If I should fall from grace with God

Last evening I was surfing around some Christian websites and came across a good one.  The question posed on this particular posting centered on eternal assurance of salvation versus the possibility of falling from grace – or rather, the question pertained to whether salvation is conditional.  A good, old question, that.

I posted my thoughts, based on my own limited understanding of the topic at hand, essentially stating that salvation comes via God’s grace, through faith, which itself is a gift from God.  To believe that having faith is a choice implies that the choice derives from our own will, thereby making it a “work.”

Now, this is NOT an attack on the author of that post – not in any way – but I was mildly chastised for basing my response on opinion rather than on scripture.  This was a fair critique, on one hand, because I failed to “show my work,” as it were.

In any case, the author stated his/her counter-case against mine, and cited a number of Biblical verses in favor of his/her position.  Fairly standard approach, which I can certainly appreciate.  There are a couple of problems here, though:  1) People have been arguing this point in the standard format advocated by the post’s author for centuries, and there still doesn’t seem to be an ecumenical answer to the question; and 2)  isolating quotations that favor one opinion over another (proof-texting) is like focusing on several individual trees, thereby missing the grandeur of the forest.  Proof-texting removes verses from their larger context – which works great for making a point, but does violence to the overall message of the Good News.

As a case in point:  the author agreed with me that salvation is God’s gracious gift through faith, but that faith is conditioned by works.  James’ epistle is the one that always seems to come up.  James 2:17-18 states, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ’You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

I will concede that good works are necessary for good discipleship, but not that they are necessary for salvation.  Good works, like the law, puts salvation beyond our grasp.  Let’s say I have 10 bucks in my pocket and I pass a starving man in the street, if I don’t give him my $10, I’m failing to live up to my responsibility to do good works, and therefore I’m doomed, even if I had previously been saved.  Every time I fail to do a good work, I have sinned.  Every hitchhiker I whip by, every stranded motorist that I fail to help, every starving child in Africa that I don’t donate food to “for the price of a cup of coffee” condemns my soul.  Who can live up to that standard!?  The bad news is that NOBODY can live up to that standard, so we must constantly live in fear of our souls.

The good news is that NOBODY can live up to that standard, and God understands this.   The good news is that I can’t buy my way into righteousness.  The Great News is that Jesus has already done all the good works for me.  “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20.)  Out of gratitude for His works on my behalf, I pay the price of a cup o’ coffee in order to help an African child whenever I can, I help the odd stranded motorist, I pick up the occasional hitchhiker, and I do whatever good works I can do whenever I can do them.  It won’t get me into Heaven, but the Good News is that it doesn’t have to.

Amen.