Faith Essential Pt 4

No part of this paper may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

Part Four

God’s Works Done In Us

Hall’s inclusion of “various aspects of faith and obedience” in the work of reconciliation leaves the UPCI doctrine open to the charge of salvation by works. David Bernard has tried to address this problem by saying that the elements, stages or steps of Acts 2:38 are not works we do, but that they are the works which God does in us.

Obeying Acts 2:38 is not salvation by works. Repentance, water baptism, and the Holy Spirit baptism are not works of man that earn salvation, but works of God that accomplish salvation in us.¹

We need to ask several vital questions in response to Bernard’s assertions: “What are the works of God that save us?,” “Are these works done in us?,” and, “Is God the only One doing the work.”

“What are the works of God that save us?” The work of God for our salvation was accomplished through the life and death of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s work of salvation:

Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. (John 10:36-38 KJV)

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. ( John 17:4 KJV)

All salvation is by and through Him. All that Christ did was performed by Christ before we lived. Therefore, it happened outside of us and not within us. Also, it was before any good we did, because it was while we were dead sin. What makes us right with God in not what has happened within us. It is what Christ did by the Cross, when He took our sins, gave us His righteousness, and now through His Ascension He mediates God’s mercy to us as the Great High Priest. This is the work of Christ alone. These works do not include our repentance. They do not include our water baptism. They do not include the conditions we meet to receive the Spirit. They do not include any proof of the possessing the Spirit. The works that save us are those which Jesus did, not those things that happen by us or inside of us.

The rest of this chapter can be purchased in the book Faith is the Essential Response to Acts 2:38