works as the fruit of salvation…” (F. F. Bruce) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21 , Jesus of Nazareth)
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 09:27:58 +0000