In Acts 16 Paul and his ministry team began to preach Christ in Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia. When their ministry began to negatively impact powerful men, they were accosted, falsely accused of crimes, beaten with rods, and placed in stocks inside the prison. That night they sang hymns and prayed to God in the hearing of the jail staff and their fellow prisoners.
When an earthquake shook the prison, it broke open their cell doors and loosed the chains of all the prisoners. Thinking that the prisoners had taken advantage of the opportunity to escape, and that he would be held accountable, the jailer drew his sword intending to kill himself. At this, Paul shouted loudly to interrupt him and prevent him from harming himself. When the jailer entered their cell, he fell down before Paul and Silas and asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” This is quite an interesting question. Is there something that a person must do in order to be saved?
In light of our previous posts on the subject of salvation, and specifically, our Articles of Faith at EBC, we might imagine that the answer is “Nothing.” Salvation is wholly of grace. There is nothing for you to do to be saved. On the other hand, we might expect the answer to be “Repent and accept Christ by faith,” since these are the necessary conditions to receive salvation. What did Paul and Silas say to this man? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”
As we have already noted, when we say that salvation is wholly of grace we do not mean that a person is saved apart from his own response to the truth concerning Jesus Christ. This would make God’s grace in salvation somehow contradictory to the gospel’s call to repentance and faith. When Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, they were not in any way suggesting that faith is a work by which a man can merit eternal life or the forgiveness of sins.
Biblical faith cannot be defined as a meritorious “work.” Paul says as much in Romans 4, when he writes that “to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (v.4-5). Works earn wages, and wages are not a form of grace but a debt that is owed to the worker. Faith is seen in v.5 to be the opposite of work, and the fruit of faith, i.e. righteousness, is not wages owed but credit given by grace. Believing in Christ is not working for salvation but receiving it as a gift.
Understanding this simple truth helps us avoid the error of conceiving of faith as a work which jeopardizes the graciousness of God’s salvation. This concern is central to the Reformed understanding of the order of salvation. For instance, the article on the order of salvation at monergism.com which we referenced in an earlier post says, “Faith and repentance are fruits of the Spirit’s regenerating work in the soul. This biblical order is that regeneration precedes faith (John 6:63, 65, 6:37) and ensures us that our salvation is wholly of God and by grace alone, not a cooperation of man and God.” [emphasis original]
From the perspective of Reformed Theology, if faith and repentance were to occur prior to a person being born again by the Spirit of God, that individual would have reason to boast that he had somehow participated in his own salvation along with God. This would jeopardize God’s glory in salvation, and mean that we are saved by something other than grace.
Faith excludes works of merit, just as surely as working to earn salvation excludes faith.
But faith is not a work according to Scripture. Rather, it is a determination to trust in God’s gracious provision of salvation through the atoning sacrifice of his Son, Jesus. Faith excludes works of merit, just as surely as working to earn salvation excludes faith. To say, then, that faith precedes regeneration does not threaten God’s glory in any way. This also means that the Reformed order of salvation does not actually protect God’s grace in salvation over against the alternative. We can most certainly affirm that “our salvation is wholly of God and by grace alone” without believing that repentance and faith are the products of the new birth rather than necessary conditions for it to occur.
No one would suggest that Paul’s answer to the Philippian jailer meant that he was in some way responsible for his own salvation, or that he had earned it by virtue of having exercised meritorious faith in Christ. Instead, this important verse teaches us that there is nothing we do to be saved, but by faith we rely on the finished work of Jesus Christ our Savior. And so we are saved wholly of grace when we turn from our sins and trust in the Lord Jesus.
What, then, of the rest of the aspects of our salvation? Justification, adoption, sanctification, propitiation, and reconciliation? Is there any discernible order in these according to Scripture? We will address this question next.