As we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation this year, some may wonder if the Reformation still matters today. We don’t face the same problems today in the church that they did back then, right? No one is selling indulgences. No one in in the evangelical world is teaching salvation by works and certainly not in the Reformed world! Right?
Last week, Desiring God ran an article by John Piper on sola fide, Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone? The article is a rerun of older material by Piper. It makes the rounds every couple of years and receives a wide range of responses. The point of the article seems to be to encourage believers to have an active faith as described in James 2. This is a worthy aim. There are many today, even in Reformed circles, who speak and act as though believers should not be expected to live godly lives and to struggle against their sins.
The problem in many responses to such antinomianism is a trend towards moralism, pietism, or legalism. Such a reaction to antinomianism is not surprising, but it is equally dangerous. And this is the ditch Piper’s article falls into.
Piper rightly says that believers are justified by faith alone, but then he makes a distinction between justification and salvation by faith alone:
If you substitute other clauses besides “We are justified . . .” such as “We are sanctified . . .” or “We will be finally saved at the last judgment . . .” then the meaning of some of these prepositional phrases must be changed in order to be faithful to Scripture. For example,
In justification, faith receives a finished work of Christ performed outside of us and counted as ours — imputed to us.
In sanctification, faith receives an ongoing power of Christ that works inside us for practical holiness.
In final salvation at the last judgment, faith is confirmed by the sanctifying fruit it has borne, and we are saved through that fruit and that faith. As Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:13, “God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” (emphasis added)
He goes on to say that works are necessary for “final salvation”:
Paul calls this effect or fruit or evidence of faith the “work of faith” (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11) and the “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26). These works of faith, and this obedience of faith, these fruits of the Spirit that come by faith, are necessary for our final salvation. No holiness, no heaven (Hebrews 12:14). So, we should not speak of getting to heaven by faith alone in the same way we are justified by faith alone. (emphasis added)
Piper is saying that we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone but that there is also a final salvation separate from justification that includes our works. In this way, he says, we are saved through faith AND works. This is not simply sloppiness or poor wording. This is what he is teaching, and it is clear from the context of the article. And it is contrary to Scripture, to the Reformation, and to the Reformed confessions and catechisms.
In Scripture, Paul says clearly that we are SAVED, not only justified, by faith alone and not by works:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NASB, emphasis added)
In Galatians, Paul addresses a very similar concern. He asks:
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3, NASB)
In Romans, Paul explains that we are saved through faith in Christ:
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:9-10, NASB)
Paul goes on to say that grace is only grace if works are excluded:
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. (Romans 11:6, NASB)
The Scriptures do not distinguish between an initial salvation (or justification) and a final salvation. It does distinguish between justification, sanctification, and glorification. However, all are said to be the work of God.
Romans 8:29-30 says that God is the one who predestines, calls, justifies, and glorifies:
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30, NASB)
In Philippians, we are told to work out our salvation, but even here it is clear that God is the one who works in us and through us:
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13, NASB, emphasis added)
In 2 Thessalonians, the passage Piper quotes above, Paul does say that salvation is through sanctification and faith. But notice who does the sanctifying:
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:13, NASB, emphasis added)
The Spirit sanctifies us, part of the work of sanctification is to change us so that we are willing and able to obey as God has called us to. We do good works, but the merit is all God’s and not ours:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10, NASB)
It is absolutely true that without sanctification, without holiness, no one will enter glory. Hebrews tells us so:
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14, NASB)
But since sanctification is the promised work of the Spirit in the life of a believer, all who are justified will be sanctified and will ultimately be glorified. It is God’s work from beginning to end, and He will bring it to completion:
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6, NASB)
But what about our actions? Won’t Christians be lazy and sinful if their works don’t have any part in saving them? Again, the Scriptures anticipate every argument. Paul writes in Romans:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2, NASB)
Because we have been justified, we are being sanctified, and we will be glorified. Our salvation is secure because God is the One doing the work. And because the Spirit is at work in us to sanctify us, we will see changes in our lives and in our actions. That is what James 2 is explaining. Justifying faith will always be accompanied by good works.
Justifying faith will always be accompanied by good works. Those works are evidence and absolutely necessary, but they do not earn us any part of our salvation. The evidence is for our sake and for the sake of others in the church. It’s a means of assurance and a means of confirming who are believers in the church.
God does not need proof to know who of us is saved. He knows! He chose us before the foundation of the world. He has called us by our names. We are His! He will not lose a single one of us.
The Reformers fought and many died to restore the truth of SALVATION by faith alone through Grace alone in Christ alone. They wrote the catechisms and confessions we have today, not to displace the role of Scripture alone, but to lay out what the Scriptures teach in such a way that all might understand. So many of the current problems and troubles in the church today would be resolved if people would study the Scriptures and catechize themselves and their children.
For example, the Heidelberg catechism questions could have been written with this very discussion in mind:
Q & A 60
Q. How are you righteous before God?A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments,
of never having kept any of them, and of still being inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without any merit of my own, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is accept this gift with a believing heart.Q & A 61
Q. Why do you say that through faith alone you are righteous?A. Not because I please God by the worthiness of my faith. It is because only Christ’s satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me righteous before God, and because I can accept this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than through faith.
Q & A 62
Q. Why can’t our good works be our righteousness before God, or at least a part of our righteousness?A. Because the righteousness which can pass God’s judgment must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. But even our best works in this life are imperfect and stained with sin.
Q & A 63
Q. How can our good works be said to merit nothing when God promises to reward them in this life and the next?A. This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace.
Q & A 64
Q. But doesn’t this teaching make people indifferent and wicked?A. No. It is impossible for those grafted into Christ through true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude.
This is the consistent message of Scripture and all the Reformed confessions and catechisms. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to God alone be the glory! By all means, we need to struggle against the sins in our lives and encourage others to do the same. We should look for evidence of the work of the Spirit in our lives and in the lives of our children. We should press on and serve God faithfully and honorably in all we do.
But if we sell our birthright of salvation by faith alone for the pottage of moralism, we will have lost all our Reformed ancestors fought for, and we will do great damage to our own faith, to the faith of others, and to our churches. As we vow when we profess faith and join the church in the PCA, we must receive and rest on Christ alone for salvation. Beginning to end, the work is God’s. Here we stand, we can do no other.
A Daughter of the Reformation 
Beautifully said, Rachel! Truly. I found myself reading out loud the Scriptures and the latter part of your post as worship to God. He is gracious indeed.
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Amen sister! Amen!! Thank you so much for writing this!
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Check out the red letters… enough about Paul and Piper- what does Jesus think?
Matthew 5:48
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
John 14:21-24
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”
But Jesus was not Totally Reformed™, so he probably does not get it.
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All the words are Jesus’s. Not just the red ones. The point stands who makes us holy? We are made holy through the work of Jesus and the Spirit.
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Rachel, Thank you for this post. Your article “Salvation by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone” is most encouraging.
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Amen! This trend to separate the Red Letters from the rest of Scripture used to belong to Liberal theology, but now even exists frequently among the Reformed.
Whatever Piper intended, his words make a distinction that is unbiblical. Thanks for taking a stand, maybe you are a ‘Marrow Woman’😎
Tim
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Excellent post by Rachel and the link to Jeff Crippen’s analysis of Piper’s methods and writing is a must as well. Crippen starts his series by dispelling the myth that Piper just isn’t understood properly by those who aren’t deep thinkers by using the “white cow-black cow” analogy to illustrate Piper’s methods of shutting down his critics. Many in the reformed Baptist circle are almost rabid devotees of Piper and posts such as these need to be written to expose this trend toward the Galatians heresy. I’m reformed & Baptist myself but attend a PCA church because of this works-salvation emphasis. Thank you, Rachel, and thank you Barbara for the Crippen link.
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Hello Rachel,
I wanted to reach out to you and thank you for writing this article. Coleen Sharp from Theology Gal’s alerted me to this article after we had published an article against Piper’s position. Initially, I was unaware that anyone had tried to point out the problem we were seeing with Piper’s statements. To my surprise and delight, you rightly identified the major issues we had seen.
Recently I have been told that we are taking him out of context and so I appreciated when you wrote, “This is what he is teaching, and it is clear from the context of the article. And it is contrary to Scripture, to the Reformation, and to the Reformed confessions and catechisms.” To those critics who have cried, “context” I have asked for the context which would alleviate the problem. Unfortunately, for them, they then take Piper out of context and ignore that he says works are necessary, in the context of a final salvation. At its heart this is Romanism. I have also been called a slanderous liar, although I quoted Piper accurately and I made valid and sound inferences from his own statement. These are just some of the negative responses we have gotten and so I wanted to let you know that your not alone in this fight for the purity of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. I think that this controversy right now will be a defining issue of our time. It really is that important and we need to stand boldly for the truth, no matter its opposition.
Here is the article we have written.
http://biblethumpingwingnut.com/2017/10/10/gospel-according-piper/
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It would be interesting to see if Piper agrees with your assessment of his position?
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I agree with Phillip….how does Piper respond, if he does.
As far as I’m concerned, I do not see any difference. This sounds like to old show me your faith by your works dilemma. Is it evidence or a result of the Holy Spirit? Either way all we can do is cooperate. Fruit is not a result of the plant or tree’s effort. It is evidence that the tree is alive just as our fruit is evidence of the Spirit working in us, which is evidence of our faith…a gift of God.
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Justification and Romans 8:1 should be crystal clear, if one is having a hard time understanding what Piper means here on the heart of the Gospel, we have a problem.
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Dr. Michael Horton uses “final salvation” in his book ‘God of Promise.’
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I’m not a fan of the terminology. I’ve read enough of Horton to believe he’s not saying the same thing as Piper.
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What’s the page number from the Horton book where he writes that?
No his work covenant and salvation in there it is very different to Piper’s formulations.
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When it comes to works the distinction between living and dead ones is usually lost. I distinguish it thus: a living work of faith is done in peace love joy and from a position of the sabbath rest of the Believer as spoken of in the letter to the Hebrews.
A dead work is one forced by force of will against one’s own heart and inclination. it is hypocrisy by its very nature and it does not count. It is will of the flesh, an insult to God and an attempt to save oneself by mimicking the faith and love that is the gift of God. It is certainly to forsake Christ for the Law.
AS for Piper I reject him totally. I saw him in a video asking the question :what to do about one’s own sin. His answer was a maniacal roar (I kid you not!) 0″ MAKE WAAAARRRRRR!!!!! ” He screamed.
Such is deadly, which is why I reject all struggle against my own sin. It tore me apart and nearly killed me.
I will not struggle against my own sin as I can no longer do so being totally exhausted and broken by the effort. And the reason God never so much as lifted a finger to aid me as the struggle was hypocrisy in its essence and an attempt to save myself, something he never aids
But the repentance God gives as a gift is the honest confession rather than mere saying the words, which only HE can persuade me to do one on one; and a changed life whereby we do not do that sin again. This only comes in personal one on one conversation with the Spirit.
One last: am I saved by what I do? Or is Jesus Christ my saviour? We often forget the latter by obsessing on the former.
Put it this way. Imagine the Titanic has just sunk and you are freezing in ice water. you hear a voice, “saying give me your hand”. you do so and some one pulls you out of the water. Did I save myself by reaching out or did the man in the boat save me by asking me to give him my hand then pulling me out of the water
I am no quietist but as I come to him in one on one prayer I can let him – as he leads me to submit – save me from my sins here and now on the basis of the salvation purchased on Calvary
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Well said.
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“We condemn therefore those, which teach that for the worthinesse of their works there is due unto them either remission of sinnes or eternall life or any other good gift.”
Zanchi, De religione christiana fides – Confession of Christian Religion, 369
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Q. How is he accepted righteous before God?
A. By the righteousness of Christ imputed to him [2 Cor. 5:21]
Q. What profit comes by being thus Justified?
A. Hereby and by no other means in the world, the believer shall be acce250px-William_Perkins_cropped2_400x400.jpgpted before God’s judgment seat as worthy of eternal life by the merits of the same righteousness of Christ [Rom. 4:17; Rev. 21:17].
Q. Do not the good works then make us worthy of eternal life?
A. No; for God, who is perfect righteousness itself, will find in the best works we do more matter of damnation than of salvation. And therefore we must rather condemn ourselves for our good works than look to be justified before God thereby [Job 9:3; Ps. 143:2; Isa. 64:6]
William Perkins, The Work of William Perkins, 5:503.
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Heaven Must Be Earned – Christ Active Obedience Imputed to Believers
John Owen in his work on Justification refers the reader to Thomas Jacomb’s work on Romans 8:1–4. Owen wrote:
“And therefore justification is eminently and frequently proposed as the effect of the blood-shedding and death of Christ which are the direct cause of our reconciliation and pardon of sin. But yet from none of these considerations doth it follow that the obedience of the one man, Christ Jesus, is not imputed unto us, whereby grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life. The same truth is fully asserted and confirmed, Rom. viii. 1–4. But this place hath been of late so explained and so vindicated by another, in his learned and judicious exposition of it (namely, Dr. Jacomb), as that nothing remains of weight to be added unto what hath been pleaded and argued by him, part i. Verse 4, p. 587, and onwards. And indeed the answers which he subjoins (to the arguments whereby he confirms the truth) to the most usual and important objections against the imputation of the righteousness of Christ are sufficient to give us just satisfaction unto the minds of unprejudiced, unengaged persons.”
Owen, The Works of John Owen, 5:338.
Onward we go. Here’s Dr. Jacomb:
“Objection 3. Christ’s passive obedience was sufficient; for thereby the justice of God was fully satisfied, the sinner’s guilt fully expiated, full payment made of all that he owed, &c. What need, therefore, is there of any imputation of his active obedience to be superadded to the imputation of the former?
220px-Thomas_Jacombe_Caldwell.jpgAnswer: If the passive obedience be taken in conjunction with the active, we grant the sufficiency of it to all intents and purposes; but if it be taken disjunctly from the active, then we grant its sufficiency for such and such ends or effects, but not for all. For the removal of guilt, the satisfying of the penal part of the law, the freeing from hell and death, so it was sufficient; but besides this, the perceptive part of the law was to be fulfilled, the condition of life was to be performed, the sinner was to be made positively righteous, heaven was to be merited. Now as to these abstractly from the active obedience of Christ, the passive was not sufficient. Upon his dying, believers shall not die or be damned, or be looked upon as guilty; but for their being righteous and entitled to eternal life, Christ must actively fulfil the law; for the promise of life is annexed to doing: ‘Do this and live,’ Lev. xviii. 5; Rom. x. 5 ‘There needs no more,’ saith a reverend person, ‘ than innocency, not to die; and when guilt is taken away we stand as innocent, no crime then can be charged upon us. But to reign in life, as the apostle speaks, to inherit a crown, there further is expected, which we not reaching, Christ’s active obedience supplied to us, not adding to ours, but being in itself complete, is accounted ours, and imputed to us.’”
Thomas Jacomb, Romans 8:1–4, 361.
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“Rewards retain an important place in Paul’s letters as in the gospels, just as in Judaism. The difference is that according to Paul justification is accomplished once and for all in Christ. Whatever rewards believer receive in addition to justification, they are, as Augustine said, God’s crowing of his own gifts., They are not merited but rewarded.
One way of stating the fundamental difference between Rome and the Reformation on this pint is that whereas the former sees final justification as the terminus ad quem (goal), the latter sees it as the terminus a quo (origin). ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). Hence, according to the Reformers and their heirs, justification is nothing less than the verdict of the last judgment pronounced in the present.”
Horton, Justification, 2:376.
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