When we put our trust in Jesus Christ, we gain salvation from sin and God’s judgment. This salvation is a free gift that we accept by faith. We are saved by faith and not by doing good deeds (Eph 2:8-9).
However, where saving
faith exists, it is always accompanied by good deeds (James 2:17). These good
deeds contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation. But they do accompany
saving faith.
That is not to say
that the good deeds performed by people who are saved come remotely close to
perfection. Even the most holy Christian often sins (James 3:2). Nevertheless, it
should be seen as a fact that good deeds accompany saving faith. If someone is
making little or no attempt to do what is right in their life, if there are
sins that they know exist and are not repenting of or battling against, that is
a sign that they don’t have saving faith.
An issue of
language
So far, so good. What
I have said up to this point is standard evangelical teaching on salvation.
But this raises a
question. If good deeds contribute nothing to our salvation, yet they always
accompany saving faith, is it right to say that salvation is conditional on
doing good deeds?
This is really a
matter of how we use the English language, of what exactly we mean by
‘conditional’. If we mean that good deeds contribute towards our salvation,
then salvation is certainly not conditional on doing good deeds. But if we mean
that good deeds must be present in a kind of incidental, non-contributory sense
in the life of someone who is saved, then salvation is conditional on doing
good deeds.
An analogy
Let me give an
analogy to help explain what I mean.
Suppose there is a
surgeon who is going to perform an operation on someone. To do the operation,
the surgeon needs a scalpel to cut open the patient’s body. So the operation is
conditional on a scalpel being in the operating theatre.
But suppose too that
this surgeon has a wedding ring on his finger that has been there for many
years and that he is unable to remove. The operation is therefore conditional
on this wedding ring being in the operating theatre.
So the operation is
conditional on two things (among others) being in the operating theatre: the
scalpel and the wedding ring. But the kind of condition is completely different
in each case. The scalpel plays a crucial part in the operation. It contributes
to what is achieved. By contrast, the wedding ring contributes nothing to the
operation. It is only present as a kind of bystander to what goes on.
In the same kind of
way that the operation is conditional on the wedding ring being in the
operating theatre, so salvation is conditional on doing good deeds. In the
sense that good deeds contribute to salvation, salvation is not conditional on
doing good deeds. But in the sense that good deeds are present as a kind of
bystander to salvation, salvation is conditional on doing good deeds.
If . . . then
sentences
When a sentence in
the English language contains an ‘if’ clause and a ‘then’ clause, and the
sentence makes sense, it is right to say that some sort of condition exists.
So take the following
sentence:
If someone is
not doing good deeds, then that person does not have the salvation that comes
by faith.
This sentence makes
sense and is also correct. Therefore it is right to say that salvation is in
some sense conditional on doing good deeds. But, as I have said, these good
deeds are only present in a non-contributory, incidental kind of way.
People talking
past each other by mistake
Quite often in
discussions on various topics, people can find themselves talking past each
other because they are using words or phrases in different ways without
realising it. This can lead to people who agree about things thinking that they
actually disagree.
I can remember a few
years ago reading a book by a well known Christian author who said that
salvation was conditional on doing good deeds. I was taken aback by this and
wondered what he was talking about, until I realised that he was referring to good
deeds being present in the non-contributory sense that I have outlined above.
He was in no way saying that people earn their salvation, even partly.
I think it is also a
fact that, generally speaking, things are much more often conditional on something
that contributes to a result than on something that doesn’t contribute to a
result. Many people therefore don’t realise that occasions even exist when
something, A, is conditional on another thing, B, that doesn’t contribute to A.
So if someone says that A is conditional on B, the hearer will often
automatically assume that the speaker believes that B contributes towards A. But
this is not always the case.
Not rushing to
judgment
If we see or hear
someone saying that salvation is conditional on doing good deeds, we need to
pause and try to find out what they actually mean before concluding that they
are a false teacher.
If they really do
mean that good deeds contribute to our salvation, then, yes, they are a false
teacher.
But if they just mean
that good deeds merely accompany saving faith, then that is exactly what the
Bible teaches.
See also:
Salvation Is Not by Doing Good but Only Those Who Do
Good Will Be Saved
Faith in Jesus without Repentance Will Not Save
Apologizing to God without Faith in Christ Will Not
Lead to Forgiveness
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