THE GRACE/WORKS CONTROVERSY
On page 34 of Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Warren writes:
“One day you will stand before God, and he will do an audit of your life, a final exam, before you enter eternity.”
Will God do an audit of our life and present us with a final exam before we enter eternity as
To begin answering this question, we must determine when the Christian enters eternity. Jesus Christ made it very clear during his ministry that we cross over from death to life at the point of believing on Christ and keeping His word.
John 5:24: I tell you the truth; whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
John 6:47: I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
John 8:51: I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.
John 11:26: Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
Since we all physically die, including those Christ addressed these statements to, it should be apparent that when Christ speaks of life and death in these statements, He is speaking of spiritual life and death.
The Greek word translated “condemnation” in John 5:24 is krisis. This word appears 48 times in the New Testament and is translated Judgement 42 times in the KJV. The basic meaning of this word is to render a decision. Christ said that if we believe in Him and keep His words we will not face judgement. We will not face a rendering of decision.
If we place our faith in Christ, the decision regarding our eternity has already been made. Spiritually we have already entered eternity by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. At physical death our spirit continues to be alive. If we are in Christ, we have already been audited and had our final exam in regard to where we will spend eternity. There would be no need for God asking us what we did with His Son. That question would have been answered.
Will God, as Warren suggests, ask us what we did with what God gave us and will that determine what we do in eternity? Let's continue to examine these issues.
Romans 14:10-12: For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: "`as surely as I live,' says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
If you read the entire fourteenth chapter of Romans, you will see Paul is dealing with the issue of the brethren judging each other relative to how their eating habits impact on their relationship with God. He instructs them that they should not be judging each other. He shows that God is the judge of all men and therefore we should not be judging each other. Paul’s primary focus in this passage is to stop the judging of others that was going on in the Roman Church.
Paul does say, however, that we will stand before God’s judgement seat and give an account of ourselves. Paul says something very similar in his second letter to the
2 Corinthians 5:10: For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad.”
Is Paul saying the good or bad we do in life determines how and where we spend eternity? Is Paul talking about some kind of “final exam” where God is going to review all that we have done in life and on that basis decide our fate? Look what Paul writes to the Romans:
2 Peter 1:1-10: Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to (Greek: provide for) your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall.
Peter lists a number of qualities of character and concludes by saying; “For if you do these things, you will never fall” The implication is that if we don’t do these things we could fall. Is Peter teaching works as the pathway to salvation?
How do we view what Peter and Paul say about works compared to what Paul says about salvation being not of works but through the grace of God? Paul unequivocally teaches that salvation is not by what we do but comes as a gift from God.
Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.
If salvation is a gift from God, why all this talk about works in relation to salvation? Why does Paul speak of being judged relative to the deeds done while in the flesh? Why does a Rick Warren speak about being audited and taking a final exam before we enter eternity? The answer to this question is to understand the role that faith plays in the salvation process versus the role of grace.
Throughout the scriptures we see exhortations to express faith in Christ. Our passing from death unto life is contingent upon expressing faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Let us revisit the teachings of Christ as recorded in the book of John.
John 5:24. "I tell you the truth; whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Paul is not saying that there is no observance of law connected with faith in Christ. Faith in Christ presupposes obedience to what Christ taught along with our recognition and acceptance of His sacrifice for our sins. It is not obedience to law, however that saves us. Salvation is the result of God’s grace bestowed upon us because of our acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice. Our acceptance of Christ, however, includes our response to what He taught.
Faith and grace play different roles in the salvation process. To have faith in Christ is to know and believe what He taught. The apostle John wrote, “The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). Scriptures as these define faith in Christ as doing what he says. Therefore, faith in Christ involves works. Remember what Paul said to the
Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Paul is saying in the same breath that works don’t save us and yet we are created in Christ to do good works. What is he talking about?
1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Acts 26:20: First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.
It is not enough to say “I repent.” A proclamation of repentance must be demonstrated by changed behavior. That is what James is saying when he concludes that faith without works is dead. Paul taught that repentance is what leads to salvation.
Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall.
So is there a final exam? Is there some future audit of all that we did while in this physical body? If there is, it has nothing to do with our salvation. Our salvation is established as long as we continue to make the effort to please God by practicing the law of love. Peter said: “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God” (1 Peter 4:17) Paul told the
As Christians, our exam is going on daily. This continual exam is for the purpose of insuring we are pursuing righteous behavior as a demonstration of our love for Christ and what He taught.
Our salvation is guaranteed if we continue to put forth the effort to be faithful to Christ. We have the assurance that if we continue to respond to the grace of God by making the effort to please God, we will be with God for all eternity.