The
Freeness of God's Grace
by Gery Schmidt
"by grace you have been saved" - Ephesians 2:5
The following article is taken from a free publication called
Content for the Faith by Providence Strict Baptist Assembly in Canada. Anyone
wishing to get on their mailing list can do so by contacting Gery or Mike
Schmidt at 104-1138 Yates Street Victoria British Columbia Canada V8V 3M8.
In
reference to the text above, we ask the following questions Is the grace of God
free or not? Does it depend on something in man for it to be effectual? Now
most professed disciples of Christ, when asked whether they are saved by grace
or works, will assert boldly that they are saved by grace alone. But if the
point be considered further, namely, whether God's grace is absolutely free, it
will be discovered that there is confusion among Christians concerning this
point. Indeed, too many professed Christians undo their 'saved by grace
alone" slogan by holding to an overt philosophy of salvation by works.
In
Jonah 2:9 there appears the wondrous statement that *salvation is of the
Lord." But what does this statement mean precisely? It can only mean that
salvation, from its inception to its consummation, is of God and not of man.
Whether one considers election, justification, sanctification, or
glorification, from beginning to and salvation is of the Lord. And since
salvation is of God it follows that there is nothing in any sinner which can
contribute or detract from this great work of God. And thus the text of Jonah
2:9 demonstrates that the grace of God must be free. Let us briefly elaborate
on this point.
The
grace of God Is free in election. In Romans 9:16 Paul concludes that the
electing mercies of God do "not depend on the man who wills or the man who
runs but on God who has mercy." Indeed, it is not just any sinner who can
be saved, but rather those whom God chooses to save. Election is of God and not
man, and thus "he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he
desires" (Rom. 9:18). Any notion of an election based upon the foreseen
good deeds of the unregenerate is a concept foreign to the Scriptures. The
grace of God is also free in regeneration. The apostle John confirms this when
he states that believers are "born not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Regeneration, then, is of God
and not man; hence, nothing in man can precede regeneration as its cause, whether belief, faith,
repentance, or the sprinkling of water on an infant's head.
Grace is also free in justification. Paul declares in Romans 8:33 that "it is
God who justifies.” It is also written in Romans 3:24 that sinners are "Justified freely by his grace..."
Justification is of God and not man. No man can declare himself righteous in
the sight of God; only the Almighty Judge himself can do such a work. Now
someone might argue that believers are said to be justified by faith, and
therefore man has a part in his justification. But it must be asked, where did
his faith come from? Paul asserts that "not all have faith," and that
"by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God" (2 These. 3:2; Eph. 2:8). Clearly, faith
is not something latent in the unregenerate, but is a gift of grace. Further,
faith itself cannot justify a sinner in the sight of God, for it is simply the
means by which the elect apprehend their justification as they are enabled to
look unto Christ in saving belief. Faith is no substitute for the Mosaic law, and neither
is it a replacement for, nor a supplement to, the atoning work of Christ.
It matters not what constituent part of salvation one considers, the same
conclusion will always be arrived at, namely, that one in saved by grace, and
this grace is utterly free. God consults only with his own good pleasure in the
matter of salvation, and not with man. It is God who elects, justifies,
regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies. It is God who saves his elect and keeps
them from stumbling, and is able to make them stand in his presence blameless
with great joy (Jude 24). No sinner has any part in. these things, cannot contribute to them
in any sense, whether as a cause, means, or completion. It Is but Scripturally
logical that the grace of God is free. The unregenerate have neither the desire
for God's grace, nor the ability to procure it. Grace is unmerited favor, and
as such can it be anything but free? Nevertheless, many professed disciples of
Christ, while paying lip service to this truth, part with it in doctrine and
practice.
The Arminian understands not the freeness of God's grace. He does hold to a
certain concept of free grace, namely, that it is available for all, but such
grace comes at a price. The Arminian contends that while grace is available and
offered to all, such grace is of no effect unless the sinner performs certain
acts in order to procure it. And these acts are repentance and faith. And thus,
Arminians turn faith and repentance into works by which sinners merit
salvation. Thus, the grace of God in no longer truly free, but is metamorphosed
by the Arminian into a debt owed as a wage to the sinner who rightly uses his
mythical free will.
But the Scriptures teach no such concept of God's grace. If grace is
unmerited, how can a sinner merit, It by repentance and faith? And since the
Scriptures declare that repentance, faith, and belief are gifts of God which
accompany salvation, is it not obvious that no sinner possesses these things
while unregenerate? There is indeed a price for grace, but no sinner can pay
that price. Jesus Christ paid the price for grace and obtained eternal
redemption for his elect. Consequently, faith and repentance cannot procure
grace, but are the results of grace by which a sinner comes to the knowledge of
his salvation. And such grace is given (not made available or offered) by God
to none but his elect.
The Calvinistic infant sprinkler
also fails to fully grasp the freeness of God's grace. These folks make many
excellent statements in their confessions concerning God's grace, only to
contradict themselves by their abominable practice of infant sprinkling. In
section five of the third chapter of the Westminster Confession, God's
predestination of his elect unto salvation is said to be done "out of his
mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or
perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as
conditions, or causes moving him thereunto." Yet R.L. Dabney, on page 799 of
his Systematic Theology, states
that "where the duties represented in the sacrament of baptism are
properly followed up, the actual regeneration of children is the ordinary
result-" W.G.T. Shedd, in the second volume of his Dogmatic Theology on
page 578, declares,
"The reason why there is not an infallible connection between
infant baptism and regeneration... is the fact that the covenant is not
observed on the human side with absolute perfection."
Now anyone who has eyes with which to see can easily discern in these words
the dogma of salvation by works. In the Confession grace is declared to be free
and is conditioned solely on God's good pleasure. Mr. - Dabney, however,
insists that infants are ordinarily regenerated when certain duties are
performed following their rantism. Shedd is convinced not all infants are
regenerated after their rantism, not so much because it is not God's good
pleasure to do so, but rather because humane are less than perfect in
performing certain duties. This is not free grace, but grace at a price. If
salvation is of the Lord and not of man, why would God hearken unto the efforts
of the Infant sprinkler? Can his performance of manmade duties in connection
with a man-made institution possibly cause the Lord to regenerate his child? If
so, "grace is no longer grace" (Rom. 11:6).
In
conclusion, there is a definite need for Christians to rethink their concepts
concerning the grace of God, and to reexamine the Scriptures concerning the
doctrine of salvation. Both the Arminian and the Calvinistic infant sprinkler
clearly misunderstand the freeness of God's grace, and attach all sorts of
conditions to it in order to make it effectual. In doing so, they rob grace of
its unmeritorious nature. But were salvation truly conditioned upon something
in man, who then could be saved? Grace must be free indeed, and so the
Scriptures declare it to be.
